Chapter 66 Tie Clan

Wan Cheng Mountain, Tie Clan City.

Inside the ancestral hall, rows of memorial tablets stood in solemn silence. The Tie Clan Ancestral Hall was itself a mortal Gu House constructed from a large number of Gu, including several Rank Five Gu, giving it extremely powerful defenses.

Throughout the five regions, almost every clan maintained an ancestral hall, regardless of its size. Even the sects of the Central Continent had similar places where they honored the predecessors who had contributed greatly to their sects.

The Tie Clan had gone so far as to construct its ancestral hall as a Gu House because it contained more than the memorial tablets of deceased clansmen. It also housed Gu connected to important living members of the clan.

These Gu could reveal whether the person they represented was alive or dead, allowing the clan to immediately learn if something happened to them. Since the ancestral hall was also tied to the Tie Clan’s history and prestige, its protection could not be neglected. The clan had therefore spared no expense in turning it into a heavily defended Gu House.

A Gu House was a structure created using one or more Gu. The simplest could be formed from a single Gu. One common example was the Three Star Cave often used by merchant caravans.

After a logistics Gu Master planted this Rank Three Wood Path Gu Worm and supplied it with primeval essence, it rapidly grew into a huge tree. Its hollow trunk contained three chambers arranged vertically, while its bark provided much stronger protection than an ordinary tent.

Gu Houses constructed from many Gu were far more complicated. By combining different Gu, they could possess numerous abilities, while their defenses greatly surpassed those of structures formed from a single Gu. Even if damaged, they could often be repaired by replacing the destroyed Gu. Some could also combine the power of their Gu to unleash attacks comparable to killer moves of the same rank.

However, constructing such a Gu House was extremely difficult. Every Gu Worm had to be arranged correctly and work together without conflict. An ordinary Gu Master might succeed only two or three times in a hundred attempts.

Gu Masters skilled in Formation Path or Rule Path had much higher chances of success, but even they could not construct a complex Gu House easily.

The cost was equally astonishing. Depending on its size and complexity, a Gu House could require anywhere from hundreds of thousands to tens of millions of primeval stones. The signature mortal Gu Houses of some super clans could even cost close to a hundred million primeval stones.

Therefore, only super forces possessed the wealth and resources to forge such formidable Gu Houses as enduring symbols of their power. The most renowned examples were the Tie Clan’s Demon Suppression Tower, the Shang Clan’s Shang Clan City, and the Yi Clan’s Angry Sea Submerging Sands.

“Oh no! Several Soul Lamp Gu and Life Tablet Gu have shattered! Could it be…”

A startled cry suddenly broke the silence of the ancestral hall.

The Tie Clan Ancestral Hall contained Life Tablet Gu, Soul Lamp Gu, and Blood Rope Gu corresponding to its clansmen. The first two were relatively common, while Blood Rope Gu was much rarer. After all, it involved bloodlines, and even among righteous clans, only a small number would choose to use such methods.

At the altars belonging to several Rank Three and Rank Four Gu Masters, multiple Life Tablet Gu had already shattered into fragments resembling broken wooden chips. Beside them lay several destroyed Soul Lamp Gu, their ladybug-like bodies cracked and lifeless, no longer emitting their faint pale-blue flames.

The simultaneous destruction of the Life Tablet Gu and Soul Lamp Gu meant only one thing: the Gu Masters bound to them had died, and their souls had already returned to the Door of Life and Death.

“This… this is Tie Ju’s Life Tablet Gu?” The Gu Master guarding the ancestral hall stared at the fragments in disbelief. “He was a Rank Three peak-stage expert capable of contending with a Rank Four Gu Master. How could he have died? Who dares kill a member of our Tie Clan?!”

The old Gu Master was named Tie Guan. His temples had already turned gray with age, while his calloused hands resembled the rough bark of an ancient tree. Holding the shattered fragments, his face gradually filled with grief. He had watched Tie Ju grow up and had personally witnessed how hard that child had worked to reach his current position. Yet now, Tie Ju had died before him, leaving an old man with white hair to mourn someone of the younger generation.

“No. I must inform the clan leader and Lord Tie Xue Leng immediately. We cannot allow the sons and daughters of our Tie Clan to sacrifice their lives in vain!”