Chapter 499: Your Majesty!
The Blood Gu Sect was located deep within a towering mountain range, surrounded by cliffs as sharp as blades, so steep they were breathtaking. Only a narrow path, not wide enough for two people to walk abreast, led directly to the Blood Gu Sect's main headquarters on the mountaintop.
In Southern Xinjiang, the Blood Gu Sect was so feared that children would stop crying at the mention of its name. Its reputation was woven into the very fabric of the land, a shadow that stretched across generations. A local nursery rhyme, sung in hushed tones by mothers to their frightened children, warned that the Blood Gu Sect was more terrifying than the most vengeful of ghosts, and its Gu Masters were crueler than the most bloodthirsty demons from the deepest hells.
But for hundreds of years since its establishment, the Blood Gu Sect had stood unyielding against all who dared to challenge it. Countless heroes, sects, and vengeful wanderers had sought to eradicate this venomous tumor from the face of Southern Xinjiang. They came with righteous fury and sworn oaths, but they all ended the same way—suffering disastrous defeats and meeting gruesome, horrifying deaths. The mountain path leading to the sect was rumored to be paved not with stone, but with the bones of their enemies.
The Blood Gu Sect's power was incredibly fearsome, a foundation built on generations of dark arts and absolute cruelty. It wasn't just a collection of crazed hermits; it was a structured and lethal organization. For generations, it had been overseen by Heavenly Gu Masters, terrifying existences who had reached the Heavenly Human Unity realm, their command over their parasitic arts bordering on the divine. Beneath them, a legion of no less than two or three dozen Great Gu Masters and Gu Masters—cultivators whose strength was equivalent to Martial Dao Grandmasters—enforced the sect's iron will.
Even the lowliest Gu Disciples, the grunts of the sect, were not to be trifled with. They were all skilled in the basic Gu arts, capable of unleashing swarms of insects that could make even a peak Xiantian expert—a master of the Innate Realm—suffer unbearable pain, their bodies twisting in agony until they literally died from the sheer torment.
The methods of the Gu Masters were insidious beyond imagination. Their Gu worms, some as tiny and imperceptible as motes of dust, could enter a victim's body through a simple breath or seep in through the pores of their skin. Once inside, they would latch onto the bloodstream, flowing through the Meridians like a malignant current. They would infest the internal organs, burrow into the limbs, and begin their ghastly work of gnawing on flesh and blood from the inside out. The pain was an all-consuming fire, a torment that far surpassed the torture of being cut into a thousand pieces or the slow, methodical agony of being sliced to death. It was a living nightmare that attacked the body and shattered the soul.
Moreover, the variety of Gu worms was as vast as it was horrifying. They came in a myriad of forms, each with its own unique and cruel purpose. Some Gu worms could make a person feel as if they were being consumed by a raging inferno, their skin blistering and their blood boiling in their veins. Others could plunge a victim into the depths of a frozen hell, making them feel as if they had fallen into an arctic ice cellar, their every cell crystallizing in agony. Their only common traits were their terrifying efficiency and bizarre, unnatural nature.
Because of this, even a powerful Martial Dao Grandmaster who provoked the Blood Gu Sect would inevitably be brought down, killed by a host of bizarre and terrifying Gu worms until they died a miserable, undignified death. Experts at the Heavenly Human Unity level, titans of the martial world, would not easily provoke the strange and unpredictable Blood Gu Sect unless it was for a blood feud that could not be ignored.
The sect operated without a shred of morality. They had no concept of sparing the innocent. If you provoked a member of the Blood Gu Sect, their retribution would not fall upon you alone. They would hunt down your family, your friends, your clan—everyone you held dear would pay the price.
A cautionary tale often told in Southern Xinjiang spoke of a Martial Dao Grandmaster known for his chivalry, Hu Xiao of the Tiger Roar Fist. Disgusted by the Blood Gu Sect's indiscriminate killing of innocents, he intervened during one of their "hunts" and forcefully repelled their members, saving a small village from annihilation.
As a result, that very night, a Great Gu Master from the Blood Gu Sect struck. Countless terrifying and horrifying Gu worms, a dense, chittering swarm that blotted out the moonlight, silently descended upon Hu Xiao's home. The swarm plunged his entire family—the old and the young, his wife and his children, even the two loyal dogs in his courtyard—into a purgatory of unimaginable pain. Their miserable screams echoed through the hills for an entire night before they finally, mercifully, died.
From that day forward, the people of Southern Xinjiang grew even more terrified of the Blood Gu Sect. They dared not speak out, even in anger, for fear that the same fate would befall them.
And at this moment, amidst the intertwining shadows of the night and the flickering blaze of torches, a fierce, desperate battle was raging at the very heart of the Blood Gu Sect's headquarters.
A group of individuals clad in stark black, using the deep cover of night, had somehow bypassed the sect's deadly defenses and infiltrated their main compound. Now, they were slaughtering everyone in their path with cold, brutal efficiency.
The alarm was raised, and the Blood Gu Sect members, stirred from their complacency, exploded with rage. Three thousand ordinary sect disciples, brandishing crude weapons and fueled by fury, swarmed out. They were followed by several hundred Gu Disciples, their hands already filled with clay pots and bamboo tubes teeming with venomous insects. Behind them, the true powers of the sect—two or three dozen Gu Masters and Great Gu Masters—emerged from the various Miao villages, their faces grim masks of murder. The night sky instantly filled with a buzzing, clicking cloud of countless Gu worms, a living tide of black death that swarmed towards the invaders.
"Hehehe, daring to launch a night raid on my Blood Gu Sect? Do you truly believe our centuries of unyielding dominance in Southern Xinjiang is merely an empty reputation?"
An old, hunched elder cackled, his voice like grinding stones. He was clad in a blood-red robe that seemed to drink the firelight, and his frame was withered and bent with age. This was Miao He, the Great Elder of the Blood Gu Sect, a terrifying existence at the Peak of the Heavenly Gu Master realm. It was this very man who, with a single, ruthless strike, had caused the complete annihilation of Grandmaster Hu Xiao's entire family in one night.
"Miao He, die!"
A warrior burst from the black-clad ranks. He was a mountain of a man, tall and impossibly burly, wielding a massive beheading saber that looked like it could cleave a horse in two. He charged forward like an ancient general leading a desperate assault, his presence a vortex of pure killing intent. The beheading saber in his hands was a blur of motion, rising and falling with unstoppable force. Whether it was an ordinary disciple, a venom-flinging Gu Disciple, or even a hardened Gu Master, none could withstand a single strike from his blade. They were simply cut in two, their bodies cleaved apart in a spray of blood and gore.
Under the razor-sharp glint of his saber, the air grew thick with the coppery scent of blood. His imposing might was astonishing, like a starving tiger finally let loose upon a flock of sheep. He was clearly a Martial Dao Grandmaster, and his saber skills were exquisite, honed to a razor's edge of lethality!
"Wu He, it's actually you. Do you also have the guts to act against my Blood Gu Sect?" Seeing this muscular and imposing black-clad middle-aged man, Miao He, the Great Elder, scoffed, his voice dripping with condescension.
He knew this man. Wu He was a Saber Dao Grandmaster of some renown in Southern Xinjiang. He had once been sworn brothers with Hu Xiao of the Tiger Roar Fist. But when Hu Xiao's family was mercilessly slaughtered, Wu He had made no move, earning him nothing but disdain and mockery from the martial arts world. Miao He had never taken him seriously. In his eyes, Wu He was a coward. If he had dared to act back then, his family would have met the same end.
He just hadn't expected that this same Wu He, who had cowered in the shadows for twenty long years, would actually dare to lead an assault on the Blood Gu Sect's headquarters. 'He's truly seeking death,' Miao He thought with a cruel smirk. 'If this noise disturbs the Sect Master's rest, it will be a capital offense.'
Without another word, Miao He, the Great Elder, launched a ferocious attack. He brandished a bone staff, crafted from some bizarre, twisted leg bone, and began to mutter a guttural incantation. With a final, strange cackle, he pointed the staff directly at Wu He.
Instantly, the skull-like head of the bone staff pulsed with a sickening red light. A swarm of tiny, blood-colored Gu worms poured out, their wings vibrating in a single, high-pitched thrum. They moved as one, a living cloud of crimson death that shot towards Wu He.
These blood-colored Gu worms were notoriously fast and possessed the terrifying ability to penetrate a martial artist's protective True Essence Qi. In the blink of an eye, they completely enveloped Wu He, a swirling vortex of red that surged into his body through his mouth, his nose, and every pore on his skin.
"Hehehehe, how can a martial artist brute possibly compare to the profound power of a Gu Master?" A flash of disdain and utter contempt glinted in Miao He's cloudy old eyes. As a Great Gu Master, he held no regard for any Martial Dao Grandmaster. He possessed a hundred different methods to kill them, each more agonizing than the last.
In his experience, unless one reached the legendary Heavenly Human Unity realm—where one's essence, qi, and spirit underwent a fundamental, qualitative change, where the body's True Essence was a perfect, seamless barrier, and the internal organs pulsed with the power of dragons and tigers—most Gu worms were an unstoppable death sentence. Only a very select, powerful few could affect a being of that caliber.
Only when facing an expert of that level would Miao He, a Great Gu Master at his peak, show even a hint of apprehension.
An ordinary Martial Dao Grandmaster, even one like Wu He, who was also at the peak of his realm, was nothing in his eyes. He didn't even register as a threat.
'With these blood-colored Gu worms entering his body, gnawing at his flesh and devouring his organs, this Martial Dao Grandmaster will surely die a miserable death!' he mused with grim satisfaction.
"Die!"
But the next moment, an earth-shattering roar exploded from within the blood-colored cloud of Gu worms, a sound so powerful it seemed to shake the very mountain.
Immediately after, to Miao He's utter disbelief, shock, and dawning horror, the Saber Dao Grandmaster, Wu He, burst directly out of the swarm of blood-colored Gu. He was seemingly, impossibly, completely unaffected. A gleaming arc of saber light, swift as lightning, slashed through the air. It caught the unprepared Miao He completely off guard, cutting him diagonally from his right shoulder down to his waist, splitting him into two gruesome halves.
"How… how is this possible…?"
The powerful vitality of a Great Gu Master meant Miao He hadn't died instantly. His cloudy old eyes widened in disbelief, staring at the blood-soaked figure of Wu He. How could he not have been affected by his carefully cultivated, deadly blood-colored Gu worms? This was impossible!
Wu He was definitely not a martial arts titan at the Heavenly Human Unity level. What in the world was going on?
With a savage tearing sound, Wu He ripped open the upper garment of his black uniform. His expression was a mask of both immense pain and unyielding resolve as he stared down at his profusely bleeding enemy, a booming, triumphant laugh erupting from his chest.
"Because I, your father, am no longer just a Martial Artist now."
"You…!"
Miao He's eyes widened further, staring in absolute shock at the scene before him. Wu He's entire upper body was covered in strange, bluish-black patterns. They spread across his skin like a spiderweb of ink, outlining a vast and bizarre image. It was a terrifying entity, a demonic god roaring silently towards the heavens, its form a tapestry of agony and power.
But as Wu He retracted his True Essence, the strange, glowing patterns faded, disappearing back into his skin.
Miao He's gaze shot around the chaotic battlefield, and his face, already pale from blood loss, turned ashen with horror. He saw it now. The other black-clad invaders, just like Wu He, were completely unaffected by the swarms of Gu worms the Blood Gu Sect disciples were desperately unleashing. They moved through the venomous clouds like ghosts, their blades cutting down the unprepared and terrified Blood Gu Sect experts, who were being utterly routed!
In a single, shocking instant, the Blood Gu Sect—the monstrous power that had dominated Southern Xinjiang for centuries, the unyielding titan that had stood against all challengers—was collapsing, routed and utterly defeated!
Miao He watched this scene, his mind a maelstrom of bewilderment, confusion, unwillingness, and incandescent fury, before his world finally faded to black and he took his last breath!
"Old beast, dying like this is too easy for you!" Wu He snarled, kicking Miao He's severed head away like a piece of trash. A surge of profound relief washed through his chest, a great and terrible satisfaction. Twenty years of simmering enmity, twenty years of living with the memory of his sworn brother Hu Xiao's entire family screaming as they died, twenty years of enduring the mockery and contempt of the world—all of it had finally come to a bloody conclusion.
"Thanks to Your Excellency's great kindness and benevolence, Wu He will surely serve to the death!"
"Hmph!"
Just then, a cold snort, sharp and clear, seemed to explode right beside his ear. Immediately after, a figure clad in a seven-colored robe suddenly appeared before Wu He. Wu He's expression changed drastically, his full power erupted, and he slashed out with his meticulously forged beheading saber...
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