Long Xuan's eyes revealed a serious expression. Just moments ago, he suddenly saw a group rapidly flying towards them.
Their speed was incredibly fast, and he didn't even have time to warn the others. He could only kick Li Laodao, allowing him to dodge a fatal blow.
He was able to see the traces of those ghostly creatures, but the others weren't so lucky. Under the sneak attack from those things, a large number of them were killed or injured in an instant.
The event happened so suddenly that not only did five Gu cultivators die immediately, but even Bai Youran had a chunk of flesh bitten off. He clutched his abdomen and fell to the ground, screaming in agony.
Seeing the spot, Long Xuan’s heart tightened—it was the position of the dantian. With a large piece of flesh gouged out from that area, Bai Youran was completely crippled.
In an instant, their side had lost six people, including a prodigy. In just one round of attack, they lost one-third of their manpower.
Long Xuan felt a chill down his spine. This national master was proving to be such a formidable foe. Weren’t Gu cultivators from the mortal nation usually rogue cultivators who couldn’t survive in the Gu world? How could they possess such combat strength?!
Long Dan roared, "These are Void Gu refined from Void-type Spirit Insects! Long Xuan, only you can see them. You must hold them off while the rest of us attack the national master together! We must kill him as quickly as possible!"
With a fierce expression, Long Dan swiftly charged toward the national master.
After a brief hesitation, the others gritted their teeth and charged toward the national master as well.
The situation had reached a point of no return. The Sou Gu could only be controlled by Long Dan. If he didn’t act, no one would be able to leave, so they had no choice but to follow his order and launch an all-out attack on the national teacher.
"These things are Void Gu?" Long Xuan was shocked, his face slightly changing.
He had read about Void-type Spirit Insects before. According to records, Void-type Spirit Insects were born in a distant era. These insects had no physical form, existing entirely as void entities and were invisible to the naked eye.
Only those with a Gu of the Eye or Spiritual Eyes could detect traces of Void Insects, but even then, they could only see a portion of them.
Void Insects hide in different layers of space—the stronger the Void Insect, the deeper its hiding layer.
Similarly, the stronger the Eye Gu, the more Void Insects one could see. Only the most powerful Eye Gu could see those hiding in the deepest layers.
However, how many people in the world possessed an Eye Gu? And most Eye Gu could only detect the Void Insects hidden in the shallowest layers.
Therefore, these invisible creatures were almost impossible to defend against when they attacked.
It was said that in the era when Void Insects were most rampant, they nearly drove humanity to extinction. That era was nothing short of the apocalypse for humans.
It wasn’t until a figure named Feng Jie from the Feng Clan appeared that things changed. He created the Eye of Apocalypse, which required tens of millions of materials to craft.
When the Eye of Apocalypse was fully cultivated to its peak, it could control all Void Insects unconditionally, becoming a natural counter to them.
Using the Eye of Apocalypse, Feng Jie controlled all the Void Insects in the world and sealed them within ninety-nine Spirit Sealing Towers, single-handedly ending the chaos and preventing the extinction of humanity.
However, due to the overuse of his Eye Gu, Feng Jie died shortly after sealing all the Void Insects.
Since then, ninety-nine Spirit Sealing Towers have been scattered across the three realms, each guarded by members of the Feng Clan.
Through the Void Insects in the Spirit Sealing Towers, the Feng Clan continued to study and develop ever more powerful Void Gu.
Void Gu were completely invisible to the naked eye, and only powerful Eye Gu could detect them. Most Eye Gu could only detect a small portion in the shallowest layers. ℞
Given how few natural counters there were to Void Gu, it was no wonder the Feng Clan grew to be one of the most powerful clans in the world.
In the Gu world, there was only one Spirit Sealing Tower, located at the very center of the Central Region in Zhongchuan. The Feng Clan that guarded it was also one of the most powerful clans in the Central Region.
Therefore, it was easy to deduce the identity of the young man they were fighting—he was from the Feng Clan, one of the most powerful clans in the Central Region, a genius of the Feng family.
However, it was highly likely that he was an outcast or traitor. Otherwise, there was no way such a genius from the Feng Clan would be hiding in a mere mortal nation.
However, the national master’s combat strength exceeded everyone’s expectations. Despite Long Xuan suppressing all his void Gu, he still managed to hold his own against more than ten Western land geniuses, even killing one of them outright.
But no matter how talented he was, he was still human, not a god. Without his void Gu, he could only maintain a stalemate for a short time. To defeat renowned geniuses like Long Dan with sheer force was impossible.
He was now gradually falling into a disadvantage under the combined attacks of the geniuses, and his defeat seemed inevitable—it was only a matter of time.
At the same time, the strength of these Western land geniuses was also beyond his expectations. He hadn't anticipated that such a backwater place would suddenly produce a group of geniuses capable of threatening him, including one who could hold off all his void Gu alone.
His expression darkened as he realized that if he didn’t find a way to turn the tide soon, he might meet his end here today.
In a desperate bid, he began moving toward the direction of the Imperial Garden while fighting the Western land geniuses.
He understood that the sudden appearance of these geniuses was most likely due to the Heaven-Mending Tree, which had attracted this disaster.
His only hope now was to reach the Heaven-Mending Tree and use it as leverage, threatening to destroy it to force them to stop. That was the only plan he could think of.
As the battlefield shifted away, the old emperor and his ministers finally arrived.
The old emperor, filled with anxiety, rushed into the Empress’s chambers, only to freeze in shock at the sight of the scene inside, where bodies lay sprawled.
"This... this..."
The old emperor's hand trembled as he pointed forward.
"Poof!"
Suddenly, he spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed to the ground unconscious.
"Your Majesty!"
"Your Majesty!"
"Call the imperial physician!"
The group of elderly ministers rushed in frantically...
Meanwhile, the National Master’s plan was sound—if he could reach the Heaven-Mending Tree in time, the Westland geniuses would likely stop their assault out of fear of its destruction.
This would give him the bargaining power to save his life.
However, the problem was that there were also Western land geniuses on the other side, and quite a few of them—eighteen in total.
No matter how strong the Four Great Vajras guarding the Imperial Garden were, could they withstand the combined assault of eighteen geniuses?
In no time, the Four Great Vajras were slain by the combined forces of the eighteen geniuses.
As the national master fled in that direction, he ran headlong into the group of eighteen geniuses.
If he had fled in any other direction, he might have had a chance at survival, but running toward them sealed his fate.
Just as he approached the Heaven-Mending Tree, his face lit up with joy, only to be immediately surrounded by more than ten geniuses joining the fray to finish him off.
The national master was shocked, despair filling his eyes. He had no strength left to deal with this new group of geniuses.
With their arrival, he could no longer defend himself. Long Dan seized an opening and struck, his dragon claw grabbing the back of the national master’s neck and twisting it, snapping it instantly.
Long Dan released his grip, and the national master’s body fell heavily to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
At the same time, all of the National Master's Gu insects died instantly, including all the void Gu fighting with Long Xuan. Not a single one survived; they were all wiped out.