North Ghu Inheritance Opens

Today, the legendary inheritance ground would open once again.

Factions from all across the Northern province sent their best, battle-hardened disciples to temper themselves and test their luck inside. There were also those who travelled from further South, but these were mostly the Ghu Clansmen coming from their other territories.

Tempering youngsters through danger and hardship was the Ghu Clan's philosophy, so it was only natural that they would send many of their younger clansmen to this place. There was no such thing as a Ghu Clan Elder with weak battle power, or an elder who lacked experience. Each and every single clansman who managed to cultivate to Rank 4 was not only a powerful warrior, but also a ruthless individual who knew what it took to survive in this world.

Such figures could be seen all around this ordinary looking grassland, just two miles West of North Ghu Lake. There were also scores of lower realm cultivators, but almost all of them were either hiding their auras, or attached to a group supervised by an elder level figure.

Whilst a high layer Qi Temple Realm cultivator wasn't weak, it would be difficult for someone like this to enter the inheritance alone, without some sort of affiliation. The various elders wouldn't allow these sorts of threats to freely enter the inheritance…they basically had three options; join a group, leave, or die.

Anyone below the Qi Temple Realm was also pressured to join a group, but their measly power wasn't a threat to the participants, so they wouldn't be chased away or killed. Still, when faced with the overbearing pressure of a Spirit Core Realm elder, most chose to submit, lowering their heads in resignation and they joined a group silently.

The Ghu Clan formed a group of their own, dead centre in the middle of the huge sea of cultivators. The group as a whole emitted a gloomy, threatening aura. An unhidden, unrestrained killing intent freely spread out, dissuading anyone who had the thought of approaching them.

In total, there were around 300 Ghu Clan participants this time, with over 200 of them travelling from other clan branches. This was a much larger group than they usually sent, causing Yaan to have a few thoughts of his own.

He had no doubt that this was the city lord's doing, but the Ghu Clan Grand Elder's intention was unclear…

"Nadda…" Yaan leaned towards the ghoulish young man and nudged him. "The Ghu Clan forbids killing amongst ourselves within the inheritance, but how likely is it that everyone will stick to this rule?"

"Oh, so you were worried about that…" Ghu Nadda nodded understandingly. He then smiled wryly and shook his head.

"Nobody will kill a group member if there will be surviving witnesses….that's all you can be certain of…"

Yaan sighed and gave a nod. He expected as much. Looking around at this group, this supposedly unified clan…despite all standing together, very few people spoke to one another, stood near others, or even looked at their fellow clansmen. They acted extremely distant, and in reality, many of them didn't actually know any of their peers personally.

At most, there were some pairs or small groups, people that clearly trusted one another and considered themselves a true group. Such trust was rare amongst demons, it could only be obtained after proving that you were worthy of being trusted.

Even Yaan didn't fully trust Ghu Nadda, nor did he trust Nadda's great grandfather, the Peak Demon Core Realm elder in charge of organising the Ghu Clan for this trip.

Yaan always thought that Ghu Jishi was quite mysterious. Yaan was quite familiar with the ghoul, vampiric and fiend races by now, but this demonic race elder didn't seem to belong to one of these three. Well, everyone had their secrets, and the longer a cultivator lived, the more secrets they would accumulate.

As for the city lord…they had a relationship of mutual benefits at this point, so they were able to get along well enough. However, Yaan didn't doubt that the old demon would kill him in a heart beat if there was reason enough to do so. Luckily, the city lord swore in the poison oath that he would not harm Yaan, and nor would he send others to harm him.

Time passed by and the size of the crowd reached its peak. There were now just ten minutes remaining until the inheritance opening. This opening occurred on the same day, at the same time, every decade without fail. Because of this consistency, nobody would arrive late.

Yaan knew that there should be some individuals from the Greenwood Mountain Range here too. However, not only was he stood in the middle of the Ghu Clan group and hidden from view, but he was also wearing the improved bamboo hat which hid his appearance and distorted his aura. This slight distortion wasn't obvious, but it was sufficient to make him feel unfamiliar to people who knew him.

Wearing such an appearance disguising treasure was nothing unusual in a large-scale gathering such as this, and it looked ordinary at a glance.

Those from the Northern factions were currently even more wary of the Ghu Clan than usual, opting to keep their distance. The destruction of the Yuso Clan was no small matter, and now, with the Ghu Clan reinforcements arriving at their new Northern territory, they had joined together with the other eight factions in order to finally defeat the beast tide.

Because of this, the eight factions were very busy, so they didn't send many participants to enter the inheritance. The young geniuses from the Northern border were some of the top competition that the Ghu Clan clansmen faced in the inheritance. With so many of the Northern cultivators withdrawing from this inheritance opening, the Ghu Clan faced substantially less pressure than usual.

Yaan was allying himself with the Ghu Clan group, so he was naturally pleased about this. He had hoped that things would turn out this way, giving him less competition in the inheritance, but it worked out even better than he had anticipated!

It was possible that he had overestimated how much most factions valued the inheritance. It opened every ten years, not to mention that nobody had ever returned from the 4th stage since its appearance 1,800 years ago, so missing one opening wasn't a big deal to them.

As the time for the opening drew closer, the crowd became deathly silent. Some of the elders wore serious gazes as they stared towards a certain location. This location was an opening within the Ghu Clan crowd, measuring around 100 feet across. This entire area was quite noticeable, because it was the only area that lacked any greenery on the ground. Instead, it was covered only by an unknown smooth black material.

VRRMMM…

A buzzing sound rang out, releasing a deep vibration through the air. This attracted everyone's attention, causing all eyes to land on the area above the smooth black flooring.

Yaan blinked and rubbed his eyes, then looked onwards in shock, realising that he wasn't just seeing things. The reason that he was caught off guard, was because despite him staring at that area, the inheritance opening had simply appeared at some point without him noticing!

Its arrival wasn't flashy, but after it appeared, nobody present could take their eyes away from the tattered stone archway. This archway, built into the smooth black ground, emitted an ancient aura, an aura that reflected the passage of time, as if it had existed through countless generations and could only be eroded by the exceedingly long periods of time.

The grey stone arch was a dozen or so feet wide, and slightly taller than it was wide. There were no doors within the archway, only a shimmering red membrane. At a glance, the membrane appeared to be transparent, but when you looked closely, it became obvious that nothing could actually be seen past its surface.

Nobody could see anything beyond membrane. In the last 1,800 years, nobody had ever seen anything beyond the membrane…

That is, nobody except for Yaan.

As soon as the stone archway mysteriously appeared, Yaan could already see something that nobody else present was able to see. A green chain extended out from the membrane within the arch, stretching through the crowd with its illusory form, all the way up to his body. Yaan was stunned for a moment, dragging his gaze downwards and along the chain, until he found himself staring at his own chest.

For a brief moment, he felt a sense of alarm, because the illusory green chain had wrapped itself around his body!

However, in his shock, Yaan blinked. He rubbed his eyes and looked around uncertainly, but to his bewilderment, he found that the illusory green chain was nowhere to be seen. Even more strangely, it was evident that aside from himself, nobody else had seen it!

Yaan looked around some more, but no matter how hard he searched, he couldn't find a single trace of the green chain. In the end, he sighed, shaking his head and turning back towards the stone arch.

'Was it an illusion…? So strange…'

The ancient aura exuded by this stone archway stunned all those who were seeing it for the first time. The elders who were familiar with the gate remained calm, but they quickly began using their various methods, trying to analyse this gate without wasting any time.

Not only was the inheritance a chance for younger cultivators to earn a great fortune, but the gate itself was an opportunity for the elders to study a mysterious and powerful construct! The gate would only remain in this place for one day, they didn't want to waste a single second of this opportunity that only came around once every ten years!

"Lets go. Elder Jishi, we will return triumphant." A youngish looking man turned towards Nadda's great grandfather and clasped his hands. Following his confident words, he calmly walked directly into the gate without so much as waiting for a response. He carried with him an air of calm confidence, whilst his expression and inner thoughts were impossible to discern.

This person was Ghu Lin, the designated leader of the entire Ghu Clan exploration party this time. This was the second time that Ghu Lin was entering this inheritance, the first time being ten years earlier at the last opening. Back then, he was only a recently advanced 1st Layer Qi Temple Realm clansman, he had been quite ordinary within the Ghu Clan.

Supposedly, Ghu Lin had experienced a fortuitous encounter nine years earlier, somehow managing to increase his cultivation talent itself! He was now at the 6th Layer Qi Temple Realm, making him the strongest Ghu Clansman to enter this time!

Anyone who could reach the 6th Layer would be respected by their peers and valued by their faction, no matter how long they took to reach this point.

It was already considered good to reach the 4th Layer before attempting the Spirit Core Realm ascension. The 5th Layer was quite rare, whilst cultivators who reached the 6th Layer only appeared once or twice per generation, even in the Ghu Clan!

As for the 7th Layer, such a level could only be reached with a mixture of talent, hard work, lucky encounters, rare resources, and obsession. These individuals couldn't be nourished, only appearing by chance extremely rarely. When it came to the 8th and 9th Layers…no such genius had ever appeared in the Ghu Province, or at least, there were no records of anyone having obtained such an incredible foundation.

The hundreds of Ghu Clansmen silently followed after Ghu Lin. None of the other factions showed any discontent about the Ghu Clan entering first. It had always been like this, nobody dared to dispute it.

The Ghu Clan was a demonic clan, they didn't care if others thought they were too overbearing, or if people said they were bullying the weak. The Ghu Clan was the most powerful faction in the province, there was no doubt about this, and they had a history of destroying anyone who openly opposed them, without a shred of mercy or hesitation.

If an elder from a smaller faction dared to express their discontent right now, there was a serious possibility that their entire faction would be annihilated within a single week. It wouldn't be the first instance of this happening, though it had been a while since the Ghu Clan had acted so overbearingly…until the recent destruction of the Yuso Clan.

The North Ghu City Lord was entirely willing to destroy the Yuso Clan for this reason. The near instant destruction of the Yuso Clan reminded the province of the Ghu Clan's overbearing power, and their ruthless nature which left no room for mercy.

And so, the Ghu Clansmen, their guests, and the thousands of Ghu Clan 'affiliates', entered before anyone else. Some people threw looks of pity towards the ignorant 'affiliates'. These people were simply pawns, and they…were almost certainly heading to their deaths.

Soon enough, the Ghu Clan group disappeared into the stone archway. As each person walked through the red membrane, they simply vanished. Nobody knew exactly where the inheritance challengers went, or where the inheritance itself was based. Even after 1,800 years, they were unable to find the truth.

It wasn't long before Yaan followed the Ghu Clansmen into the depths beyond the ancient archway. Just like that, Yaan disappeared from these grassy plains. After a few more minutes, everyone who planned to enter, had entered. A maximum of 10,000 people could enter the inheritance with each opening, and after the last person phased through the membrane, it lost its lustre, transforming from red to grey.

As soon as the last person entered the inheritance and the membrane turned dull, a never seen before phenomenon tore through the sky above the stone archway. This caught everyone below completely off guard, because in the past 1,800 years of openings, nothing like this had ever happened before!

SCREEE!

A horrendous screeching noise reverberated through the lands as a giant black tear in space split open the sky itself! The crack rapidly expanded, exerting a terrific force on the lands and the shocked cultivators below.

BANG!

In an instant, hundreds of cultivators had their bodies torn apart by the extreme force! Some were blown backwards as their bodies were torn to shreds and their dismembered corpses scattered far and wide. Others were torn limb from limb as they were dragged up from the ground, helplessly pulled into the black crack, before disappearing into the darkness as their screams of pain and death resonated through the air.

Just as suddenly as it appeared, the fatal phenomenon vanished.

The casualties were horrifying. The scene on the grassy plains was like nothing that anyone could have anticipated merely seconds earlier. Everyone who survived this unexpected crisis turned to one another in shock and fear, struggling to comprehend what exactly had just happened.