Chapter 121: The Gu Battle Tournament Begins

At this moment, the area around each Gu pit was bustling with activity. There were many onlookers, as the Gu Battle Tournament was considered one of the most lively events in the clan, attracting everyone to come out and watch.

Before long, the family head, Long Wanli, stood up from a cement-built platform and began a lengthy opening speech.

It was unclear what technique he used, but even though his voice wasn't loud, it carried clearly to everyone's ears, even to those spectators far away from the platform.

However, his speech was a typical, formulaic address, filled with meaningless drivel that held no real appeal. Just as everyone below the platform was starting to doze off, the Gu Battle Tournament officially began with his announcement.

The crowd below finally opened their eyes, instantly becoming alert.

Immediately, Long Wanli set down his lengthy speech and took out a list of names, which recorded the names of each participant.

The Gu battles in the ten Gu pits were to be held simultaneously, with those whose names were called proceeding to their respective pits to battle.

Each Gu pit also had a referee, who would declare the winner, allowing the next batch of participants to take their turn.

However, the sequence of the Gu battles and the selection of opponents did not seem to be decided by drawing lots but were instead directly assigned by the family.

This made Long Xuan feel a sense of unease.

He had originally planned to use the minor X-ray vision ability of the Eye of Heavenly Secret to draw a favorable lot, so he could continuously pick the weakest opponents and be the last to enter the field.

But he didn't expect the family to play by their own rules, completely skipping the lot-drawing process. This was outrageous, wasn't it?

Isn't this kind of event supposed to involve drawing lots? How can it be fair and just otherwise?

The family not following the usual procedure disrupted all of his plans, leaving him with no way to cheat.

Just as he was still bewildered, Long Wanli's voice suddenly called out.

"Long Xuan, Long Ye, proceed to Gu Pit No. 1 for your Gu battle."

Long Xuan's body stiffened. Good heavens, the first match was his, and Gu Pit No. 1 was the closest to the platform where the family elders were seated. It was also the most conspicuous location, attracting the most attention and having the largest audience.

Gu Pit No. 1 was the focal point of nearly half the audience's gaze, making it the highest-profile position.

This was the consequence of not drawing lots. Long Xuan sighed lightly, and then, without any sense of fair play, sent his clone to the battlefield, with no intention of showing any respect to his opponent.

At this time, the Fire Clone received the command from his soul, and his mouth couldn't help but twitch. He could only brace himself to go up. The main body hadn't even given him a single peak-grade Gu insect, only throwing him a insect-rearing bag filled with second-Team of Gu insects.

The second team’s Gu insects were all low-grade. How was he supposed to fight with these? He was ordered to win but wasn't given any resources—this was too difficult.

He looked towards his opponent, who was already standing by the Gu pit. Long Ye was a mid-stage Marrow Cleansing Gu cultivator, and although he was one level higher, the Gu battle relied solely on the Gu insects. The cultivator’s realm didn't offer much advantage.

But didn’t this game’s rules limit his Ten Absolute Body as well? He couldn’t enter the field himself, so how could he win with just a few low-grade Gu insects? With what, his head? One must know that Long Clan’s Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators typically had high-grade or even peak-grade Gu insects.

Seeing Long Ye already tossing his Gu insects into the Gu pit one by one, especially the massive Earth Master Gu, which stood out sharply—it had become a symbol of the Long Clan’s Gu cultivators, each of whom possessed one.

To make matters worse, these insects could all fly. How was he supposed to fight them? Helpless, he could only send out his one and only flying insect, a giant butterfly, which flapped its wings and fearlessly took to the skies.

However, what greeted it was a wave of 'Pear Blossom Storm Needles.'

All the Ice Bees formed a formation in midair, pointing their abdomens downward. Under the command of the Queen Bee Bingbing, the stingers on their abdomens rained down like raindrops.

The fearless butterfly charged headlong into the needle storm, but being a fragile insect, how could it withstand the assault of the bees’ stingers?

In an instant, it was shot through like a porcupine and fell from the sky.

Meanwhile, all of Long Ye’s Gu insects on the ground were also doomed. The Gu pit was only so big, and the needle storm covered the entire pit.

The rain of needles was so dense that there was no space to dodge. In this situation, there was no room for evasion; the insects could only run around in panic.

Unfortunately for them, the Ice Bees’ stingers could be fired indefinitely. After shooting one ice needle, another would grow on their tails, leading to wave after wave of bombardment on the ground.

It didn’t take long for all of Long Ye’s Gu insects to be shot full of needles. Poison from the bees quickly paralyzed them, and soon all his Gu insects were motionless.

Only the Earth Master Gu managed to hold out, protected by its thick iron armor that the bee stingers couldn’t penetrate.

Though it could threaten the Ice Bees, it was quickly overpowered by Long Xuan’s own Earth Master Gu, which was even larger.

Faced with this situation, Long Ye had no choice but to surrender.

Thus, the first match of the Gu Tournament ended in a flash, leaving everyone stunned.

This attack method was brutally simple, especially within the confines of the Gu pit where movement was restricted. All Gu insects would become sitting ducks, with no way to escape the relentless needle storm. Such an attack method was truly unbeatable.

One had to admit, the competition rules were incredibly favorable to this group of bees. In a limited space, the lethality of the needle storm was amplified several times over.

At this moment, everyone showed signs of apprehension, contemplating how they would deal with such a situation if they were in Long Ye’s place.

On the stage, the high-ranking officials exchanged glances. One of the four elder clan members smiled first and praised, “I see now. Replacing the barbed stingers with regenerating ice needles is indeed a clever method.”

Long Wanli turned and smiled at her, saying, “Hehe, I spoke with him once. His research on insects is absolutely monstrous. It’s no surprise that he could find a way to improve the flaws of the Spirit Bees. In terms of understanding, my evaluation of him is that he is a genius rare throughout the ages.”

The clan elders were shocked by such high praise and all turned their eyes to Long Wanli. “Rare throughout the ages” was an extremely high evaluation, considering the countless years of history in this world.

However, when they thought about the terrifying Gu techniques he had developed, they all fell silent, unable to refute it.

Long Xuan was completely unaware that Long Wanli had given him such high praise. After winning the first victory, he tossed a bottle of pills to Long Ye and left the Gu pit.

The poison of his bees was a new type of venom in this world, with no known antidote. If he didn’t intervene, all of Long Ye’s Gu insects except the Earth Master Gu would have perished.

Long Ye caught the pill bottle and gave Long Xuan a grateful look before finally leaving the stage.

The two of them had come and gone quickly, with the match ending almost as soon as it had begun. The crowd was left unsatisfied, feeling that it ended too soon.