LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 128: The Scapegoat
"If I remember correctly, Long Chao should be very proficient in formations, right? It seems like he has the ability to break the clan-protecting formation," someone in the crowd said. Goodness, this made him even more suspicious.
At this moment, Long Xuan added, "If I remember correctly, doesn't he also have the Little Strong Gu? With the Little Strong Gu, even if his heart is pierced, he wouldn't die. So why is he lying on the ground pretending to be dead?"
Goodness, as soon as Long Xuan said this, Long Chao's suspicion grew even more. Everyone widened their eyes and stared at Long Chao, their gazes becoming increasingly strange.
Anyone with the Little Strong Gu couldn't hide it from his eyes. Long Xuan wasn't trying to wrongfully accuse him; his act of pretending to be dead was indeed very suspicious. The words Long Chen said when he kicked him were also very intriguing. If he wasn’t colluding with the Hun Clan, that would be strange.
Since he indeed seemed to be colluding with the Hun Clan, they might as well let him take the blame. For someone who betrays from within, there’s no need to feel any guilt about ruining them.
At this moment, Long Chao was completely bewildered. No one knew he had the Little Strong Gu. How did this person find out?
He didn’t have time to think about it, as Long Wanli had already strode over with a grim expression, grabbed his collar, and lifted him up. With a quick move to his abdomen, Long Wanli pulled out a blood-soaked Little Strong Gu.
Seeing the Gu insect, Long Wanli laughed angrily, "Well, well! You’ve truly surprised me!"
"First, you used the Little Strong Gu to fake your death. Then, after everyone left, you planned to revive, secretly steal the Sacred Tree, and continue pretending to be dead."
"And after waking up, you had the nerve to ask what had happened!""You’re quite the actor!"
Long Wanli heavily threw Long Chao to the ground and shouted, "Someone, take this traitor away and interrogate him harshly."
"I want to know all his connections with the Hun Clan. Also, investigate whether he secretly harmed Long Chen!"
Immediately, two burly members of the Long Clan, with fierce expressions, stepped forward from the crowd, grabbed his shoulders from either side, and began dragging him out.
At this moment, Long Chao's face turned ashen. He had been kicked unconscious earlier and genuinely didn’t know what had happened.
How could he know how the branch of the Sacred Tree was broken? He still didn’t understand what was going on. How did he become a suspect as soon as he woke up, with all the evidence pointing to him?
The matters of breaking the formation, killing Long Chen, and colluding with the Hun Clan couldn’t stand up to investigation. Once these things were proven true, the crime of damaging the Sacred Tree would be firmly pinned on him. It was simply too unjust; no one would believe his explanations.
At this point, he finally began to fear, his eyes showing signs of terror as he hastily shouted, "Patriarch, I’ve been wronged! The breaking of the Sacred Tree’s branch has nothing to do with me..."
His voice faded into the distance as he was dragged away, and everyone showed expressions of disgust, looking at him with disdain.
"Hmph! I’ve always thought he had poor character, but I didn’t expect him to go this far. How does weakening the clan benefit him? It’s harming others without benefiting himself."
"What do you think? His Evil Dragon Emperor Eye is of peak grade and possesses one of the top ten ability Soul Seeds. If it undergoes a perfect evolution, he would be invincible among his peers. How could he be content with the Evil Dragon Emperor Eye evolution in an imperfect state?"
"But to do so at the cost of destroying the clan? Look at Long Ziyan; she has the same Evil Dragon Emperor Eye and also possesses a Soul Seed. Why hasn’t she done the same thing?"
"It seems Long Chao is doomed this time. The punishment for betraying the clan, according to the clan rules, is to endure the torture of being bitten by ten thousand insects. His body will be filled with insect eggs and slowly eaten from the inside out by larvae. This pain is worse than death, and it takes at least three months to die."
"Well deserved..."
The crowd was buzzing with discussion, gradually dispersing under Long Wanli’s orders, but the heated conversations lingered for a long time.
This was destined to be a sleepless night. Such a major incident had occurred, causing a great uproar within the entire clan.
The Eye Cleansing Ceremony couldn’t continue under these circumstances. The Sacred Tree was severely damaged and needed to recover. All rewards of Dragon Tears for everyone were canceled and replaced with contribution points.
The upcoming sacrificial ceremony would be held as scheduled, but the offerings were even greater. A large number of cattle and sheep were slaughtered, and the blood was poured around the Sacred Tree. It wasn’t hard to see that the cultivation method of the Sacred Tree likely relied on blood.
Long Xuan had seen spiritual trees that drank lava before, so seeing one that drank blood didn’t surprise him at all.
However, this meant that if he wanted to plant the Divine Dragon Wood, he would probably need to raise a large number of cattle and sheep at home. Building a large pasture might become his next task.
Building a pasture would require a large piece of land and ample grazing area. His land was notoriously vast, so it could indeed accommodate a pasture.
In this way, it wasn’t so bad. In the future, he would have fresh beef and lamb to eat. Thinking of hot pot from his previous life, Long Xuan's throat moved, and he couldn’t help but feel his mouth water. This world indeed had spicy spiritual herbs, and they were far hotter than those in his previous life.
At this moment, while the entire clan was solemnly worshipping the Sacred Tree, he was thinking about food, his worship far from devout.
He had no idea what the clan leader said on the altar, as his mind had long wandered to the skies.
Until the end, when everyone was kneeling around the Sacred Tree, batch after batch made wishes to it. Only then did Long Xuan put on a devout expression and silently wished to soon form a fruitful relationship with Long Ziyan. After that, the lengthy sacrificial ceremony finally came to an end.
Long Xuan had long grown impatient, and as soon as the ceremony was over, he hurriedly ran home. He was eager to start researching the technique for cutting and planting spiritual trees.
However, upon arriving home, he immediately sensed someone in the Rubik's Cube Formation and furrowed his brows deeply. Who was trespassing in the middle of the night?
Irritated, he checked on the people trapped in the formation, but when he noticed that two of them were emitting the aura of Spiritual Sea Stage Gu Masters, his expression changed instantly.
"There are actually strong Spiritual Sea cultivators visiting? I can’t afford to provoke them; better to leave them trapped inside."
With that, he ignored the few people in the formation who were nearly driven mad and quickly walked towards the mountain peak.
...
By this time, it was already deep into the night, inside the clan leader's pavilion.
"How is the interrogation going?" Long Wanli asked grimly, his face dark.
The Ten Elders showed signs of exhaustion and replied helplessly, "After investigating all night, it’s clear that he was responsible for both the destruction of the formation and Long Chen’s death. He did indeed collude with the Hun Clan to bring the enemy upon us."
"We found his letters on the corpses of the Hun Clan Gu Masters. The evidence is irrefutable, and there’s no chance of overturning the case."
"Just as we suspected, his motive was to obtain more Divine Dragon Milk Sap for his Evil Dragon Emperor Eye, but we still haven’t found where he hid the broken branch. He adamantly denies it."
"This guy is incredibly stubborn, still holding onto a shred of hope. He won’t admit anything unless we present the evidence right before his eyes. If we hadn’t found his letters in the Hun Clan’s storage bags, he would still be denying his collusion with the foreign clan."
Long Wanli slammed the table heavily, his eyes burning with rage. He roared, "That treacherous scum, and he still dares to be stubborn? If he didn’t do it, why would he pretend to be dead?"
"No need to search further. Even if we found the Sacred Tree branch, it’s impossible to reattach it. Go ahead and subject him to the insect punishment. If I don’t tear him to pieces, I won’t be able to vent the fury in my heart!"
In his anger, Long Wanli had lost his usual composure and was intent on torturing Long Chao to death with the most brutal punishment.
"And what about Long Chao’s Evil Dragon Emperor Eye? Under my pressure, he’s already severed the blood contracts with all his Gu insects," the Ten Elders cautiously inquired.
Long Wanli gradually calmed down and, after suppressing his anger, said, "His Evil Dragon Emperor Eye contains a divine Soul Seed, which is extremely valuable to the clan."
"Long Ziyan was the champion of this year’s Gu Battle Tournament. I think we should reward her with the Evil Dragon Emperor Eye as the champion’s prize."
"The ability of this Evil Dragon Emperor Eye is identical to hers, both possessing a rare Soul Seed. Let her use the second Evolution route of the Evil Dragon Emperor Eye to achieve a perfect transformation."
"Once the Soul Seed undergoes a perfect Evolution, it will be truly terrifying. Our clan will undoubtedly produce a super-strong individual in the future."
The Ten Elders nodded in agreement, "I had the same thought. Long Chao’s betrayal has already served as a wake-up call for us. Although I have great faith in Long Ziyan, it’s best to eliminate any uncertainties."
Long Wanli, still feeling a lingering fear, added, "This kind of thing has happened more than once in our clan’s history. There were even times when the clan suffered heavy losses, nearly facing extinction."
"It wasn’t until recently, as the world’s spiritual energy gradually depleted, that the materials for refining the Evil Dragon Emperor Eye disappeared on a large scale. With the diminished materials, the Evil Dragon Emperor Eye has rarely awakened its heaven-defying abilities, so such incidents haven’t occurred anymore."
"I never expected that during my time as the clan leader, such a thing would still happen. It’s my fault for relaxing my vigilance in this regard, despite being well-versed in clan history, almost leading to disaster."
Long Wanli’s face suddenly appeared much older, and he sighed, "As for the rest of Long Chao’s Gu insects, let’s store them in the Treasure Hall as contributions."
"But I doubt many people would want a traitor’s Gu insects, so let’s lower the contribution points a bit."
Changing the subject, Long Wanli continued, "Let’s not dwell on this matter anymore. What’s done is done. Record this incident in the clan’s history, so future generations can learn from it. We must look forward."
"Now, go and summon Long Ao for me. I want to ask him how confident he is in refining the Black Dragon Pill. The Black Dragon Pill is the most suitable for advancing the Long Clan’s bloodline. If we can refine it ourselves, even if it consumes a massive amount of materials due to failures, it’s still better than buying it from outsiders."
"Cultivating a second Gu King is the most urgent task for our clan now."
"Understood, I’ll go summon him right away." The Ten Elders, also filled with anticipation at the thought, immediately headed towards Long Lao’s (Red Jade) Hongyu Peak.
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