《The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear Gu》


 Chapter 1

    In the endless darkness, Long Xuan woke up in shock from a dream.


    "Where is this?"


    He looked around in confusion, his brows furrowed.


    What he saw was a cluttered bedroom with a musty smell lingering in the air.


    When his eyesnded on a bronze mirror on the table, the reflection of a handsome fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy appeared in his vision.


    He quickly realized that he had transmigrated. Soon, a flood of unfamiliar memories surged into his mind, further confirming his suspicion.


    This was a strange world simr to one of cultivation, with pills, artifacts, formations, talismans, beast taming, insect control, sword control, puppetry...


    The boy practiced Gu insect cultivation and lived in a region inhabited by other Gu cultivators. People in this area gained powerful strength by raising and refining Gu insects.


    A Gu, as it was called, involved cing different types of spiritual insects in a container and letting them kill each other.Over time, there was a chance that a more powerful new insect species would emerge.


    These new insect species, born from this method, were called Gu insects. Gu insects could not reproduce and could only be obtained through refining.


    Depending on the types and quantities of spiritual insects in the container, there were countlessbinations.


    Differentbinations produced different Gu insects, varying in shape, strength, and abilities, some bizarre and unpredictable.


    Broadly, they could be categorized into two types: external Gu, which wererger and used for externalbat, and internal Gu, which were smaller and could parasitize the Gu cultivator''s body, providing the cultivator with various miraculous abilities like breathing fire and summoning lightning. Internal Gu offered numerous abilities by growing within the cultivator''s body and feeding off its nutrients.


    Some internal Gu were harmful rather than beneficial to the cultivator and could be secretly ced in an enemy''s food, making them hard to detect and almost impossible to guard against. Those affected would often die as the Gu ate their internal organs.


    It was noteworthy that manybinations failed to produce Gu insects, and those that did produce powerful Gu were extremely rare.


    Gu cultivators recorded sessfulbinations on paper, turning them into Gu recipes that could be passed down through generations.


    A Gu recipe was the foundation of a family''s enduring prosperity and their most important asset.


    Each family guarded their Gu recipes as treasures, never sharing them.


    Therefore, for ordinary people, learning Gu recipes was extremely difficult.


    The original owner of Long Xuan''s body was a poor, ordinary person working as aborer in a medicinal garden to earn a meager ie, with no opportunity to learn Gu recipes.


    The original owner, also named Long Xuan, was of low status, orphaned since childhood, and was born with a "golden finger," a typical protagonist trait.


    However, to the original owner, this golden finger seemed useless, leading to a life of poverty and struggle despite having it.


    Upon seeing these memories, Long Xuan couldn''t help but frown.


    A useless golden finger? Unheard of! After reading countless novels, it was the first time he''d encountered such a situation.


    This protagonist''s golden finger was not a system but merely the ability to see the growth of all things.


    This was its only function¡ªjust seeing, without the ability to alter anything. Apart from visualizing a number, it had no practical use.


    At first nce, it indeed seemed useless, as spiritual beasts and insects could have their growth assessed by their size, and there were many ways to determine the age of medicinal herbs. It didn''t really need his ability to identify them.


    Long Xuan fell into deep thought. ording to the memories, this ability allowed him to see the growth progress of all things in the world, not just living things.


    It seemed that any named entity, living or non-living, could have its growth progress seen.


    However, using the term "growth" for non-living things seemed inurate. Long Xuan preferred a modern term, calling it "progress" instead.


    While the original owner thought this ability was useless, Long Xuan disagreed. He believed this ability had great potential for development.


    There are no useless golden fingers, only useless hosts¡ªit all depended on the host''s creativity.


    As a transmigrator, creativity was something he didn''tck. Soon, many fantastic ideas appeared in his mind.


    He quickly got out of bed and went to the desk, taking out paper and a pen from the drawer. He wrote the characters "Gu Recipe" at the top of the paper and then listed a material called "Ghost Spider" below it.


    As expected, the paper showed a progress rate, but instead of the previous form of 10% or 20%, it disyed as numbers from his previous life. It was clear that the golden finger''s disy format was based on the host''s cognition.


    At this moment, a number "1.5%" appeared in his vision.


    Long Xuan pondered. ording to his guess, iplete recipes were also a kind of entity and could naturally have their progress seen.


    The progress of a Gu recipe evidently represented its degree ofpleteness.


    The moreplete the recipe, the higher the progress; the more iplete, the lower.


    However, a recipe missing only 1% could still be called iplete, as could one missing all but one material.


    Thus, it was simple. Faking an iplete recipe with just one material wouldn''t be difficult.


    He just needed to randomly guess a recipe with a visible progress rate and then continue writing down materials he thought were correct.


    If the progress disappeared, it meant the guess was wrong, and he would erase it and try another material.


    If the progress increased, it meant the guess was right, and he could continue guessing.


    Once he reached 100%, it meant he had sessfully created aplete Gu recipe.


    He deliberately wrote down an insect species from his previous life on the paper and could still see the progress. This indicated that the golden finger''s standard for iplete recipes included those theoretically existing.


    In other words, he could create new Gu recipes with this golden finger, inventing Gu species that didn''t yet exist in this world.


    With no trial-and-error cost, researching Gu recipes only required paper and pen. Creating new Gu recipes was just a matter of time.


    Having two lifetimes of strong soul and highprehension,bined with his previous life as an entomologist, he was confident that he could use his past knowledge and creativity to develop extraordinary Gu recipes and shine in this world.


    Long Xuan was now extremely excited and full of expectations for the future. After studying his golden finger a while longer, he finally opened the door and headed to the medicinal garden where the original owner worked.


    Refining Gu required a significant amount of initial funds, and this medicinal garden might be his first source of wealth.


    The garden belonged to an old Gu cultivator named Long, whom outsiders called Elder Long.[1]


    Elder Long came from a Gu cultivator family named Long and was stationed in a vige called Great Stone Vige, protecting it from spirit beast invasions and demon cultivator bandits.


    In return, Great Stone Vige had to provide more than half of its food, including meat and eggs.


    There were countless viges under the control of the Long family.


    In this world, Gu cultivators didn''t farm. They only practiced cultivation, didn''t engage in production, and had enormous appetites. Their food supply came solely from various mortal viges.


    Gu cultivator families provided protection for mortal viges, and in return, the vigers provided food.


    The stronger the Gu cultivator family, the more viges they controlled, and wars between Gu families often involved capturing mortal viges.


    Great Stone Vige was arge vige with a poption of three thousand, having grown to its size due to a nearby market, the only one in the Far West.


    Because it was closest to the Long family, it became one of their protected viges.


    The Long family was one of the seven strongest Gu cultivator families in the Far West, and no one dared provoke them, so Great Stone Vige never experienced any raids.


    Such a safe environment was exactly what Long Xuan was satisfied with.


    Elder Long''s medicinal garden was vast, growing over a hundred types of spiritual herbs.


    The spiritual herbs were graded from one to ten, with higher grades being legendary Earth-grade and Heaven-grade.


    Despite its size, Elder Long''s garden only grew the lowest grade, first-grade spiritual herbs, and all of them were flowers, filling the garden with a rich floral fragrance.


    Following the instructions in his memories, Long Xuan carried a bucket of green liquid into the garden. The green liquid was fertilizer.


    Unlike stinky manure, this fertilizer had to be bought from a guild and was called ripening liquid by Long Xuan.


    Using ripening liquid on spiritual herbs could halve their growth period.


    Long Xuan was very interested in this ripening liquid, sniffing it closely as if trying to figure out itsponents.


    If ordinary ripening liquid could have such an effect, then advanced ripening liquid could possibly reduce the millennia-long growth period of spiritual herbs to mere centuries.


    He firmly believed that once he knew the form of this ripening liquid, he could apply his golden finger to develop an advanced ripening liquid.


    "Too bad I don''t have a microscope," Long Xuan sighed, shaking his head.


    Unable to make a microscope, he could only use his golden finger to achieve a simr capability. In this world where everyone used Gu, he felt it necessary to develop a Gu insect with this ability.


    After some more study, finding that the progress rate might represent the shelf life of the ripening liquid but nothing more, he gave up and nned to revisit the research once he had created a microscope-Gu.


    Long Xuanposed himself, scooping adle of ripening liquid onto a spiritual medicine called Moonlight Flower, increasing its growth from 17.1% to 17.2%.


    After a nce, he continued pouring a seconddle, seeing the progress rise from 17.2% to 17.3%.


    When he poured a thirddle, the progress remained unchanged.


    Long Xuan pondered and thought of the second function of the golden finger. To verify his suspicion, he continued to pour three consecutive scoops of the ripening liquid on another type of spiritual herb, and this time, there were three changes in progress.


    He tried pouring the fourth scoop, and only then did the progress stop increasing.


    "indeed, is that so?"


    Long Xuan showed an excited expression.


    ording to Elder Long''s instructions, he needed to water each spiritual herb with three scoops once every seven days.


    But now it seemed that the amount used was not precise, and perhaps the watering intervals were also not urate.


    The types of spiritual herbs were different, so the amount of ripening liquid naturally varied.


    Some spiritual herbs absorbed well and might need three scoops, while others might need just one scoop, and more than that could be counterproductive.


    There would also be significant differences in watering times; some needed watering every seven days, while others might need it every five days.


    The merchants could only estimate an approximate amount, and wastage was inevitable. To make more money, they might even exaggerate the required amount.


    However, Long Xuan could tailor the approach perfectly, using the precise amount for each type of spiritual herb and ensuring seamless timing in fertilizing.


    What does this mean? It means that without affecting the yield, he could embezzle a portion of the ripening liquid.


    It also means that under his extreme cultivation, the spiritual herbs would mature much faster than expected, naturally surpassing the previous yields within a certain period.


    ording to the original owner''s memory, Elder Long used the spiritual herbs in the medicine garden to pay sries. As long as the stipted amount was delivered on time, the extra yield would be his sry.


    The harder the original owner worked, the more he earned. If he waszy and the yield couldn''t meet the required amount, he would have to pay out of his own pocket.


    And Elder Long only cared about the results, not the process. He didn''t care how the original owner managed the medicine garden, and he had never inspected it, being in seclusion for many years.


    So, isn''t this the first bucket of gold?


    A smile appeared on Long Xuan''s face. The golden finger was indeed useful; not only was it not useless, but it was also somewhat extraordinary.


    The golden finger Is not a system but an bug.

 Chapter 2: "Eternal Life Sutra"

    For the next period, Long Xuan stayed in the medicine garden, studying the optimal amount and best intervals for applying the ripening liquid to each type of spiritual herb, recording the results on paper.


    The medicine garden housed over a hundred types of spiritual herbs, making this a long and arduous process. Fortunately, there was arge white hen in the garden to keep himpany, so it wasn''t too dull.


    This hen was originally bought for pest control. Just like crops need pesticides when they get pests, spiritual herbs also need pest control, for which one has to buy insecticide from the Chamber of Commerce.


    The original owner, left to his own devices by Elder Long, went wild in the herb garden and saved the spirit stones meant for insecticide powder to buy a hen instead.


    As it turned out, this was a stroke of luck. Chickens raised in rural areas have the ability to control pests in crops, something every viger knows, but that usually applies only to regr crops.


    The pests on spiritual herbs are not simple. Normally, a hen eating spiritual pests would not digest them and would instead be parasitized.


    However, this hen, after a period of lethargy, not only survived but evolved into a spirit hen, bing an expert in pest control. The original owner had good luck.


    At this moment, Long Xuan watched therge white hen strolling around the medicine garden, secretly amazed.


    The hen strutted confidently, with an imposing air, its head bobbing as it walked, eyes gleaming with intelligence, as if its IQ had also increased after evolving into a spirit hen.It scratched the ground and soon dug out arge fat insect, which it promptly swallowed.


    The progress bar on the hen''s head instantly changed from 99.3% to 99.4%, indicating it was nearing maturity.


    Seeing this, Long Xuan thoughtfully stroked his chin.


    The hen had eaten many things, but only a few fat insects affected its maturity.


    By observing these changes and feeding the spiritual hen different foods, he could determine which foods most benefited its growth, and formte a feed that could significantly shorten its maturation period.


    Long Xuan wasn¡¯t interested in making chicken feed. Instead, he thought of another application of his special ability: breeding spiritual insects.


    Breeding spiritual insects could be as profitable as cultivating spiritual herbs.


    Spiritual insects are used for refining Gu (a type of magical talisman), and the higher the maturity of the insect, the higher the sess rate of refining.


    Rare spiritual insects are exceedingly valuable and sought after, but few know how to breed them.


    Different Gu-cultivating families raise the same species of insect with varying growth times.


    Some families, with superior feed, could reduce the growth period of their spiritual insects by several timespared to others.


    This allowed them to dominate the market, undercuttingpetitors by reducing prices and achieving a monopoly.


    Discovering the best feed for a particr insect species could be extremely lucrative.


    Long Xuan quickly decided he wanted to start breeding a type of spiritual insect.


    Breeding Gu insects was even moreplex. The more powerful the Gu species, the longer its maturation period, with some taking thousands or even tens of thousands of years to mature, far exceeding the lifespan of Gu practitioners.


    However, thebat power of mature Gu insects far surpassed that of their immature forms,pelling Gu practitioners to find ways to shorten their maturation periods.


    The methods to breed a powerful Gu species were often more valuable than the Gu recipes themselves.


    Gu practitioners found it hard to breed Gu, often spending more resources on feeding them than refining them.


    Many practitioners went gray with worry and exhausted their resources trying to find methods to shorten the maturation periods of Gu insects.


    But Long Xuan had no such concerns. In the future, regardless of which Gu species he blood-bound, he could formte the perfect feed for it.


    Reducing the maturation period of a Gu species from ten thousand years to a hundred years or even less was not a dream. This was like having a cheat code, and Long Xuan was excited.


    "The optimal use of ripening liquid for each spiritual herb has almost been figured out. Using it as recorded, the output of this medicine garden can increase profits by another fifty percent."


    "With such high returns, I now have enough funds to refine my first Gu insect."


    Long Xuan clenched his fists excitedly, his eyes shining.


    In his excitement, he reached for the hen''s nest to grab a few spiritual eggs to celebrate.


    He was curious about the taste of these spiritual eggs, which were smooth, round, white, andrge, brimming with spiritual energy and nutrition. They looked delicious, making his mouth water.


    However, as soon as his sneaky hand touched the smooth eggs, the hen immediately sensed it and pecked at his hand aggressively.


    "shoo, shoo, how dare you..."


    ...


    Spring came and went, flowers bloomed and withered.


    A year passed in a sh, and the medicine garden was now a sea of colorful spiritual flowers, swaying with the wind and filling the air with a dreamlike fragrance.


    Next to the flower sea, Long Xuany on a rocking chair, with papers filled with Chinese characters and a cup of tea on the table beside him. He leisurely read a book, enjoying the breeze.


    His previously thin frame had filled out considerably over the year, likely due to eating too many spiritual eggs.


    Therge white hen was also plump and strong, patrolling the medicine garden for spiritual pests, which it devoured as soon as they appeared.


    Long Xuan had given it a resounding name. Influenced by his habit of calling chickens "Chicken bro" in games from his past life, he named it "Chicken bro" even though it was a hen.


    Having Brother Chicken around saved Long Xuan a lot of work, as it handled pest control and saved money on pesticides.


    For the hen, the garden was a buffet, providing ample nutrition and allowing it toy at least one egg a day, all of which ended up in Long Xuan''s belly.


    At the moment, he was reading a book titled "Eternal Life Sutra," a cultivation method for longevity.


    Longevity methods were widespread in this world, easily essible to all, and almost everyone had a copy.


    This dissemination was deliberate by Gu-cultivating families, intended to extend the lives of ordinary people so they could work longer and produce more food.


    The "Eternal Life Sutra" had ten levels, with each level extending lifespan by ten years.


    The original owner of Long Xuan''s body had poor cultivation aptitude and slow progress, but he was a prodigy in cultivating the widespread "Eternal Life Sutra."


    Gu cultivation levels were divided into Spirit Gathering stage, Marrow Cleansing Stage, Spiritual Sea stage, and Soul Projection stage from low to high.


    Each major realm was subdivided into Initial, Middle, Late, and Peak stages. The Soul Projection stage, being the highest in this region, was also called the Gu King.


    At fifteen or sixteen, the original owner was only at the initial stage of spirit gathering stage, indicating his average talent.


    This world, like traditional cultivation worlds, valued purity. The purer the attribute, the faster the cultivation speed.


    A single attribute was a heavenly-grade aptitude with the fastest cultivation speed, dual attributes were earth-grade, and so on.


    The original owner had five attributes: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. His aptitude wasn''t the worst, but it was ordinary, and as a scattered cultivator with no resources, slow progress was understandable.


    But where there are weaknesses, there are strengths. When one door closes, another opens.


    The original owner was poor in cultivation but had extraordinary talent in health-preserving methods.


    While other mortals struggled to reach the fifth level of the "Eternal Life Sutra" in their lifetime, he had reached the tenth level before adulthood, extending his lifespan by a hundred years.


    Long Xuan identally discovered that the progress bar of the "Eternal Life Sutra" was not at 100% but at a mere 10%.


    Driven by curiosity, he tried to continue writing the method ording to the previous pattern. Though hecked the ability to create techniques, he had a correction tool.


    If the progress disappeared, he had guessed wrong and would rewrite it; if it remained, he had guessed correctly and could continue.


    After a year of intensive effort, he sessfully extended it to twenty levels, with each level from the eleventh onward adding a hundred years of lifespan.


    How much each subsequent level added remained unknown¡ªmaybe a hundred, two hundred, or even more.


    However, a rare twenty-level technique showed only 20% progress, indicating severe ipleteness.


    He knew that in this world, the "Eternal Life Sutra" genuinely only had ten levels, and no technique exceeded ten levels in this region.


    Long Xuan felt a headache. It took a year to guess just 10% of the content, and the moreplex and profound it became, the longer it would take to extend further, beyond his current knowledge.


    He couldn''t imagine how long it would take toplete the "Eternal Life Sutra" to 100%¡ªhundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of years?

 Chapter 3: Far Western Market

    Long Xuan slowly set down the "Eternal Life Sutra," his expression somewhat distant. Isn''t the purpose of cultivation to attain immortality? If the "Eternal Life Sutra" could truly grant him thousands of years of life, then he would essentially achieve immortality, fulfilling the ultimate goal of cultivation, allowing him to retire peacefully.


    Of course, this was just a passing thought for him. Even if a mere ordinary person like him could achieve immortality, longevity might still be elusive.


    After all, this was a world where might was revered. The immediate priority should be refining the first Gu.


    In his previous life as an entomologist, he possessed a keen sense of integration among insects.


    In his view, gic fusion didn''t necessarily require the strongest pairings. For example, the lion and tiger, despite being the strongest on the surface, whenbined to produce the Liger, hadpromised overall abilities and extremely low immunity, making survival difficult.


    On the other hand, ants, though weak, could produce terrifying effects whenbined with certain species.


    Because he was an expert in the field, he conducted various forbidden experiments at no cost and created a Gu form that wasn''t particrly difficult.


    However, considering the initial shortage of funds for beginners, it was an extravagance to create a transcendent Gu.


    So the first Gu form he created was extremely cheap. But don''t be fooled by its low cost; Gu worms made from inexpensive materials might not necessarily be weak.His philosophy was that strongerbinations didn''t always result in greater strength. Utilizing genes from certain weaker insects could produce terrifying effects.


    In his previous life, centipedes, poisonous snakes, scorpions, spiders, and toads, though not insects, were ssified as such by Gu masters and used in Gu refinement.


    It was the same in this world. These five types of creatures were not only ssified as insects but also as the five strongest insect species, known as the Five Poisons in this world.


    As the strongest insect species, most Gu cultivators used the Five Poisons to refine Gu.


    Long Xuan had never heard of anyone using flies or caterpirs to refine Gu.


    Not because flies and caterpirs weren''t insects, but because these two types of insects were simply too weak.


    The reason Long Xuan''s Gu form was inexpensive was solely due to the use of these unpopr insect types.


    For example, cockroaches. Although cockroaches were weak inbat, the people of this world probably didn''t know that cockroaches were practically indestructible.


    Cockroaches could withstand pressures hundreds of times their own weight without injury, survive for months without food or water, and even regenerate limbs. Even if their heads were cut off, they could survive for nine days.


    In a ce where an atomic bomb exploded in a corner of his previous life, all living things died except for cockroaches, which survived, which was simply unreasonable.


    Cockroaches were not strong inbat, but in this world, there was a setting for internal Gu. By imnting a Gu worm in the body and feeding them with blood and spiritual energy, the Gu worms would reciprocate the host with magical powers, forming a symbiotic rtionship and mutual benefit.


    Can humans gain the immortality of cockroaches through this method?


    It is important to know that this world is a world with spiritual power, and all spirit insects have spiritual power. The cockroaches in this world are far more terrifying than those in the previous world, with all their data being pulled up. Once refined into Gu, the data will be further pulled up.


    Immortality in this magical world may not be a fantasy.


    So Long Xuan''s first task in this world was to study how to make humans have an immortal body.


    Considering that the ability to be born by various spiritual insects devouring each other was uncontroble and unpredictable.


    So when Long Xuan created the Gu form himself, he deliberately only wrote various types of cockroaches on it, so that the immortal genes of various types of cockroaches could be perfectly integrated.


    He didn''t think such a Gu form would give birth to other abilities.


    Now everything is ready except for the east wind. After a year of umtion, he has umted a lot of spiritual medicines, and he can get the funds to refine the first Gu as long as he sells them.


    Long Xuan stood up excitedly, he first went into the medicine garden, pulled out all the spiritual medicines with a 100% figure, put them into the storage bag, and rented them. He then hurried out.


    He was ready to take the spiritual medicine to the nearby Far Western Market and sell it. Today, he will try to refine Gu, and he can''t wait.


    It is worth mentioning that it is forbidden to kill for treasures in the Far Western Market and near the market. This is a rule that must be followed for a prosperous market, otherwise no one would dare to expose treasures in the market.


    So as long as the traded materials are not too shocking, Long Xuan basically doesn''t have to worry about killing and seizing treasures. This novice protection vige is enough to allow him to develop steadily for a period of time.


    Great stone Vige is very close to the market, and Long Xuan arrived in half an hour.


    Although the market is close to the vige, this is his first time here. As soon as he entered, he was immediately amazed by the bustling scene here. Everywhere, scattered cultivators sat on the ground, selling various treasures such as elixirs, spiritual insects, spiritual medicines, martial arts, spiritual artifacts, mineral materials, and animal materials, all of which were dazzling.


    An area dominated by Gu cultivators naturally trades mostly in Gu insects. After entering here, Long Xuan witnessed a variety of Gu insects, which greatly broadened his horizons.


    There were many wandering cultivators who possessed Gu forms, but they never sold the forms themselves. Instead, they refined the Gu insects and ced them on their stalls for continuous sales.


    This was not only because all Gu cultivators cherished their own secrets, but also because once a Gu form spread, others could research countermeasures against it. Moreover, increasedpetition would arise with more people refining the same Gu.


    With Long Xuan''s current wealth, purchasing an ordinary Gu insect was not an issue. However, after some thought, he quickly abandoned the idea.


    It was generally better not to buy second-hand Gu insects, as they were susceptible to tampering. Gu insects refined personally were the most loyal and reliable.


    The more owners a Gu insect had, the moreplex its thoughts became, increasing the likelihood of bacsh against its master.


    Therefore, for the sake of his own safety, Long Xuan decided to create his own Gu forms and refine Gu himself.


    First, Long Xuan found a consortium and sold all the spiritual medicines, earning a total of three hundred and seven low-grade spiritual stones. However, he immediately spent most of it here on materials for his created Gu form and ten Gu refining vessels.


    Long Xuan was surprised at how low the selling price of first-grade spiritual medicines was. A full storage bag of spiritual medicines only fetched three hundred and seven low-grade spiritual stones.


    Upon inquiry, he learned that low-grade spiritual medicines had no environmental restrictions and could be mass-produced with the hiring of ordinary people. Therefore, first-grade spiritual medicines were now verymon and practically worthless.


    Perhaps even if hepletely stripped the medicine garden of spiritual medicines and ran away, Long Lao probably wouldn''t even bat an eye.


    Realizing this reality, Long Xuan could only wander the lively market with the remaining ten spiritual stones. He wondered what he could buy with so little.


    Wandering cultivators were generally poor, and there wasn''t much particrly valuable on their stalls. However, they ventured into the deep mountains and forests, finding all sorts of misceneous items. While it was impossible for there to be absolutely nothing valuable, there were plenty of opportunities for others to pick up bargains.


    Another significant characteristic of wandering cultivators was theirck of education and short knowledge. They didn''t recognize many treasures, often underselling valuable items, which gave others the chance to profit.


    This made it a paradise for bargain hunters among therger ns of Gu cultivators, who came here every day to try their luck. Some became wealthy overnight, while others ended up losing everything to scams.


    At this moment, Long Xuan once again discovered another use for his "golden finger."


    He could see the progress of all items on the stalls.


    One should not underestimate this ability, as it could discern many things.


    For example, if an item''s progress hadn''t reached eighty percent, it was likely a fake, such as nonsensical martial arts techniques or remnants picked up by others.


    There were also rare instances of ck iron Ore nearing one hundred percent progress. Long Xuan strongly suspected that once it reached one hundred percent, it would turn into profound iron essence, increasing its value by more than a hundred times.


    Unfortunately, even if it was just ordinary profound iron, he couldn''t afford it right now and could only reluctantly give up.


    The same applied to spiritual stones. Once the progress of high-grade spiritual stones approached one hundred percent, they were likely to undergo a transformation into peak-grade spiritual stones.


    Peak-grade spiritual stones were priceless treasures that only appeared once in a hundred years, with immeasurable value.


    As for living creatures, it was even more needless to say. For example, some Gu insects had progress of 15.0%, while others had progress of 25.6800%, with a string of digits after the decimal point.


    This was easy to understand; the longer the maturation period of the Gu insect, the higher the precision required after the decimal point.


    If you saw Gu insects with a very high number of decimal ces, you had to pay attention.


    Such insects definitely had long lifespans, and the longer the lifespan of a Gu insect, the stronger it was. It could be said that the lifespan and strength of Gu insects were directly proportional.


    As a result, there were many opportunities for picking up bargains. Although Long Xuan was a novice and didn''t recognise any treasures, when it came to picking up bargains, everyone else here couldn''tpare to him.

 Chapter 4: Picking Up Bargains Makes Me Happy

    For him, this ce was a treasure-filled paradise on earth. There were countless priceless treasures at dirt-cheap prices, beckoning him. A random grab could make him rich overnight, but unfortunately, he was short on cash and could only watch with envy.


    What can ten spirit stones buy? He suddenly realized that window shopping as a poor person was a mistake. Apart from ten spirit stones, all he had was a chicken bro and the first twentyyers of the "Eternal Life Sutra".


    The chicken bro could save him money on medicine, so selling it was out of the question, and he didn''t dare to sell the "Eternal Life Sutra".


    Thest tenyers of the "Eternal Life Sutra" could increase lifespan by a thousand years. A thousand years is not a small number; most Gu cultivators don''t live that long.


    Nothing is more tempting than extending one''s lifespan. If he revealed the "Eternal Life Sutra", it would attract those old monsters on the brink of death.


    Long Xuan browsed various stalls for half a day before stopping at an old man''s stall, his eyes fixed on a broken honeb.


    Three-quarters of the honeb was missing, leaving only a quarter with two dying bees. Most of thervae were dead, with few live ones.


    Seeing a customer stop, the old man looked up and smiled, "This is the honeb of a mid-grade spirit insect, the Thorny Bee. You know how terrifying mid-grade spirit insects are. I risked my life to get this honeb."


    "Honey has beauty-enhancing effects, but I have other uses for it. There are still many pupae and Thorny Bees in the honeb. Seeing that you''re young, I''ll sell it to you cheaply for just a hundred spirit stones."Upon hearing this, Long Xuan remained expressionless but was secretly delighted. The old man had clearly misjudged it.


    Although Long Xuan didn''t know what kind of bee it was, it definitely wasn''t a Thorny Bee but a higher-grade species resembling the Thorny Bee.


    From his research, the maturity rate of spirit insects is indicated by decimal precision:


    - For low-grade spirit insects, the progress bar had two decimal ces, indicating a maturity period of over ten years but less than a hundred.


    For mid-grade spirit insects, the progress bar had three decimal ces, indicating a maturity period of over a hundred years but less than a thousand.


    These two young bees had progress bars of 82.3648% and 82.3251%.


    Their progress was precise to four decimal ces, indicating they were likely high-grade spirit insects with maturity periods of over a thousand years.


    Long Xuan was determined to get these unknown bees. His unique ability could easily create feed suitable for various spirit insects, and he had long nned to raise them.


    In Elder Long''s medicinal garden, there were plenty of flowers, making it an ideal ce for bee cultivation, and the food source for the bees could be obtained for free.


    Once he raised them to a certain scale, he could sell the honey to earn spirit stones, creating a significant ie stream.


    After making up his mind, Long Xuan took a deep breath, hiding his excitement, and pretended to be impatient.


    "Are you trying to fool me because I''m young? Don''t think I can''t tell; all the pupae and bees inside are dead, with only two half-dead ones left."


    "And thebat power of social spirit insects is much lower than that of solitary ones. If there were thousands of Bramble Bees, even a peak-grade spirit insect might avoid them."


    "But with only two bees, they probably can''t even beat a low-grade spirit insect. If used for refining Gu, what use are two with a sess rate of only a few percent?"


    "Given their poor condition, they might die as soon as I buy them. Then wouldn''t my hundred spirit stones be wasted?"


    "One price, ten spirit stones. If you don''t sell, I''ll leave immediately!" Long Xuan pretended to walk away.


    "wait, I''ve seen people bargaining by half, but this is the first time I''ve seen someone cut it to a tenth."


    "I''m not lying; these Thorny Bees are fierce. I risked my fortune to get them. Even selling for a hundred spirit stones is a loss, and you want to buy for ten? You might as well kill me."


    Hearing this, Long Xuan wanted tough. They were high-grade spirit insects; of course, they were fierce. The old man was lucky.


    "That''s nonsense. Your loss has nothing to do with me. Pricing products based on your loss is illogical."


    "The price is the price. I won''t pay a penny more."


    "Don''t me me if those two bees die soon. The longer you hold onto them, the more likely they''ll die."


    "Selling now will get you at least ten spirit stones. If they die and no one buys, you won''t get a single stone."


    Long Xuan''s words hit the old man''s sore spot. He hesitated for a long time before finally gritting his teeth and painfully agreeing, "Take them, take them. You drive a hard bargain."


    "But let me make it clear, no returns. If they die as soon as you get home, don''te back to me."


    Long Xuan ignored his words, took out his only ten spirit stones with a pained expression, threw them on the stall, and quickly picked up the honeb.


    In his opinion, the bees were weak because the old man was too stingy and had drained all the honey, starving them.


    The dead bees might have starved to death.


    With honey, the two bees should recover.


    Afraid they might starve, Long Xuan put the honeb in his insect-rearing bag and left quickly.


    Although there were many other treasures to be found, he had no money left and could only hope those items wouldn''t be bought by someone else.


    Once he made more money, he woulde back and sweep up all the good stuff.


    Long Xuan hurried home, hung the honeb on a fruit tree next to the medicinal garden.


    The flowers in the garden were not ordinary wildflowers but top-grade spiritual herbs with a rich fragrance.


    As the fragrance wafted into the honeb, the two weak bees immediately revived, flying eagerly towards the flowers.


    The bees happily flew from one red flower to a purple one, frantically collecting pollen and nectar, no longer appearing half-dead.


    Soon, their little legs wereden with heavy pollen, almost making them unable to fly. They wobbled back to the hive, happily making honey.


    Seeing this, Long Xuan felt relieved. In this world of gu-cultivation, there were many ways to breed queen bees. He just needed to wait for the two bees to be queens and provide endless honey.


    He was curious about the taste of honey made from spiritual herb nectar.


    Then, Long Xuan took the spirit insects out of his insect-rearing bag, quickly filling the table with jars and bottles.


    Looking at the jars covering the table, Long Xuan''s heartbeat quickened. Preparing to refine his first Gu insect made him both nervous and excited, his emotions running high.


    This was his self-created Gu form, his unique recipe with a hundred materials. He was eager to see what kind of Gu insect it would produce.

 Chapter 5: Gu Refining in Progress

    The steps to refine Gu are very simple. You just need to gather all the spiritual insects required by the Gu form, put them in a Gu jar, and starve them for a period, forcing them to devour each other. In due time, a Gu will be formed.


    For some insects that are not inclined to fight, other methods are needed to stimte their ferocity, but these methods are currently beyond his understanding.


    The spiritual insects need time to digest each other; some need 49 days, some 81 days, and some powerful Gu species may even take up to three years. There is no fixed duration.


    The long duration of Gu refining is not the difficult part; the challenge lies in the failure rate of refining Gu. Some Gu forms have a sess rate of one in ten, while others have a sess rate of one in a thousand. If one is unlucky, it might be impossible to refine a Gu even after ten thousand attempts.


    If the Gu refining fails, all materials are lost, and the resources invested are wasted.


    Long Xuan had no idea about the sess rate of this Gu form. He just prepared ten sets of materials and bought ten Gu jars for refining Gu simultaneously.


    Many Gu cultivators use this method, casting a wide to catch big fish and saving time.


    Even if they end up with more than needed, the extra Gu insects can be sold, not only avoiding loss but also making a profit.


    It''s worth noting that Gu insects are cannibalistic, so each Gu cultivator can only raise one of each type of Gu insect. If they refine too many, they must quickly trade them away.Soon, Long Xuan discovered another function of his golden finger.


    During Gu refining, he could see the progress on the Gu jar. Once the progress reached 100%, the Gu would be formed.


    This raised a question: if a Gu jar¡¯s spiritual insects were destined not to form a Gu, would it still show progress?


    Would a jar that shows progress definitely form a Gu, and a jar that does not show progress definitely fail?


    Could he immediately open the jars that did not show progress and find an optimal time and ce to refine the Gu again until the jars showed progress?


    Long Xuan¡¯s mind was blown.


    This meant that his sess rate for refining Gu could be 100%. He wouldn''t have to gamble on the sess rate like other Gu cultivators and wouldn¡¯t have to worry about wasting materials.


    He felt he could challenge the heaven-defying Gu form with a sess rate of one in ten thousand.


    Long Xuan¡¯s breathing became rapid. This golden finger was indeed incredible.


    In the blink of an eye, 49 days passed, and Long Xuan¡¯s ten Gu jars finally showed signs of activity.


    As he expected, once the jars disyed numbers, the sess rate was 100%, and when the number reached 100%, the Gu was formed.


    Because of the numerical reminders, Long Xuan waited early today to witness the moment the Gu insects broke out of the jars.


    Long Xuan¡¯s eyes widened, unable to contain his excitement.


    Almost simultaneously, the ten Gu jars transformed, and ten red little roaches crawled out one after another.


    Indeed, all ten jars sessfully produced Gu, without wasting any materials, achieving a 100% sess rate.


    This was unimaginable to others.


    Long Xuan excitedly ran over, took out Gu pots, and ced the roaches into ten separate pots.


    He hadn¡¯t forgotten the taboo of Gu insects: cannibalism.


    To prevent them from devouring each other, they had to be separated immediately.


    Afterpleting this, Long Xuan finally had time to study them closely.


    He had already named this new Gu species for its first appearance in this world: Little Strong Gu.


    Long Xuan pricked his finger with a needle, dropping a bit of blood on the head of the Little Strong Gu toplete a simple blood contract ceremony.


    Although he couldn''tmunicate with it through words, he quickly learned its abilities through the soul connection.


    As expected, the Gu insect refined from a hundred cockroaches possessed the undying ability of a cockroach.


    Of course, it wasn¡¯t absolutely undying. Using the cheapest materials, many forces could still kill Little Strong. It could be summarized as being unkible by conventional attacks of the same level.


    To achieve true immortality, it would require refining the Gu with the best spiritual insects.


    The Little Strong Gu refined from low-grade cockroaches had many ways it could be killed, far from being truly undying; it was more resilient instead.


    This resilience might not be much in the eyes of big ns, but in the world of rogue cultivators, it was quite a decent ability.


    Long Xuan was very satisfied. He never expected to create a truly undying body with the cheapest materials; that would be impossible.


    He contentedly ced the Little Strong Gu in the palm of his hand, deeply fond of this first creation.


    ording to this world¡¯s ssification of Gu insects, his Little Strong Gu should be considered a low-grade Gu insect.


    In this world, Gu insects are ssified into low-grade, mid-grade, high-grade, and peak-grade.


    peak-grade Gu insects are the kings of Gu, coveted by all Gu cultivators.


    The dream of all Gu cultivators is to refine a peak-grade Gu insect in their lifetime. Each peak-grade Gu insect has a fatal attraction to Gu cultivators.


    However, refining a peak-grade Gu insect is extremely difficult, and very few possess them.


    Long Xuan aspired to create a peak-grade Gu form and refine a peak-grade Gu insect, which was also his dream.


    Naturally, it was impossible to refine a peak-grade Gu insect on his first attempt. The quality of a Gu insect is determined by the primary material in the Gu form.


    The primary material is the one spiritual insect that, after all others have killed each other, will definitely be thest one standing.


    The primary material must be the strongest in the Gu form to ensure it survives until the end. If the primary material dies, the Gu refining fails.


    If the primary material is a peak-grade spiritual insect, the refined Gu insect will be a peak-grade Gu insect.


    Simrly, since the primary material for Little Strong Gu was low-grade, no matter how unique its abilities, it would be ssified as a low-grade Gu insect.


    However, in Long Xuan¡¯s view, even though Little Strong Gu was the weakest low-grade Gu insect, its resilience might be more practical than a mid-grade Gu insect.


    Since only one of each type of Gu insect can be used, this time, an ident caused him to refine nine more than needed.


    Dealing with these nine extra Little Strong Gu became a problem. He couldn''t waste them by feeding them to the chicken bro.


    After some thought, Long Xuan decided to sell the extra Gu insects like other rogue cultivators.


    Many rogue cultivators sell unique Gu insects at markets, and it¡¯s not umon to create a Gu form in this world.


    Low-grade Gu forms might require only a few materials, sometimes just two. Even by sheer luck, one could stumble upon a Gu form.


    Many rogue cultivators without a legacy create their Gu insects using luck, so unique Gu forms aremon, with everyone having the ability to create their own.


    However, peak-grade Gu forms are not something a normal person can create. Long Xuan could reveal his ability to create Gu forms, but he must never expose his ability to create peak-grade Gu forms.


    So, selling unique Gu insects at the market wouldn''t attract attention, and he could do it confidently.


    Currently, he was too poor and urgently needed arge sum of money to buy that piece of Xuan iron and the high-grade spirit stone.


    He could even set up a stall to sell his unique Gu insects like other rogue cultivators.


    The cost of Little Strong Gu was very low, but the selling price could be high, and without a failure rate, it was pure profit.


    As for the possibility of these being used against him, he didn''t care. After all, they were low-grade Gu insects, and he had better options. Little Strong Gu was just a temporary solution and would soon be reced.


    However, he couldn''t find the materials now, so he had to use Little Strong Gu for the time being.


    His better option was the famous Tardigrade, also known as ''water bear'' from his previous life.


    In terms of immortality, cockroaches are nothingpared to water bears.


    water bears can withstand temperatures of 151¡ãC and as low as -272¡ãC.


    They can''t be killed in the deepest Mariana Trench, by atomic radiation, or even in space. They can survive without food or water for thirty years.


    water bears are resistant to hypoxia, vacuum, high pressure, low pressure, can regenerate lost limbs, and even repair damaged DNA.


    Their vitality is a miracle, surviving five mass extinction events on Earth without being wiped out.


    However, water bears are too small, most being only 3 to 5 micrometers, barely visible to the naked eye and requiring a microscope for observation.


    So, to refine a water bear Gu, one must first refine a microscope Gu.


    This would require him to create a new Gu form, which couldn''t be done quickly.


    Once he had the microscope Gu, he could see more microscopic creatures.


    It¡¯s worth noting that microscopic creatures haven''t been discovered by Gu cultivators in this world. The vast variety of them remain unnamed and uncaptured, a massive resource pool.


    The microscopic spiritual insects of the entire world would belong to him alone.


    In this world, Gu insects are divided into internal and external categories and further subdivided into natural, enhancement, animal, nt, eye, dark, magic, special, and production types systems...


    He might pioneer a new school of study ¡ªmicroscopic type, bing the founder of this new school.


    Long Xuan was full of ambition for the future.

 Chapter 6: The Old vendor Li Laodao

    After more than a month, Long Xuan returned to this market again, but this time he was no longer a buyer; he had gloriously be a small vendor.


    Long Xuan covered his face with a cloth and wore arge hat. He casually found a ce to spread a white cloth and ced nine insect jars containing small cockroach Gu on it.


    He then ced a self-made folding chair beside him and sat down.


    Next, he began to think about pricing the Little Strong Gu. It is worth mentioning that this world can be said to have currency, but also not to have currency.


    Because spirit stones can only be used to exchange for cheap goods; expensive items cannot be exchanged for spirit stones and must be obtained through bartering.


    Strictly speaking, spirit stones do not count as the universal currency in this world.


    This is because spirit stones are definitely irregr in shape,e in various sizes, and have different concentrations of spiritual energy.


    Can someone use a half-absorbed spirit stone for transactions? Since spirit stones differ, they cannot possibly serve as currency.


    Spirit stones are merely equivalents in this world; trading with spirit stones is akin to bartering, not purchasing with money. Therefore, spirit stones cannot exchange for priceless treasures.Due to the inconsistency of spirit stones, the prices of various goods are mutually agreed upon, rather than uniformly priced in one ce.


    Pricing can only fall within a general range, giving the vendor significant freedom.


    However, considering the birth of a new item should first open the market, Long Xuan decided not to price it too high initially.


    So, after much thought, Long Xuan temporarily set the price of the freely priced Little Strong Gu at three hundred spirit stones, nning to raise the price once the reputation spread.


    Of course, the quality of the spirit stones had to be eptable; they could not be those with spiritual energy almost fully absorbed or excessively small ones the size of a pinky finger.


    For his first time as a vendor, the items on his stall were few, making it look a bit shabby, but there was a long way to go, and his stall would eventually be rich in items.


    Then he ced a sign on the stall that described the function and price of the small Little Strong Gu, waiting for the first customer toe and bite.


    He felt very novel doing this for the first time.


    His arrival immediately attracted the attention of other vendors. The vendor sitting closely to his right was a spirited old man who, upon seeing the items on his stall, said:


    "Low-grade Gu insects? The quality of Gu insects is more important than the quantity. The weakest low-grade Gu insects are not popr."


    "Moreover, what you have refined are not the Five Poisons but the very unpopr cockroaches, making willing traders even fewer."


    "This market has many rogue cultivators selling medium-grade Gu insects, and there are even three selling high-grade Gu insects, all with unique Gu insects."


    "People selling low-grade unique Gu insects are everywhere; your stuff has nopetitive edge at all."


    "No matter! Good wine needs no bush; as long as I have one trader, I can open the market." Long Xuan said confidently.


    He had great confidence in the Gu insects he had researched.


    Li Laodao was indifferent, truly not believing that such a young kid could research such powerful Gu insects.


    Although the sign stated the Gu''s functions, he thought it was exaggerated.


    How could a low-grade Gu insect have such strong resistance to damage? Such powerful ability could not appear in a low-grade Gu insect.


    However, just as he was about to reply, Long Xuan''s first customer approached his stall, and Li Laodao wisely kept his mouth shut.


    Li Erniu picked up one of the insect jars, opened it to look at the Gu inside, then looked at the sign full of text, showing a surprised expression.


    He had never seen this type of Gu insect before; it must be a newly researched variety.


    The emergence of new Gu always arouses curiosity; newly created Gu insects could be very strong, very weak, or exhibit strange abilities.


    However, new Gu had not been tested in actualbat, and no battle methods had been developed; no one knew which Gu insects it paired best with.


    Thus, few were willing to be the first to try it.


    But there were benefits too; no one would understand a newly emerged Gu insect, let alone know how to counter it.


    Danger oftenes from the unknown; having a Gu insect never seen by the enemy can often lead to unexpected victories.


    He nned to duel with a nemesis, and the person who knows you best is always your enemy. The nemesis knew all his cards, so having a Gu insect that the opponent could not possibly know might be a good choice.


    Li Erniu showed interest and asked Long Xuan, "Can your Little Strong Gu make someone immortal?"


    "No, I never said that." Long Xuan hurriedly denied with a wave of his hand.


    "I''ve written it clearly; it''s just that it won''t die from conventional attacks of the same level. After all, it¡¯s a low-grade Gu insect; there are too many ways of the same level to kill you."


    "For instance, if your heart is pierced by a sword, as long as you have the Little Strong Gu, you won''t die. But if your heart is torn to pieces, how could you not die?"


    "The small cockroach Gu hasn''t reached the level of instantly restoring your heart."


    "But as long as you keep improving the growth of the Little Strong Gu, its damage tolerance limit will get higher and higher."


    "The biggest advantage of the Little Strong Gu is that it eats everything, including paper, leather, cotton, wood chips... you won¡¯t have to worry about its food."


    Hearing this, Li Erniu''s eyes lit up; this was indeed a very practical advantage.


    Gu insects are precious and eat all sorts of strange things. Some even eat gold, spirit stones, and spiritual herbs, often bankrupting wealthy Gu cultivators.


    Not being picky about food was definitely a plus.


    "That''s not bad, after all, it''s just a low-grade Gu insect. If you really said it gives absolute immortality, I wouldn''t believe it either."


    "I''ll take this Little Strong Gu, three medium-grade spirit stones, take it."


    Li Erniu threw three well-formed medium-grade spirit stones on the stall, then left with the insect jar without another word.


    One medium-grade spirit stone equals a hundred low-grade spirit stones. Long Xuan''s storage bag space was not big, so he preferred to ept medium-grade spirit stones.


    With his first sale sessful, Long Xuan joyfully put away the three medium-grade spirit stones and casually shouted, "Don''t miss out, high-quality Little Strong Gu,e take a look, you won¡¯t regret it..."


    Seeing no oneing for a long time, Long Xuan turned his head to the old vendor he had spoken with earlier, intending to sell to his peers.


    "Old man, you must have seen what my Little Strong Gu can do. You¡¯re old, and your legs and feet are probably not good. Trading my small cockroach Gu can be an extra insurance."


    "Since we are neighbors, I''ll give you a discount and charge you only 299 spirit stones."


    Li Laodao immediately blew his beard and red, "You little rascal, you¡¯re even trying to fool me."


    "I don¡¯t believe your Little Strong Gu has such abilities. Although it doesn¡¯t give true immortality, its abilities are still a bit scary."


    "Do you know how terrifying such abilities would be in actualbat? You could trade injuries with your opponent, effectively doubling yourbat power, no exaggeration."


    "This is not an ability that a low-grade Gu insect should have. If your Little Strong Gu really has such abilities, in front of medium-grade Gu insects, I would rather choose your Little Strong Gu."

 Chapter 7: Stone Gu

    "You don''t believe me?" Long Xuan nced at him sideways and smiled, "Why don''t you try it yourself to see if I''m exaggerating?"


    "My Little Strong Gu can regenerate severed limbs. You can cut off your hand right now, and see if I can reattach it."


    Of course, Li Laodao wouldn''t agree to cut off his hand. What if the Little Strong Gu didn''t have the ability to regenerate severed limbs? Cutting off his hand would make him look like a fool.


    "Why test the Little Strong Gu''s ability by cutting off a hand? I can verify it in other ways."


    Li Laodao, sessfully provoked, decided to exchange it regardless of whether it was true or false and verify its ability on the spot.


    If it proved false, he would settle the score immediately. How could Long Xuan escape under his watch?


    Li Laodao walked straight to Long Xuan''s stall, grabbed a random Gu jar, opened it without a nce, and blood-bonded with the Little Strong Gu inside.


    As long as a blood bond is established with a Gu insect, the owner can clearly understand its abilities.


    Receiving information through his soul, Li Laodao''s expression quickly froze, his face changing color repeatedly, gradually revealing a look of disbelief."How is this possible? It''s clearly a very weak insect, so how could it possess such a terrifying ability?" Li Laodao muttered to himself.


    "Alright, since you''ve already blood-bonded with it, quickly hand over the spirit stones. As a neighbor, I''ll only charge you 299 spirit stones," Long Xuan yawned, urging him incessantly.


    Li Laodao looked at Long Xuan differently now. Someone who could create such a Gu method was certainly not ordinary. At this moment, he felt a desire to befriend him.


    "Hehe, I underestimated you. I didn''t expect a weak cockroach to be used in Gu refining. I''ve truly gained new insights. It''s indeed important not to underestimate any insect in the world."


    "But luckily, I didn''t follow your advice and cut off my hand. Although this Little Strong Gu can regenerate severed limbs, it''s not exaggerated enough to instantly restore them."


    "Regenerating a severed limb is a very slow process, possibly taking years. If I had really cut off my hand, it would have caused me great trouble. In the Gu world, one is often powerless, and everyone has enemies."


    Li Laodao threw down three medium-quality spirit stones at Long Xuan''s stall and said with a smile.


    Long Xuan''s face showed a joyful smile as another deal was made so quickly.


    Seeing that Long Xuan didn''t continue the conversation, Li Laodao, who wanted to make friends, continued, "I''ve done business with you. Shouldn''t you also take care of my business?"


    "My Gu insects may not be unique, but they are definitely the fiercest in this market. I guarantee you''ll be satisfied."


    Hearing this, Long Xuan became interested and turned to look at his stall.


    Compared to the sparse items on his own stall, Li Laodao''s stall was much more abundant, almost full, with jars and bottles containing various insects.


    However, all his jars were smaller, and the insects inside were smaller, all used as parasitic inner Gu.


    His inner Gu had no benefits for the host, only for parasitizing the enemy''s body and harming them.


    Since they weren''t for personal use, they didn''t count against the quota, allowing as many as one wanted to raise.


    It''s worth mentioning that Gu cultivators are limited in the number of Gu insects they can use, varying by individual and rted to soul talent. On average, a Gu cultivator in the Spirit Gathering stage can use about four.


    Of course, Long Xuan, having lived two lives, could possibly blood-bond with more Gu insects than the average person, perhaps even twice as many.


    Most Gu cultivators have very limited slots for blood-bonding with Gu insects and must calcte carefully. Parasitic inner Gu, which don''t count against the quota, are the only type that all Gu cultivators raise.


    This Li Laodao, who liked to refine such Gu insects, was definitely a cunning old fox, deserving caution. Long Xuan immediately became wary of him.


    Looking at the descriptions on the bottles, Long Xuan felt a shiver down his spine.


    <em>Stone Gu</em>: Shaped like a pebble, often ced on paths full of stones. When a person passes by, the Stone Gu jumps into their body. The infected person''s lower abdomen bes hard as rock, constipation ensues, and they be increasingly emaciated, dying within half a year.


    <em>Rice Grain Gu</em>: Shaped like a grain of rice, often ced in the enemy''s food. The infected person''s appetite skyrockets, they constantly feel hungry, be mentally unstable, and without an antidote, die within a month.


    <em>Wart Gu</em>: Often hidden in nail crevices. It infects the target through close contact, such as a pat on the shoulder or a handshake. Once inside, it devours all internal organs, and the infected usually don''t survive a day.


    ...


    Seeing these gruesome methods of death, Long Xuan''s face changed slightly.


    This was his first real understanding of the dangerous extent of Gu in this world. For example, the Stone Gu looked exactly like a pebble, making it impossible to distinguish.


    And the path back to his vige was full of pebbles. What if someone ced a few Stone Gu there? That would be disastrous.


    Imagining this possible scenario made Long Xuan shiver involuntarily.


    He couldn''t tell which were pebbles and which were Stone Gu, no matter how careful he was.


    This was just an ordinary Stone Gu, with many more concealed Gu insects existing, employing various unpredictable methods. How could he defend against them?


    Even bacteria and viruses were invisible to him now, indicating that tiny things rendered his golden finger useless.


    Most insects a few millimeters in size couldn''t be seen from a distance; only when very close could he detect them.


    Defending against Gu methods was beyond even his golden finger''s help.


    At this moment, Long Xuan truly felt fear. These things could take his life, and he had no means to counteract them. If someone secretly targeted him with a Gu, he wasn''t confident he could escape unscathed.


    No, the research on the Microscopic Gu must be prioritized. No, the second Gu insect he refines should be the Microscopic Gu.


    Without the Microscopic Gu, it would be impossible to defend against those small, sinister insects. Once the Microscopic Gu was developed, no one could secretly target him with a Gu again.


    Long Xuan had made up his mind. The second research project would focus on the Microscopic Gu.


    Having lived another life, he truly feared death. He must pay attention to any factors that could threaten his safety.


    After another wary nce at those Gu insects, Long Xuan said to Li Laodao, "No, I''m not interested in these kinds of Gu insects."


    He had other ns for his funds and didn''t intend to waste them on unimportant things.


    Even if he wanted these Gu insects, he nned to create them himself.


    Once the Microscopic Gu was developed, he could research micro-life Gu insects, which were too small to be seen with the naked eye. They could fly directly into the enemy''s mouth without being noticed, allowing him to harm whoever he wanted. Who could counteract that?


    In terms of concealment, no other Gu insect could match the Microscopic Gu. Stone Gu would be insignificant inparison.

 Chapter 8: Gambling on Stones

    In the following period, no more customers visited, and seeing no one, Long Xuan decided to close his stall.


    Although he still had seven Little Strong Gu insects left unsold, he earned six mid-grade spirit stones today, equivalent to six hundred low-grade spirit stones. For a rogue cultivator, this was no small sum, and Long Xuan was very satisfied.


    With a substantial amount of money in hand, he finally had the confidence to go shopping.


    Long Xuan eagerly walked into the depths of the market, looking for the piece of ck iron ore and the peak-grade spirit stone that had been on his mind.


    However, after a month and a half, it wasn''t that easy to encounter such items again.


    Moreover, each Gu cultivator was busy with cultivation and collecting resources in the wild; they couldn''t set up stalls here every day. Finding them again was purely a matter of luck.


    After a fruitless search, Long Xuan had to give up in disappointment, realizing he didn¡¯t have the protagonist''s halo.


    But it didn¡¯t matter. There were countless treasures. New stall owners and new treasures flowed into the market every day. Treasures were endless.


    Old treasures must go for new ones toe, and the new treasures might not be inferior to the old ones.Adjusting his mindset, Long Xuan walked toward a surprisinglyrge shop.


    Recently, a new chamber ofmerce had settled here, dealing in fossils. The shop¡¯s yard was piled high with countless fossils.


    In this world, there were many sources of spirit insects: some were captured in the wild, and some were artificially bred.


    Spirit herbs in medicine gardens also produced insects, but only high-grade spirit herbs'' insects were valuable for refining Gu. The insects from low-grade spirit herbs were killed by insecticide powder.


    Some spirit beasts also had certain spirit insects parasitizing inside them, including humans, who may also have them innately. They are called innate spiritual Gu. Such people are often geniuses with incredible extraordinarily abilities.


    Some spirit insects came from underground, like earthworms, mole crickets, and ants¡­


    Even hard stones might contain insects, and their quality could be quite high.


    Earth entered an ice age every few eons, and this world was no different, but it was even colder.


    During this period, temperatures plummeted, cold waves swept the world, and every corner was engulfed in cold. The entire surface was covered in snow and ciers, turning the world into an icy, whitendscape with bone-chilling winds.


    Thus, the earth entered an eternal winter, with countless years passing without a day of warmth.


    During this time, surface nts were massively frozen to death, and the earth stopped producing food. All living beings either froze or starved to death. The vitality of all things ceased, and countless species went extinct during the ice age, with only a few survivors.


    Insects, however, were the most resilient life forms. When the ice age approached, insects worldwide followed high-grade spirit insects underground, entering a hibernation phase. Their bodies were covered in a thick stoneyer to inste them from the cold.


    Hibernating insects entered a state of apparent death, with all bodily functions stopping. They neither ate nor drank, with energy consumption paused, and their lifespan ceased, allowing them to survive endless years.


    Only external disturbances could wake them, slowly crawling out of their stoneyers, possibly after millions or even billions of years having passed.


    These stones containing ancient spirit insects were called fossils by Gu cultivators.


    The spirit insects in these fossils were ancient, possibly rare species or even long-extinct ones, of immense value. Discovering one could lead to instant wealth.


    However, not all spirit insects could survive the ice age. Most, even with stone instion, froze to death. Very few spirit insects survived that period.


    Therefore, most stones contained dead insects, which had turned into true fossils over endless years. Only one in a hundred stones had live insects.


    The forces controlling fossil mines maximized profits by selling all fossils, shifting the risk to others. Whether it was a loss or gain depended entirely on individual luck.


    This gave rise to the globally popr fossil gambling industry.


    "One cut to poverty, one cut to wealth, one cut to rags." This industry thrived on excitement.


    Despite most people losing, Gu cultivators were addicted, hoping luck would favor them, uncovering heaven-defying insects and bing wealthy overnight. These people were gamblers.


    There were patterns in fossil gambling. The stone''s texture could hint at the presence of live insects, leading to the emergence of many fossil gambling masters.


    However, even the best master in the world only had slightly higher sess rates. No one could definitively determine if a stone contained live or dead insects.


    But today, an exception entered this fossil shop.


    In Long Xuan¡¯s eyes, stones without visible progress naturally had no insects, while those with visible progress did. The more decimal ces, the better the stone.


    To him, the shop¡¯s valuable materials were like gifts, being given to him for free.


    Long Xuan¡¯s mouth curved into a smile as he confidently walked in, still masked.


    This fossil shop wasrge, divided into several areas. Fossils with high sale potential and high insect emergence rates were concentrated in one area, with high prices.


    Fossils with poor sale potential and higher chances of dead insects were in another,rger area, and cheaper.


    This area had the most people, everyone hoping for a big find at a low price.


    They picked up fossils, tapped and felt them, studying for a long time, often indecisive, making the area crowded but with infrequent transactions.


    The stones varied in size, some as small as a fist, others up to four meters high, disyed in the courtyard and called "Stone Kings." A crowd marveled at these, touching and eximing over them.


    Naturally, the "Stone King" had the highest price in the shop. No one dared buy it, and few could afford it, so it remained, with many onlookers but no buyers.


    Long Xuan was amazed by the "Stone King." How afraid of death was this spirit insect to form such a thick stoneyer? Surely, it wouldn¡¯t freeze to death.


    The insect emergence rate for this "Stone King" must be very high.


    Instinctively using his golden finger ability, Long Xuan saw a progress of [82.68732%] in the "Stone King."


    Wow, five decimal ces! This indicated the insect inside might be a peak-grade spirit insect over ten thousand years old, essential for refining peak-grade Gu insects.


    Long Xuan¡¯s eyes lit up, and his heart pounded wildly.

 Chapter 9: The Stone King

    With an exceptional spirit insect, he could immediately start creating a peak-grade Gu recipe, thus refining the first peak-grade Gu insect in his Gu cultivation career.


    It must be known that there were no peak-grade Gu insects in the entire market. Owning a peak-grade Gu insect was indeed a tremendous attraction for him.


    This Stone King had thoroughly tempted him.


    However, figuring out how to acquire it through a bargain required careful consideration. Direct purchase was out of the question, as he certainly didn''t have enough spirit stones.


    At this moment, he remembered several methods of acquiring bargains mentioned in novels, but they required extreme conditions to cooperate, such as buying scrap materials for bargains, which needed someone to cooperate with him.


    But could anyone really afford this Stone King? His gaze suddenly shifted downward, and when he saw the price tag on the Stone King, he felt a bit speechless.


    Good heavens, ten million!


    Why don¡¯t they just rob people? Have they gone mad with their desire for spirit stones?


    Even if he sold his blood and kidneys, he couldn¡¯t afford the ten-million price tag.¡°Shopkeeper, isn''t your pricing unreasonable? Even if this Stone King can indeed produce a peak-grade spirit insect, isn¡¯t the price too high? You must know that refining Gu has a very high failure rate!¡±


    Long Xuan looked at a fat man standing next to the Stone King with his hands behind his back and asked in confusion.


    This fat man was Qian Duoduo, the shopkeeper responsible for this store.


    Hearing this, the fat man''s round face squeezed out a smile. He turned to look at the masked young man andughed, ¡°Are you an outsider?¡±


    ¡°Who told you that the highest you can get from the stone is a peak-grade spirit insect?¡±


    ¡°The birth principle of Gu insects is that insects devour each other. In the insect world, it''s survival of the fittest. Spirit insects that feed on other insects can naturally, by chance, turn into Gu insects after consuming a lot in a short time.¡±


    ¡°Although rare, naturally born Gu insects absolutely exist.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll teach you a principle only known by stone gambling masters: when a Gu insect enters hibernation, the stone shell it forms is often very thick.¡±


    ¡°This Stone King definitely has the potential to produce Gu insects, and there¡¯s even a chance for it to produce some heaven-defying Gu insects.¡±


    ¡°If it produces one of those heaven-defying Gu species on the ranking list, it could sell for billions. My ten-million price tag is already very low.¡±


    After another nce at the Stone King, Long Xuan tentatively asked, ¡°Is there any activity, likepleting a game to get this Stone King for free?¡±


    Qian Duoduo was stunned by Long Xuan''s statement.


    Giving it away for a game?


    Does he think he''s a fool? Who would give away a ten-million-valued Stone King for a game? He really dared to think.


    ¡°Are you kidding me? Taking a ten-million-worth item as a game prize, are you crazy, or am I crazy?¡± Qian Duoduo shouted frantically.


    ¡°Your idea is a good way to gather poprity, but the prize cannot be so extravagant.¡±


    ¡°However, there is indeed a way to take this Stone King without spirit stones, though no one can achieve it,¡± Qian Duoduo suddenly said mysteriously.


    ¡°Oh? I¡¯d like to hear more,¡± Long Xuan''s eyes lit up, bing spirited.


    ¡°The abilities of Gu insects can be deeply developed, you know that, right?¡± Qian Duoduo first asked.


    Long Xuan shook his head. He was a small rogue cultivator without any master or inheritance. No one taught him any knowledge, and various families kept their treasures secret, not even selling books. He had to explore everything on his own and did not understand manymon things in the Gu world.


    Qian Duoduo showed an expression of understanding and patiently exined, ¡°The biggest difference between humans and Gu insects is that humans have the highest wisdom among all beings, while Gu insects have the lowest intelligence but possess the power to kill humans instantly. The two canplement each other.¡±


    ¡°Human wisdom can make Gu insects exert even more terrifying power.¡±


    ¡°For example, the Fireball Gu, which has the ability to spit fireballs, but it has low intelligence and doesn¡¯t understand flexibility, only spitting fireballs repeatedly.¡±


    ¡°But humans are intelligent; humans can think divergently, making the fireball bigger, turning it into a Great Fireball Technique, or making more fireballs, turning it into a multi-Fireball Technique.¡±


    ¡°In this way, the Fireball Gu essentially masters two more abilities, greatly increasing itsbat power.¡±


    ¡°There are many simr examples. Many ordinary Gu insects be terrifying existences in the hands of highly intelligent people, with their value skyrocketing.¡±


    ¡°It can be said that there are no useless Gu insects, only useless Gu cultivators. As long as your wisdom is high enough and your imagination broad enough, the abilities of Gu insects will have unlimited possibilities.¡±


    ¡°Most Gu insects have only one ability, but a Gu cultivator with a strong enough imagination can develop a second, third, or even tenth ability for them.¡±


    ¡°See that bidding box over there?¡±


    Qian Duoduo pointed to a wooden box beside the Stone King.


    ¡°My young mistress recently acquired a high-grade natural-type Gu insect. Apart from the eye-type Gu insects, the natural-type Gu insects are the most sought after by Gu cultivators in this world.¡±


    ¡°Natural-type Gu insects have no physical form and are in an energy state, capable of being immune to most attacks. My young mistress spent quite some effort to capture it.¡±


    ¡°Unfortunately, this Light Gu insect is extremely low in intelligence and only knows the Illumination Technique.¡±


    ¡°Therefore, my young mistress is collecting everyone¡¯s wisdom here. Anyone with an idea can write their thoughts on a piece of paper and put it in the bidding box.¡±


    ¡°Anyone whose developed ability satisfies my young mistress will win the bid and take away the Stone King.¡±


    Qian Duoduo smiled at Long Xuan. He had said simr words to countless people and enjoyed seeing their expressions of thinking they were about to receive a windfall.


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan''s heart moved, but he quickly calmed down and hurriedly questioned, ¡°That¡¯s not right. There¡¯s no standard for what counts as a powerful enough ability to win the bid.¡±


    ¡°She says it wins if it wins, and it doesn¡¯t if it doesn¡¯t. Isn¡¯t this just her word alone, with final interpretation rights belonging to her?¡±


    ¡°What if someone¡¯s idea impresses her, but she can¡¯t bear to give away the Stone King and dishonestly says it didn¡¯t win? Doesn¡¯t this mean we all be suckers, getting swindled one by one? I believe I¡¯m not the only one with this thought.¡±


    ¡°Haha, you¡¯re an outsider, aren¡¯t you?¡± Qian Duoduo still wore a smiling expression and wasn¡¯t angry at all. He exined again, ¡°You¡¯re wrong; you¡¯re the only one in the world with this thought.¡±


    ¡°All Gu cultivators know that our Qian n members cultivate the Integrity Gu. The Integrity Gu has a very deadly weakness: the host must act with honesty and integrity; otherwise, they will be counterattacked by the Integrity Gu.¡±


    ¡°The least severe consequence is leaving a heart demon, preventing any progress in cultivation for life.¡±


    ¡°However, there¡¯s a benefit with this weakness.¡±


    ¡°Because of this weakness, all Gu cultivators trust our Qian n¡¯s merchants, preferring to buy cultivation resources from us first.¡±


    ¡°When selling valuable treasures, they also prefer our Qian n¡¯s merchants, because a Qian n merchant with the Integrity Gu can¡¯t harm customers by any means, not even indirectly.¡±


    ¡°This is why our Qian n¡¯s business has grown sorge, bing one of the biggest merchant groups here.¡±


    ¡°The Integrity Gu¡¯s constraint is instrumental to the Qian n¡¯s current size.¡±


    ¡°Our Qian n has established a rule that all managers must cultivate the Integrity Gu.¡±


    ¡°So your worries arepletely unnecessary. My young mistress would never do anything against her conscience, especially for a mere ten million, which is just a small amount to the Qian n. It¡¯s not worth the risk.¡±


    ¡°If you can develop a sufficiently heaven-defying ability for the Light Gu insect, the Stone King will be yours. Our Qian n always keeps its word.¡±

 Chapter 10: Brainstorming

    "Do you see those people over there, deep in thought with their paper and pens? Look at how much they trust the Qian Commerce Association."


    Qian Duoduo pointed his chubby finger in a direction.


    Following his gaze, Long Xuan indeed saw a group of people with paper and pens, some sitting on steps, others on rocks. They all wore expressions of intense concentration, some even scratching their heads in frustration, seemingly using up countless brain cells.


    "If you don''t have the intelligence, don''t waste your brain cells. Intelligence is innate; it cannot be forced."


    Seeing so many people nning to bid, Long Xuan finally believed Qian Duoduo''s words and felt relieved.


    When ites to imagination, who in this world can match him? He dares to im second ce, and no one would dare im first, even in the imaginative world of his previous life.


    Confidently, Long Xuan took out his paper and pen, ready to unleash a brainstorming and secure the top bid.


    Seeing Long Xuan''s excited expression, Qian Duoduo secretlyughed, having sessfully fooled another one. Young people today are so easy to deceive; there''s no such thing as a free lunch.


    He wasn''t lying; the Integrity Gu indeed had an irresistible binding ability. However, he avoided mentioning Qian Jinjin''s standards.


    Qian Jinjin valued that stone king highly. In her view, this stone king might produce a peak-grade Gu insect, so only an ability equal to a peak-grade Gu insect would justify giving it away without loss.


    In other words, her standard was to develop a high-quality Gu insect into abat levelparable to a peak-grade Gu insect, which is impossible. Even a god couldn''t do it.


    This was a task that no one couldplete, and no one would win the bid. She was just ying with people.


    She never intended to give away the stone king; her standard was beyond human capability, and in the end, everyone would lose.


    Qian Duoduo marveled at youngdy''s cunningness again, so deceitful, gaining everyone''s wisdom for nothing, This was simply a free-for-all.


    And it wouldn''t cause dissatisfaction, making them unknowingly contribute their ideas willingly. This trick was brilliant.


    Qian Duoduo grinned wickedly, seeing Long Xuan standing still, lost in thought. He added, "This biddingsts for a month. You came at an unfortunate time; today is thest day, with less than an hour left before it ends. I hope you cane up with a good ability in such a short time."


    With that, Qian Duoduo turned and left, seeking the next target. He had to repeat the same words to more people, hoping for more toe and willingly offer their ideas.


    At this moment, Long Xuan, oblivious to the outside world, was experiencing an unprecedented brainstorming in his mind.


    With his eyes closed, the first thing to confirm was not to go off-topic. The light Gu insect''s ability is to control light, not just any light-rted ability.


    So, light-speed kicks, light-speed movement, and elementalization were out of the question; the light Gu insect couldn''t achieve them.


    Controlling light could derive many abilities, and the first thing Long Xuan thought of was a shbang that could blind people. This is the simplest usage.


    Humans see objects because light reflects off their surfaces and enters the eyes through reflection and refraction.


    If light doesn''t reflect, humans would be inplete darkness, seeing nothing.


    Thus, controlling light could develop an ability to deprive opponents of their vision.


    Extending this further, controlling the light that reflects off oneself could grant invisibility.


    If one could control the light reflected from distant objects to bend into their eyes, they could see things miles away, developing a long-range vision ability.


    If light on the ground didn''t reflect, it would be absorbed, causing the ground to heat up, eventually forming lethal high temperatures, turning the earth into a scorching furnace¡ªthis would be a forbidden technique.


    If one could alter the reflection of light, causing erroneous visuals, like seeing an enemy on the left when they''re on the right, it would be a terrifying ability, causing headaches for any opponent.


    This isn''t even the scariest part. If the light Gu insect''s growth were high enough, it could control light over a region, plunging it into eternal darkness, creating a night-walking technique.


    Long Xuan''s imagination ran wild, continuing to diverge...


    Light can disperse into red, orange, yellow, green, blue (indigo), and violet.


    It can also break down into ultraviolet rays, infrared rays, X-rays, Y-rays, and radio waves.


    Infrared rays can elerate metabolism, promote blood cirction, relieve fatigue, and pain, and enable thermal imaging and night vision.


    Ultraviolet rays, X-rays, and Y-rays cause cancer and other hazards to humans. This could develop into a death ray ability by extracting all harmful rays from light.


    The uses of radio waves are countless...


    Long Xuan''s mind was exploding...


    He quickly thought of developing light''s attack power.


    Aside fromsers, consider the principle of burning paper with a convex lens.


    A convex lens refracts light, converging it at one point, generating enough heat to burn paper.


    Modern technology can''t makerge enough convex lenses, so the light converges are limited, making the destructive power negligible.


    But a light-controlling Gu insect is different; it can gather as much light as desired without any tools.


    When light within a hundred miles converges at one point, the destructive power would be unimaginable. Long Xuan didn''t dare to think about it.


    It''s not an exaggeration to say that this attack power has no upper limit because light in this world is infinite.


    When gathered light has no upper limit, the resulting destructive power is infinite.


    Under such world-ending attack power, evensers couldn''tpare, makingser development unnecessary.


    With so many ideas, when ites to developing light abilities, even Kizaru would be no match. His creativity in this world is overwhelming.[1]


    He felt that any ability he drew out would be enough to secure the top bid.


    1. For those who don''t know, kizaru is a one-piece character with light power.

 Chapter 11: Qian Jinjin

    Long Xuan''s pen moved like the wind, quickly jotting down some of his ideas.


    In reality, his various ideas on manipting light could only be theoretically realized, essentially just empty talk. Practical implementation was another matter entirely.


    Therefore, to y it safe, he didn''t dare to write just one idea, but he couldn''t write too many either. His imagination was worth more than a billion.


    He wrote down the ideas that wouldn''t pose a threat to himself, while choosing to keep the overly groundbreaking abilities to himself.


    To obtain all his ideas, it depended on whether she could present something that would satisfy him in the future.


    But even presenting this minuscule portion of his ideas was profound enough.


    Fearing that the youngdy might not understand, he wrote very detailed exnations, filling several pages.


    Finally, he signed the papers, folded them, and confidently threw them into the bidding box.


    If this Light Gu insect could truly realize all his ideas, it would absolutely be a formidable force.Aside from being nearly useless in dark or overcast conditions, the Light Gu insect would be incredibly powerful during the day.


    Unfortunately, his attributes were metal, wood, water, fire, and earth¡ªhecked the light attribute. Otherwise, he would have definitely tried to cultivate a Light Gu insect.


    After throwing the paper into the bidding box, he quickly wandered around the stone betting shop, buying any fossils that showed progress.


    However, aside from that king stone, he didn''t encounter another fossil with five digits after the decimal point.


    He was rational, stopping after buying a few dozen stones. One reason was theck of spirit stones, and the other was not daring to buy them all.


    He feared that the Qian nmerce association would suspect someone had the ability to see through the stones if they found the shop filled with waste.


    Despite possibly being overly cautious, he didn''t intend to take any risks.


    Even if he won the bid, he needed to n carefully on how to safely take the king stone away.


    Cutting the stone on the spot might not be feasible, as revealing a peak-grade spirit insect would attract trouble. Selling it on the spot and carrying arge sum of money would also invite trouble, making it a dilemma whether to sell or not. If the treasure''s value reached a certain level, the ban on killing in the market might be ineffective.


    Taking it away might be even more impractical. His storage bag was the lowest grade, with limited space, impossible to hold a four-meter-tall king stone.


    Even if he had arge space storage bag, so many people seeing him take away a stone worth ten million would incite thoughts of robbery. Taking it away or not would both be problematic.


    He would be in a difficult situation.


    This required him toe up with a perfect solution, testing his intelligence.


    While selecting fossils, the bidding time quickly ended. A stunning young girl in a white dress emerged from the store. She had a slender waist and clear, clever eyes.


    Although her face was veiled, making her appearance unclear, just seeing her nose and above was enough to confirm her extraordinary beauty.


    Who knew if there was a rule that whoever unveiled her veil would marry her.


    Her appearance brought silence to the scene, with many people showing eager expressions, all participants in the bidding, anxiously awaiting the results.


    With the main character finally appearing, someone couldn''t wait any longer, shouting from the crowd, "Enough with the formalities, check the bidding box! My idea will definitely surprise you."


    "Nonsense!" Someone immediately retorted from the crowd, "How dare you im your idea is the best in front of me? You haven''t seen what I wrote. You''d feel ashamed."


    "Stop boasting. Everyone knows your intelligence is notoriously low. What could you possibly write that''s worthwhile? Don''t make a fool of yourself."


    "You nonsense..."


    The crowd quickly erupted in arguments, a chaotic scene.


    Everyone was confident in their masterpieces, overly self-assured,cking self-awareness, as if the winning idea was certainly theirs.


    Even Long Xuan wanted to say, "It''s not that I''m targeting anyone, but everyone here is trash."


    "Silence..."


    At this moment, Qian Duoduo finally stepped out to maintain order, displeasedly looking at the crowd.


    Each of them was a sheep to be fleeced. What was there to argue about? The king stone wouldn''t fall into anyone''s hands, just a bunch of fools.


    Qian Duoduo had some authority. After he spoke, the scene quieted down.


    "The youngdy will now review the bids. No one is allowed to make any noise."


    As he spoke, Qian Duoduo moved the bidding box to Qian Jinjin, cing it down gently with a fawning expression.


    "Miss, please. The wisdom of the entire market is here."


    "Mm!" Qian Jinjin nodded, sparing words, opening the bidding box, and casually picking up a paper.


    The scene was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. The crowd held their breath, afraid of making any noise, all nervously watching the girl reviewing the papers.


    Quickly reading one paper after another, the girl soon furrowed her brows.


    She was trying to quickly develop powerful abilities for the Light Gu insect using collective wisdom. As a powerful natural-type Gu insect, only having illumination was indeed embarrassing.


    This market wasn''t her first stop. She had used the same method in many ces before, but with little sess.


    The basic attributes of this world were metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, and thunder.


    Most people had one or more of these attributes.


    Attributes beyond these seven were rare mutations.


    The light attribute was particrly rare, with few understanding it, resulting in minimal gains even from collective wisdom.


    This time was no different. Each person was confident, thinking they had developed something extraordinary, but it was all garbage.


    Most even went off-topic, boasting about light-speed attacks and light-speed movement. Didn''t she already know how fast light was? Did they need to tell her?


    The problem was that the Light Gu insect''s ability was merely controlling light, unrted abilities were impossible.


    Some even copied existing light attribute abilities, familiar to everyone, like light healing, light ball, light shield...


    As if she hadn''t read any books.


    The loudest ones were the most nonsensical, iming light reversal could turn back time, which she found insulting to her intelligence.


    Until she found a folded paper that caught her eye, the ideas inside were simply fantastical.


    The novel theories were ones she had never heard of, broadening her horizons.


    For example, why can the human eye see the world, light reflection and refraction...


    These concepts were unheard of to her, captivating her.


    The various developed abilities made her scalp tingle with amazement, she couldn''t help but apud.


    Could controlling light really be developed this way? Incredible.


    She had to admire the mind behind these ideas, wondering how this brain worked, thought Qian Jinjin, curiously.

 Chapter 12: The Assembly Concludes

    As she noticed the youngdy''s eyes lingering on a particr piece of paper for an extended period, Qian Duoduo was astonished. Could it be that someone truly created something remarkable?


    This was indeed a rare urrence. After visiting so many stations, they finally had a breakthrough, and Qian Duoduo couldn''t help but smile.


    The others, however, began to look uneasy. They could tell whether the paper belonged to them or not, and the youngdy''s prolonged attention to someone else''s paper wasn''t a good sign.


    Those whose papers had been reviewed early on were especially disheartened, silently cursing her for herck of discernment. How could she overlook their brilliant ideas with just a nce? This was a heavy blow to them.


    Long Xuan, on the other hand, remained calm andposed. It was exactly as expected, nothing to get excited about.


    After examining the paper for a long time, Qian Jinjing finally set it down and beckoned with her hand. A light orb immediately flew out from the room.


    The light orb was purely a form of light, but it had visible eyes, making it undoubtedly a living creature.


    Long Xuan looked at this natural-type Gu insect in wonder. He had heard that natural-type Gu insects had no physical form, and seeing it today confirmed the rumors.


    He felt as if he had discovered a new world, his eyes filled with interest, marveling at the wonders of nature that could produce such bizarre creatures.The light orb gentlynded in Qian Jinjing''s palm. She gazed at it silently. Withoutparison, there was no harm. Others could easily develop a plethora of powerful abilities, while this little creature, familiar with its own power, had only managed toe up with an illumination technique.


    "Where''s your intelligence? I might as well call you ''No Intelligence'' from now on!" Qian Jinjing couldn''t help but mentally chide it.


    She then transferred all the ideas from the paper into the light Gu insect''s mind using her soul.


    Its little eyes quickly showed a look of surprise, seemingly unaware that its abilities could be used in such ways and be so powerful.


    Eager to try developing these abilities, Qian Jinjing lost interest in reviewing the remaining papers. She directly announced, "It''s gettingte. I''m going to announce the results."


    "The winner of this round..." Qian Jinjing nced at the name on the paper and raised her voice, "is Mr. Long Xuan. Who is Long Xuan?"


    As soon as she spoke, the whole ce erupted in an uproar.


    The previously silent venue turned chaotic, filled with noise. The Stone King, worth ten million, had been won?


    Faces were filled with shock, some with envy and jealousy, others with disbelief.


    Qian Duoduo was also stunned,pletely dumbfounded.


    That was a Stone King worth ten million! Just given away like that?


    This was far from what he had expected. He believed that the Stone King wouldn''t be given away and that the youngdy was merely using it to pique interest without any intention of actually giving it away.


    Could someone¡¯s idea truly surpass the value of a peak-grade Gu insect? That seemed impossible.


    "Miss!"


    "Say no more. Just do as I say." Qian Jinjing shot him a look, stopping him from speaking.


    "I object! There are still many papers left unread. How can you be sure the winner is him? At least read my paper before deciding."


    "That''s right! His idea might be good, but withoutparing, how can you be certain he''s the best? This is unfair!"


    "I object too! I demand to see what he wrote, to ensure fairness and convince us all!"


    Most peoplecked self-awareness and insisted on making a fool of themselves, not giving up until they were thoroughly defeated.


    However, Qian Jinjing had no intention of revealing the papers to the public. With a nce, she signaled to Qian Duoduo, who quickly understood and loudly proimed, "Enough!"


    "Our Qian Commerce Association''s Integrity Gu ensures fairness. With the Integrity Gu, our youngdy will always be fair and just."


    "You might distrust the youngdy, but surely you trust the Integrity Gu?"


    With just this one statement, everyone was left speechless.


    Indeed, the Integrity Gu was enough to settle the matter, silencing all doubts. In this world, the Integrity Gu had that kind of power.


    After scanning the crowd, Qian Duoduo quickly approached Long Xuan.


    He was astonished, remembering that this person had just arrived today, less than an hour ago.


    In such a short time, he came up with something that impressed the youngdy? He must be a genius!


    What kind of ability did hee up with? How powerful could it be? Qian Duoduo was utterly shocked.


    "Haha! Thank you, thank you!"


    Long Xuan remainedposed, having anticipated this oue. There was nothing to be overly surprised about.


    After acknowledging the crowd with a cupped fist salute, he eagerly approached the massive Stone King.


    Seeing his slender figure, everyone was stunned. The winner was so young, a mere child. They had lost to a child, which was hard to ept.


    Qian Jinjing''s eyes briefly shed with surprise upon seeing the paper''s owner. She hadn''t expected such peculiar ideas toe from a young person.


    She had thought that someone with such profound insights would be an elderly schr, not a young boy.

 Chapter 13: Disappointed Crowd

    ¡°Little friend, do you intend to cut the stone on-site or take it away directly? If you choose to cut it here, I can do it for you free of charge,¡± Qian Duoduo said as he approached Long Xuan.


    ¡°Let''s cut it on-site. I don''t have enough storage space,¡± Long Xuan casually replied while touching the giant stone king.


    Hearing this, the entire crowd perked up, their eyes shining as they immediately gathered around. Watching someone cut stones was their greatest pleasure, especially when it involved a rare stone king. This excited everyone, and they rushed over eagerly to watch.


    Those who were selecting stones also put down their fossils and ran over excitedly. In no time, arge crowd had gathered.


    Seeing that Long Xuan nned to cut the stone king here, Qian Duoduo was delighted. Cutting the stone here would not only satisfy his curiosity but also attract a crowd, boosting business. If a good insect was found, he could acquire it immediately, achieving multiple goals at once.


    He took out arge red axe from his storage bag, smiled at Long Xuan, and said, ¡°This spiritual axe is a peak-grade spiritual weapon, capable of cutting through iron like mud. It can easily cut through any fossil. Where do you want to start?¡±


    Long Xuan examined the peak-grade spiritual weapon with curiosity and then drew a line on the fossil, almost splitting it in half.


    He could see the progress of the spiritual insect inside the fossil and could judge its position based on the numbers. The height and width of the numbers allowed him to estimate the size of the spiritual insect.


    This cut would perfectly avoid the insect''s position, missing it by a hair.Inspired by his experiences in jade gambling fields in his past life, Long Xuan nned to pretend to fail with the first few cuts and then sell the remaining material. Although the value of the remaining material would decrease due to the initial failures, there would still be people hoping to get a bargain.


    His n was simple: using his ability to locate the spiritual insect, he would pretend to fail initially, cut out a fist-sized piece containing the insect, and then sell the remaining material at a high price. Since a small piece was unlikely to contain an insect, no one would want to buy it, and he could take it away unnoticed.


    Long Xuan pretended to be very nervous, rubbing his hands and pointing to the line. ¡°Let''s start with this line.¡±


    Qian Duoduo''s spiritual axe flew up and gently cut down, splitting the fossil like tofu with no resistance.


    To avoid damaging the insect inside, the axe did not cut through the fossil in one go but peeled ityer byyer, wasting some time.


    Everyone held their breath, eyes fixed on the crack in the stone without blinking.


    When the fossil split in half, the crowd immediately swarmed around. Seeing the smooth cut with no insect, everyone was greatly disappointed.


    Long Xuan also showed a very disappointed expression, looking as sad as possible.


    Qian Duoduo patted his shoulder tofort him, ¡°Don''t be discouraged. It''s normal not to hit the right spot with such arge fossil. The good stuff must be in another spot.¡±


    Hearing this, Long Xuan''s eyes lit up again. He picked up the pen and drew another line in the middle of the two halves, splitting them again.


    This cut would divide the fossil into four parts, again perfectly avoiding the insect''s position.


    ¡°Please cut along this line,¡± Long Xuan said firmly.


    ¡°Alright!¡± Qian Duoduo operated the spiritual axe again, repeating the previous steps. Under everyone''s tense gaze, he split the two halves again.


    As expected, the smooth cut revealed no insect.


    ¡°Still no insect?¡±


    The crowd eximed, bing a bit restless. In stone cutting, the first few cuts are crucial. After several cuts in the center without finding an insect, hopes were dim.


    Such arge, high-quality fossil without an insect was unbelievable and surprised everyone.


    Some people showed a look of gloating, as they couldn''t stand others'' sess.


    ¡°How could this be?¡±


    Long Xuan feigned a shocked expression, hurriedly wiping the cut, looking anxious.


    ¡°Here! Here! Here! Keep cutting!¡± Long Xuan pointed to several spots, acting like a desperate gambler.


    Over the years, Qian Duoduo had seen many gamblers with such expressions and was used to it.


    He shook his head helplessly and continued cutting the fossil ording to Long Xuan''s markings.


    Again, he perfectly avoided the insect''s position. Long Xuan, losing his mind, kept drawing lines and cutting the stone.


    Time passed, and as night fell, the giant stone king had been cut into fifty pieces without revealing the insect.


    Everyone was disappointed. The initial excitement of stone cutting had vanished, and many people had left.


    In their eyes, after so many cuts without finding an insect, the stone was likely worthless. They all looked at Long Xuan with pity.


    Long Xuan sat on the ground, looking soulless, muttering to himself, ¡°How is this possible? Such arge stone without an insect? This is unfair.¡±


    Qian Duoduo also looked bewildered, puzzled. This shouldn''t have happened. How could there be no insect in a stone that was supposed to contain one? It was unbelievable.


    ¡°Young man, ept it. This is stone gambling. There''s no stone guaranteed to contain an insect. If there were, the Qian Commerce association would have cut it themselves long ago instead of selling it to transfer the risk,¡± an elderly man in the crowd advised.


    However, his advice was useless. Long Xuan remained despondent, looking hopeless as if the sky had fallen.


    His acting could win an Oscar.


    ¡°No! No! I haven''t lost yet!¡±


    Long Xuan suddenly stood up and shouted to the crowd, ¡°There must be an insect in this stone king. I just happened to miss it. It was just bad luck.¡±


    ¡°The spiritual insect must be in one of these fifty pieces. I''m willing to sell them. Whoever buys the piece with the insect will depend on their luck.¡±


    Hearing this, everyone shook their heads and smiled. This was truly taking them for fools. Who would buy a stone that was almost certainly worthless? Only a fool would buy it.


    But Long Xuan''s next words stunned everyone present.

 Chapter 14: Insect in the Stone

    "I n to sell each fossil for ten thousand spirit stones. Who wants to be the first to try their luck?" Long Xuan shouted after scanning the crowd.


    At that moment, everyone¡¯s expressions changed. They had just called anyone who bought a fool, but now they all felt like fools themselves.


    It was simply too cheap.


    Originally priced at ten million, the King of Stones could now be bought in parts for just ten thousand spirit stones each, a fraction of the cost.


    Even though it seemed certain that the gamble would be a loss, there was always a chance, however slim. What if a spirit insect was hiding in one of the fossils and hadn''t been discovered yet? Theoretically, it was entirely possible.


    The key was the low price. Even if they lost the gamble, the loss was bearable.


    But if they won, given the quality of the stone, any value of the spirit insect that emerged could make them rich.


    It was worth the gamble¡ªa hundredfold return.


    Only a fool wouldn''t gamble.The gamblers started breathing heavily, showing greed in their eyes, staring as if they wanted to eat the stone.


    At this point, they finally realized that Long Xuan had acquired the King of Stones at no cost. Therefore, he could afford to sell it cheaply and still make a profit. What a cunning little devil.


    Long Xuan was very satisfied with their expressions. Indeed, everyone loves a bargain.


    As long as the price is low enough, someone will always take the chance and get fooled. His n was a sess.


    Qian Duoduo was stunned. He never thought that gambling on stones could be done this way.


    Previously, everyone either ground the fossils into powder or took them away whole. Who ever sold the leftover pieces at a low price? This had no precedent.


    But today, he witnessed this new method.


    He had to admit, it was brilliant. It took advantage of gamblers'' love for bargains and their dream of hitting it big. They were actually willing to spend spirit stones to gamble.


    Although the profits weren''t huge, it was better than losing everything. Moreover, Long Xuan hadn''t spent a single spirit stone today; any sale was pure profit.


    As expected, things went ording to Long Xuan''s n.


    Dozens of fossils were snapped up in a frenzy. Everyone lost their rationality, and the fossils were all gone in an instant.


    Only the smallest, fist-sized fossil was left, ignored by everyone.


    It was too small, about the size of a spirit insect. The chances of finding a spirit insect in it were almost zero, so no one wanted it. Even though ten thousand spirit stones was a small amountpared to the King of Stones, for the average poor practitioner, it was not insignificant. Ten thousand spirit stones weren''t worth gambling on such a small stone; the price was too high.


    Moreover, Long Xuan cunningly sold all the stones at the same price, regardless of size. People preferred therger stones, making them feel they were getting more value. Under such circumstances, the small stone had no chance of being sold.


    No one wanted it even when he pleaded. People left, cursing him for being crazy for spirit stones. Who would spend ten thousand spirit stones on such a small stone?


    Thus, the fossil containing a supreme spirit insect remained with Long Xuan, who couldn''t even give it away.


    Back home, Long Xuan held the fist-sized fossil, looking at it excitedly and giggling foolishly.


    "All my calctions, and it ends up in my hands. I wonder if this find will help me create a supreme Gu recipe."


    He gently stroked the stone, his eyes full of expectation.


    After ying with it for a while, he finally began to cut the stone.


    The fossil wasn''trge, so it didn''t take long. Soon, he sessfully extracted something that looked like an eye.


    The eye awakened at that moment, slowly opening, revealing an evil aura, looking very ominous.


    In this world, even energy-based natural Gu insects existed, so a spirit insect resembling an eye wasn''t strange to Long Xuan.


    On the contrary, he was thrilled. If the Gu practitioners in this world loved any type of Gu insects, the second most favored were natural Gu, and the most favored were eye Gu. Eye Gu were the rarest Gu in this world.


    Most inner Gu consumed the practitioner''s spiritual power or blood, but eye Gu consumed the practitioner''s mental power, forming their own system.


    Eye Gu fed on mental power, enabling them to perform various incredible illusions. Illusions were a more insidious means of attack than regr Gu. Practitioners proficient in illusions were much stronger than ordinary practitioners.


    Each type of eye Gu inherently carried a powerful illusion. The world''s most extraordinary illusions could only be performed by eye Gu, or at least, eye Gu could unleash their full potential, thus earning them such a high status.


    Now, with an eye insect before him, how could Long Xuan not be excited?


    Previously, he hadn''t dared use rare materials for creating Gu recipes. Many materials were so rare they were almost impossible to find. Without the materials, no matter how good the Gu recipe was, it was useless.


    So, Long Xuan''s n was always to create Gu recipes based on the rare materials he had, rather than creating recipes first and then searching for the materials.


    Now, with a rare material in hand, he could create an eye Gu based on it.


    Long Xuan had already decided on the direction for this eye Gu.


    While he couldn''t decide what kind of illusion the eye Gu would have, he could determine its basic abilities.


    He didn''t care about other aspects, but this eye Gu had to have one specific ability¡ªmicroscopic magnification.


    He hurriedly grabbed paper and pen, sat at his desk, and eagerly started creating his second Gu recipe.


    This eye insect was likely an ancient species long extinct, but Long Xuan didn''t recognize all the existing species, let alone an extinct one.


    But this wouldn''t hinder him. Long Xuan had discovered that his golden finger operated based on the host''s understanding, not the world''s insect terminology.


    He could even use modern Chinese characters to create Gu recipes. Many microorganisms in this world hadn''t been named yet, so he could name them as he pleased, and the golden finger could still recognize them.


    Since he didn''t know the name of this insect, he could name it anything. It didn''t need to sound nice¡ªhe decided to call it "Eye in Stone."


    In different ces, the same thing often had different names. Why not give it a new name at home?


    Long Xuan quickly wrote "Eye of Stone" on the paper. As expected, the golden finger recognized it immediately, and the progress bar appeared.


    Long Xuan wrote swiftly, inspired. He recalled an old rural saying: "The cow''s eye sees peoplerge, the goose''s eye sees people small."


    So geese like to peck at people and chase them.


    Cows, however, see people asrge as the barn and work tirelessly, not resisting even when whipped.


    Since cow eyes could magnify objects, Long Xuan''s first thought was naturally cow eyes.


    He didn''t know if putting a cow eye, which wasn''t an insect, into the mix would work.


    But with the error-correcting device, why not try? It wouldn''t cost anything, just a few seconds.


    Long Xuan wrote "cow eye," and the progress bar on the Gu recipe increased slightly.


    Long Xuan smiled, knowing he had seeded.

 Chapter 15: The Drawbacks of the Golden Finger

    At this moment, Long Xuan finally realized that refining Gu does not have to follow rigid rules, and the materials used do not necessarily have to be insects; he could use some unconventional materials that others might not even dare to think of.


    This significantly raised the upper limit of the path of Gu.


    Inspired by the cow''s eye, Long Xuan quickly thought of the eagle''s eye, which also has the ability to magnify objects, and is even sharper, able to see prey ten kilometers away as if they were close.


    If he added the eagle''s eye to the Gu form, it might even give him irvoyance.


    When he wrote down the words "eagle''s eye," the progress on the Gu form changed again instead of disappearing, proving he had seeded once more.


    What followed was a long period of working on the Gu form. Long Xuan spent every day either at home working on the Gu form or at the market in the extreme west collecting materials for the form, and opportunistically amassing wealth.


    He had already noticed that the cost of making a second Gu Insect could be astronomical.


    This leads to one of the drawbacks of the golden finger.


    It should be known that the same material is often used in many Gu forms.How does the golden finger identify which Gu form Long Xuan''s iplete form belongs to?


    So, the golden finger determines based on the Gu form that requires the most materials.


    It''s important to know that the number of materials recorded in each Gu form varies, some require a few, while others require thousands.


    The quality of Gu Insect in this world is determined by the quality of the spirit insects used, which in turn depends on the number of spirit insects.


    The strength of Gu Insect depends on their quality, and for the same quality, it depends on the number of materials.


    But this is not absolute. Gu Insect made with more materials are not necessarily stronger than those made with fewer materials, and this situation often urs.


    Because the standards by which the heavenly way judges strength differ from those of humans. For example, the illumination technique of the light Gu Insect might seem weak in the eyes of the heavenly way, but after being developed by someone, is it still weak?


    Moreover, Gu Insect are divided into practical and non-practical types, as well asbat and nonbat types.


    There are many instances where Gu Insect made from tens of thousands of materials carry impractical auxiliary abilities and have nobat power.


    In ancient times, when the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was abundant and spirit insects were everywhere, Gu forms could be researched without regard to cost. The Gu forms from that era were exceedingly long.


    It is said that some Gu forms were as long as books, with materials numbering in the billions, and no Gu refining vessel could contain them.


    When refining Gu, they could only use mountains and valleys as vessels, or even heaven and earth as vessels.


    When the Gu was formed, it would cause sudden changes in the heavens and earth, and terrifying phenomena would ur.


    These long Gu forms could create Gu Insect with earth-shattering power, capable of even carrying the powers of space and time.


    So if the golden finger judges based on the form with the most materials, the number of materials in Long Xuan''s created form could be immense, even reaching seven digits after the decimal point.


    But humans generally have a psychology of greed.


    Even knowing that longer Gu forms consume a lot of time and resources, and the resulting Gu Insect may not be stronger than one made from fewer materials.


    Long Xuan, in pursuit of perfection, still persisted stubbornly.


    At this moment, he couldn''t even imagine how many spirit stones this seemingly long Gu form would cost him.


    Fortunately, the reputation of the Little Strong Gu he developed had already spread.


    Li Erniu, during a duel with his archenemy, used the tactic of trading injuries to sessfully kill his foe.


    At the same time, he was fatally wounded through the heart by his enemy''s dying strike, but Li Erniu did not die.


    This event caused a sensation, and the Little Strong Gu became incredibly popr due to this battle.


    The Little Strong Gu became widely known overnight, and from then on, it sold exceptionally well, with peopleing to trade for it every day.


    If Long Xuan wasn''t afraid of others discovering his secret of a 100% sess rate in refining Gu, he would have wanted to sell as many as possible every day.


    By selling the Little Strong Gu, asionally finding bargains at stalls, and sometimes getting lucky in stone gambling shops, he made a lot of money, enough to support the consumption of his second Gu form.


    Of course, he alwayspleted these transactions in disguise, each time covering his face and pretending to be a different identity.


    Although the market had rules against killing and robbing as long as one didn''t carry heavy treasures, his cautious nature made him decide to be extra careful.


    Time passed, and two years went by unknowingly. He was still in the initial stage of gathering spiritual energy, with little improvement in his cultivation, and had be numb to it.


    Fortunately, he has long life, making up for hisck of talent with time.


    Long Xuan believed he would stand at the pinnacle of the world sooner orter, remaining optimistic about his future.


    Speaking of longevity, although his cultivation talent was surprisingly poor, he was a natural genius in practicing health-preserving techniques.


    In just two years, he broke through two levels, reaching the twelfth level of the "Eternal Life Sutra," increasing his lifespan by two hundred years.


    Thus, even after two years, he still looked like a young boy of less than eighteen, frighteningly young.


    With an increased lifespan, the time required for maturity naturally lengthened proportionally, which also troubled him.


    As for the research on the new Gu form, since he didn''t spend time deducing the "Eternal Life Sutra," he managed toplete it after two years of hard work.


    Although he had mentally prepared for the possibility of many materials, the Gu form requiring over three thousand materials still startled him.


    It should be known that other scattered cultivators usually use dozens of materials for refining Gu, with hundreds being the most, and his thousands of materials were simply astonishing.


    Among the thousands of materials in the Gu form, many were expensive high-grade spirit insects, making the cost of refining Gu astronomical.


    A rough estimate showed it would require millions of spirit stones, an incredibly outrageous price.


    Over the years, he frequently visited the market, using his golden finger to find countless treasures, selling countless Little Strong Gu, and barely managed to gather the required spirit stones for one set of materials.


    However, this time refining Gu almost drained all his wealth, bringing him back to square one overnight.


    Long Xuan was heartbroken.


    Having spent so much money and time, if the Gu he created didn''t carry excellent illusion abilities, he would be devastated.

 Chapter 16: Forbidden Technique

    Long Xuan took a deep breath, retrieved all the materials, and ced them one by one into arge cauldron.


    The number of spirit insects was simply toorge; the original Gu container could no longer hold them all, so he had to use arge cauldron.


    After putting all the spirit insects into the cauldron and covering it with a lid, he began to observe the progress.


    If he didn''t see any progress, it meant the Gu could not be formed. Long Xuan would then take out all the spirit insects and change the sequence before putting them back in.


    This step was repeated thirty-seven times before the cauldron finally showed progress: [0%].


    At the same time, all the spirit insects in the cauldron suddenly became quiet.


    The eye emitting evil energy was very eerie. Any spirit insect that was stared at by it would be motionless, with a nk and lifeless gaze.


    It was as if they were trapped in an illusion, with their souls pulled into an illusionary realm, while their bodies outside were slowly devoured by this evil insect.


    Seeing the progress, Long Xuan let out a long sigh of relief. Thankfully, it didn¡¯t take too long.The sess rate of forming a Gu varies with each method. Some can seed in two attempts, while others may take ten thousand tries and still fail.


    He was really worried that this was a Gu with an extremely low sess rate, as it would be difficult to handle so many spirit insects.


    Now it was just a matter of being patient. Long Xuan was very curious about how powerful the illusion carried by this expensive eye Gu would be. The anticipation was both nerve-wracking and exciting.


    Waiting always felt long. Long Xuan frequently checked the progress of the cauldron, anxious and impatient.


    Perhaps the lower the quality of the Gu, the faster it forms, and the higher the quality, the slower it forms.


    This Gu made him wait for a full eighty-one days, each day feeling like a year.


    Because of the progress indicator, he was already waiting nearby on the day the Gu was formed. When the progress reached 100%, his spirits were lifted. He immediately lifted the cauldron lid, only to see a sinister eye Gu lying in the center, staring at him with a very eerie gaze.


    Long Xuan couldn¡¯t wait and immediately performed a blood pact with it.


    Although he had never tried a blood pact, he knew the process well. An eye Gu, a type of inner Gu, would parasitize the eye if small, or the center of the forehead ifrger.


    The Long family had a unique Gu technique called the Evil Dragon Emperor¡¯s Eye, which Elder Long had personally refined, so he had some knowledge of using eye Gu.


    This eye Gu was slightlyrger, so Long Xuan ced it on his forehead.


    The eye Guy on his brow for a moment, then instinctively broke through the skin and burrowed into the center of his forehead.


    Once it entered his forehead, the skin quickly healed without a trace. From a distance, no one could see the wound or the hidden evil eye, making it very discreet.


    At the same time, Long Xuan felt a sharp pain in his forehead, followed by his mental power being rapidly drawn into it, being consumed by the eye Gu.


    After it had its fill, the eye Gu granted its ability to Long Xuan, establishing a symbiotic rtionship where both shared their fate.


    Not everyone is qualified to refine an eye Gu; it requires high mental power. Thosecking sufficient mental power would perish from being drained dry at this stage.


    Although Long Xuan didn¡¯t know how strong his mental power was, having lived two lives gave him confidence in his mental strength.


    Hepleted the symbiosis with the eye Gu without any difort and could sustain the spiritual power the eye Gu required.


    He also understood the illusion carried by the eye Gu.


    This illusion was called Origin Realm, which perfectly replicated the real world into an illusionary realm.


    Everything in the illusion was identical to reality, making it impossible for someone to discern differences to break the illusion.


    The absolute realism of the illusion made it very difficult for those trapped in it to discover its ws, making them unaware they were in an illusion.


    This was the strength of the illusion.


    Excited, Long Xuan couldn¡¯t wait to test the basic abilities of the eye Gu.


    With a thought, an eye opened on his forehead, exuding a sinister aura.


    He closed his eyes and tried to see the new world with this eye.


    As he infused his mental power, the world before him began to magnify, demonstrating a microscope-like ability.


    Long Xuan was ecstatic; he had sessfully created a way to magnify small objects.


    He held his breath, calmed his racing heart, and began testing the limits of the eye Gu.


    He increased the infusion of mental spiritual power, and his vision further magnified, soon reaching the microscopic level.


    At this point, he could already see micron-level organisms, capable of seeking out water bear across the world. Yet, he wasn''t satisfied. He magnified his vision further, diving deeper until he could see bacteria and viruses floating in the air, reaching the nanoscale level.


    But even this wasn''t enough. He furiously injected more mental power, his vision magnifying a hundredfold, a thousandfold...


    As his vision expanded, everything he saw began moving rapidly from the center outward, making him somewhat dizzy.


    Who knows how many times it had magnified, but now he could see molecules, and with further magnification, he saw atoms and even atomic nuclei...


    Long Xuan''s heart pounded uncontrobly. His initial intent for creating this ability was to prevent others from using Gu against him and to catch water bear.


    However, he hadn''t anticipated the eye Gu''s tremendous power, allowing him to magnify his vision to the atomic level, and perhaps even beyond.


    When a spirit insect transforms into a Gu insect, its growth rate resets to zero. This eye Gu was currently at 0% growth, still in its infancy. If it was already this powerful now, what would it achieve when fully mature?


    Long Xuan dared not imagine further.


    The magnification limits of this eye Gu far exceeded his expectations. Once fully grown, it could explore worlds even smaller than those known in his previous life. He couldn''t wait to discover what these micro-worlds held.


    Long Xuan began contemting how to utilize this ability effectively, rather than just magnifying objects without purpose.


    Recently, he had learned that Gu insects'' abilities could be deeply developed. Although each Gu insect only has one ability, Gu practitioners could leverage their creativity toplicate and diversify the abilities.


    Magnifying objects seems like a single ability with no apparent destructive power. However, Long Xuan prided himself on his ingenuity. He aimed to develop several abilities based on this single one, turning even auxiliary capabilities into forbidden techniques.


    What can magnifying objects achieve? Long Xuan''s mind raced with ideas.


    First, he maximized the eye Gu''s power and scanned the room, eventually discovering that extreme magnification offered a slight x-ray effect, though only for thin, low-density objects.


    urately determining what''s inside a fossil might not be possible, and it could only prate a thinyer of ground, not very deep.


    Even so, Long Xuan was already quite content. What good would deep ground pration be without night vision? He still wouldn''t be able to see what''s underground.


    Soon, he thought about magnifying others'' spirit pills, spirit insect feed, poisons, and other resources to micro-analyze and decipher theirpositions.


    Next, he considered that this ability might be useful for microscopic body movements.


    The so-called microscopic body movements involve evading an opponent''s attacks with minimal effort, highly practical inbat and conserving a lot of energy.


    Isn''t that practical in battle?


    However, it still wasn''t enough. These ideas weren''t terrifyingly powerful. He wanted to develop forbidden techniques, techniques not weaker than light condensation...

 Chapter 17: Elder Long

    Long Xuan''s imagination continued to expand...


    Soon he looked out the window again, zooming in on the distant scenery. With the zoomed-inndscape, he essentially possessed a irvoyant vision.


    In fact, his Gu collection included arge number of eagle eyes, so even without using this ability, his normal vision was already exceptionally far-reaching, almost like a small-scale irvoyance.


    Once irvoyance isbined with magnifying vision, the terrifying effect of seeing for ten thousand miles is not surprising. However, to see such a distance might still require further enhancement or a metamorphosis of the eye Gu.


    The so-called metamorphosis is equivalent to an advancement in Gu cultivation.


    As Gu cultivators continuously advance, the Gu insects must also keep up with the cultivator''s pace to avoid being left behind, naturally requiring constant advancement.


    However, the advancement of Gu insects and the advancement of Gu cultivators are entirely different systems, hence it is called metamorphosis rather than advancement.


    The metamorphosis of Gu insects relies entirely on consumption. Each Gu insect has different conditions for metamorphosis, and Gu insects do not know what to consume for metamorphosis, requiring the Gu cultivator to research and explore for them.


    Moreover, there are numerous items that can satisfy the metamorphosis conditions of Gu insects. Each Gu insect has countless metamorphosis routes, with some being strong and others weak. Choosing which route requires careful consideration by the Gu cultivator.In summary, the metamorphosis of Gu insects relies on consumption, which could be other Gu insects, solid materials, or even man-made items like elixirs.


    If they consume the wrong thing, Gu insects will not achieve metamorphosis even after ten thousand years. But if they consume the right thing, they can quicklyplete metamorphosis, possibly even multiple times in a short period, advancing much faster than Gu cultivators.


    Because of this characteristic, even high-level Gu cultivators can quickly cultivate Gu insects that match their level.


    If the Gu cultivator¡¯s stages are Spirit Gathering, Marrow cleansing, Spiritual Sea, and Soul projection...


    Then the Gu insect¡¯s metamorphosis stages are Mortal Gu, Spirit Gu, Rare Gu, and Exotic Gu...


    Corresponding to the Gu cultivator''s stages one by one.


    Currently, Long Xuan has not found a way for the Eye of Heavenly Secrets to metamorphose, but he is still far from the Marrow cleansing stage, so there is no rush.


    One should not try to cultivate an Exotic Gu directly at the Spirit Gathering stage. While it is possible, if there is a huge disparity in strength between the master and the Gu, the consequences are obvious¡ªeither the servant bes the master, or the Gu bacshes against the cultivator.


    Therefore, Long Xuan has not yet started researching the metamorphosis route for the Eye of Heavenly Secrets. His primary task now is to continue developing the abilities of the Eye of Heavenly Secrets.


    At first, Long Xuan did not pay much attention to the far-sight ability. What is the use of seeing far if it cannot harm the enemy? But when he looked at the ground, he could not stay calm.


    Although he has not yet gained true X-ray vision, he suddenly discovered that irvoyance can bebined with his golden finger ability.


    His golden finger can ignore obstacles, such as spirit insects encased in fossils.


    Although his eyes cannot see the spirit insects,pletely blocked by the thick stoneyer, he can see the progress deep within the fossil.


    Due to this characteristic of his golden finger, under the enhancement of irvoyance, he can see the progress deep underground.


    He doesn''t know what exactly this progress indicates, but this discovery made his breath quicken, and he could no longer sit still.


    What does this ability mean?


    It means he can find underground spirit stone veins, metal veins, fossil veins...and even ancient tombs.


    This is simply an immeasurable fortune, an endless opportunity.


    "I''m rich! Truly rich!"


    Long Xuan excitedly paced back and forth in the room, unable to resistughing out loud.


    "Calm down, calm down, avoid extreme joy and sorrow."


    Long Xuan slowly calmed his excited heart and continued to develop the abilities of the eye Gu.


    Currently, all the abilities he has thought of are more of auxiliary nature. He desires offensive capabilities, preferably some forbidden techniques.


    Long Xuan''s mind worked for a moment, and he quickly thought that since the ability of the eye Gu can see the microscopic world, even molecules and atoms.


    Can soul power be used to change the arrangement of atoms and molecules to create objects?


    Can soul power be used to remove or add outer electrons to atoms, or change the number of protons in the nucleus, to transform one material into another?


    Long Xuan gasped, utterly shocked by his bold idea.


    If his soul power is strong enough to manipte the microscopic world, could he be a creator? His imagination was exploding.


    He didn''t know if this idea was feasible.


    He only felt that the idea was terrifyingly bold, enough to send chills down his spine.


    This is not just about the power to create everything. If this power is used on enemies, directly destroying their DNA, or turning them into something else entirely, the thought alone made Long Xuan''s hair stand on end.


    Unfortunately, his soul power is insufficient to conduct experiments on manipting the microscopic world.


    Even if this idea is feasible, he cannot achieve it in the short term.


    To develop such power, his soul power would have to be immensely terrifying. As far as he knows, even bing a Gu King might not grant such powerful soul power.


    Additionally, even if this idea is realized, it could probably only create ordinary things.


    Spirit medicines, spirit elixirs, spirit stones... Most treasures contain more than just spiritual power. The non-material essence in this world''s natural treasures far exceeds just spiritual power, and cannot be created simply by manipting the microscopic world.


    So, even if he develops this ability, most cultivation resources would still need to be personally obtained, not created by manipting the microscopic world.


    Living things are even more impossible, as spirit insects, Gu insects, and spirit beasts cannot be created. Which aspect of soul, spirit, or lifespan can be transformed by manipting atoms?


    Thinking of so many limitations, he gradually calmed down. This ability might allow him to turn stone into gold, but bing a creator is out of the question.


    Since he cannot research this ability in the short term, Long Xuan stopped thinking about it.


    As a new type of Gu in this world, the inventor has the right to name it.


    Long Xuan thought for a moment and named it the Eye of Heavenly Secrets, considering the name quite good.


    After naming the eye Gu, he turned his Eye of Heavenly Secrets and used the ability to see a thousand miles, looking towards Elder Long''s residence...


    In a simple straw hut, a burly old man was sitting cross-legged on a grass mat, with an alchemy cauldron floating in mid-air controlled by his soul power in front of him.


    Under the alchemy cauldron was a purple me emitting intense heat.


    He controlled the purple me under the alchemy cauldron, sometimesrge, sometimes small. In a short time, all the materials in the alchemy furnace were burnt to ashes.


    "Damn it! Failed again!"


    "Just three ingredients short! Just three ingredients! Just one final step, why can''t I get past it?"


    "It''s been ten years! These three ingredients have troubled me for ten years, damn it!"


    "The Hundred Flowers Elixir is the most potent spirit elixir for enhancing Spirit Gathering stage cultivation, with no exceptions. If I canplete the recipe, the Long family''s power will reach a new level, but why can''t I get past this step!"


    "Is the failure due to the wrong ingredients, or is it a matter of sess rate?" The old man roared furiously, extremely agitated.


    On the table not far from himy an ancient alchemical recipe, exuding an ancient aura, clearly aged.


    But this ancient recipe was iplete, missing a corner. Coincidentally, the missing part contained three crucial ingredients, the most valuable primary ingredients, indispensable.


    Coincidentally, this ancient recipe was seen clearly by Long Xuan from afar. It was too careless to leave such a thing out in the open.


    Unaware of being spied on, the old man continued to rage, oblivious to his alchemical skills and recipe being stolen.


    As Long Xuan observed sneakily, he muttered to himself, "No wonder Old Long has stayed in that shabby hut all this time. Turns out he''s been in seclusion trying toplete the recipe."


    Although only three ingredients were missing, Long Xuan, who often studied Gu recipes, knew that just these three could take a lifetime toplete.


    Though the number three is small, the types of spirit medicines in this world are countless. Even randombinations of three could have countless possibilities.


    Others might take ages toplete the recipe, constantly experimenting with alchemy, which is time-consuming,borious, and uncertain whether failures are due to incorrect ingredients or operational errors.


    In any world, alchemy has a high failure rate.


    The greatest challenge in experimenting with recipes is the cost. Each failure wastes a cauldron of materials.


    One or two failures are manageable, but continuous failures will eventually deplete even a mountain of gold and silver.


    Completing a recipe is a bottomless pit, draining all wealth with no guaranteed oue.


    And the missing part of this recipe is the first three most expensive primary ingredients. Experimenting with the most precious materials repeatedly, the high cost furtherplicatespleting the recipe.


    However, what is impossible for others is possible for Long Xuan.


    The Eye of Heavenly Secrets has helped him figure out over three thousand materials; three ingredients are nothing.


    He canplete the recipe without time-consuming andborious experiments, and at zero cost. Using expensive materials is no problem for him.


    For him, three ingredients are a piece of cake, especially since the elixir is called the Hundred Flowers Elixir, implying the ingredients are rted to flowers. Limiting the type of spiritual medicine has greatly narrowed the scope for him.

 Chapter 18: Spirit Fire

    "Hundred Flower Pill, no wonder Old Long''s medicinal garden is full of flowers. So that''s the reason."


    Long Xuan''s eyes sparkled with excitement.


    An alchemist! He realized that he might be able to be an alchemist.


    Using his irvoyance and slight X-ray vision, Long Xuan observed Elder Long''s entire alchemy process. He could secretly learn alchemy and asionally steal a few pill recipes.


    The more he thought about it, the more excited he became.


    In this world, alchemists are even rarer and more esteemed than Gu practitioners.


    They are extremely secretive about their skills and rarely pass on their knowledge. Alchemy techniques and pill recipes are practically impossible to buy anywhere.


    As a result, every alchemist possesses several unique pill recipes, each forming their own distinct sect, with strong sectarianism.


    Given the opportunity to secretly learn alchemy, how could he not be thrilled? He had been excited many times today.This rarity made alchemists extremely valuable, with highly esteemed statuses.


    Spirit pills can enhance a Gu practitioner''s breakthrough rate, create life-saving elixirs to heal injuries, and even transform Gu insects, allowing them to undergo a metamorphosis.


    Thus, the spirit pills alchemists create have a fatal attraction for every Gu practitioner, leading them to tter and even serve alchemists wholeheartedly.


    Every alchemist in this world has terrifying connections and broad socialworks, capable of associating with all sorts of prominent figures.


    Offending an alchemist could result in incurring countless powerful enemies.


    Because of their rarity, spirit pills are equally rare, unlike in other worlds where they aremonce.


    Long Xuan had never seen spirit pills in market stalls, possibly due to the poverty of this area. Spirit pills could probably only be found at auctions.


    If he could be an alchemist and produce Hundred Flower Pill, his cultivation speed could increase tenfold through consistent pill consumption.


    The thought made Long Xuan ecstatic. He was fed up with the excruciatingly slow cultivation speed.


    Since his aptitude wascking, he would make up for it with resources.


    If he couldn''t buy spirit pills, he would create them himself. After Hundred Flower Pill bes useless, he would create Thousand Flower Pill and then Ten Thousand Flower Pill. quickly nning his future cultivation path.


    Determined, Long Xuan focused entirely on observing Elder Long''s alchemy process, erging and closely examining every detail to quickly master the technique.


    A day passed quickly. Exhausted, Elder Long finally ended his work and fell into a deep sleep, snoring loudly enough for Long Xuan to hear from afar.


    Long Xuan, also tired, put away his Eye of Heavenly secret, Despite his exhaustion, his face was full of excitement.


    The day''s spying had yielded significant rewards.


    He quickly sat at the table, taking out pen and paper to got to work.


    Soon, the paper was filled with writing. At the top, he wrote "Purple Demon me," then put down his pen, feeling satisfied.


    me is an alchemist''s closely guarded secret, more important than the pill recipes themselves.


    Alchemy cannot use ordinary firewood mes.


    During the Spirit Gathering stage, one can use fire spiritual energy to refine first-grade spirit pills.


    However, to refine second-grade or higher spirit pills, special mes are necessary. Without special mes, one can only ever refine the lowest-grade first-grade spirit pills.


    Legendary natural Heavenly mes aside, most alchemist mese from three sources.


    One can find a magma location and use Earth Fire for alchemy. Alternatively, one can kill fire-attribute spirit beasts and use Beast Fire.


    Thest option is artificial spirit fire.


    Spirit fire is a unique me created by alchemists using various rare materials and mystical methods. The recipes for spirit fire are extremely precious.


    Some spirit fire recipes can rival the legendary Heavenly mes in power.


    At this moment, Long Xuan had recorded a spirit fire recipe called "Purple Demon me," a secret of Elder Long, which he must''ve gotten from Long n.


    Yet, Long Xuan had easily obtained it due to Elder Long''s carelessness in taking such an important recipe out of his storage bag.


    Holding the memorized spirit fire recipe, Long Xuan was ecstatic.


    With this recipe, he could create the Purple Demon me. Using special mes for alchemy could enhance the potency of spirit pills, boosting his cultivation speed further, making him wildly joyful.


    However, his smile soon faded, reced by hesitation and growing calmness.


    In this world, secretly learning others'' guarded secrets is a grave taboo, punishable by death if discovered.


    Though he could secretly use it without detection, every caught thief thought the same.


    Why are unique Gu recipes so hard to steal? Can''t they kill and torture to extract them? No, they can''t.


    The same kind of Gu insects can sense each other from a distance. If you dare to refine arge n''s unique Gu recipe, be prepared for relentless pursuit by the entire n.


    If Gu insects can sense each other, could spirit fire have a simr trait?


    If he created the Purple Demon me, would Elder Long immediately sense it ande angrily to kill him?


    Long Xuan shivered, feeling a chill down his spine.


    It was possible. He didn''t dare to gamble, even with a one percent chance of being detected.


    No matter how low the odds, gambling with his life was foolish.


    Long Xuan took a deep breath. Since he couldn''t use it, he would have to create his own spirit fire. Why not invent one himself?


    His eyes brightened with excitement.


    Before obtaining the Purple Demon me recipe, he couldn''t have created a spirit fire recipe because he knew nothing about the process.


    But now, with a temte, he knew the materials and methods to use.


    Following the recipe''s rules, creating a new spirit fire might not be so hard.


    It was just a matter of effort.


    Long Xuan became excited again, taking out a nk sheet of paper with renewed vigor.


    The first step in creating a spirit fire was deciding what kind of me to make, its characteristics, and abilities.


    Long Xuan immediately thought of the cold mes often described in novels from his previous life.


    But this world wasn''t a novel; it was a real world where such illogical mes didn''t exist.


    No cold mes had ever appeared in this world.


    Burning releases heat; without heat, burning is impossible. Burning without releasing heat is contradictory and scientifically impossible, a pseudoscience.


    However, Long Xuan still wanted to give it a try.


    Since creating something costs him nothing but time, why not try? What if he seeded?


    He first created a name for this spirit fire, writing "Divine Ice me" on the paper.


    With the name set, if the resulting me had nothing to do with cold, the progress would stall due to inconsistency with the title.


    Title-based creation increased the difficulty and time cost.


    After writing the title, Long Xuan first thought of the ice-making principle of saltpeter from his previous life.


    Saltpeter existed in this world too, rich in spiritual energy and likely more effective for ice-making.


    So without hesitation, he wrote "saltpeter" below the title, specifying "inrge quantities."


    As his pen touched the paper, a progress indicator of [0.1%] appeared, making Long Xuan overjoyed.


    He realized he had seeded. The fictional me from novels might just be possible in this real world...

 Chapter 19: The Little Medicine Boy

    Two dayster.


    After a long absence, Long Xuan returned to this bustling market with his face covered once again.


    He was here to gather materials for the Hundred Flowers Pill and to buy an alchemy cauldron to take back with him.


    That''s right. The pill form that Old Long hadn''tpleted in ten years, he finished in just two days. He wondered what face Old Long would make.


    Especially since he spent most of his time researching the Divine Ice me form.


    He realized that the Divine Ice me form was another huge project, and who knew how long it would take toplete.


    Unlike the Gu form, being an entomologist, he had a keen sense of which spiritual insects could be fused together and could find some patterns.


    But when it came to spiritual fire forms, he had no experience. He had no clue which materials were suitable for refining fire and couldn''t find any patterns, so he could only rely entirely on luck. This meant more hard work for him.


    As soon as hepleted the Hundred Flowers Pill form, he couldn''t wait to start trying alchemy. He didn''t want to wait even one more day since it directly impacted his cultivation speed, which was always his top priority.The materials for the Hundred Flowers Pill were easy to gather. All the spiritual flowers nted in Old Long''s medicinal garden were materials for the Hundred Flowers Pill.


    Since all the materials were flowers, this was the reason Old Long''s medicinal garden was filled with flowers.


    This made it convenient for Long Xuan to gather materials, as they were all readily avable. The only thing he needed to collect were the three newly added main ingredients.


    Although the main ingredients were expensive, they were the lowest-grade first-tier spiritual medicines and could be found in this market. As long as you had spirit stones, you could definitely trade for them.


    The only trouble was the alchemy cauldron.


    Alchemists were rare, so naturally, alchemy cauldron were also rare. They were not easy to collect. He was here today to try his luck.


    Today, the market was especially crowded, much busier than usual. Perhaps there really was someone selling an alchemy cauldron.


    "Little medicine boy? Are you crazy for spirit stones? You''re selling waste pills? Tell me, what use do waste pills have!"


    "You''re even stealing waste pills that Old Alchemist Master threw away to sell. You''ll steal anything!"


    "Don''t you dare falsely use me. How can you call this stealing? If my master doesn''t want something and I take it, what''s wrong with that?"


    "If I don''t take them, they would be thrown away. Isn''t that a waste?"


    "And who told you waste pills are useless? Waste pills can kill people. Can''t they be used as poison?"


    "Some people have a natural immunity to poison or even a poison-resistant constitution. Aren''t they suitable for consuming waste pills?"


    "Many spiritual insects and Gu insects also have strong poison resistance. They can eat waste pills as food and might even transform because of it. Who says they are useless!"


    "Besides, who knows, maybe some prodigy can turn waste into treasure. What is useless to others might be a treasure to them."


    "My waste pills have many uses. You justck the insight!"


    While Long Xuan was browsing the various stalls, a quarrel nearby caught his attention.


    Hearing someone being called a little medicine boy, he thought it must be rted to alchemy and might have the alchemy furnace he needed. So, he curiously went over.


    When he got closer, he saw a rogue cultivator with a scarred face arguing with a boy of thirteen or fourteen years old, who was also called a little medicine boy. It seemed that the boy was learning alchemy from Old Dan Master, but it was unclear if he was a true apprentice or just someone who watched the furnace.


    The boy had a sharp tongue, describing obviously useless waste pills as invaluable treasures.


    Long Xuan became interested and walked over, casually picking up a few waste pills to examine.


    The waste pills varied in size, smell, and color, seemingly covering various types, though their specific functions were unknown.


    Long Xuan suddenly thought that he had the Eye of Heavenly Secret, which could magnify everything. Could he use it to observe the microscopic structure of the waste pills and decode all their forms?


    He wanted to try and felt he had to buy some of these waste pills.


    The little medicine boy wasn''t entirely wrong; waste pills could indeed be useful to certain small groups.


    Seeing someone examining his waste pills closely, the little medicine boy''s eyes widened, and he asked, "Are you interested in waste pills? Do you have the ability to turn waste into treasure?"


    "Uh!" Long Xuan was taken aback by his question, thinking this kid''s imagination was too wild. If others thought he had some magical ability to turn waste into treasure, that would be trouble.


    "I heard you are Old Alchemist Master''s medicine boy. I need an alchemy cauldron. Do you have one?" Long Xuan asked calmly.


    The best tactic was to change the subject and avoid exining.


    Exnation means concealment, and concealment means the truth.


    The more you exin, the more people doubt you.


    The little medicine boy stopped pressing the previous question and replied, "I do have an alchemy cauldron, but I need it myself. If I sell it to you, what would I use?"


    Hearing that the boy indeed had an alchemy cauldron, Long Xuan thought he was lucky. He didn''t expect to find such a rare item so soon after arriving at the market.


    "Everything can be sold. If it can''t, it''s just a matter of the price being too low."


    "As Old Alchemist Master''s medicine boy, you surely have connections to get another alchemy cauldron. Out with the old, in with the new. How about selling this one to me?"


    "I''ll offer ten thousand spirit stones."


    Considering the boy''s status as just a medicine boy, Long Xuan didn''t offer a high price, assuming the cauldron was of the lowest quality.


    Long Xuan was right. The boy had a friend who was an apprentice cksmith and could get discounts on forging items.


    Ten thousand spirit stones could not only buy a new one but also make a good profit.


    "Okay, but I don''t want spirit stones. I want your Little Strong Gu."


    Recognizing the familiar attire, the boy realized it was the masked vendor who often sold Little Strong Gu, so he thought for a moment before speaking.


    Long Xuan was taken aback and said, "Do you also n to blood-bond with a Little Strong Gu? Usually, the ones whoe to trade for Little Strong Gu are burly men who favor physicalbat. Their fighting style suits the Little Strong Gu."


    "Your build isn''t suitable for frontal assault. Keeping a few external Gu as bodyguards would be more appropriate for your fighting style."


    The boy shook his head and said, "Thanks for your suggestion, but my fighting style doesn''t involve hiding behind external Gu. Let''s trade for the Little Strong Gu."


    The boy seemed uninterested in advice, but he was secretly mocking Long Xuan''sck of imagination.


    His interest in the Little Strong Gu wasn''t for physicalbat. At his age, he wasn''t looking for a fight.


    He was thinking that since the Little Strong Gu could nullify all conventional damage and the toxicity of waste pills was weak, it could definitely nullify the waste pills'' poison.


    If it could ignore the waste pills'' toxicity, he could benefit from their medicinal properties without consequence.


    As Old Dan Master''s medicine boy, he had ess to heaps of waste pills. He could consume them daily like meals, drastically speeding up his cultivation.


    This would allow him to surpass his peers and be a renowned genius in the area. Just thinking about it excited him.


    Of course, he wouldn''t reveal this idea. He wasn''t foolish.


    Imagination was the most valuable thing in this world. If this idea got out, the price of Little Strong Gu would skyrocket, even tenfold, and there would be countless buyers.


    Then waste pills would truly be treasures, and he wouldn''t get them for free anymore, nor be a genius.

 Chapter 20: The First Time Refining Pills

    At this moment, Long Xuan waspletely unaware that he had been mocked, and what was being mocked was his most prized imaginative thinking.


    Seeing how stubborn this little medicine boy was, he decided not to persuade him any further.


    ¡°If you want to trade for my Little Strong Gu, you can, but its price is far more than ten thousand spirit stones now.¡±


    ¡°How about this, give me ten pieces of each kind of waste pill, and we¡¯ll call it even.¡±


    The little medicine boy nodded. Not to mention giving away some insignificant waste pills, he would have even paid an additional hundred thousand spirit stones eagerly.


    ¡°It seems you really don¡¯t have the ability to turn waste pills into treasures. Otherwise, you would have taken all my discarded pills instead of just ten pieces of each.¡±


    The little medicine boy smiled, picking up some of the wasted pills. He then took out a green tripod cauldron from his storage bag, threw all the waste pills into it, and handed it to Long Xuan.


    Long Xuan nced at him sideways and took out a small bottle containing the Little Strong Gu from his insect nurturing bag and tossed it to the medicine boy.


    The little medicine boy happily received the small bottle, verified its authenticity with a blood contract on the spot, and then quickly began packing up his stall.The waste pills were now treasures to him; only a fool would sell them.


    At this time, the scar-faced burly man who had been arguing with the little medicine boy was dumbfounded. He didn¡¯t expect that someone actually wanted the waste pills. Truly, the world is vast, and strange things happen.


    Just as Long Xuan was about to leave, the burly man quickly stepped in front of him and hurriedly said, ¡°Young friend, please stay. I also want to trade for the Little Strong Gu. I¡¯m willing to use spiritual herbs in exchange.¡±


    ¡°These are all personally picked by me from the mountains. Feel free to choose.¡±


    He quickly threw a storage bag towards Long Xuan, revealing a ttering smile, afraid that Long Xuan might leave.


    Seeing his appearance, Long Xuan knew that this person must really love the Little Strong Gu.


    With his muscr body and scarred face, it was clear he liked to engage in physicalbat, frequently hovering on the brink of death. The Little Strong Gu would naturally be a favorite for such individuals.


    The cost of the Little Strong Gu was extremely low, and Long Xuan still had many in his insect nurturing bag.


    So, he casually took the burly man¡¯s storage bag and checked inside, finding it filled with various spiritual herbs.


    Coincidentally, the three herbs he was nning to search for were all inside, and in considerable quantities too. This was truly an effortless gain.


    Long Xuan smiled with joy, then poured all the spiritual herbs from the storage bag into his own, leaving none behind. He tossed the empty storage bag back to the burly man, followed by a small bottle containing the Little Strong Gu.


    ...


    By the time Long Xuan returned from the market, it was alreadyte at night. Many people had wanted to trade for the Little Strong Gu, and poor itinerant cultivators especially loved to haggle, which took up a lot of time.


    However, the harvest was gratifying. He had exhausted his savings while refining the Eye of Heavenly secret, but this batch of Little Strong Gu had replenished a lot of his funds.


    He realized that the new project, the Divine ice me, would definitely be a resource-intensive endeavor. To refine the Divine Ice me, the materials consumed would likely be astronomical, so he needed to start saving spirit stones as soon as possible.


    Although it was alreadyte at night, he had all the materials needed for refining the Hundred Flower Pill ready. With everything in ce, he could attempt pill refining for the first time now.


    He was fully excited and eager to try, unable to sleep without refining a pill.


    So, Long Xuan decisively took out the alchemy furnace and ced it on the ground, starting his first attempt at pill refining.


    Having observed Elder Long for a long time, he might not know how to refine other pills, but he had thoroughly learned how to refine the Hundred Flower Pill.


    The Hundred Flower Pill required a hundred kinds of spiritual flowers as materials. With such arge quantity of materials, the refined elixir would naturally be extraordinary. Its medicinal power was undoubtedly top-notch.


    Following the method he secretly learned from Elder Long, Long Xuan activated his fire and wood dual attributes, with wood below and fire above, and conjured a me in his palm.


    To be an alchemist, one must meet three requirements: possess both fire and wood attributes, have a powerful innate soul, and have precise control over fire spiritual energy.


    These three restrictive conditions were enough to bar the vast majority of people from bing alchemists. Only one in ten thousand might have the qualifications.


    Such harsh conditions made alchemists extremely rare and endowed them with unparalleled status.


    Long Xuan, of course, met these requirements and even exceeded them.


    His cultivation aptitude might be terrible, but his alchemy aptitude was truly exceptional.


    When one door closes, another often opens.


    Long Xuan''s soul was not yet strong enough to lift the alchemy furnace, so he could only ce it slowly on the ground.


    He then controlled the me in his palm to rise and fall to the bottom of the furnace, starting to preheat it.


    The first step in alchemy was to use high temperatures to remove impurities from the spiritual herbs, retaining their essence.


    Most of the material in spiritual herbs was useless, requiring the alchemist to have precise control over the me to burn away impurities while preserving the essence.


    This step was extremely difficult. If the temperature was too low, the impurities would liquefy and mix with the essence. If the temperature was too high, both impurities and essence would be burned. Achieving the perfect bnce to burn impurities without destroying the essence was incredibly challenging.


    Even more exaggerated, different spiritual herbs required different temperatures, and even the same type of spiritual herb might have slight variations. The same herb could require constant temperature adjustments at different times, which could drive one mad.


    This first step alone stumped the majority of alchemists. Very few couldplete it sessfully.


    Even the experienced Elder Long often burned spiritual herbs, wasting valuable materials during the refining process.


    Thus, Long Xuan understood the difficulty of this step deeply and decided to be extremely cautious, focusing all his attention without the slightest ck.


    After adjusting his state, he saw that the alchemy furnace was warm and casually grabbed a spiritual herb, tossing it into the furnace.


    Just as he was about to increase the heat, something astonishing happened.


    The furnace disyed a purification progress bar, showing 0% progress.


    Long Xuan took a deep breath, almost unable to believe it.


    He recalled that a simr situation had urred during his first Gu refining.


    It seemed that the progress disy was not limited to inanimate or animate objects but also included ongoing activities.


    For instance, if he was refining a Gu, it would show the Gu refining progress. If he was purifying spiritual herbs, it would show the purification progress. When heter refined the pill, it would probably disy the pill refining progress as well.


    This realization raised the upper limit of his abilities, and Long Xuan was extremely excited.


    Thus, what was incredibly difficult for others became straightforward for Long Xuan.


    He could clearly see the purification progress. If it steadily increased, it meant his operation was correct, and he just needed to maintain it.


    If the progress suddenly changed drastically or disappeared, it indicated an error, and he needed to adjust the me quickly.


    With this error prompt, purifying spiritual herbs became easy for Long Xuan.


    As expected, there were no surprises.


    What was exceedingly difficult for others was incredibly simple for Long Xuan.


    As a novice refining spiritual herbs for the first time, he not only made no mistakes but seeded easily. Can you believe it?


    If other alchemy apprentices knew this, they wouldn¡¯t know what to think.


    Staring at the purified spiritual essence he put into a vial, Long Xuan was in a daze, feeling like he was dreaming.


    Was it really this easy?

 Chapter 21: The Spirit Fire Formula

    The development of eventspletely exceeded Long Xuan''s expectations. Initially, he thought that as a novice, he would have to endure numerous failures before achieving sess and had already prepared himself for the disappointment.


    Who could have imagined that alchemy would be so simple for him, as easy as drinking water or eating food? It was so straightforward that he was momentarily stunned, wondering if he was dreaming.


    A total of one hundred spiritual herbs were swiftly refined by him. The extracted essence of these herbs was individually stored in one hundred bottles, neatly arranged on the table.


    The sess rate was astonishing. Except for a few herbs that burned to ashes due to the intense heat before he could save them, there were almost no errors with the other herbs.


    With the help of this "golden finger" he didn''t dare to im a 100% sess rate in alchemy, but his sess rate was certainly far higher than other alchemists, even surpassing Elder Long.


    Long Xuan was extremely excited, feeling that this was a pleasant surprise. It seemed he was truly suited to be an alchemist, and not just any alchemist, but one with exceptional talent. He was naturally fit for this profession.


    Since the materials were refined, the next step was to ce the essence of all the spiritual herbs into the alchemy cauldron in the correct proportions, allowing them to fuse and solidify under high temperature, and to form pills under the influence of soul power.


    This step highly tests one''s soul power. Any mistake could ruin all the materials, making the previous time spent refining the herbs a wasted effort.


    Failure at this step often drives many to copse, especially when the herbs are extremely expensive.However, Long Xuan was not nervous. He sequentially added the essence of various herbs into the alchemy cauldron ording to the correct proportions, then ignited the fire and carefully observed the internal conditions of the cauldron with his soul power, ensuring that all the liquids fully fused.


    As expected, once all the herb essences were added to the furnace, the alchemy process progressed smoothly again. When the progress reached 100%, the pills would beplete.


    If instability urred during this process, it might not just be a matter of me temperature but also an issue of soul control or operational technique, requiring attention to more factors, making Long Xuan even more cautious.


    As time passed, sweat gradually appeared on Long Xuan''s forehead, and his expression became extremely tense. He was highly strung, not daring to rx for a moment.


    Even though he was apletely inexperienced novice and this was his first time making pills, with progress cheats, he managed toplete it without any major issues.


    When the progress indicator on the alchemy furnace finally reached 100%, Long Xuan was overjoyed. He quickly walked over and opened the cauldron.


    Instantly, a rich aroma of pills wafted out, and wisps of white mist floated from the furnace. The pleasant scent filled the entire room, invigorating Long Xuan''s spirit, making him take a long sniff.


    Looking into the cauldron, he saw golden spirit pills,rge and round, seemingly glowing, mesmerizing him.


    Achieving such results on his first try at alchemy was something he could be proud of.


    Due to the abundance of materials, the cauldron was naturally filled with an astonishing number of spirit pills, a total of eighty-one pills.


    This was a perfect batch of Hundred Flowers Pills, indicating that the alchemy process was wless, without a single defective pill.


    It is challenging for many alchemists to achieve a batch of pills without any defective ones.


    The only regret was that the mes were too ordinary, leading to imperfect quality in the pills, but Long Xuan was already satisfied.


    With this sess rate and yield, he could afford to consume the pills like food, eating dozens of them daily, allowing his cultivation to soar like a rocket.


    Long Xuan immediately grabbed a few Hundred Flowers Pills and threw them into his mouth, then stored the rest in bottles.


    Given his exceptional talent in alchemy, he became even more dedicated to researching the form for the Divine Ice me. After putting away the alchemy furnace, he sat at the table and continued working on the Divine Ice me form.


    That night, he was too excited to sleep and decided to stay up all night to work.


    ...


    With the Hundred Flowers Pills, Long Xuan''s previously stagnant cultivation started progressing rapidly each day.


    Long Xuan''s daily routine remained simple: he either stayed home working on the spirit fire form, eating Hundred Flowers Pills when hungry, and asionally consuming spirit chicken eggs for nutrition.


    Alternatively, he would visit the market, looking for hidden treasures among the stalls, or sometimes set up his stall to sell the useless items he had collected in exchange for spirit stones.


    The spirit stones he earned were used to purchase the confirmed materials for the Divine Ice me form.


    As time passed, his alchemy skills became more proficient. He managed to decipher the pill forms from the waste pills he bought and asionally peeked at some forms from Elder Long. Thus, he umted a considerable number of forms.


    Alchemy is a highly lucrative profession. After learning a fewmon forms, Long Xuan disguised himself and set up a stall in the market, selling spirit pills.


    Unsurprisingly, his stall became popr, with various spirit pills being quickly sold out every time, never needing him to wait long.


    His sess rate in alchemy was nearly 100%, rarely wasting materials, and often producing full batches, meaning his profits were far higher than other alchemists.


    Each time he made a considerable profit, he couldn''t help but smile.


    However, after a few times, he decided to stop.


    On one hand, alchemy was too time-consuming, dying his research on the spirit fire form.


    On the other hand, although spirit pills were high-end products, they were ultimately less valuable than Gu.


    After all, spirit pills are consumable, while Gu can provide lifetime benefits.


    The forms he mastered were all of the lowest grade, even making three batches of healing pills wouldn''t earn as much as selling a Little Strong Gu.


    Moreover, alchemy required constant attention, while refining Little Strong Gu did not, allowing him to do other things.


    Comparing the two, it was not worth it, so Long Xuan decided to only make Hundred Flowers Pills for himself and no longer for others.


    Thus, Long Xuan continued making Hundred Flowers Pills and researching the spirit fire form. His progress was swift, and with the help of Hundred Flowers Pills, he finally broke through to the mid-stage of Spirit Gathering after a year.


    Simultaneously, after a year of day and night research, he finallypleted the Divine Ice me form.


    The Divine Ice me form required a total of three hundred materials. Though it seemed not many, each material was rarer and more precious than thest.


    The main ingredient, the thousand-year-old Ice Marrow, was exceptionally hard to obtain, as the name suggests.


    Many items couldn''t be bought with spirit stones and could only be obtained through bartering or frequent participation in treasure exchange meetings.


    In this world without a clear market price, and without a reference standard of spirit stones, Long Xuan had a vague idea of the cost of the Divine Ice me form.


    But he was certain the cost far exceeded the Eye of Heavenly secret creation cost.


    The cost was even much higher than Elder Long''s creation of the Purple Demon me, surpassing it by more than ten times, which was outrageous.


    With such a high cost, if his created spirit fire wasn''t more powerful than the Purple Demon me, he wouldn''t believe it.


    However, gathering such a massive amount of resources was daunting. It would take an indefinite amount of time, leaving Long Xuan feeling overwhelmed.

 Chapter 22: Delivering Medicine

    Long Xuan sighed helplessly and ultimately decided to put the matter aside for now. umting so many spirit stones is not something that can be aplished overnight; it would likely require an alternative approach.


    Long Xuan put away the form for the Divine Ice me and walked out. As he opened the door, he was greeted by a fragrant medicinal garden, which, due to its variety of flowers, could be more urately described as a flower garden.


    Today was the day some of the spiritual herbs matured, and Long Xuan needed to pick them and deliver them to Elder Long¡¯s cottage.


    As long as he delivered the prescribed amount of spiritual herbs, Elder Long rarely came here.


    At this moment, the garden''s fat hen was still scratching the soil, looking for fat worms to eat, clucking away.


    Among the flowers, hundreds of spirit bees buzzed busily, flitting back and forth, asionally diving into a flower bud, exposing theirrge behinds.


    Over the years, the two spirit bees he initially bought online had multiplied into hundreds. Don''t ask how they reproduced; he hadn¡¯t paid much attention.


    Originally, he intended to cultivate a queen bee, as there are many methods in this world to evolve spirit bees into queen bees.


    But now he realized it wasn¡¯t necessary. It seemed not all bee species in this world needed a queen to reproduce.Since he bought those two spirit bees, they settled here upon finding ample nectar sources, built their nest, and refused to leave. With enough food, they started reproducing rapidly.


    With this family settled, the medicinal garden thrived, with bees buzzing in the sky and spirit chickens running on the ground, creating a lively and vibrant scene that made Long Xuan¡¯s life far from dull.


    Despite his desire for spirit honey, Long Xuan still feared the bees¡¯ aggression and didn¡¯t dare approach the hive lightly.


    Getting pecked by a chicken while gathering eggs was tolerable, but being stung by these bees was far worse.


    These were not ordinary bees from his previous life; spirit bees in this world could sting a person to death. Currently, they maintained a mutually non-aggressive rtionship, like neighbors getting along well.


    Long Xuan tended the herbs while they collected nectar from the flowers, maintaining a delicate bnce.


    He is afraid that stealing honey might make the bees hold a grudge,plicating his future visits to the garden.


    After much thought, he concluded he had to cultivate a queen bee. With a queen bee bound by a blood contract, ordinary spirit bees under its control would pose no threat to him.


    But for now, it wasn¡¯t feasible. Gu practitioners could only have a limited number of Gu insects, and he couldn¡¯t blood-bind every ordinary spirit bee.


    At that moment, the spiritual herbs he was about to harvest reached 100% maturity. Flowers bloomed, exuding an intense fragrance.


    The bees, with their keen sense of smell, immediately flew over to collect nectar and pollen.


    Once they had gathered all the nectar and pollen, their legs heavy with their bounty, they flew back to their hive.


    After the bees were done, Long Xuan harvested the spiritual herbs, rented the area, and took the newly gathered herbs to Elder Long.


    Elder Long needed this batch of herbs to research the Hundred Flowers Pill. Despite another year passing, he still hadn¡¯t seeded.


    Long Xuan felt anxious for him, having seeded in just two days himself.


    First-grade spiritual herbs mature quickly, and with the aid of maturation liquid, they can be harvested every six months. This allowed Long Xuan to see Elder Long every six months during herb delivery.


    This meeting came just six months after thest one.


    Long Xuan entered the cottage and, seeing that Elder Long wasn¡¯t refining pills, spoke up, ¡°Elder Long, a batch of spiritual herbs has matured. I¡¯ve harvested them.¡±


    Long Xuan untied the storage bag filled with herbs from his waist and looked at the burly old man lying on the chair.


    Elder Long was reading a book on pill refining. Hearing the voice, he turned to look at Long Xuan and said, ¡°Just put them on the table.¡±


    After speaking, he scrutinized Long Xuan, a hint of surprise in his eyes.


    ¡°You¡¯ve broken through to the mid-stage of Spirit Gathering?¡± Elder Long asked, puzzled.


    ¡°Your keen eyes, Elder Long, have noticed my breakthrough. It took junior over ten years to reach the mid-stage, much to your amusement,¡± Long Xuan responded, without surprise that Elder Long could discern his level.


    ¡°No, no.¡± Elder Long shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not amused. I estimated you¡¯d never reach the mid-stage of Spirit Gathering in your lifetime. Your quick breakthrough is surprising.¡±


    ¡°Huh? Is my aptitude that poor?¡± Long Xuan felt a bit stung by Elder Long¡¯s words.


    ¡°Not exactly,¡± Elder Long sighed. ¡°You possess the rare Ten Absolute Body, the number one unique body in ancient times. With a vast spiritual sea, your spiritual power far exceeds your peers, excelling in prolonged battles and frequent powerful attacks without much depletion.¡±


    ¡°The meridians of the Ten Absolute Body are exceptionally broad, far superior to others, making the power of the same spiritual technique much greater in your hands.¡±


    ¡°In ancient times, those with the Ten Absolute Body were incredibly formidable, unmatched by their peers. So, you could be considered a rare genius.¡±


    ¡°But today, the cultivation methods for the Ten Absolute Body have long been lost, and it cannot cultivate other techniques.¡±


    ¡°The spiritual sea of the Ten Absolute Body is as solid as a rock, with the strongest foundation. But this also makes breakthroughs more difficult. While having an advantage in battles, its vast spiritual sea requires more spiritual power to fill, slowing cultivation speed.¡±


    ¡°Thus, it needs specific techniques to address these issues, and it rejects other techniques.¡±


    ¡°How fast can someone who can¡¯t cultivate techniques progress?¡±


    ¡°You likely reached the mid-stage through nutritional supplements, probably from eating too many spirit eggs.¡± Elder Long stroked his beard, guessing.


    Hearing this, Long Xuan realized why he couldn¡¯t cultivate other techniques except for health-preserving ones. The root cause was here.


    Still puzzled, he asked, ¡°Isn¡¯t it just a lost technique? Can¡¯t we create a new one?¡±


    Long Xuan¡¯s casual remark showed hisck of understanding of the difficulty of creating techniques.


    Elder Long red at him, ¡°You think it¡¯s easy? Creating a peak-level technique isn¡¯t something anyone can do. Even the strongest in the Gu world today wouldn¡¯t im to create one.¡±


    Long Xuan¡¯s expression turned odd. He didn¡¯t know how hard it was for others, but he truly had the talent to create techniques. So, he tentatively asked, ¡°Suppose, just suppose, I identally create a technique for the Ten Absolute Body. Would that make me the world¡¯s greatest genius?¡±


    Elder Long looked at him with a strange mix of anger and amusement, ¡°Such naivety! You really think that¡¯s possible? Even if there are geniuses who can create techniques, they are rare once in a century, and the Ten Absolute Body appears once in ten thousand years. Combining both talents is almost impossible. Even if such a person exists, they wouldn''t grow up enough to create techniques. It''s a vicious cycle. Rest assured, you are not that person. Give up on that idea!¡±

 Chapter 23: Self-created Cultivation Method

    After listening to Elder Long''s words, Long Xuan felt a hidden excitement in his heart. Creating one''s own cultivation method is as difficult as ascending to the heavens for others, but for him, it is entirely achievable. The method for cultivating the Gu also applies to cultivating techniques.


    The Ten Absolute Body is a lethal condition for others, but for him, it has be an opportunity. In his hands, the Ten Absolute Body might shine brightly in this world, bing his invincible capital. He clenched his fists tightly.


    The urgent task now is to quickly create a cultivation method suitable for the Ten Absolute Body. With a method, the cultivation speed can be further enhanced.


    Nothing is more important than this. Long Xuan immediately decided to make creating his own cultivation method his next project. He was determined to create an unparalleled method, making his journey to this world worthwhile.


    Even though he thought this way, Long Xuan put on a very dejected appearance. After bidding farewell to Elder Long, he left in a daze.


    Back at his residence, Long Xuan sat on a chair, spread a nk sheet of paper on the table, and began to ponder deeply, furrowing his brows.


    Based on his understanding of this world''s cultivation methods, aplete method consists of three parts: the route of spiritual energy cirction, the method''s Divine abilities, and the apanying spiritual technique. These three parts are also called the three elements of a cultivation method.


    Of course, Long Xuan''s "Eternal Life Sutra" is a health-preserving method, not a cultivation method, and does not belong to this system.


    If one is creating a basic cultivation method, just considering the route of spiritual energy cirction is sufficient. The other two parts can be ignored.But if you want to create a powerful method, all three elements are indispensable.


    The route of spiritual energy cirction determines the speed of cultivation, the attribute of the spiritual energy, and its strength.


    The same attribute can have varying strengths depending on the method.


    Different attributes also have differences in strength. Mutated spiritual energy is always stronger than basic spiritual energy. There are also vast differences among different types of mutated spiritual energy.


    Poison spiritual energy, star spiritual energy, dragon spiritual energy, earth spiritual energy... All attributes that differ from the basic seven elements of metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, and thunder are considered mutated spiritual energy.


    The way to cultivate mutated spiritual energy is determined by the first part of the method.


    Divine abilities are the unique features of a method. Some methods produce purer spiritual energy than others. Some methods create arger spiritual sea, allowing for a far greater amount of spiritual energy than peers of the same level.


    Some methods can cultivate five spiritual seas, making one invincible at the same level. These unique features are the method''s Divine abilities.


    Even the ability of the "Eternal Life Sutra" to extend lifespan is considered a divine ability.


    Apanying spiritual technique are the attack methods of a cultivation method. They differ from the universal spiritual arts that anyone can learn.


    Each cultivation method produces unique spiritual energy. Even methods cultivating the same attribute can result in vastly different oues.


    The diversity of spiritual energy naturally affects thepatibility of spiritual technique. The same spiritual technique, when used by practitioners of different methods, can havepletely different power levels. Therefore, thepatibility between spiritual technique and methods varies.


    Achieving a 100%patibility is extremely rare unless the apanying spiritual technique are tailor-made by the same creator for the method.


    Because of this perfectpatibility, apanying spiritual technique are always stronger than universal spiritual technique.


    This is why creating apanying spiritual technique is essential for a powerful method. Without them, no matter how strong the method is, it will be a paper tiger that cannot fully utilize its power.


    Of course, the attack methods of spiritual technique and the abilities of Gu are vastly different.


    Spiritual technique are attack abilities deployed by channeling spiritual energy, while the abilities of Gu are innate. Innate abilities cannot be mimicked by spiritual arts.


    For example, the mind-reading ability of Gu, the spatial teleportation of Gu, the precognition of Gu, the time reversal Gu...


    No matter how advanced, spiritual techniques cannot mimic these abilities through textual forms. These are beyond the scope of spiritual energy. Purely manipting spiritual energy cannot achieve these abilities.


    You can think of spiritual technique as martial arts moves, while the abilities of Gu are like fantasy abilities, one being low-tier and the other high-tier.


    However, Gu cultivators have a limit on the number of Gu they can possess at the same time. Spiritual technique, though weaker, are a must-learn for Gu cultivators.


    In this world, spiritual technique are quite rare. If a small Gu cultivator family possesses even one type of spiritual art, it is considered a treasure, a closely guarded secret.


    In some sense, learning an additional spiritual technique is like having an additional slot for a Gu, with considerable strategic value.


    Long Xuan already had many creative ideas for self-created spiritual technique and had a preliminary n for designing mutated spiritual energy for his method.


    For instance, in his past life, anime mentioned bloodline limits formed by the fusion of multiple attributes. So, could spiritual energy be mutated by merging multiple attributes?


    He didn''t know how mutated spiritual energy formed in this world, but he believed it was entirely possible to research mutated spiritual energy through the fusion of multiple attributes.


    However, despite his creative explosion and countless magical ideas, he didn''t know how to start. He had no clue about even the first word,pletely at a loss.


    Having ideas is not enough; one must know how to implement them. Daydreaming is easy, but knowing the specifics of what to do is the challenge.


    Creating a cultivation method is different from creating a Gu form. Creating a Gu form involves a lot of luck and can be done through trial and error. With enough effort, it can eventually be figured out.


    But a cultivation method cannot be created by luck alone. It requires reading countless books, understanding many concepts, and learning extensively.


    As a small, casual cultivator who had never seen a proper cultivation method, Long Xuan didn''t even grasp the basics. How could he have the skill to create a method?


    To create a method, one must reference a vast number of existing methods. Working in istion cannot yield a good method, no matter how hard one tries.


    Thus, Long Xuan was stuck. The people in this world are highly secretive, and cultivation methods are not easily essible.


    It''s not that there are no methods on the market for independent cultivators, but they are often wed andck proper progress.


    This means these methods are riddled with errors and holes. The golden finger didn''t even detect these as methods. How could he dare to reference such junk?


    Therefore, Long Xuan was stumped in creating his method. He couldn''t even start the first word and was so frustrated that he was about to turn gray.


    Finally, a spark of inspiration struck him. He remembered the illusion technique he had never used, the Original Realm.


    His first thought was to use the illusion technique on someone to trick them into revealing their method.


    But then he remembered that the Original Realm perfectly replicates real-world scenes into illusions. Everything in the illusion is identical to reality. The person affected cannot detect any differences from the real world and therefore cannot realize they are under an illusion. With this in mind, Long Xuan had a different idea.


    The more he thought about the features of this illusion technique, the more he realized it was extraordinary. How could such an expensive eye Gu produce a simple illusion?


    Thinking about it, he had neglected to deeply explore the potential of the Original Realm. On the surface, it seemed like an illusion that prevented the affected person from finding ws. But with some brainstorming, Long Xuan felt it could be developed further.


    For example, could he break conventional thinking and apply the illusion to himself instead of an enemy?Long Xuan felt that he had opened the door to a new world.


    What if he ced himself in the library of a powerful force? Since the illusion is 100% real, are the books inside also real? Can he get them for free in the illusion without the guardian of the library in the real world noticing anything?


    Long Xuan gasped. He felt like he had discovered a bug. Could such a method, which allows easy theft of powerful secrets, truly exist?


    Does the Heavenly Dao know this ability can be used in such a way?


    Has it overlooked this possibility again?

 Chapter 24: The Power of Illusions

    This isn''t the scariest part yet. If the illusionary realm is 100% real, then what about alchemy within the illusion?


    If you''re experimenting with a new pill recipe, would seeding in the illusion mean you can replicate the steps in reality and seed as well?


    Consider that in the illusion, you can perform countless experiments without losing any real-world materials. This ability is truly extraordinary.


    Of course, this ability is rather redundant for Long Xuan. He creates his own pill recipes without needing extensive experimentation. His methods are a hundred times more efficient, but for others, this ability is undoubtedly a top-tier skill.


    Yet, alchemy isn''t the only thing you can do in the illusion. Anything can be done within it. In a way, it¡¯s akin to foreseeing the future.


    You can take actions in the illusion that you wouldn''t dare attempt in reality. If sessful in the illusion, you are guaranteed to seed in reality. This illusion is equivalent to foreseeing the future.


    You can even foresee what treasures are in any household. Want to know what treasures a great n hides? Simply replicate their treasury in the illusion and explore it yourself.


    Long Xuan was utterly terrified by this inconceivable ability. Even the most ordinary abilities, when filtered through his imagination, produce frightening results.


    But this isn¡¯t the scariest part. If the illusion is 100% real, what happens if you kill someone in it? The more Long Xuan thought about it, the more his scalp tingled.He realized he couldn''t develop this any further. If he pushed this illusion beyond its limits, it might be banned by the heavens.


    After repeated experiments, Long Xuan finally understood the limitations of this illusion.


    Although the original realm can replicate any scene, you must have seen the scene with your own eyes. Seeing the general outline is sufficient; there''s no need for meticulous detail.


    Additionally, therger the scene, the longer it takes to replicate. If the scene contains high-level treasures, the replication time increases further.


    Therefore, this technique is more useful for support thanbat. In battle, it has significant limitations but is very useful against enemies who like to talk.


    Moreover, the illusion can simte any precious materials within the scene but does not include sentient beings or items carried by them, such as clothes and storage bags. The illusion hasn''t developed artificial intelligence yet.


    However, you can make the scene more realistic by pulling the consciousness of all living beings into the illusion.


    In other words, the original realm can achieve 100% realism. Inanimate objects in the real world are unaffected, but the consciousness of living beings can be pulled into the illusion, leaving their bodies in a dazed state.


    The scariest part is that the illusion perfectly replicates their real-world surroundings. The scene remains the same, with no abrupt transitions, so they won¡¯t realize they''ve fallen into an illusion and will continue to move within it, unaware they are trapped.


    Long Xuan wasn¡¯t sure what would happen if he killed these beings within the illusion since he hadn''t experimented with it yet.


    He was eager to steal secrets from great families.


    Long Xuan quickly packed his things and rushed to the market. After choosing a target, he rented a room on the second floor of an inn opposite his target,ughing sinisterly to himself in the quiet room.


    His target was an old acquaintance, the Qianmerce Association, with whom he frequently dealt at the stone-gambling shop. He had already taken advantage of them numerous times, and now he wasn¡¯t going to let them go again.


    After the Qianmerce Association moved into the Far Western Market, they didn''t just open the stone-gambling shop. They have shops in almost every industry.


    True to their name, the Qian nmerce Association is indeed wealthy. They live up to their name.


    Opposite the inn was the Qian n''s Treasure Pavilion, filled with countless treasures, including cultivation techniques. Although the top techniques were not for sale, this was already enough for Long Xuan.


    He immediately opened the window. From the window, he could see the entire Treasure Pavilion, meeting the conditions to activate his illusion.


    Heughed again, theny on the bed, preparing to activate the illusion immediately.


    This was the downside of the illusion. The effects on others would apply to himself as well.


    Once his consciousness was pulled into the illusion, his body would appear in a dazed state, just like others.


    If someone attacked his body at that moment, it would be disastrous.


    His body would bepletely defenseless, and any attack could kill him. This was a deadly weakness he had to prepare for in advance.


    Fortunately, there was an inn across from the Treasure Pavilion, perfect for hiding his body. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t know what to do.


    After closing his eyes, the Eye of Heavenly secret suddenly appeared on his forehead, emitting a bewitching light.


    Under this eye, the opposite Treasure Pavilion was perfectly replicated into the illusion, with all its treasures. Of course, he couldn¡¯t take anything out of it, but he could know what was inside.


    He didn''t rush in but conducted a small experiment first, trying to see if pulling someone into the illusion would go unnoticed.


    He mischievously chose Qian Jinjin, the eldest daughter of the Qian nmerce Association. With a thought, he pulled her consciousness into the illusion.


    The illusion now had a living person, bringing some vitality to the otherwise lifeless scene.


    Since the scene remained the same, Qian Jinjin didn''t realize she was in an illusion and continued reading quietly.


    If she walked outside and found no one, she would notice something was wrong.


    But now, she didn''t sense anything amiss. The illusion was perfect, even the book she was reading, a highly confidential manual, was perfectly replicated without any ws.


    Long Xuan nodded in satisfaction. If Qian Jinjin, a peerless genius, couldn''t detect the illusion, ordinary cultivators would be even less likely to.


    As the Eye of Heavenly secret grew stronger, the area it could replicate would expand, potentially epassing an entire region. If it could trap everyone in that region within the illusion, it would be marvelous.


    Pleased with himself, Long Xuan was about to end this prank and exit when Qian Jinjin stood up.


    Then, right in front of Long Xuan, she began undressing, finally stepping into a bath, leaving Long Xuan dumbfounded.


    At that moment, he finally saw the perfect, peerless face hidden behind her veil, and he was mesmerized.


    As expected, people who wear veils hide their stunning beauty, not ugliness.


    In other words, veiled women are always beauties.


    He couldn''t help but swallow his saliva.


    Being young and single for many years, Long Xuan couldn¡¯t handle such a sight. To avoid bleeding out from a nosebleed, he quickly ended the illusion, swearing it was an ident and not intentional.


    Who would have thought she would bathe at that exact moment, allowing him to feast his eyes?


    As Qian Jinjin''s consciousness returned to her body, her vision switched from bathing to reading. How could she not realize something was wrong?


    "Who''s there?"


    She immediately stood up, her face pale with shock.


    "Damn it! What kind of illusion is this? It''s so terrifying, I couldn¡¯t detect any ws!"


    Qian Jinjin mmed her book on the table, biting her lips in anger and embarrassment. Thinking about what she had just done, her eyes zed with fury and her face turned red. She wanted to find and tear that scoundrel to pieces.


    "Qian Shaoshao, immediately check which experts above the marrow cleansing stage have entered the market recently. I need it now!"


    She angrily shouted toward the door, and a maid''s voice responded, "Yes."


    However, her choice of name was odd, "Qian Shaoshao." Who would dare use someone with such a name? The more they used her, the less money they¡¯d have. Her parents, who gave her this name, were indeed quite talented.[1]


    1. Qian shao shao (Ç®ÉÙÉÙ) which basically trantes to money Few Few lol.

 Chapter 25: Closed Door Cultivation

    Time flies, and another year has passed.


    During this year, whenever he had the chance, Long Xuan would stay at the inn opposite the Qian n¡¯s Treasure Pavilion.


    Using the illusionary art of the Original Realm, he copied the entire Treasure Pavilion into an illusion, then used this illusion on himself, entering the illusion to learn all the techniques within the pavilion thoroughly.


    Even the n¡¯s most secret techniques were inadvertently learned by him, the process was so simple it seemed unbelievable.


    Due to his special Ten Absolute Body, which prevented him from practicing other techniques, he could only gather the strengths of various schools to create his unique technique.


    He spent a whole year creating it, only scratching the surface.


    Creating one''s technique is not simple, it takes a long time and cannot bepleted quickly.


    Fortunately, the progress he made on paper would disappear if he wrote it wrong, so he had no trial-and-error cost. If someone else tried, they might spend their whole life and not even scratch the surface, especially for a technique suitable for the Ten Absolute Body.This limited Long Xuan¡¯s scope of creation to a specific topic. He named it the "Ten Absolute Scriptures" elevating the difficulty to an infinite level.


    Luckily, his golden finger could point out mistakes, and he could conduct human experiments in the illusion realm. Even if he bled from seven orifices in the experiment, his real body would not be affected.


    If something could not be done in the illusion, it certainly could not be done in reality. If it worked in the illusion, it would definitely work in reality.


    Long Xuan relied on the dual roles of the illusion and the golden finger to create a technique suitable for the Ten Absolute Body. Otherwise, no matter how imaginative he was, he could not have seeded.


    Long Xuan had read many cultivation novels in his past life and believed in the theory of the five elements mutual generation and restriction. The five elements theory has three cycles:


    Restriction Cycle: Fire melts metal, Earth blocks water, Metal cuts wood, Water extinguishes fire, Wood controls Earth.


    Reinforcement Cycle: Fire burns wood, Wood absorbs water, Water corrodes metal, Metal moves earth, Earth controls fire.


    Generation Cycle: Water generates wood, Wood generates fire, Fire generates earth, Earth generates metal, Metal generates water.


    Based on this theory, he created a five-element technique.


    His body just happened to have all five elements, so he believed that the cycle of the five elements was most suitable for his body.


    This idea would be considered rebellious in this world.


    This world, like the cultivation novels of his past life, emphasized purity.


    The fewer attributes, the better. Having only one attribute is considered a genius of the highest grade, and single-attribute cultivation is extremely fast. The techniques in this world are all single-attribute.


    However, Long Xuan went against the norm and created a mixed-attribute technique that was ipatible with this world.


    The great cycle of the five elements is indeed powerful. Once the cycle is formed, its power is far greater than the sum of its parts.


    The spiritual sea of the Ten Absolute Body is as solid as a rock, leading to the drawback of difficult breakthroughs. Long Xuan nned to use the powerful impact generated by the five-element cycle to break this rock, thus solving this drawback.


    Therefore, the five-element concept was suitable for the Ten Absolute Body, and it was because of this concept that he sessfully created a technique suitable for the Ten Absolute Body.


    Although he had only scratched the surface, with a progress of only 3%, the hardest part was starting. Once the beginning was ovee, the rest would follow smoothly.


    After making the concept, he needed toplete the three essential elements of a powerful technique, each indispensable.


    The first step was the route of spiritual power operation, could be directly borrowed and perfected, which was doable but adding attributes to spiritual power added difficulty.


    He wanted spiritual power attributes beyond the basic metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. If he was to create a technique, it had to be the best, or he wouldn¡¯t create it at all.


    He had long thought about the idea of variant spiritual power. He constantly conducted various spiritual power fusion experiments in the illusion realm, often breaking his meridians, bleeding from seven orifices, and even facing near-death situations several times.


    Almost every time he entered the illusion, he would end up crippled, but since the experiences in the illusion were illusory, his real body was not affected, so he wasn¡¯t afraid of the consequences of experimental failure.


    With such crazy experimentation, how could he not research variant spiritual power? His sess was inevitable.


    Wood generates fire, more wood means stronger fire. Fire with wood bes strong fire, which Long Xuan called me, thus creating me spiritual power from the fusion of fire and wood.


    Simrly:


    Fire generates earth, fire and earth together create strong earth, named Jade spiritual power.


    Earth generates metal, earth and metal together create strong metal, named Gold spiritual power.


    Metal generates water, metal and water together create strong water, named Lake spiritual power.


    Water generates wood, water and wood together create strong wood, named Forest spiritual power.


    Therefore, his five-element cycle was not metal, wood, water, fire, earth, but Gold, Forest, Lake, me, jade.


    He didn¡¯t know how strong his variant spiritual power waspared to others, but it could be stronger.


    This was only the fusion of two attributes, and he had already nned the outline of the technique.


    The firstyer of the technique involved two-attribute fusion, cultivating Forest Spirit energy, Water Spirit energy, me Spirit energy, Jade Spirit energy.


    The secondyer involved three-attribute fusion, cultivating Verdant Spirit energy , Aqua Spirit energy, ze Spirit energy, Mountain Spirit energy.


    The thirdyer involved four-attribute fusion, cultivating spiritual power such as Mettalic Energy, Hydro Energy, Inferno Energy, Tremor Spirit Energy.


    It¡¯s not that he didn¡¯t want to go all out from the start, but his current strength didn¡¯t allow it, and it was temporarily unfeasible.


    Additionally, a novice cultivator couldn¡¯t start with the world¡¯s top technique for many reasons.


    The biggest reason was that the spiritual sea couldn¡¯t be developed in the early stages.


    In the Spirit Gathering Stage, the task is to umte spiritual power. In the Marrow Cleansing Stage, the task is to cleanse the marrow and bones to build a solid foundation. In the Spiritual Sea Stage, the task is to develop the spiritual sea.


    As for the Soul projection Stage, the task is to strengthen the soul, enabling the soul to leave the body. The soul is an ethereal entity, immune to most attacks.


    At the Soul projection Stage, a cultivator, even if their physical body is destroyed, can escape easily with their soul, making them extremely difficult to kill. Even if their physical body is destroyed, they have the possibility of reincarnating through possession, though each person only has one chance to reincarnate due to various reasons.


    Therefore, Gu cultivators can only develop their spiritual sea at the third stage. Before the spiritual sea is developed, all spiritual power is stored in the body¡¯s meridians, which are too fragile to withstand overly violent spiritual power.


    Even in the Spiritual Sea Stage, not all spiritual seas can easily amodate top-tier variant spiritual power.


    The most powerful techniques are destined not to be essible to everyone, as the strongest techniques are always in the hands of a small number of people. This is the difference between genius and mediocrity.


    Otherwise, what would be the advantage of Long Xuan¡¯s Ten Absolute Body? The strength of the Ten Absolute Body lies in its rock-solid spiritual sea, capable of bearing any violent power.


    If someone else cultivates his five variant spiritual powers, their spiritual sea will burst, not to mention amodating five kinds of spiritual powers at the same time.


    Only the powerful Ten Absolute Body can contain all five spiritual powers.


    Only a non-human could create such a suicidal technique.


    TL Note: This was the most difficult chapter to write and Trante...there might be some mistakes regarding the names of the technique, but this is the best one for now XD.

 Chapter 26: Visit from Li Laodao

    With the routes of spiritual power and the attributes of spiritual power now resolved, the second crucial element of the cultivation method¡ªdivine abilities¡ªremained a mystery to him.


    While the cultivation methods in the Treasury Pavilion included divine abilities that he could copy, he found them too weak and unworthy of his attention.


    Moreover, these divine abilities did not align with his unique "Ten Absolute Body."


    Divine abilities are the mostplex part of a cultivation method, and Long Xuan hit a writer''s block, unable to proceed further.


    So, he decided to skip this part for now and focus on the third element of the cultivation method.


    The third element of a cultivation method is the apanying spiritual techniques. These techniques can be one or many, with no limit on quantity, as long as they perfectlyplement the cultivation method.


    Long Xuan certainly wouldn''t create just one apanying spiritual technique for the "Ten Absolute Scriptures." However, given the limited time, he decided to create just one for now and leave the creation of the second and third for when he had more time in the future.


    Long Xuan had plenty of inspiration for spiritual techniques from the countless anime and novels he had consumed in his previous life.


    Creating a spiritual technique requires first ruling out impossible abilities, such as those involving space or time maniption¡ªabilities that can destroy the heavens and earth were out of the question.Spiritual techniques must be limited to what can be aplished through the transformation of spiritual power. The more terrifying the ability, the less likely it can be created through mere transformation of spiritual power.


    Thus, when creating a spiritual technique, one must not aim for the most powerful ability, as this approach will lead to failure.


    Abilities that can be performed through the transformation of spiritual power are very few and far between; they are not easily conceived.


    Furthermore, the apanying spiritual technique must perfectlyplement the cultivation method, fully utilizing its characteristics and maximizing its power. It is not enough toe up with any usable ability.


    Additionally, the first apanying spiritual technique should ideally rte to offensive capabilities.


    This narrows the range even further, leaving limited options for imagination. Precisely because of these few choices, Long Xuan quickly came up with an idea.


    Since the cultivation method was based on the five elements, a concept never before seen in this world, the ideal apanying spiritual technique should incorporate all five elements, in keeping with the method¡¯s characteristics.


    A spiritual technique that utilizes all five types of spiritual power is abination technique. Even if Long Xuan were not the first to create it, such techniques must be rare in this world, and abination technique would likely be stronger than a single-attribute spiritual technique.


    His idea was to gather spiritual power in his palm, make it spin rapidly, and continuouslypress it into a high-speed spinning andpressed ball of spiritual power, which would then be hurled at the enemy, exploding upon impact.


    If this were done with single-attribute spiritual power, the technique might not be very strong and could be learned by anyone as amon spiritual technique.


    However, Long Xuan possessed the spiritual power of the five elements. By injecting five-element spiritual power into the ball, allowing the power toplete a full five-element cycle before spinning andpressing, the resulting explosion upon hitting the enemy would be immensely powerful.


    Long Xuan couldn¡¯t precisely estimate the explosive power, but he was confident it would not be weak.


    Moreover, this spiritual technique would perfectlyplement the "Ten Absolute Scriptures," leveraging the unique five-element attributes, ensuring a 100% match and maximizing the method''s power, as if tailor-made for it.


    Satisfied, Long Xuan nodded, convinced of its formidable power.


    The principle of this spiritual technique was very simple, even simple enough to describe in a few words.


    The only difficulty was the high level of control over spiritual power required from the practitioner and the need for strong soul power.


    As an alchemist, Long Xuan had strong soul power and required high control over spiritual power to manipte fire, meeting these conditions fully.


    Thus, it took him only a month toplete this spiritual technique.


    Looking at the book named "Five Element Jade" in his hand, Long Xuan felt a sense of aplishment.


    His self-created "Five Element Jade" was divided into four styles based on the different cycles of the five-element theory.


    *<em>First Style: Generating Cycle.</em>* It has the highest endurance, allowing continuous casting of the five-element jade with substantial sustained power.


    *<em>Second Style: Returning Cycle.</em>* It has the highest attack power, making the five-element jade unstoppable with immense momentum.


    *<em>Third Style: Oveing Cycle.</em>* It has the highest burst power, causing explosive damage with the five-element jade.


    *<em>Final Style: Extreme Jade.</em>*This style uses a single attribute to create the five-element jade. Though each has its own characteristics, its power is rtively weak.


    This was the first spiritual technique he created from scratch, and despite its simplicity, its power was quite impressive.


    He easily sted the Qian n''s Treasury Pavilion into ruins in an illusion, proving its power.


    And this was when his spiritual power was low and only two elements werebined. Once his spiritual power evolved into five major variants, who knows how powerful this move could be.


    Long Xuan was thrilled, though still unsatisfied with his inability to design divine abilities for the "Ten Absolute Scriptures."


    He did not want to borrow divine abilities from ordinary cultivation methods, and his imaginative divine abilities were hard to put into words. Sitting on a chair, he felt distressed, experiencing the agony of writer''s block.


    "Young friend Long? Are you there?"


    A familiar elderly voice came from outside the inn.


    This voice belonged to old man Li Laodao, who often set up a stall next to him.


    If it weren¡¯t for Li Laodao difficult-to-defend Gu techniques, which forced Long Xuan to counteract with his microscopic abilities, he might not have created the Eye of Heavenly secret so early.


    Without the Eye of Heavenly secret, who knows how long it would have taken him to create his cultivation method, so in a way, Long Xuan owed him gratitude.


    "You can even find me at an inn. Your informationwork is impressive."


    Helpless, Long Xuan opened the door and let him in before closing it again.


    Li Laodao, familiar as ever, loved getting close to him. Long Xuan didn¡¯t expect to be disturbed even after hiding in the inn and wondered how he had been found.


    "Don¡¯t say it like I went out of my way to find you."


    "Everyone in the market knows the masked hero frequently visits here. Rumor has it you fancy Miss Qian. Otherwise, why would you keeping to this inn instead of going home? Got too many spirit stones to spend?" Li Laodao teased.


    "Nonsense! That¡¯s nder! Who made up such lies?"


    "Who dares to tarnish my reputation!"


    Long Xuan''s expression changed instantly upon hearing the rumors, feeling utterly defenseless.


    "Why so agitated? It¡¯s natural to appreciate beauty. I won¡¯tugh at you."


    "Ever since Qian Jinjin stopped wearing her veil, her stunning beauty has captivated all the young talents. You¡¯re not the only admirer. It¡¯s nothing to be ashamed of." Li Laodao grinned.


    Long Xuan was exhausted. Let the world be destroyed; he was done exining. Exining was just covering up, and covering up meant it was true. So, he stopped exining, knowing he couldn¡¯t rify it anyway.


    "Alright, you wouldn¡¯t visit without a reason. Just tell me why you¡¯re here. I¡¯m busy and don¡¯t have time for gossip."


    Long Xuan stopped him from saying more, getting straight to the point.

 Chapter 27: Divine Abilities and Spiritual Insights

    "Cough, cough," Li Laodao coughed dryly and finally assumed a serious demeanor. Solemnly, he said, "I''ll keep it short. There is an ancient tomb nearby of astonishing size, and many rogue cultivators have already gone there."


    "This ancient tomb is said to be extremely dangerous, with involvement fromrge ns. Oftentimes, the danger posed by people exceeds the perils within the tomb itself."


    "I''m a solitary old man with limited strength, so today I''vee to invite you to form a team with me so we can look out for each other."


    Hearing this, Long Xuan frowned for a moment and pondered.


    He felt that his current strength was still too weak. His mid-stage Spirit Gathering realm was nothing impressive, and without an external Gu for protection, hisbat methods were very limited.


    He thought he should develop further and not leave hisfort zone prematurely. Given his current strength, he couldn''t protect himself and had to rely on the protagonist''s halo.


    No matter how good the treasures were, one needed to be alive to enjoy them. He decided to stay low for a while longer.


    Long Xuan didn''t follow the usual novel trope of rushing to opportunities at the first mention of them. No matter how valuable the treasures in the ancient tomb might be, he wouldn''t risk his life for them.


    After making up his mind, Long Xuan said, "No, since there arerge ns involved, we rogue cultivators shouldn''t join the fray. I still want to live a bit longer; you go ahead on your own."Seeing that Long Xuan was unmoved, Li Laodao continued, "I know what you''re worried about¡ªyour personal safety."


    "Rest assured, I guarantee this trip will be 100% safe. We won''tpete with therge ns for treasures; we''ll just follow them and pick up whatever they leave behind."


    "There will always be times when they overlook something, and that''s our opportunity to pick up the leftovers. Moreover, the dangers in the tomb will all be faced by therge ns ahead of us. Following behind them, we won''t encounter any danger."


    "The only danger is from other rogue cultivators, but as long as we form a team with a few close friends, we can be worry-free."


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan inwardly sneered. Everyone thinks like that before an adventure, harboring a lucky mindset, but people always end up dying in droves.


    "You don''t need to persuade me anymore. I''m a man of my word. If I say I won''t go, I won''t go," Long Xuan said firmly.


    Seeing that Long Xuan was adamant, Li Laodao didn''t insist. He had sought out Long Xuan because he believed that the more people, the safer. Since Long Xuan wouldn''t go, it didn''t make much of a difference; he had plenty of close friends.


    "Alright then, young people being this cautious¡ªif young people don''t take bold risks, are they still young?" Li Laodao shook his head and finally turned to leave.


    Long Xuan didn''t see him off. He sat there, continuing to ponder how to design miraculous abilities for the "Ten Absolutes Scripture."


    A month passed in the blink of an eye. It started to rain lightly outside. Just as Long Xuan was about to close the window, Li Laodao suddenly jumped in through it, startling him.


    "Cough, cough..." Old Li Dao coughed up a pool of blood. His clothes were in tatters, he was covered in blood, and his hair was a mess. He looked half-dead, clearly severely injured.


    "Cough, cough... Damned it all, a miscalction. We didn''t want topete with therge ns for treasures, just to follow them and pick up whatever they left behind."


    "Who would have known those bastards, fearing the unknown dangers of the tomb, would force us rogue cultivators to scout ahead? Man proposes, God disposes!"


    "And that tomb was indeed extraordinarily dangerous. Most of the rogue cultivators who went died, and all the ones in my team perished too..."


    Old Li Daoined with intense resentment, almost going mad until he coughed up another pool of blood and stopped his incessant cursing.


    Long Xuan showed no surprise; this was expected. There was no such thing as 100% safety in this world. Even without therge ns forcing them to scout, internal strife over uneven distribution of treasures could lead to deaths. Survival was never guaranteed.


    "So, what was the oue? Did anyone retrieve the tomb''s treasure? What was the most valuable item in the tomb?" Long Xuan asked curiously.


    "No," Li Laodao shook his head. "That tomb was extremely eerie. Not only did most of the rogue cultivators die, but therge ns'' Gu practitioners also suffered heavy casualties. Only a few escaped, and no one retrieved the tomb''s most valuable treasure."


    "However, many apanying burial items were brought out, some of which were incredibly valuable. Unfortunately, those rich and stingyrge ns didn''t even leave us any decorations."


    "I didn''t find any treasures, just stumbled upon this iplete technique by ident." Old Li Dao took out a blood-stained, tattered technique book and unted it in front of Long Xuan.


    "The ''Sun and Moon Heart Sutra''?"


    Seeing the fourrge characters on the cover, Long Xuan guessed this technique was extraordinary and eagerly snatched it to read.


    Li Laodao was stunned. Doesn''t he understand the principle of not sharing techniques lightly? How could this young man be so ignorant?


    Though the technique was iplete and couldn''t be cultivated, it still had significant reference value. It wasn''t something to be casually shown to outsiders.


    Under normal circumstances, he would have snatched it back and scolded him, but now, severely injured, he didn''t have the energy.


    "My technique isn''t for free viewing. Shouldn''t youpensate me with a detox pill? Your Little Strong Gu can only resist ordinary poisons, not the strange poisons from the tomb," Li Laodao added.


    Without looking up, Long Xuan tossed a bottle of detox pills over.


    Under normal circumstances, he would have noticed something was amiss¡ªLi Laodao knew he had detox pills, which meant he likely knew he was an alchemist. This exined why, despite being gravely injured, he came to him first.


    But now, fully absorbed in reading the technique, he ignored this detail.


    Li Laodao hurriedly caught the bottle, eagerly opened it, took out a pill, and swallowed it. Then, shamelessly pocketed the entire bottle, sat down, and began refining the pill''s medicinal power.


    After a while, the detox pill and the Little Strong Gu''sbined efforts finally counteracted the strange poison from the tomb.


    Meanwhile, Long Xuan entered a state of rapture.


    This "Sun and Moon Heart Sutra" was indeed extraordinary, worthy of being brought out from an ancient tomb.


    The "Sun and Moon Heart Sutra" harnesses the spiritual power of heaven and earth, absorbing the essence of the sun and moon to achieve the supreme spiritual body.


    Those who master it can cultivate unique Sun Spiritual Power, Moon Spiritual Power, and Star Spiritual Power.


    These variant spiritual powers rank among the strongest of all.


    The Divine ability it grants is the External Avatar.


    Practitioners of this technique can cultivate three external avatars: the Sun Clone, the Moon Clone, and the Star Clone.


    The Sun Clone''sbat power doubles during the day, while the Star and Moon Clone''bat power doubles at night.


    Thebat power of these three Clone is not much weaker than the main body. Most astonishingly, the Clone can cultivate independently and transfer their cultivation results back to the main body.


    This includes both knowledge and physical or soul cultivation oues.


    With the main body''s cultivation speed added, a practitioner of this technique can cultivate four times faster than normal.


    This technique is absurdly powerful, almost like cheating. Even Long Xuan was astonished, especially by the Divine ability part, which made him breathe heavily with excitement and thoroughly captivated him.


    This was exactly the Divine ability he had been looking for. The vast spiritual sea of the Ten Absolute Bodies led to the drawback of slow cultivation speed, a critical issue that had to be addressed.


    Without a doubt, designing a Divine ability that could elerate cultivation speed was the mostpatible with the "Ten Absolutes scripture," finally solving the slow cultivation speed problem of the Ten Absolute Bodies.


    He was immensely satisfied with this Divine ability.

 Chapter 28: Achievement

    Long Xuan couldn''t help but marvel at the creativity of having his Clone assist his main body in cultivation. This idea was simply divine. He wondered what kind of mind coulde up with such a revolutionary technique. Filled with admiration, he eagerly searched for the author''s name on the book''s cover.


    Finally, he found a line of text in the bottom right corner:


    *<em>¡ªWritten by Empress Yaoguang</em>*


    "A woman?" Long Xuan racked his brains but realized he had no idea who this person was. As a minor rogue cultivator, his knowledge was quite limited.


    He was certain that this individual must be a historical figure of great renown, and that he could probably find records of her in historical texts.


    Long Xuan decided to stop pondering this and focus on his decision: he would incorporate this divine technique into his own "Ten Absolutes Scripture." Of course, it wasn''t copying, merely borrowing.


    The "Sun and Moon Heart Sutra" could condense Clones of the sun, moon, and stars. So, could his "Ten Absolutes Scripture" condense clones of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth?


    With two more Clone than the original technique, his cultivation speed would double, potentially even surpassing the original. The Seven Immortals of Quanzhen could form the Heavenly Gang Big Dipper Array; perhaps his Five Elements avatars could form the Heavenly Gang Five Elements Array, surpassing the original was not impossible.


    Then, each of the five Clone would specialize in one type of mutated spiritual power and return their cultivation results to him. Thus, he wouldn''t need to cultivate at all. He could just focus on research and live a leisurely life.He would invent and create, while all the hard work and intense cultivation would be done by the five Clone. Just thinking about such a life made Long Xuan smile contentedly.


    He continued to read through the rest of the text. Unfortunately, the "Sun and Moon Heart Sutra" was severely iplete, with missing sections in the beginning, middle, and end.


    He found no corresponding spiritual techniques at all. However, the divine abilities section, though iplete, was rtively intact, which was sufficient for him.


    Next, Long Xuan embarked on a long period of intensive study. Condensing Clone was an extremely profound knowledge. Long Xuan found that with his current level of experience, he couldn''t understand it at all. The texts seemed like celestial scripts to him, leaving himpletely baffled.


    He was thoroughly confused. However, in the realm of literature, it''s often about copying from one another. Since he couldn''t understand, he decided to copy and paste.


    Of course, considering thepatibility with the "Ten Absolutes Scripture," many parts needed modification. Direct copying wouldn''t work. Fortunately, his golden finger could indicate errors. If the progress of the technique disappeared, it meant that section was wrong and needed to be deleted and revised until the progress increased.


    Thus, Long Xuan spent countless days and nights, taking a year to sessfully research the divine abilities chapter of the "Ten Absolutes Scripture." This marked theplete sess of the firstyer of the "Ten Absolutes Scripture."


    He was probably the only one who, without understanding the principle of condensing Clone, could create an Clone technique.


    At this point, the progress of the technique had reached 12.5%, representing one-eighth, indicating that this technique had eightyers and could be cultivated to the eighth realm, making it a highly advanced technique. Long Xuan was quite satisfied.


    The firstyer of the "Ten Absolutes Scripture" was for spirit gathering stage, while the secondyer was for the Marrow cleansing stage.


    Long Xuan still had a long way to go before reaching the Marrow cleansing stage, so he didn''t need to rush studying the secondyer of the "Ten Absolutes Scripture." It was time for him to take a little break and rx.


    Feelingzy, Long Xuan stretched and yawned. He was no longer at the inn but in his home in Great Stone Vige. He had already stripped the Qian n''s Treasure Pavilion bare, so unless they restocked with a lot of new items, there was no need for him to go back.


    Long Xuanzily looked at the quintuplets who were meditating and cultivating in the room, feeling very satisfied.


    These five people looked exactly the same, as if they were carved from the same mold¡ªhis mold. They gave him a sense of kinship, making his emotionsplex.


    These five were the five Clone condensed from the firstyer of the "Ten Absolutes Scripture": the Gold Clone, Wood Clone, Water Clone, Fire Clone, and Earth Clone.


    Each Clone specialized in a type of mutated spiritual power, diligently cultivating and returning the results to him, allowing him to upgrade effortlessly.


    These were five clone after all. The spiritual power cultivated by five people was given to him simultaneously, allowing him to enjoy five times the cultivation speed and happiness.


    He could make rapid progress every day while his main body did not cultivate, enjoying the benefits without any effort.


    This was akin to cheating, using a hack¡ªtemporary joy from cheating,sting joy from continuous cheating. Long Xuan was thoroughly delighted.


    Of course, even with five times the happiness, due to the special nature of his Ten Absolutes Body, his cultivation speed, though fastpared to before, stillgged behind those geniuses with heavenly talent.


    He was destined to follow the path of Immortality, being thest one standing as the victor.


    However, with this divine technique and the assistance of the Hundred Flower Pill, his cultivation speed could match the average level of this world, which was already a great sess for the Ten Absolutes Body.


    Long Xuan was thrilled and wanted tough out loud. Regardless of the future, this achievement alone was enough to ensure his name would be remembered in history.


    "Now that I have the technique, the next step is to enhance mybat power."


    After his excitement subsided, Long Xuan''s eyes gleamed as he started nning his next steps.


    Creating the secondyer of the "Ten Absolutes Scripture " could wait. After all, he didn''t need it now, and his current level hadn''t reached the Marrow cleansing stage. Studying techniques for a higher level would be extremely challenging and difficult.


    Creating techniques also required appropriate cultivation levels and experience. With sufficient future umtion, he would naturally seed, so there was no rush for now.


    The urgent task was to quickly improve hisbat power, which was his current shoring. Aside from the Five Elements Jade and the Origin Realm, he had no means of attacking the enemy.


    The Origin Realm had significant limitations. The idea of dragging an entire region of people into an illusion was just a fantasy for now.


    Copying the world required time. Even with the Heavenly Eye as a supeputer, it needed time to download. He couldn''t instantlyplete the copy of a vast world.


    Unless the opponent talked too much, in sudden encounters, this ability might be unusable. In such cases, only the Five Elements Jade would be useful.


    Of course, once given the opportunity to use the Origin Realm, no one could survive it¡ªnot even Jesus. He firmly believed this.


    His Origin Realm was simply unbeatable.

 Chapter 29: Di Xin

    Hisbat abilities were insufficient, leaving him constrained in every action he took. If his strength were more formidable, he wouldn''t hesitate to explore even an ancient tomb. Thus, his next objective was to enhance hisbat power, preferably by refining a powerful external Gu. Having such an external Gu would greatly improve his one-on-onebat capability.


    In the Gu world, there has been endless debate over whether external Gu or internal Gu is superior. The controversy is significant since one is used for externalbat, and the other grants the Gu cultivator powerful abilities¡ªtwopletely different systems that are indeed hard topare.


    However, it is unquestionable that during the Spirit Gathering stage, external Gu is far superior to internal Gu. This point is entirely undisputed. This is because Gu cultivators at the Gathering Spirit stage are just beginning their cultivation, and their internal spiritual power reserves are extremely scarce.


    No matter how powerful the abilities of an internal Gu might be, without sufficient spiritual power, the internal Gu¡¯s abilities cannot be fully utilized. It might even deplete the spiritual power after just one use or may not even be usable once.


    Due to the limitation of insufficient spiritual power in the early stages, the benefits of internal Gu are naturally far inferior to external Gu. Hence, most Gu cultivators in the Spirit Gathering or Marrow cleansing stages primarily focus on refining external Gu, and they can hide behind them during battles.


    Thus, refining an external Gu is undoubtedly the best choice for quickly improvingbat power. This is precisely why Long Xuan¡¯s sales of the Little Strong Gu plummeted early on.


    Gu cultivators are a rare group, with just a few people in the entire market. Given that each type of Gu insect can only be owned once and that most Gu cultivators only refine external Gu, the market for Little Strong Gu has long been saturated.


    The poor sales of Little Strong Gu severely impacted Long Xuan¡¯s economic resources, making the collection of materials for the Divine ice me an indefinite task.


    Thinking of this, Long Xuan''s good mood from creating a new technique vanished instantly. To refine an external Gu, one must first earn money. Reluctantly, Long Xuan had to leave his house to seek a fortune.Sometimes, timing is everything. Long Xuan strolled around the market and happened to hear about a treasure exchange event being held that day, specifically for loose cultivators in the Spirit Gathering stage.


    He was overjoyed and immediately followed the crowd to join in the excitement.


    The treasure exchange event was not like the market''s usual stall transactions; in terms of scale, stalls couldn''tpare to the treasure exchange event. Who would dare disy priceless items at a stall? It would be asking for trouble. Hence, the more concealed treasure exchange events emerged.


    Of course, not every Gu cultivator in the market could attend. To participate in the treasure exchange event, one must have a certain level of wealth and a good reputation, with no rumors of killing for treasure. Loose cultivators with a penchant for robbery and murder were strictly excluded, as their presence would disrupt the event.


    Additionally, after the event, it was strictly forbidden to spread information about who possessed what treasures. And those Big talkers were naturally excluded as well. Although the restrictions were somewhat loose, those who vited them wouldn¡¯t be allowed to participate in future events and would face collective resistance.


    With these conditions in ce, only a few people qualified to attend the treasure exchange event, and a small secret room could amodate them.


    This small group of people was of high quality, each possessing a certain level of wealth. Hence, the treasure exchange event was bound to feature various rare treasures, items rarely seen outside.


    These treasures would be impossible to find at a stall. Attending such an event would broaden one''s horizons, even if there were no gains. If one hoped to find a rare bargain, the treasure exchange event was the ce to be.


    Long Xuan harbored hopes of finding a rare bargain, aiming to discover a treasure worth millions that others failed to recognize, thus solving his financial problems instantly.


    With these pleasant thoughts, Long Xuan eagerly followed a few female loose cultivators into a two-story building, Then he turned left and right and entered a hidden secret room. The gatekeeper did not stop him.


    His name was well-known throughout the market as the creator of the Little Strong Gu.


    Having amassed wealth through Little Strong Gu sales, Long Xuan was quite well-off among the financially-strapped loose cultivators and naturally qualified to participate in the treasure exchange event.


    Upon entering the venue, Long Xuan¡¯s eyes lit up. Despite being held in an underground secret room, the venue was surprisingly bright and well-decorated. Many loose cultivators were already engaged in small-scale transactions.


    Scanning the room, Long Xuan saw over ten round tables, each surrounded by people. Acquaintances sat together, eating snacks, fruits, and drinking tea, engaging in cheerful conversations. Some even disyed their treasures on the tables. There were about a hundred people present.


    Not every wealthy loose cultivator could attend; only a small portion had the time. This kind of event was held periodically, so missing one wasn''t a big deal.


    As Long Xuan arrived, many eyes turned towards him.


    ¡°A rare guest indeed! I never expected my treasure exchange event to attract such a recluse like you. Is this your first time attending? Surely, you must have something good!¡±


    A veiled beauty in a yellow dress teased from not far away.


    Long Xuan, whether as an entomologist in his past life or as a Gu cultivator in this life, was a research fanatic, always staying at home, oblivious to outside matters, and solely focused on his research, making him quite out of touch with news.


    It wasn¡¯t that he deliberately avoided such events; he simply never knew when they were held. Otherwise, he would have attended, as it was a great opportunity for him to strike it rich, which was necessary for his research.


    Following the voice, Long Xuan saw a stunning veiled woman standing nearby. He didn''t know what was wrong with the beauties in this world, they all liked to wear veils.


    Despite being out of touch, Long Xuan recognized her. There were only three people in the market selling exclusive high-quality Gu insects, and she was one of them, making a fortune through these sales.


    She was also a rare formation master. Loose cultivators were typically poor and homeless, rarely needing expensive formation disks to guard their homes, making this skill less lucrative for her. However, she often used her skills to ess treasure troves and herb gardens of small Gu cultivation ns, bing a famous thief.


    Those who frequently broke intorge families to steal treasures using their formation-breaking skills were known as ¡°formation infiltrator¡± in this world. These individuals, able to silently breachrge family protection formations and steal treasures, were despised by all major families.


    This woman, Di Xin, was such a formation infiltrator, known for targeting only Gu cultivation ns and not loose cultivators. Long Xuan¡¯s most vivid memory of her was her fear of cockroaches, which was why she refused to buy his Little Strong Gu.


    It was precisely because Long Xuan was the only one selling cockroach-type Gu insects in the market, she also remembered him well.


    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s Sister Xin. My apologies. I usually avoid treasure exchange events, but hearing that you¡¯re hosting one, I rushed over immediately. I must show respect to Sister Xin.¡±


    Though he previously missed these events due tock of information, he knew the art of conversation, understanding how to bridge distances between people.


    Hearing this, Di Xinughed lightly, covering her mouth. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to have such a great influence, attracting you here despite your busy schedule. My treasure exchange event will surely not disappoint you.¡±

 Chapter 30: high-grade Gu Worm

    "Since almost everyone is here, as the host, I''ll start first."


    After chatting with Long Xuan for a while, seeing that almost everyone had entered the venue, Di Xin walked to a table at the front of the venue.


    She then ced all her treasured items from the bottom of the chest on the table and said to the people below: "I won''t go over the rules of the treasure exchange meeting, everyone understands. As the host, I''ll start first."


    Saying that, Di Xin picked up three array gs on the table and introduced: "This is the soundproof formation te. As the name suggests, it is an formation te that can iste sound."


    "This secret room is set up with this kind of formation, so no matter how loudly we talk here, no sound will be heard outside. Everyone can rest assured. Now, who is interested in trading?"


    Hearing this, many people below felt more at ease. No one wanted their treasures to be known by more people, and the fact that the secret room was set up with such an array reassured them even more.


    A small murmur arose from the crowd below, but after all, it was just an auxiliary formation, and its effect was merely soundproofing, so it wasn''t very useful in actualbat. Hence, not many people were interested.


    Just when Long Xuan thought Di Xin''s first treasure was going to pass without any bids, a female rogue cultivator stood up and asked, "Can your soundproof formation iste the sounds of fighting?"


    In the next moment, many people''s expressions changed subtly.With this question, everyone knew what this woman intended to do with the soundproof array.


    Goodness, while others set up soundproof formation to prevent secrets from being leaked during conversations, she actually nned to use it to kill and rob without making any noise. How creative and bold of her.


    Killing people naturally doesn''t require isting sound, unless she ns to kill someone in the market or near it, erasing someone within the no-kill zone without anyone noticing, so the people maintaining market order wouldn''t detect it.


    Everyone''s expressions changed subtly.


    The corners of Long Xuan''s mouth lifted, revealing an inexplicable smile. He wondered who she was going to target; surely, some poor fellow was going to have bad luck.


    Di Xin''s face also changed slightly. Before hosting the treasure exchange meeting, she had tried her best to exclude those who liked to kill and rob, but nothing in this world can be perfectly prevented. There are always those who slip through the cracks, and there might be someone doing it for the first time, making it even harder to prevent.


    However, the woman hadn''t said she was going to use the soundproof formation for killing, so Di Xin couldn''t just drive her away based on her suspicions. So she had to answer truthfully: "Of course, it can!"


    The female rogue cultivator immediately smiled and walked to the table, having a secret soulmunication with Di Xin.


    In the end, the female rogue cultivator left with the three formation gs, and no one knew what she traded for them.


    Next, Di Xin began to introduce her second treasure, which was her unique high-grade Gu worm, the twin-tailed flying scorpion.


    This scorpion not only had a pair of sharp pincers but also two tails and two stingers, its appearance alone indicating its prowess in battle.


    Being a rare high-grade Gu worm in the market, and an external Gu worm at that, itsbat power was extremely terrifying, making it highly sought after in the market.


    As soon as this treasure appeared, everyone below became excited, showing greedy and eager eyes, in stark contrast to the first treasure.


    It should be known that Long Xuan''s Little Strong Gu was merely an low-grade Gu worm, and in terms of poprity, it couldn''tpare to a high-grade Gu worm. It''s safe to say that there were very few rogue cultivators in the market who owned high-grade Gu worms.


    But Long Xuan only nced at it before looking away, having no interest in trading.


    He had already made up his mind that all the Gu worms he used in the future would be self-created. He wanted to use his unique Gu worms to dominate the world; no matter how strong other people''s Gu worms were, he had no interest.


    At this moment, he was thinking about another matter. The medicine garden belonged to Elder Long, not him. He was restricted in nting any spiritual herbs and had to be careful.


    Moreover, the spiritual bees needed nectar, and the spiritual chickens needed spiritual insects. To support them, he needed to build his own medicine garden. Otherwise, if elder long left, and he lost his job, the spiritual bees could starve to death.


    To build a medicine garden, he first had to prevent others from stealing his herbs. Otherwise, if he nted high-grade spiritual herbs, others would surelye.


    This required setting up an formation in the medicine garden, and the formation needed to be able to stop high-level Gu cultivators far stronger than him.


    But he couldn''t afford powerful defensive formation tes, and weak defensive formation tes were useless.


    Thinking about formation, Long Xuan had an epiphany,ing up with a new ability for his Eye of Heavenly secret.


    It was known that his Eye of Heavenly secret could see the microscopic world. Could it inscribe array formation patterns too small for the naked eye to see?


    The same formation te had limited space to inscribe formation patterns, but with the help of the Eye of Heavenly secret, he could inscribe hundreds or even thousands of formationq patterns without increasing the formation te''s size.


    In this way, by overwhelming with the number of formation patterns, would the formation he set up be stronger?


    If it was feasible, he might create a new formation style, bing the founder of a new school. Long Xuan''s eyes lit up.


    He had never studied formation and knew nothing about them, so he didn''t know if formation patterns could be infinitely shrunk without losing power.


    But he thought it was worth trying. If it worked, he could use inferior array materials to create superior arrays, no longer worrying about not being able to afford high-level array tes.


    Long Xuan became excited, and seeing that the superior Gu worm twin-tailed flying scorpion had been frantically traded away by the Gu cultivators, he immediately walked up.


    Di Xin was stunned for a moment; she hadn''t even introduced her third treasure yet.


    Before she could ask, Long Xuan spoke first through soulmunication: "I have no intention of trading for the items on your table. Do you have any books on array formation? I''m interested in learning the art of formation setup and am willing to pay a high price."


    formation masters were special professions on par with alchemists, with rare inheritances and difficult to find learning paths.


    In the Qian''s n''s Treasure Pavilion, you could find some cultivation methods and spiritual techniques, but never alchemy, artifact refining, talisman making, or formation setup.


    These were absolutely not easily taught. Don''t think you can learn them just by spending spirit stones.


    Therefore, Long Xuan could only try his luck here, prepared for failure. After all, secrets are not easily shared, that''s the principle of this world.


    Unexpectedly, Di Xin smiled slightly and said: "In my ce, there''s nothing that can''t be traded. As long as you offer a suitable price, I can even trade the Gu form for the twin-tailed flying scorpion."


    Saying this, she took out a thick stack of books from her storage bag and ced them on the table, without showing any reluctance.


    Long Xuan waspletely taken aback by her straightforwardness. Weren''t these supposed to be closely guarded secrets?


    " So Generous!"


    Long Xuan was overjoyed and quickly picked up the books on the table to look through.


    He checked the covers and flipped through a few pages to confirm their authenticity, then immediately decided to trade.


    These books not only covered various basic array knowledge but also included many powerful array diagrams, sufficient to make him an array master.


    To be an formation master required having both fire and earth attributes, and a strong soul, which he possessed.


    It must be said that having multiple attributes could slow down cultivation speed, but it also had its advantages.


    An artifact refiner needed both fire and metal attributes, a talisman maker needed both water and wood attributes, and all these special professions required a strong soul or mental power. It seemed he met all these requirements.


    But after all, one''s energy is limited, and being too distracted isn''t good.


    Long Xuan nned to focus on alchemy, while only having a basic understanding of the other special professions, so he wouldn''t be clueless when encountering attacks from these fields.

 Chapter 31: Transaction

    "All these books on formations, I want them all. What treasures do you n to trade for them? I don''t have much here. How about a few hundred little Little Strong Gu?" Knowing that she was afraid of cockroaches, Long Xuan made a joke.


    Di Xin gave him a annoyance look and said slowly, "As a rogue cultivatorpared to thoserge Gu cultivation ns, my cultivation speed is much slower. I want to quickly be a Marrow cleansing stage Gu cultivator. Do you have any treasures that can elerate my cultivation speed?"


    Hearing her request, Long Xuan threw a Hundred Flowers Pill at her and said, "Would this Pill work?"


    He was quite confident in the effect of the Hundred Flowers Pill on increasing spiritual power. To date, he had never seen a spirit-gathering stage pill with a more potent effect than the Hundred Flowers Pill.


    Di Xin carefully examined the Hundred Flowers Pill up close and soon showed a look of surprise. She had never seen such an pill with such immense spiritual power before. It was much more potent than any other pill she had encountered, which made her extremely happy.


    This type of pill was over three times more effective than simr pill. With continuous use, her cultivation speed would increase significantly.


    With this pills aiding her cultivation, she was confident she could break through to the Marrow cleansing stage within a few years.


    She didn''t hide her joy, looking up at Long Xuan and said, "I consider myself well-informed, but this is the first time I''ve seen such an pills. I''ll take it. How many elixirs do you want to exchange for my formation books?"


    Long Xuan waspletely confident in his pills, so he wasn''t surprised at her agreement.Considering that thews of this world are not easily passed on and knowledge is the most expensive thing in this world, he was not stingy at all and simply raised five fingers, ready to offer five thousand Hundred Flowers Pills to buy all the formation books.


    Don¡¯t be startled by therge number of pills. Long Xuan had a nearly 100% sess rate in pill-making, and the yield rate was also close to 100%.


    While others might struggle to produce such arge quantity of pills, for someone with his exaggerated pill-making efficiency, five thousand pills were not difficult.


    He was even preparing to create arger pill cauldron to attempt mass-production methods for elixirs.


    This meant throwing in dozens of times the materials into the cauldron at once, expecting to produce dozens of times the pills in one batch¡ªthousands at a time.


    This method would save him a lot of time in pill-making, allowing him to focus more on researching new forms.


    This idea was his own invention. No other alchemist dared to do this or even thought about it.


    Given the low sess rate of alchemy, who would dare to throw in dozens of portions of materials at once? If it failed, the loss would be enormous.


    Moreover, alchemy strictly controlled the proportions and quantities of materials. A tiny deviation could ruin the batch.


    Long Xuan¡¯s approach was equivalent to altering the form, increasing theplexity and reducing the sess rate further. Only a bold person like him would dare to try it.


    Of course, there wasn''t such arge pill furnace in this world, so he had to learn crafting techniques to create one himself, which put this scary n on hold temporarily.


    Unexpectedly, when Di Xin saw him raise five fingers, she thought he meant five hundred pills. She was overjoyed, not expecting such high-quality pills to be avable in such quantity, exceeding her expectations.


    She would never think of the scary number of five thousand, even if she was beaten to death. Who could produce such arge amount of pills? It was absolutely impossible.


    Feeling she got a great deal, Di Xin immediately shouted, "Deal! Five hundred pills!"


    Afraid he might regret it, Long Xuan was dumbfounded.


    They both misunderstood each other''s wealth. Long Xuan didn¡¯t exin, letting her misunderstand.


    Since she misinterpreted, he let it be. He pretended to be afraid she might regret it and started taking out bottles of Hundred Flowers Pills.


    Five hundred pills were a lot, and it took a while to take them all out.


    Soon, the bottles filled the entire table. Di Xin checked and stored the pills in her storage bag, smiling broadly.


    If she knew Long Xuan meant five thousand pills, she might not smile anymore and would regret it deeply.


    The formation books were few and easy to carry. Long Xuan put them in his storage bag and quickly left, fearing she might change her mind.


    "Wait!"


    Di Xin suddenly called out, looking at his back. "I forgot to tell you, all the knowledge I have and the books you took are from a formation master and are not to be seen in public."


    "The formations in those books are exclusive and easily recognized. If seen, it might cause great trouble."


    Long Xuan turned back, ring at her and said through gritted teeth, "Why didn¡¯t you say so earlier? No wonder you sold them so cheaply."


    He now understood why she didn¡¯t mind sharing this knowledge. These formation books weren¡¯t hers but stolen, so she didn¡¯t mind passing them on.


    Seeing she had put all the Hundred Flowers Pills in her storage bag and was smiling yfully, he knew there was no way to get them back.


    Never mind, he thought. He nned to refine the formations to a micro-level and might even create his own.


    Whatever formations he used, the final result would be unrecognizable to others.


    Di Xin¡¯s smile faltered, realizing the pills value. Did he not understand their worth?


    Di Xin felt she had missed a huge opportunity.


    "I forgot to tell you, my pills are also stolen. Don¡¯t use them in front of others or trade them, or you¡¯ll get into big trouble."


    Long Xuan thought if Elder Long saw the Hundred Flowers Pills and recognized them from his partial form, it would cause unnecessary trouble. So, he reminded Di Xin and left satisfied.


    Di Xin red at him before introducing her third treasure.


    Time passed slowly. Long Xuan watched the table full of treasures, hoping for a good deal.


    Di Xin left, and another rogue cultivator came. One after another, many came with countless treasures.


    However, all treasures were exchanged at their true value, and Long Xuan never found a great deal.


    Don¡¯t take everyone for fools. No one would sell something without knowing its value. Getting a great deal here wasn¡¯t easy.

 Chapter 32: Meeting an Old Acquaintance

    Just when Long Xuan and others were about to lose patience, a very familiar person finally appeared.


    A bald young man walked up to the table, and Long Xuan immediately recognized him. Wasn''t this the same little medicine boy who sold him the alchemy furnace?


    In recent years, this little medicine boy had gained a great reputation. His cultivation speed was astonishingly fast, reaching thete stage of spirit gathering in just a few short years.


    It¡¯s worth noting that he was still under eighteen years old. Ate-stage spirit gatherer under eighteen was rare even inrge ns, making this little medicine boy a prominent figure in the marketce, known by everyone.


    However, this little medicine boy had a peculiar habit of selling junk. Last time, he sold worthless discarded pills, and it was anyone¡¯s guess what kind of rubbish he would sell this time.


    Long Xuan was very curious.


    Sure enough, the bald little medicine boy did not disappoint him. Under everyone¡¯s astonished gaze, he took out a tattered treasure map.


    The treasure map had been partially burnt, with about one-tenth of it missing. Although its area was small, it was a riddle-based treasure map, and the missing portion was the most crucial part.


    Without the missing part, there was no hope of locating the treasure. Naturally, an iplete treasure map was worthless.Everyone looked puzzled. Before the little medicine boy could speak, someone from below shouted, ¡°What are you up to? Why are you showing us a piece of waste paper? Don¡¯t tell me you n to sell this here. Do you really think someone will buy this junk?¡±


    Many people snickered, having already seen that this was a useless treasure map. If it were truly useful, he would have gone treasure hunting himself instead of bringing it here.


    Unfazed by the crowd¡¯s skepticism, the little medicine boy continued confidently, ¡°Who says it¡¯s useless? This treasure map is only missing a tenth of its area. What if someone smart enough can guess the treasure¡¯s location from the remaining nine-tenths?¡±


    ¡°What if someone has the ability to repair anything? Fixing an iplete treasure map would be a piece of cake.¡±


    ¡°What if someone has divination abilities? They could determine the exact treasure location from just a bit of information.¡±


    ¡°All these are possibilities. Just because you think it¡¯s useless doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s useless to others.¡± The little medicine boy scoffed.


    ¡°Are you dreaming? Have you read too many novels? Repairing everything¡ªif only I could fix your brain right now!¡±


    The crowd wasn¡¯t convinced at all,ughing off his words. Only a fool would believe such nonsense.


    Only Long Xuan seemed thoughtful. He had to admit, the little medicine boy¡¯s words made some sense.


    The world was full of wonders. Any bizarre ability could exist. Who could definitively say that there wasn¡¯t a golden finger capable of repairing anything in this world?


    His ability to magnify everything hadn¡¯t existed before, but he had created it. Anything was possible.


    Moreover, divination-like abilities likely existed in this world. It¡¯s just that such extraordinary abilities were too far removed from the average loose cultivator, making it hard for anyone to believe they would encounter such a thing.


    So, theoretically, what the little medicine boy said was feasible. However, the likelihood of it appearing in this region was zero. No matter how eloquently he spoke, it was of no use.


    Long Xuan nced again at the treasure map, which showed a progress of [90.98%]. A thought struck him¡ªcould heplete this iplete map by guessing?


    If he could deduce Gu recipes by guessing, perhaps he could alsoplete the treasure map the same way. The process would be different, guessing lines instead of words.


    If he ced a piece of paper under the iplete map and drew over the gaps, erasing and redrawing whenever the progress didn¡¯t increase, theoretically, he could eventuallyplete a full treasure map.


    Long Xuan took a deep breath. The little medicine boy might actually be right¡ªsomeone capable of repairing the map did exist, and that person was right here.


    Finally, he had a golden opportunity.


    Long Xuan became instantly excited, showing a thrilled smile.


    Who knew what treasures this map might lead to? The possibility of treasures worth billions wasn¡¯t far-fetched. This time, he might truly hit the jackpot.


    Unable to contain himself any longer, Long Xuan immediately stepped forward and said, ¡°I want this iplete map. What do you want in exchange?¡±


    The little medicine boy was startled by the familiar voice and eximed, ¡°It¡¯s you again! Are you addicted to buying junk?¡±


    Long Xuan¡¯s face stiffened, but he remainedposed and said, ¡°I am that exceptionally intelligent person you mentioned. I can deduce the treasure¡¯s location from just nine-tenths of the map.¡±


    The little medicine boy smirked, clearly disbelieving. If someone could deduce the treasure¡¯s location based on intelligence alone, he wouldn¡¯t be selling it. Wasn¡¯t this implying he was less intelligent?


    ¡°You don¡¯t really have the ability to repair everything, do you?¡± The little medicine boy¡¯s eyes widened in shock.


    ¡°Repair your big head! Do you want to sell it or not? If not, I¡¯m leaving now!¡±


    Long Xuan was genuinely angered by this brat. His loud ims could make people believe he really had the ability to repair everything. That would be disastrous.


    Right now, he felt like tearing the little medicine boy¡¯s mouth apart.


    ¡°Sell! Of course, I¡¯ll sell! Only an idiot wouldn¡¯t sell!¡±


    Seeing a genuine fool willing to trade for his broken map, the little medicine boy was overjoyed and quickly seized the opportunity.


    ¡°I want those pills you took out. just a hundred of them will do.¡± The little medicine boy said quickly.


    ¡°Only ten! Take it or leave it!¡±


    Long Xuan mmed a pill bottle onto the table. If he offered such a high price, others would really start suspecting he had the ability to repair everything.

 Chapter 33: Eating, Drinking, and Having Fun

    "Deal!"


    Since this broken map couldn''t be traded for even a single spiritual stone, now that someone wants it, I''ll trade it no matter how little is offered. Any amount is a gain.


    The little medicine boy put down the broken map, picked up the medicine bottle on the table, and left.


    Long Xuan was stunned for a moment. He dared to sell just one thing, and it was a broken map at that. Isn''t he ashamed of selling such a shabby item?


    The little medicine boy left, and now that Long Xuan was closest to the table, he didn''t hesitate. He stepped forward and began cing his items on the table one by one.


    The materials listed on the Divine ice me form were too precious and rare. Most of them could only be obtained through exchanging and not bought with spiritual stones.


    Since there was a treasure exchange, he decided to collect the materials for the Divine ice me form.


    But to trade for so many expensive materials, he had to offer many valuable treasures. Otherwise, who would trade with him?


    However, showing off wealth could also attract attention, which is unavoidable. You can''t stop collecting materials or give up refining the Divine ice me for fear of danger.It''s impossible to collect expensive materials without taking any risks.


    This treasure exchange event was already the safest way to obtain resources. He couldn''t give up on it.


    After so many years of umtion, he couldn''t offer treasures worth a fortune, but he still had many valuable items.


    For example, he often visited Qian''smerce stone gambling shop to fleece them, collecting a bunch of high-grade spiritual insects. Most of these high-grade spiritual insects were of no use to him, so he took this opportunity to deal with them.


    And the various spiritual pills he refined years ago, which were about to expire, he sold all of them this time to make new ones.


    These spiritual pills were allmon types, not unique forms, so he could sell them boldly.


    He also took out various treasures he found at street stalls but didn''t use. For a moment, all sorts of treasures filled the table, forming a sharp contrast with the little medicine boy who just left. Withoutparison, there is no harm.


    The people below craned their necks, showing interest in the items he took out, all inclined to trade.


    "I only want Millennium Ice Essence, Cold Stones, Fire Stones..."


    Long Xuan listed some of the hardest materials to collect for the Ice me Divine form.


    As soon as he finished speaking, Di Xin quickly walked over, fearing someone else would trade for what she wanted before her.


    "I don''t have the most precious Millennium Ice Essence, but I have twenty percent of the other materials. I want to trade for all your high-grade and middle-grade spiritual insects."


    Long Xuan looked at her in surprise. He didn''t expect to find twenty percent of the materials for the Divine ice me form in one person. She was truly wealthy. As a formation master, her material collection was indeed abundant.


    She could have twenty percent of the materials for the Divine ice me form, not by coincidence, but because she was so wealthy that she had all kinds of materials. Long Xuan confirmed she was a little rich woman and looked at her deeply.


    And wanting to trade for all his high and middle-grade spiritual insects surprised Long Xuan even more. High-grade spiritual insects were precious, but only if you had the forms for them. Otherwise, they were useless and only consumed your resources.


    Therefore, trading high-grade spiritual insects wasn''t easy. Disying these items at street stalls could invite trouble, so he saved up so many.


    Could it be that Di Xin had a vast collection of forms covering all his spiritual insects?


    Long Xuan couldn''t believe it. How many forms did she steal without getting killed by others?


    "The values are roughly equivalent, deal."


    Long Xuan couldn''t distinguish who gained or lost slightly, but as long as it was roughly equivalent, he didn''t care to calcte too much. After all, such detailed calctions would take forever, so he made the trade swiftly.


    Long Xuan''s items were popr and were traded clean in no time.


    By now, he had collected half of the materials for the Divine ice me form. Though still needing more, the remaining materials weremon ones.


    Except for the Millennium Ice Essence, all remaining materials could be bought with spiritual stones at Qian''s business.


    Unfortunately, due to the saturated Gu marketcking spiritual stones, he came to this treasure exchange to try his luck. Now he could only hope the treasure marked on the map would surprise him.


    Now all that was missing were the spiritual stones. He prayed the treasure on the map would sell for a high price.


    After Long Xuan left, an acquaintance, Li Laodao, took over. After greeting him, Li Laodao began cing various harmful internal Gu on the table.


    All were used to harm others, making many below turn pale and their hearts race, looking at him with fear and caution.


    Long Xuan was naturally uninterested. He considered these tricks that might harm one person but had limited practical use in actualbat because they killed too slowly, giving opponents a chance to fight back.


    If Li Laodao focused on the righteous path, he wouldn''t have been so miserable in the ancient tombst time.


    But while he wasn''t interested, many others were. Such Gu insects didn''t count against their Gu quotas and could be prepared inrge numbers.


    Many loose cultivators stepped forward to trade, including the female cultivator who previously traded the soundproof formations with Di Xin, taking all of Li Laodao stone Gu.


    Long Xuan felt gleeful and thought that woman was indeed nning to harm someone. He silently wondered who the unlucky person would be and offered them his condolences.


    After Li Laodao, several others took their turns, and the treasure fair ended.


    Many casual cultivators didn''t step up because they were too poor to show off. They weren''t as shameless as the little medicine boy, who dared to present a broken map, which was embarrassing.


    If all these casual cultivators showed their treasures, the fair couldst all day.


    After the treasure fair, everyone gradually left, many with satisfied smiles, having gained much.


    Long Xuan mingled in the crowd, heading out. He had also gained a lot from this trip. Besides the materials, the treasure map alone was a huge gain. The treasure it marked could be worth billions, and he was very hopeful.


    However, he didn''t know that three people were secretly following him, led by the female casual cultivator who traded the soundproof array, apanied by two fierce-looking men.


    "Are you sure it''s him? He looks young," one bald man said via soulmunication.


    The female cultivator nced at Long Xuan''s back and replied via soulmunication, "He may not be the richest, but he''s definitely the weakest. Who else would we target?"


    "The road to Great Stone Vige is his only path, though it''s too close to the market, within the no-kill zone. I specifically traded for an formation that istes fight sounds, ensuring sess."


    The other fierce man nodded, "The road is perfect. I''ve already nted stone Gu on it, and with us three against him, sess is guaranteed..."


    Long Xuan, unaware he was being followed, saw it was still early and wandered around the market, enjoying a good meal at the best restaurant.


    Longevity should be about enjoying life, farming, and not getting involved in the scheming Gu world. Cultivation could be left to his clone, allowing him leisure.


    Life should be enjoyed, not suffered.


    If it weren''t for the fact that all the beautiful Gu cultivators in this world liked to refine Love Gu, he would have wanted to go to entertainment ces.


    After eating and drinking, he wandered through the night market untilte, then headed to Great Stone Vige, humming a tune and looking pleased.


    Little did he know, his actions made the ambushers suffer, hiding in the grass and feeding mosquitoes all day, thinking he wouldn''te.


    Just as they were about to give up, they saw him, making their eyes gleam with hatred.


    Long Xuan wasn''t a god and didn''t know about the ambush. Ironically, he became the unlucky one he spoke of, with disaster falling from the sky.


    However, despite not anticipating this, he remained cautious.


    Living next to the scheming Li Laodao had filled him with dread. He always felt danger and feared being harmed by some schemer.


    Thus, Normally, he would keep the Eye of Heavenly secret open when passing through, magnifying everything in front of him and being overly cautious.


    It was this cowardly caution that saved his life today.

 Chapter 34: The Might of the Ten Absolute Bodies

    As Long Xuan stepped onto the gravel path, the Eye of Heavenly secret swiftly scanned the ground and detected several Gu insects resembling pebbles lying in wait.


    Upon magnification through the Eye of Heavenly secret, progress indicators appeared above these Gu insects'' heads. Long Xuan confirmed that these were not ordinary pebbles but stone-like Gu insects. His heart sank as he realized the situation was dire.


    He was basically the only Gu cultivator heading to Great Stone Vige. He had no illusions that these were set up for someone else; he knew he was likely being targeted.


    He cursed inwardly, wondering how he could be ambushed when he had never made enemies. Could it be that he had sold too many items?


    However, the things he sold were all within a controble range. High-grade spirit insects were merely materials that could be exchanged for with spirit stones and were not difficult to collect. After all, who didn''t have a few high-grade spirit insects?


    Why didn''t anyone go after Di Xin, whose items were far more expensive than his?


    Long Xuan sighed inwardly. To collect resources, he had to sell resources; otherwise, how could he expect others to give him resources for free? It was impossible to keep wealthpletely hidden. Even if he only bought and never sold, spending too many spirit stones could still make him a target.


    He knew he could not stop trading resources with others in the future. If he did, the self-created Gu forms will be increasingly expensive to produce, and he wouldn''t be able to gather the necessary resources. If he resorted to robbery, what would be the difference from his current situation?


    Since there was no solution, he could only adopt a defensive approach, ready to counter whatever came his way.Long Xuan took a deep breath, cursing Li Laodao for causing harm with his items. Those harmful things had now been used against him.


    Despite his unsettled mind, his face showed no sign of change. He continued to hum a tune, appearing in good spirits.


    He pretended to inadvertently deviate from his path, narrowly avoiding the ambush set by the stone Gu insects.


    Once he had taken a detour, he rushed towards Great Stone Vige at the fastest possible speed, where Elder Long resided, ensuring his safety.


    However, his actions did not fool the ambushers. A female rogue cultivator shouted, "Not good! We''ve been discovered!"


    Three people immediately jumped out from the bushes, blocking Long Xuan''s path.


    Seeing the familiar face of the female rogue cultivator, Long Xuan eximed, "So it''s you!"


    His face alternated between green and white. He had pondered for a long time at the treasure exchange about who the unlucky person targeted by her might be. Never did he imagine that the unlucky person would be himself. The soundproof formation disk she bought was prepared for him, a twist of fate indeed.


    Long Xuan cursed inwardly, realizing that Di Xin also had a hand in this. The soundproof formation disk she traded away was now being used against him. This was troublesome; with the soundproof formation, he couldn''t expect help from the market guards and had to rely on himself.


    "It''s me! Since you know we have a soundproof formation disk, hand over all your valuables and all the Gu insects under your blood contract, and we promise to only rob you, not kill you."


    Considering Long Xuan''s notoriously difficult-to-kill Little Stong Gu, the three of them knew it wouldn''t be easy to kill him quickly, so the female rogue cultivator refrained from attacking immediately.


    If she could trick him into surrendering the Little Stong Gu, it would be easy to deal with him without any effort.


    Of course, Long Xuan didn''t believe her. He nced at the two people behind her, both of whom werete-stage Spirit Gathering Gu cultivators. With three against one, he wondered if his Ten Absolute Bodies could handle them.


    "To fight a mere mid-stage Spirit Gathering Gu cultivator, you need threete-stage Spirit Gathering experts? Are you so insecure about your own abilities? It''s bad enough to bully the weak, but to outnumber them too? Isn''t that a bit excessive?"


    Long Xuan tried to provoke them, hoping they would ept his challenge one by one. If they did, his chances of winning with the formidablebat power of the Ten Absolute Bodies would be high.


    However, his opponents were clearly not brainless viins; his words did not provoke them.


    "Hehe! Laugh all you want. We love to bully the weak with numbers. Better safe than sorry. Your Little Strong Gu is infamous, so we dare not be careless," the female rogue cultivator chuckled.


    "Do you like to bully the weak with numbers? How coincidental, I do too," Long Xuanughed, pping his hands. His body immediately split into five clones, surrounding the three opponents.


    Including his main body, there were now six Long Xuans, forming a two-on-one situation, instantly turning the numerical advantage in his favor.


    His clones could be freely deployed. When retracted into the main body, his strength was most concentrated. When fully deployed, his strength was naturally divided into six parts.


    However, due to the immense spiritual power of the Ten Absolute Bodies, even when divided into six, each clone''s spiritual power was still far superior to that of the same level.


    Because of this special physique, he had an abundance of spiritual power that he couldn''t fully utilize. It was more effective for six bodies to use it simultaneously, making his full deployment the strongestbat form.


    Nervous about the first battle, he immediately used his strongestbat form.


    The female rogue cultivator looked around, showing a disdainful expression, sneering, "A simple clone technique can''t make up for the numbers disadvantage. Naive. As long as we find your main body, the other clones will naturally copse."


    At this moment, the bald man behind her pushed her shoulder with a grim expression, swallowing hard. "These aren''t ordinary clones; they''re the legendary External Clones. We''re in big trouble!"


    Ordinary Clones and External Clones were vastly different. The biggest difference was that clones, which many people could use, were energy forms without physical bodies and couldn''t harm enemies. Finding the main body would cause the clones to copse.


    However, External Clones were different. They had physical bodies and could effectively attack opponents, withbat power not much weaker than the main body.


    Very few people possessed External Clones, and those who did were renowned powerhouses. Refining an External Clone was a lifelong dream for all Gu cultivators.


    The bald man couldn''t believe that their first robbery, after careful selection, targeted what seemed the weakest but turned out to be a strongest opponent. This person, disguised as weak, had managed to cultivate External Clones at such a low level, and not just one, but five. Even Gu Kings didn''t have this many clones.


    They had kicked an iron te this time. External Clones could attack, and they couldn''t ignore them. Without at least six people to handle them, they stood no chance.


    "What? External Clones?" The female rogue cultivator''s face changed dramatically. Just as she was about to examine them closely, the five External Clones attacked.


    "me Jade!"


    The me clone''s right hand conjured a red energy ball from me power, striking towards the female rogue cultivator.


    "Thunder Palm!"


    The bald man reacted first, rushing to shield the female rogue cultivator, his right hand generating a spherical thunderbolt to counter the me jade.


    "Boom!"


    The collision of their palms resulted in a deafening explosion.


    The bald man felt an overwhelming force from his palm, pushing him back ten steps, his face turning pale. He couldn''t help but spit blood, staggering.


    "How is this possible?"


    The bald man was shocked.


    He was in thete-stage Spirit Gathering stage, while the External Clone was mid-stage. In a direct sh, he should have had the advantage, but he was overpowered, leaving him bewildered.


    He didn''t know that Long Xuan possessed the Ten Absolute Bodies, known for being invincible at the same level. With wide meridians, his attack power far exceeded that of the same level.


    Facing super geniuses, he could still be invincible at the same level. Against rogue cultivators with poorbat skills, he could even fight above his level and win.


    Without the ability to fight above his level, how could he im the title of the world''s most extraordinary body? Long Xuan realized he had underestimated thebat power of the Ten Absolute Bodies.


    His External Clone had only one attribute. Even a single me jade could make the bald man spit blood. Then, wouldn''t the five elements jade cast by his original body kill him in one move?


    The female rogue cultivator''s cautious approach was correct, To be on the safe side, she even brought two people to fight three against one. But she still wasn''t cautious enough.

 Chapter 35: Supplementary Diagram

    The skirmish quickly turned into a one-sided situation. Long Xuan''s five external clones had incredible explosive power. After suffering losses, his opponents no longer dared to confront directly and could only fight while hiding. However, with fewer numbers on their side, could they evade the attacks of two people while dodging the attack of one?


    They had external Gu insects to assist them, each having refined a snake Gu insect, which they had already released.


    However, Long Xuan possessed the undying ability of the Little Strong Gu. All his powers, apart from the golden finger, could be duplicated by his external clones. This included the power of the Eye of Heaven''s Secrets, though the eye on the clones'' foreheads, its magnification ability is far less than that of the original body.


    The five clones, relying on their undying ability, endured the snake Gu''s bites and attacked their opponents recklessly, exchanging injuries for injuries. As long as they could kill the Gu cultivators, the blood-bonded Gu insects would die instantly. Therefore, the five clones ignored the snake Gu''s attacks, focusing all their efforts on attacking without any defense.


    This strategy caused great suffering for the three opponents. me Jade, Metal Jade, Wood Jade, Water Jade, and Earth jade were relentlessly attacked. Most of their attacks were dodged, leaving the ground with numerous round pits. However, many attacks still hit them, causing severe injuries.


    Long Xuan nned for a quick victory. Although there was a soundproofing formation, he was still concerned that too muchmotion might attract the market guards. Even though he was the victim, the current situation looked like he was the aggressor. If the three opponents twisted the story and used him of robbery, with him unscathed and them covered in injuries, it would be hard for him to exin.


    After a long time, his Origin realm was ready. Without hesitation, he activated it. The consciousness of the three opponents was instantly drawn into an illusion. One must understand that only their consciousness entered the illusion, not their bodies. Once their consciousness was in the illusion, their bodies outside could not move and were torn apart by external attacks.


    When the three were turned into dust by various jades, Long Xuan quickly collected their storage bags and fled the scene.


    These three were unlucky. In their first attempt to kill and rob, they chose what they thought was the weakest target, taking extreme precautions, even arranging stone Gu insects and soundproofing formation. But despite their caution, they failed in the end.Shortly after Long Xuan left, a group of people arrived at the scene. The seven leaders were all at the peak of the marrow cleansing stage. They were the market guards.


    The Far Western Land had seven major Gu-cultivating families: the Long family, Feng family, Mu family, Miao family, Lei family, Shi family, and Gu family.


    Each family sent a master to guard the Far Western Market and it''s surrounding.


    The current guards were Long Lie, Miao Zhuang, Mu Tie, Feng Lan, Lei Li, Shi Jian, and the one known as Master Gu, Gu Da Long.


    Each family had significant businesses in the market, crucial to their economic lifeline. Therefore, the seven guarding Gu cultivators were all strong.


    Long Lie inspected the round pits on the ground with a serious expression, saying, "Such domineering mutated spiritual power. These five types are extremely powerful, rarely surpassed in the Far Western Land."


    "Hmm!" Miao Zhuang hummed, "I have never heard of these five mutated spiritual powers before, but each is extremely domineering and destructive. It seems these five perpetrators are foreign Gu cultivators."


    Mu Tie approached, kneading the soil in the pits, and said, "I have never seen the spiritual techniques they used before. Which family do they belong to? Feng Lan, you are well-informed, can you identify the origin of these techniques?" He turned to a voluptuous middle-aged woman beside him.


    "It''s my first time seeing them too. They might be newly created techniques, or the perpetrators might be from far away. It''s normal that I can''t identify them."


    "Whoever they are, daring to kill and rob here, breaking the rules, must be captured and publicly beheaded in the market as a warning," Feng Lan said sternly.


    Lei Li, with a fiery temper, angrily said, "Indeed, they dared tomit crimes in our territory, clearly not respecting us. We must investigate. If they can do it once, they might do it again. We can''t let this go, or the market''s authority will bepromised, and others might be bolder."


    "I believe this is the road to Great stone Vige. The five might be hiding there. We should search the vige, and we might capture them immediately."


    Gu Dalongughed, "No need to search there. Long Ao is in seclusion there. If they dare to cause trouble, they''re courting death."


    "If they are indeed there, we won''t need to act. They will get themselves killed."


    Shi Jianughed, "True. Ten years ago, you tricked him with a piece of ancient iplete recipe, making him repair it. He''s been in seclusion for ten years. You really got him. Repairing the iplete recipe is not easy. Just these three materials may trap him here for the rest of his life."


    Gu Dalong retorted, ""What do you mean I cheated him? The iplete prescription I gave him was genuine and it was real. It was his ownck of understanding that caused him to waste ten years here. Can you me me?"


    "I didn''t force him to make up for it. He can give up at any time. He is stubborn on his own. How can he me me?"


    ...


    Long Xuan returned home and casually checked the three rogue cultivators'' storage bags, finding nothing valuable. Disappointed, he tossed the bags aside.


    Rogue cultivators were generally poor, investing most of their resources in Gu insects. When the host died, the Gu insects died instantly. With the Gu insects dead, Long Xuan gained little.


    From this incident, Long Xuan understood that killing and robbing for resources was not a viable method. The gains might not match the risks.


    Taking such a big risk, only to gain a pile of junk, one should not assume constant sess. No one is invincible. Killing and robbing many times will eventually lead to failure, and a single failure means losing one''s life.


    The cautious female rogue cultivator still died despite her precautions. Farming is the true path. Cultivation is not all about fighting and killing.


    After summarizing his experience, Long Xuan took out his greatest gain from the Treasure Exchange Event¡ªa iplete treasure map.


    ording to his n, he ced the remnant map on a simrly sized piece of white paper and began drawing on the missing parts of the map.


    The map originally had a 90.98%pletion rate. After his random drawing, thepletion rate instantly disappeared.


    Instead of being rmed, Long Xuan was pleased. He realized his method was feasible. He wasn''t worried about the disappearance of the progress but feared no change. As long as the progress changed, whether it increased or disappeared, it meant his method of supplementing the map with white paper was viable. As long as he works persistently, he believed he could eventuallyplete the map.

 Chapter 36: Treasure Hunt

    Due to his long lifespan, Long Xuan is not afraid of wasting time. As a dedicated enthusiast, spending extensive time on a broken map is his greatest joy. He doesn¡¯t mind investing arge amount of time on it.


    For the next period, he dedicated all his time topleting the fragmented map. After countless sheets of white paper and three months, he finallypleted the map and sessfully guessed the treasure¡¯s location based on the information.


    Long Xuan, ecstatic, held the nowplete treasure map and paced excitedly in his room. No one could understand the joy of finally seeding after countless hours of effort.


    He kissed the map, rolled it up, and stored it in his storage bag. He began to pack his bags, preparing for a journey to find the treasure.


    Up until now, Long Xuan had never traveled far, not even to nearby ces.


    On one hand, his strength was too weak, making it unsafe to travel far.


    On the other hand, he had to take care of Elder Long¡¯s medicine garden, making it inconvenient to leave for long.


    But now, he didn¡¯t have to worry about that. He had five external clones; he could easily assign one to take care of the garden.


    After leaving one of his Wood clone, he went to the market to buy supplies for the wilderness and stocked up on arge amount of food before heading north.Interestingly, this world did not have Fasting Pills. To prepare enough food, he had to get an extra storage bag just for food, which was quite inconvenient.


    He was determined to develop the Fasting Pill form in the future, as it was essential for outdoor adventures.


    Half a monthter, Long Xuan arrived at a towering and continuous mountain range, with several peaks reaching the clouds.


    From a distance, it looked like a giant beast entrenched here, majestic and imposing.


    This ce was deserted, with no vegetation or animals, and was eerily silent.


    However, Long Xuan did not underestimate this ce. The more unique and remote a ce, the more likely it was to contain treasure.


    Ownerless treasures always appeared in ces rarely visited by humans; otherwise, they would have been found already.


    Long Xuan looked at the map and found that the treasure location should be near this mountain range, so he grinned.


    He put away the map and began a carpet search of the area.


    Despite its vast size, Long Xuan¡¯s eyes could see deep underground.


    If there was treasure here, no matter how deeply buried, it wouldn¡¯t escape his eyes.


    Soon, Long Xuan stopped at a cave entrance buried under rubble.


    This cave was well-hidden; blocked by rocks, it blended into the mountain wall. Ordinary people wouldn¡¯t notice it even if they passed by.


    Long Xuan immediately ordered four clones to move the rocks blocking the entrance while he rested nearby.


    With thebined effort, a gap soon appeared at the entrance.


    As long as one person could enter and exit, it was enough; there was no need to clear itpletely.


    Long Xuan then sent his fire clone in to explore the cave for any dangers. After confirming it was safe, he would enter himself.


    Although external clone could be killed identally, Long Xuan could always create another one.


    The only downside was that the new clone needed to be retrained, and only one clone of the same attribute could exist simultaneously.


    In the early stages, Long Xuan¡¯s spiritual power was thin, and clone could be quickly restored, so he didn¡¯t mind using them for exploration.


    Butter, as his realm advanced, losing clone would be costly.


    Creating external clone required a high price, and they couldn¡¯t be easily lost. Long Xuan already had the least expensive process.


    After the fire clone encountered no danger for half a day, Long Xuan, to be safe, sent the other avatars in one by one, enteringst himself.


    Suddenly feeling unsure, he called back the water clone at the end and ordered it to guard the rear while he positioned himself in the middle of the group.


    Upon reconsideration, he felt that the middle position was the safest.


    The cave was deep, and Long Xuan and each clone carried a torch, cautiously advancing.


    Soon, they encountered three predecessors who had turned into skeletons, with nine well-filled storage bags on the ground.


    Afraid of poison or traps, Long Xuan had his metal clone pick up the bags and check their contents.


    He eagerly anticipated what might be inside.


    The nine storage bags contained only ordinary items and a conspicuous diary, with the rest filled with fossils of various sizes and shapes.


    To Long Xuan¡¯s eyes, most fossils showed no progress, indicating they were dead bugs.


    But some fossils showed varying progress, with the longest having four decimal point, representing top-grade spirit bugs that matured over a millennium. There were quite a few, enough for a small fortune.


    Seeing the fossils, Long Xuan realized this cave was a fossil mine.


    Before entering, he noticed dense numbers in the mountain¡¯s center.


    He couldn¡¯t see through things in the true sense but could see the progress, though not what it represented.


    Now, he could confirm that the progress indicated numerous bugs.


    The marked treasure location turned out to be a rare fossil mine.


    Seeing the heavily scarred skeletons, Long Xuan deduced through some amateur forensics that they died from internal conflict.


    Reading the diary in one storage bag, he roughly understood what had happened.


    Long ago, four rogue cultivators identally entered this deste ce and, while looking for a resting cave, discovered a valuable fossil mine.


    They were overjoyed and, after preparing food and storage bags, began mining fossils.


    But mining required immensebor and resources, needing thousands of miners.


    Even if they kept mining until old, how much could they excavate?


    They quickly realized that mining was physically taxing, wasting time they could use for cultivation. No matter how much money they made, it wouldn¡¯t be worth the lost cultivation time.


    Getting ordinary people to do suchbor was the best choice, as a cultivator¡¯s time was precious and shouldn¡¯t be wasted on it.


    The world¡¯s rule was that ordinary people were the primary workforce, doing all the dirty and tiring work, while cultivators only focused on cultivation.


    But all mortal viges were controlled byrge families, and as rogue cultivators, they had no power to mobilize ordinary people.

 Chapter 37: Long Xuans Decision

    One of the rogue cultivators immediately suggested selling the mineral vein to make some quick money.


    This fossil mine would take them a hundred lifetimes to fully excavate, and it wasn''t originally theirs. Instead of wasting cultivation time here, it would be better to sell it off.


    However, his suggestion was met with immediate opposition from the other rogue cultivators.


    They were all terrified of poverty. This ce was a gold mine they could never exhaust. How could they bear to sell it?


    If the total value of this fossil mine was a billion spirit stones, selling it for ten million would already be good. No force coulde up with that many spirit stones all at once.


    From a long-term perspective, it would definitely be a huge loss.


    But the cultivator who proposed selling the mine wasn''t wrong. After all, what use were the fossils if they couldn''t be extracted?


    Making quick money would allow them to grow rapidly. Once they were powerful, what wealth couldn''t they obtain?


    Clinging to wealth they couldn''t use was irrational.Their opinions diverged greatly, and they quickly began to argue, which eventually turned into a violent brawl.


    In the end, only one of the four survived the internal conflict, dragging his heavily injured body out.


    Perhaps some ident urred, or maybe he sumbed to his injuries. He left behind a map of the area before passing away.


    As for why arge part of the map was burned, it might be because the person who obtained it was being robbed and, before dying, tried to destroy the treasure map to keep it from falling into enemy hands.


    The fire burned slowly, and only a tenth of the map was destroyed before the enemy extinguished it.


    This partially burned map changed hands several times before ending up in the hands of a young medicine boy.


    At this moment, Long Xuan was also contemting the same dilemma as the rogue cultivators: Should he keep this gold mine or sell it for quick cash? He found himself in a bind.


    However, his dilemma didn''tst long. He was here to find treasure because he needed spirit stones to buy materials for the divine ice me. He urgently needed arge sum of spirit stones.


    Moreover, he couldn''t mine the vein by himself. What use was it to him if he couldn''t utilize it? He had no means to mobilize ordinary people asborers.


    Since guarding the vein would be futile, he had no reason to hesitate.


    He decided to sell the vein to the big ns, let them excavate it first, and then buy the fossils they extracted at a low price.


    This way, the big ns would essentially be mining for him, and he could take advantage of theirbor for free.


    Not only would the big ns have to pay a hefty sum of spirit stones to buy the vein, but any good insects they found would also belong to him.


    His cunning n made him smile slyly.


    After making his decision, Long Xuan didn''t leave immediately. Instead, he and his clones ventured deeper into the cave.


    Unlike the rogue cultivators, his eyes could pinpoint the exact locations of the fossils.


    The rogue cultivators might dig all day and find nothing but waste rock, while Long Xuan could urately locate fossil positions, ensuring he would find insects.


    Since he couldn''t mine the deep veins alone, he decided to gather all the surface fossils before leaving.


    The deeper he went, the more branches he saw. Some paths had nine branches, some tunnels extended upward, and others plunged downward like bottomless pits.


    Some tunnels were mined by the rogue cultivators, while others formed naturally.


    In short, the ce was abyrinth. Once inside, it was hard to get out.


    Long Xuan nned only to collect surface fossils, avoiding deeper areas due to the risk of getting lost and the inherent dangers.


    The dangers didn''t juste from the strange insects that could emerge from the soil. In this spirit-rich world, mysterious and dangerous urrences often happened in the mines.


    In Great stone Vige, many vigers died from various idents while mining for the big ns, whether in metal veins or spirit stone veins.


    Having witnessed these incidents in Great stone Vige, Long Xuan was cautious.


    Therefore, he didn''t venture deep into thebyrinth. Instead, he ordered his clones to excavate the surface fossils while he supervised, enjoying fine wine.


    Until he identally spotted a fossil deep inside with a progress percentage of [38.17903%]. He couldn''t sit still any longer and rushed over, wielding a pickaxe, his eyes like searchlights.


    A progress percentage to five decimal ces indicated a high probability of a peak-grade spirit insect over ten thousand years old.


    peak-grade spirit insects were incredibly precious. It wasn''t an exaggeration to say that not even ten thousand high-quality spirit insects could match one peak-grade spirit insect.


    The base price for a peak-grade spirit insect was ten million spirit stones, but in reality, they were priceless and mostly acquired through bartering.


    Long Xuan had encountered countless treasures in the market but had only seen one peak-grade spirit insect¡ªthe Stone Eye he found in the Stone King.


    After refining it into a peak-grade Gu insect, its power was unparalleled. Not to mention its overpowered abilities, its Origin realm was already ridiculously strong, making it an invincible force.


    peak-grade Gu insects versus high-quality Gu insects was aplete mismatch¡ªa higher-dimensional attack with noparison.


    Seeing the essential material for refining a peak-grade Gu insect, how could Long Xuan not be excited?


    He always started by collecting the rarest materials before creating his unique Gu recipes.


    Now, with a peak-grade spirit insect in his sight, he could attempt to create another peak-grade Gu recipe. His second peak-grade Gu insect was within reach.


    Since this peak-grade spirit insect was buried deep, Long Xuan and his four external clones spent two whole days excavating it.


    This was just a surface fossil. Digging deeper would take who knows how long. The deeper fossils were beyond his capability, with no oxygen and increased danger.


    Now, Long Xuan clutched the enormous fossil, ted. This treasure made his arduous journey worthwhile...

 Chapter 38: Long Xuans Strategy

    With the Peak-grade spiritual insect in hand, Long Xuan could hardly wait to return and create his own Peak-grade Gu form, losing all interest in mining.


    Mining was endless and a waste of valuable cultivation time, so he decided not to spend his precious time on it.


    As for any missing spiritual insect materials, he could simply buy them. There was no need to do manualbor.


    With this thought in mind, Long Xuan felt an urgent desire to return home. Without any intention to stay, he immediately led his four clones out of the cave.


    After exiting the cave and seeing the long-missed sunlight, Long Xuan took a deep breath of fresh oxygen. He then ordered his four clones to seal the cave entrance again, making it look as if no cave existed, before leaving for home.


    Half a monthter, he returned to Far western Market in a travel-worn state. Having decided to sell the fossil vein, he didn''t want to dy to avoid unforeseenplications.


    Considering the significant amount involved in this transaction, Long Xuan took multiple precautions for his safety.


    Firstly, he disguised himself and wore a mask, which was necessary to avoid most troubles.


    Secondly, he needed an identity that others wouldn''t dare to provoke. He decided to disguise himself as a alchemist.He was already a alchemist, so no disguise was needed, but he had to subtly reveal that he had a powerful alchemy master Otherwise, who would respect a mere first-grade alchemist?


    But that wasn''t enough. Long Xuan, being extremely cautious, decided to let his clones handle everything.


    If anything went wrong, it would only be an insignificant clone that perished, and his true self could easily escape.


    It was best to let others know inadvertently that it was just an clone, so even capturing it would be pointless.


    This way, he could ensure everything went smoothly.


    Having made all these preparations, the cautious Long Xuan arrived at the entrance of the Qian Auction House.


    Like most rogue cultivators, he believed that the Qian Auction House, bound by the Gu of Integrity, would never bully its customers. So, he always preferred shops with the name "Qian" for both buying and selling resources.


    He had developed this habit, feeling a sense of security whenever he thought of the Qian merchants being bound by the Gu of Integrity.


    Since the fossil vein''s price had no upper limit, if its total value were assessed, even one percent of its value would far exceed what major families could afford.


    Therefore, auctioning the fossil vein was undoubtedly the most appropriate method, even though there would still be losses. It was unavoidable.


    As soon as Long Xuan entered the auction house, he saw a familiar chubby man attending to customers. His appearance was too distinctive, so Long Xuan immediately recognized him as Qian Duoduo, whom he had met at the Qian Stone Gambling Shop years ago.


    Long Xuan saw him, and naturally, Qian Duoduo saw Long Xuan.


    Seeing a person covered from head to toe wearing a ghost mask, Qian Duoduo''s eyes lit up.


    Having been in business for many years, he had developed sharp eyes that could instantly tell who had good stuff and who was just pretending.


    In his experience, the more valuable items a person had, the more they covered themselves up to avoid being recognized and attracting trouble.


    This person was covered so thoroughly that only his eyes were visible. Qian Duoduo had never seen such a cautious person before, so he concluded that this person must have something valuable. Otherwise, why be so cautious?


    Qian Duoduo''s round face immediately broke into a smile as he approached.


    "Sir, I''m the manager here. Do you have something valuable to auction at our Qian Auction House?" Qian Duoduo asked directly.


    Long Xuan nodded and handed over a pill bottle, speaking arrogantly, "This is a Spirit Gathering Pill. Is it qualified for auction?"


    He wasn''t there to sell pills. He just wanted to inadvertently reveal that he was a alchemist to increase his sense of security.


    Years ago, he had bought a pile of waste pills from a little medicine boy, and the Spirit Gathering Pill was the most valuable among them.


    Using his Heavenly Eye, he easily deciphered most of the ingredients. For the few unclear parts, he just continued to work on the iplete form until he figured it out.


    Since his Eye of Heavenly secret had already deciphered most of the ingredients, the form was nearlyplete. It didn''t take Long Xuan long to perfect it.


    The Spirit Gathering Pill was the most valuable in that pile of waste pills because of its breakthrough-enhancing effect, increasing the breakthrough sess rate during the Marrow cleansing stage by ten percent.


    Don''t underestimate this ten percent. In this region of thin spiritual energy, having a ten percent breakthrough rate with the Spirit Gathering Pill was much better than having an almost zero percent chance without it.


    In the distant past, when spiritual energy was abundant, cultivators could achieve breakthroughs without relying on spiritual pills.


    But in today''s era of scarce spiritual energy, even geniuses had to rely on pills toplete breakthroughs.


    For this reason, the Breaking Realm Pills were extremely expensive, making it highly sought after by Gu cultivators of the same level, who would do anything to obtain it.


    Moreover, the pill''s efficacy varied from person to person. The ten percent sess rate of the Spirit Gathering Pill was an average value calcted from arge group.


    Gu cultivators with higher aptitude absorbed better, resulting in a higher breakthrough rate, while those with lower aptitude had a lower than ten percent sess rate.


    For someone like Long Xuan, whose meridians and spiritual sea were as strong as rock, the Spirit Gathering Pill, with such low efficacy, was almost useless. He might even need to create a stronger Breaking Realm Pill form himself.


    Therefore, for talented individuals with purchasing power, the sess rate of the Spirit Gathering Pill far exceeded ten percent, making it worth spending their entire fortune on.


    Because of these considerations, Long Xuan decided to sell the Spirit Gathering Pill for the first time.


    This pill was not just any first-grade spiritual pill. Its high cost and difficulty in refining meant that even a second-grade alchemist would have only about a three percent sess rate in making it, while a first-grade alchemist would find it almost impossible.


    Given its difficulty, the Spirit Gathering Pill couldn''t be mass-produced and was too rare to be found in the market. Once avable, it would be highly sought after, with a selling price that could surpass that of second-grade spiritual pills.


    Long Xuan''s purpose in bringing out the Spirit Gathering Pill was not to make money.


    Instead, he wanted to use the pill''s refining difficulty to show others that the pill couldn''t possibly be made by him, a Spirit Gathering stage Gu cultivator, and must havee from his master''s hand, warning others to think twice before making a move.

 Chapter 39: Selling the Map

    Qian Duoduo opened the pill bottle and poured out a golden, smooth pill into his hand. He gently sniffed it, the fresh pill fragrance making him look intoxicated. He thought to himself that, as expected, a person who wraps things so securely must have good goods on hand.


    Qian Duoduo showed an excited expression. He was not far from breaking through the marrow cleansing Stage and needed to collect resources for the breakthrough as soon as possible. The Spirit Gathering Pill came just in time.


    He poured out all the pills and carefully counted them, finding ten in total. He couldn''t help but be slightly moved.


    The Spirit Gathering Pill was not an ordinary pill. Even if there were a hundred other types of pills, they wouldn''t surprise him as much.


    But the Spirit Gathering Pill was different. It was the most difficult pill to refine among its kind, with an exaggerated difficulty in refining, making mass production impossible.


    Usually, seeing one pill would be considered good luck. Now, seeing ten at once, this was definitely not the work of an ordinary alchemist.


    Qian Duoduo''s expression turned somewhat serious as he asked, "How many Spirit Gathering Pills do you intend to auction?"


    Long Xuan had no intention of being low-key and directly said, "Not many, just four bottles, ten pills per bottle!"


    Qian Duoduo was taken aback, showing a shocked expression. Forty Spirit Gathering Pills and he still called it "not many"? Then what would be considered many? This revealed an astonishing fact: an alchemist who could produce so many Spirit Gathering Pills must have a very high sess rate in pill refinement.If he could achieve such a high sess rate in refining Spirit Gathering Pills, then his grade must be quite high.


    A conservative estimate would be a third-grade alchemist, possibly even a fourth-grade alchemist.


    Qian Duoduo''s pupils contracted, his heart filled with extreme shock. A fourth-grade alchemist was so prestigious that there wasn''t even a third-grade alchemist in the entire Far West. It was unimaginable how noble a fourth-grade alchemist''s status was, definitely not someone he could afford to offend.


    At this moment, he had already imagined that there must be a high-grade alchemy master behind this person, making him handle the situation cautiously.


    "So, you''re a high disciple of a fourth-grade alchemist. I apologize for my disrespect. Rest assured, I will sell your master''s Spirit Gathering Pills for the highest price," Qian Duoduo said with a hint of respect in his tone, but still probing.


    He couldn''t figure out who the master behind this person was, nor did he know whether he was a third-grade or fourth-grade alchemist, so he tried to test him.


    If he said something wrong, the other party might refute or show some change in expression.


    However, when Qian Duoduo looked at his face, he found it covered tightly, with no expression visible.


    Long Xuan certainly wouldn''t refute. He was happy for Qian Duoduo to misunderstand, the more, the better.


    "The price should be whatever it should be. No need to force it. My master doesn''t care about such small amounts of money," Long Xuan said tactfully. Considering the astonishing price of the Spirit Gathering Pills, if this was considered small money, it further emphasized that his master was not ordinary.


    "In fact, my purpose today is not to sell Spirit Gathering Pills. I have a map marking an unowned fossil mine vein. I''m here to auction this map. My map is surely enough to be the highlight of today''s auction, right?" Long Xuan said arrogantly, raising his voice unintentionally so that everyone in the hall could hear.


    He wished for as many people as possible to hear, the more publicity, the better he could sell.


    Moreover, the more people knew, the less likely the auction house would withhold the map in front of everyone.


    Even though he trusted the constraint of the Integrity Gu, he believed in handling everything cautiously.


    Sure enough, as soon as he said this, everyone in the hall turned to look in this direction. The hall instantly fell silent, so quiet that a pin drop could be heard.


    Everyone couldn''t stay calm upon hearing this news. They all perked up their ears, focusing their attention here.


    An unowned fossil mine vein could create wealth worth billions of spirit stones, possibly taking hundreds of years to exhaust.


    And you could acquire it at a cost far below a billion spirit stones. No matter how many spirit stones you spent, it would be a guaranteed profit in the long run, and a massive one at that.


    If a family could control a fossil mine vein, the wealth generated could make the family prosper for a thousand years, even elevating them from a weak family to a powerful one.


    In the face of such temptation, who wouldn''t be envious and excited?


    The eyes of everyone in the hall lit up with greed, and they began to notify their families as quickly as possible.


    After a brief silence, the hall soon became chaotic again, with people asionally running outside frantically.


    Qian Duoduo''s breathing also became rapid, his round face flushed. Seeing forty Spirit Gathering Pills was enough to shock him, but what came next was even more astonishing.


    Someone was actually auctioning a map marking the location of a fossil mine vein. He had never seen anyone sell such coordinates at an auction before; it was simply crazy, and he was stunned by such a big business deal.


    This was more than just a highlight; even if the value of all the auction itemsbined, they wouldn''tpare to a fraction of the fossil mine vein.


    The value of an unowned fossil mine vein was staggering. As someone who sold such things, he knew all too well the enormous profit it could generate. It was something to acquire at all costs.


    If it weren''t for the Integrity Gu and hisst name being Qian, he would have snatched the map without hesitation.


    At this moment, the excited voice of Miss Qian Jinjin rang in his mind.


    Qian Jinjin used soul transmission to say, "Don''t get any bad ideas. Arrange the auction as quickly as possible. We can''t give those big families time to sell their properties!"


    Qian Duoduo immediately understood her meaning.


    Seizing the auction items for themselves was against the rules and vited the Integrity Gu.


    But openly bidding for them at the auction was perfectly legitimate.


    After all, no one had ever said that auction houses could only sell and not participate in bidding.


    The most important thing now was to act fast, not giving those big families time to prepare funds. The allure of a fossil mine vein could indeed make those families sell their properties.


    The auction price would skyrocket, so they had to act swiftly and get the map before those families could react.


    Thinking this, Qian Duoduo dared not dy any longer and immediately said, "What a coincidence, there''s an auction happening soon, and we''re in need of a highlight. This auction item can definitely be the highlight, solving my urgent need."


    "However, it''s the first time we''re auctioning the location of an unowned mine vein, and we have no precedent to refer to, making it hard to verify its authenticity."


    "Although going directly to the mine vein site would easily verify its authenticity, the value of the information lies in its exclusivity. Once we know the location, we can take over the mine vein directly, making the map worthless. I believe this is your concern, and you wouldn''t hand over theplete map."


    "How about this: you don''t need to give us the map. When there''s a buyer, you can hand the map directly to them."


    "But to gain the buyer''s trust, we''ll use the Integrity Gu''s ability in front of everyone. What do you think?" Qian Duoduo said with a smile.


    In any other auction house, this kind of transaction couldn''t be carried out. The seller wouldn''t reveal the mine vein''s location, and without it, they couldn''t verify the authenticity, creating an unsolvable loop.


    But at the Qian nmerce Association, it was easily solved. The Integrity Gu had the ability to detect lies.


    There was no need to travel far to verify the location, and they didn''t have the time for that. Speed was essential; any dy of ten days or half a month would cause great trouble.

 Chapter 40: The Auction of the Spirit Gathering Pill Begins

    Long Xuan naturally agreed to Qian Duoduo''s request. He had already prepared the partial map, leaving the most crucial part, but now it seemed his preparation was redundant.


    Led by a young maid, Long Xuan entered the venue and sat in the VIP seat marked number ten, waiting for the auction to start.


    The auction venue wasrge enough to amodate a thousand people. There were rows of seats in the front, and arge standing area in the back where many rogue cultivators watched the excitement, creating a noisy atmosphere.


    Even though most of the people in the front seats had already entered, judging by their attire, those sitting there were undoubtedly wealthy. Compared to the back, it was much quieter here.


    Seeing so many people had already entered, Long Xuan knew he was just in time for an auction that was about to begin.


    However, because it was so soon, his map had no promotion. The real big spenders probably didn''t have time toe.


    But this was what Long Xuan was happy to see. If Qian Duoduo wanted to promote it for two months before auctioning it, he would have refused.


    There were benefits to speed. Long Xuan was always cautious. Even if he made less money, he didn''t want to add any more danger.


    He was well aware of how tempting a fossil vein could be to a family.For the sake of a few mortal viges, the Gu cultivating families could start wars, let alone for a fossil vein.


    A fossil vein could definitely incite a war.


    Now, the highest cultivation level in the market was only at the peak of the Marrow Cleansing stage.


    If the Qianmerce Association really promoted it for a few months, it''s certain that many Gu Kings from the far west and even super forces from distant ces woulde.


    He might earn more money then, but who would guarantee his safety? He wasn''t foolish enough to think those Gu Kings would be deterred by the market''s no-kill rule and leave him alone.


    At that time, it wouldn''t just be him. A big brawl among Gu Kings in the Far West market would be possible.


    The no-kill rule in the Far West market meant nothing to them.


    So, he was eager for the auction to be as quick as possible. There were no Gu cultivators in the Spirit Sea stage in the market now, so his safety was absolutely guaranteed.


    Long Xuan didn''t have to wait long. The VIP seats were not even full when the Qianmerce association couldn''t wait to start the auction.


    With the sound of a bell, the auction venue fell silent instantly. Qian Jinjin, dressed in a white dress, walked to the auction table and smiled slightly at the people below. Her stunning beauty left many people in a daze.


    Long Xuan, ncing at that face, couldn''t help but think of her as a fairy. In this world washed by spiritual power, it must be said that the beauties of this world far surpassed the stars of his previous life.


    Not to mention her strong professional skills and eloquence, just standing there, today''s auction wouldn''tck for revenue.


    Many people showed surprise, not expecting her to be the auctioneer. Unless this auction had very special items, the eldest Miss Qian would never personallye on stage.


    Many who were not well-informed didn''t know what had happened, but outside, the ce was already in an uproar. Small parts of the market were in turmoil, with messages flying out.


    Even without any promotion, explosive news couldn''t be controlled, and many strong individuals were already rushing over.


    Therefore, Qian Jinjin didn''t dare to dy. She skipped the lengthy introduction and went straight to introducing the first auction item.


    "Everyone, this is thest auction item we just received. I''m sure you''re all very interested."


    Qian Jinjin waved to the back, and a maid with equally impressive looks brought a jade te covered with a red cloth, making it impossible to see what it was.


    Often, the unknown is most eye-catching. Covering it with a red cloth was enough to pique the interest of the people below.


    "Alright, time is limited, so I won''t keep you in suspense."


    "This is a bottle of Spirit Gathering Pills refined by a mysterious alchemist. There are ten pills in total. Every Gu cultivator knows what Spirit Gathering Pills do, so I won''t waste time exining."


    "The starting bid for this bottle of ten Spirit Gathering Pills is one hundred thousand spirit stones. All spirit stones must meet the average standard. The bidding starts now."


    Qian Jinjin lifted the red cloth, and most people in the venue immediately started breathing heavily, their eyes turning red.


    Most people present were Gu cultivators at the Spirit Gathering stage. Due to the thin spiritual power of this era, cultivators could only use the power of pills to break through, leading to an abundance of Gu cultivators at the peak of the Spirit Gathering stage.


    Given this, the allure of the Spirit Gathering Pill was self-evident. This first auction item was enough to drive all the Gu cultivators present crazy.


    Many Gu cultivators stuck at the peak of the Spirit Gathering stage for decades wentpletely mad. As soon as the bidding started, someone shouted, "I''ll bid three hundred thousand spirit stones. Don''t anyone try to outbid me!"


    Long Xuan''s heart trembled. The starting bid was one hundred thousand spirit stones, and it tripled instantly?


    Was selling Spirit Gathering Pills really so profitable? Had he been too cautious before? If he had boldly sold Spirit Gathering Pills earlier, he might have already gathered the materials to refine the Divine Ice me.


    What did his extreme caution get him? He had been overly cautious and was still at risk of being killed for his treasures.


    While Long Xuan wasmenting in his heart, the price of the bottle of Spirit Gathering Pills quickly soared to one million spirit stones.


    Each Spirit Gathering Pill was worth a hundred thousand spirit stones, an astronomical price. With this money, who knew how many ordinary Gu insects could be refined.


    By this time, the bidding had slowed down. Many people showed extremely conflicted expressions, with sweat beading on their foreheads.


    The fact that the Gu cultivators at the Spirit Gathering stage were the poorest group, all of them broke, led to a group of rogue cultivators pooling their money to raise the bid to one million spirit stones. Otherwise, the price might have gone up several more times.


    The price a product could fetch was not determined by its intrinsic value but by how much money the buyers had.


    For example, the fossil vein to be auctionedter could have a total value in the billions, but no force had that much liquid capital, so the price would naturally drop by hundreds of times. There was no way around it.


    Therefore, a bottle of ten Spirit Gathering Pills at about one million spirit stones was already the limit.


    Just as Qian Jinjin was about to strike the final blow with a small golden hammer, a rough voice came from outside.


    "My Long family is offering one million one hundred thousand!"


    The noise in the hall died down as a group of people filed in under everyone''s gaze.


    Seeing these people enter, Qian Jinjin''s pupils contracted.


    The seven major ns of the Far West had all arrived. How fast! Did they fly here?


    Seeing the heads of several other tradingpanies entering with arge number of people, she was even more shocked.


    The Qianmerce association had only moved in here in recent years and was far less established than the tradingpanies that had been here for a long time. The funds thesepanies could mobilize were considerable. It seemed today''s auction would require a significant amount of capital.

 Chapter 41: The Crazy Patriarch of the Long Family

    The patriarchs of the seven major ns entered the auction hall and immediately headed to the front row of the VIP seats, right next to Long Xuan.


    Sensing the powerful aura of the Spirit Sea Realm experts emanating from the seven, Long Xuan felt immense pressure, as if sitting on pins and needles.


    His concern was justified. In such a short time, he had attracted the attention of Spirit Sea Realm experts. If things dragged on for a few more days, it could very well draw in a swarm of Gu Kings.


    He couldn''t guarantee that all his preparations would fool the eyes of the Gu Kings.


    Seeing these powerful figures enter, the most enthusiastic independent cultivators who had been bidding fervently suddenly quieted down. They had been hesitating, but now they didn''t dare to bid anymore.


    "The Long Patriarch has bid 1.1 million spirit stones. Does anyone want to bid higher?"


    Qian Jinjin looked around and announced, "1.1 million spirit stones going once! 1.1 million spirit stones going twice! 1.1 million spirit stones going thrice!"


    "Sold! Congrattions to the Long Patriarch!"


    Qian Jinjin struck the golden hammer on the table, signaling the end of the auction.At the same time, the maid holding the jade tray walked down andpleted the transaction with the Long Patriarch on the spot.


    "Hehe! Long Patriarch, I am saving my spirit stones for the final auction item, so I won''tpete with you. Otherwise, you wouldn''t have gotten it at such a low price. I''m curious though, you just arrived and already spent 1.1 million spirit stones. Do you still have the qualifications topete for the fossil ore vein?"


    Beside him, the Feng Patriarch, who had always been at odds with the Long Patriarch, sneered.


    "Hehe! No need to worry about that. The Long family is wealthy. What''s a million spirit stones? It''s just a drizzle, no big deal."


    The Long Patriarch checked the Spirit Gathering Pills and then put them into his storage bag, ncing disdainfully at Feng.


    He sneered internally. How naive. The value of the fossil ore vein is astronomical. Can you really win the bid? All the merchants from the Far West havee. Do you think you have more spirit stones than all the merchant guilds?


    Even if you sell everything to get the fossil vein, are you sure the other forces won''t be jealous? This is a resource that could trigger a war.


    Not to mention whether you have enough spirit stones to win, even if you do, can you defend it?


    Compared to the other patriarchs, the Long Patriarch was much calmer, not overwhelmed by the huge temptation.


    He was equally envious of the fossil ore vein but wouldn''t act recklessly.


    The Feng Patriarch sneered back at him, "You call the Long family wealthy? Everyone knows you''re outsiders, having only been here for less than two hundred years. What foundation do you have?"


    "I think you know you''re the poorest, so you want to withdraw from thepetition. At least you have some self-awareness."


    "Who said that? Do you believe the fossil vein will ultimately belong to the Long family?"


    While they were arguing, the second auction item was brought in.


    When Qian Jinjin lifted the red cover, another bottle of Spirit Gathering Pills appeared, surprising many. Another one? Since when could Spirit Gathering Pills be mass-produced?


    The second auction item was beyond everyone''s expectations, igniting their desires again.


    This is the brilliance of the auction house. When auctioning the same item, they never tell you how many there are in total.


    Otherwise, everyone would hold back, thinking the next one might be cheaper. Because there is a fallback, they wouldn''t bid aggressively. Rarity increases value, and buyers should never know the exact quantity.


    Without hesitation, before Qian Jinjin could start the bidding, the Long Patriarch eagerly said, "I bid 1 million spirit stones!"


    Although he was already a Spirit Sea Realm expert and didn''t need the Spirit Gathering Pills himself, as the head of a major family, he had to consider the family first.


    The growth of the children is key to a family''s future. Talents can''t be dyed and shouldn''t be stuck in one realm for too long.


    So, as far as the Long Patriarch was concerned, the more Spirit Gathering Pills, the better. No matter how many spirit stones he spent, it was worth it.


    This time, the Feng Patriarch didn''t say anything, thinking Long Wanli was crazy, wasting so many spirit stones before the fossil ore vein was even up for auction.


    Seeing the Long Patriarch bid again, the independent cultivators behind gritted their teeth in anger but didn''t dare say anything.


    They were low in status and couldn''tpete with major families, but there were still some who weren''t afraid of them.


    "I bid 1.3 million spirit stones!" A chubby man shouted from the crowd.


    Long Xuan looked over and was amused. Despite his disguise, Long Xuan recognized him as Qian Duoduo. His round physique was one clue, The most important thing was the progress. A person''s appearance could be changed, but the progress would definitely not change much in a short period of time.


    The progress of humans and poisonous insects before they reach adulthood represents their maturity, while the progress after they reach adulthood turns into a countdown to their lifespan.


    This chubby man''s disguise was excellent but couldn''t fool Long Xuan.


    Long Xuan found it interesting that someone from the auction house could participate in the bidding. Would this chubby man also bid for the fossil ore vein? This could be interesting.


    The Long Patriarch frowned. Someone actually dared to challenge him. He looked back at the chubby man and continued, "I bid 1.4 million spirit stones!"


    As soon as he spoke, Qian Duoduo didn''t bid further.


    Others didn''t know, but he knew there were four bottles of Spirit Gathering Pills. No need topete fiercely with the Long Patriarch. The third or fourth bottle might be cheaper. As a manager of a merchant guild, he fell into the same psychological trap as many buyers.


    No one dared to bid 1.1 million spirit stones, let alone 1.4 million.


    As expected, the second bottle of Spirit Gathering Pills also went to the Long Patriarch.


    However, when the hammer fell and the third bottle of Spirit Gathering Pills was brought up, everyone lost theirposure.


    Another one! How many more? Is this a special Spirit Gathering Pills auction? Many people were shouting internally.


    The Long Patriarch was stunned and became more serious.


    As the head of a family, he was knowledgeable and knew ordinary alchemists couldn''t produce so many Spirit Gathering Pills. Even the highest-ranking second-grade alchemist in the Far West couldn''t make this many.


    This indicated that the alchemist''s skills were very advanced, possibly a third-grade or even fourth-grade alchemist. When did such a big figuree to the Far West?


    He thought it might be an opportunity to make connections. Alchemists above the third grade were highly respected by all forces. As a patriarch, connecting with such a figure was his duty.


    Who knows if this alchemist had a unique pill form that could help Spirit Sea Realm experts break through to the Purification Realm. If so, connecting with such a person could potentially add another Gu King to the family, elevating its power.


    The number of strong individuals is always a family''s most important asset, without exception. He had to take it seriously.


    "I bid 1 million spirit stones!"


    Again, before Qian Jinjin could announce the starting price, the Long Patriarch interrupted with his bid.


    Everyone else was going crazy. Another bid? When will this end? Is he trying to monopolize all the Spirit Gathering Pills? Isn''t he afraid of being too greedy?


    Qian Duoduo gritted his teeth and shouted, "I bid 1.3 million spirit stones!"


    "1.4 million spirit stones!" The Long Patriarch decisively increased the bid, giving no one a chance to breathe.

 Chapter 42: The Final Auction Item

    "Alright! You''re tough!"


    Qian Duoduo cursed silently in his heart, reluctantly giving up on raising the bid again.


    The more shrewd a businessman, the more they like to be calctive. He could offer more spirit stones, but the price for the Spirit Gathering Pill was already high. It wasn''t this expensive elsewhere, so why would he want to spend more spirit stones?


    He knew the inside story¡ªthat there was one more bottle of Spirit Gathering Pills left. He could only hope that thest bottle would be cheaper, giving him another chance.


    "Calm down! Calm down!" Qian Duoduo took a deep breath.


    However, things didn''t go as he wished. As soon as Qian Jinjin''s small hammer fell and the fourth auction item was brought in, the attendant was still walking over, and the red cloth hadn''t been lifted yet, when the patriarch of the Long family couldn''t wait to shout, "I bid 1.3 million spirit stones!"


    "Poof!" Qian Duoduo was almost spitting with anger.


    "This is too much!"


    Qian Duoduo cursed in fury, feelingpletely defeated.He knew this was thest bottle of Spirit Gathering Pills and couldn''t afford to hesitate any longer. So, he painfully shouted, "I bid 1.4 million spirit stones!"


    There was one thing he agreed with the patriarch of the Long family on: a genius''s time is precious and shouldn''t be stuck at a certain level for too long. Therefore, he was determined to get thisst bottle of Spirit Gathering Pills at any cost.


    This time, the patriarch of the Long family didn''t raise the bid, surprising everyone.


    He could also produce more spirit stones, but he believed his family needed spirit stones for many other things. Having already acquired three bottles of Spirit Gathering Pills was enough, and there was no need to invest more.


    After all, the number of geniuses in a family is limited. Prioritizing the Spirit Gathering Pills for the few geniuses was sufficient. There were many Gu cultivators in the Spirit Gathering stage, and buying even a hundred bottles wouldn''t cover all of them.


    However, even though he gave up, there were plenty of wealthy individuals.


    It seemed many knew the inside story. After all, Long Xuan had ced the four bottles of Spirit Gathering Pills up for auction in public, so it wasn''t a secret to well-informed people.


    Those who, like Qian Duoduo, were waiting and watching could no longer sit still and started participating in the bidding.


    Especially other Merchant groups that were rich in spirit stones. They had the same mindset as Qian Duoduo, thinking there might be moreter and maybe cheaper.


    Little did they know there was such a spoiler who raised the price high before they could even mention a base price, leading to each bottle selling at a high price. They could only fight hard for thisst bottle.


    So, everyone thought thest one would be cheaper, but since everyone thought the same, thepetition for thest bottle became fierce. It ended up being the most expensive.


    In the end, the price was driven up to 2.8 million spirit stones.


    Qian Duoduo looked like he was about to cry. Damn it, he miscalcted.


    He had bid 2.8 million spirit stones, and his heart was bleeding. He had lost a lot.


    It turned out the previous bottles were the cheapest, especially the first one, which was taken for only 1.1 million spirit stones. If he hadn''t been greedy for a lower price and had taken it earlier, none of this would have happened.


    Unfortunately, there is no regret medicine in the world. He was filled with remorse.


    The high price of 2.8 million spirit stones made the whole venue boil, especially Long Xuan, who couldn''t stop smiling. All these spirit stones belonged to him; he was about to make a fortune.


    He knew that this was just an appetizer. When the fossil vein was auctionedter, the price would be even higher. These spirit stones might not even be a fraction of the vein''s value. It was too early to be excited.


    Once the fossil vein was sessfully sold, he would not only have money to refine the divine ice me but also enough to refine the third and fourth Gu worms, allowing him to spend freely for a long time. He eagerly anticipated the final price of the fossil ore vein.


    After the auction of the Spirit Gathering Pills ended, the subsequent auctions went smoothly, and the atmosphere calmed down, far less heated than before.


    The seven n heads in the VIP seats showed little interest and didn''t bid on anything.


    This was not a high-standard auction. Besides the Spirit Gathering Pills and the treasure map brought by Long Xuan, the other items were quite ordinary.


    Half of the auction items were antiques from the Empress''s ancient tomb. Unfortunately, while antiques were priceless in the previous life, in a world where martial strength was paramount, their value was far less than items that could directly enhance one''s power.


    Although some people showed considerable interest and bid frequently, the prices were low.


    Long Xuan watched as one antique after another was auctioned off, showing a thoughtful expression.


    Unsurprisingly, he could see progress on each antique. But what did the progress on the antiques represent? Degree of damage? Shelf life? Or would there be some change after reaching full progress?


    As Long Xuan was pondering, the highlight of the auction finally arrived. At this moment, all the n heads in the front row became spirited and sat up straight.


    The audience also became excited, whispering to each other, no longer drowsy as before.


    "Is it finally starting?" The patriarch of the Feng family showed a fiery gaze, licking his lips.


    The patriarch of the Long family, who had been yawning, also straightened up, his eyes sharp.


    "Hehe! I suppose everyone can''t wait any longer," Qian jinjin said with a smile after looking around. "Although the auction house didn''t have time to advertise, quite a few well-informed people are here. The fact that all the heads of the Seven Great Families of the Far West are present is beyond my expectations."


    "To be honest, our Qian n is auctioning the fossil vein treasure map for the first time. I must dere in advance that we haven''t been able to verify its authenticity ourselves and can only use the Integrity Gu to confirm that the seller is not lying."


    "But you all know that nothing is absolute. There are powers in this world that can render the Integrity Gu''s lie detection ineffective. Otherwise, if the Gu worms'' power were so divine, there wouldn''t be so many unjust cases."


    "I can only guarantee that the seller didn''t lie ording to the Integrity Gu, but if there is any error, our Qian n''s auction house will not be held responsible."


    Her meaning was clear: the auction house could only ensure it was likely true, but if the information was false, they would not bear any responsibility.


    She was right. The power of any Gu worm could be broken, including the Integrity Gu''s lie-detecting ability.


    But logically, a business wouldn''t foolishly say this. She said this to scare off those with weak will.


    As soon as she finished speaking, some people''s faces became uncertain, considering whether to take the risk.


    However, the heads of the seven great ns sneered, undeterred by her words.


    While her words were true, any Gu worm''s power could indeed be broken, but the Integrity Gu''s power was not so easily broken.


    If it were that easy to break, why would so many Gu cultivators trust the Qian n''s auction house, and why would it grow so big?


    The other Merchant groups that understood the Integrity Gu best all showed disdainful smiles.


    Qian Jinjin''s words might fool others, but not her peers. If there were any real risk, the Qian n wouldn''t rush to auction without any publicity.


    Their actions indirectly proved that the information was 100% true, rendering further statements useless.

 Chapter 43: Long Wanlis Scheme

    After all, there had been no publicity about it. Those with well-informed sources knew that the finale of this auction was an unimed fossil mine, with an immeasurable total value. They all craned their necks, faces alight with excitement.


    However, most people did not know what the final auction item was. When they heard Qian Jinjin''s introduction, the whole ce erupted in an uproar.


    All the onlookers and rogue cultivators were stunned, gasping in astonishment.


    This auction item was simply terrifying; it scared them out of their wits. In all their years of traveling far and wide, it was the first time they had heard of auctioning off a fossil vein location. It was certainly an eye-opener.


    Many marveled that only the Qian n Commerce Association could handle such an auction item. No other chamber ofmerce could manage it. First, verifying the authenticity of the information would be difficult. If the chamber ofmerce were to make a trip themselves, it would be surprising if their powerful forces didn¡¯t take over the mine.


    When wealth reaches a certain level, credibility bes meaningless. Besides the Qian n Commerce Association, no one else could handle this.


    Because of the Qian n''s Commerce Association, most people believed the news without doubt, their faces flushed with excitement, and the auction hall buzzed with noise.


    "Silence!"


    Qian Jinjin made a gesture to quiet the crowd. Once the noise had subsided, she continued, "I believe you have all been eagerly waiting, so I won''t ramble on. The unimed fossil vein starts at one billion spirit stones. Let the bidding begin!""Hiss!"


    The starting bid of one billion spirit stones made everyone gasp. One billion spirit stones as a starting bid¡ªwho knew what the final price would be?


    But the most excited was Long Xuan. The grin under his mask nearly reached his ears; he was thoroughly exhrated.


    To be honest, a billion spirit stones was still very low. After all, the various ns had little preparation time, and this was just a resource-poor small ce. Here, a price breaking a billion was already enough to cause shock. No power could easily take out more than ten billion spirit stones.


    If it were auctioned in arger ce, this mine could fetch tens or hundreds of billions. But this couldn''t be helped. Even if he could sit in a teleportation array for free to arge region, he wouldn''t dare.


    Satisfied with the small profits, he was already content with selling for a few billion in a small ce. He didn''t dare to venture into affluent areas full of powerful people.


    As soon as Qian Jinjin finished speaking, the Patriarch of the Feng n couldn''t wait to shout, "I''ll bid one billion one hundred million spirit stones!"


    One billion spirit stones was not a small amount for a n in a poor area. Once spent, many things couldn''t be done.


    But he understood that even spending ten billion spirit stones to get the mine would be a huge profit¡ªa massive profit. This item wouldn''t lose value no matter how many spirit stones were spent. It was guaranteed to be a sure profit.


    Other ns heads understood this too, so they all started to raise their bids.


    The only one who remained calm was the Patriarch of the Long n, who sat there leisurely, drinking tea and watching the excitement as if uninterested in the fossil vein.


    The price quickly climbed to two billion spirit stones. Despite the ns'' inadequate preparations, they managed to offer two billion spirit stones, showing the extraordinary foundations of the Seven Great ns of the Far West.


    If given time to sell treasures and n assets, two billion spirit stones might just be a fraction.


    However, even with the unprepared state of the various powers, acquiring the mine for two billion spirit stones was impossible.


    At this moment, major Merchant guild also joined in. Their wealth and ability to mobilize funds were superior to the ns, quickly pushing the price to three billion spirit stones.


    But three billion spirit stones were still far from enough. At this moment, Qian Jinjin made a secret gesture, and the disguised Qian Duoduo finally made his move, raising the bid directly to four billion spirit stones, shocking everyone. They wondered where this chubby man came from, able to take out so many spirit stones in one go. His background must be unusual.


    None of the seven n heads had a chance to speak now, except for the Long n Patriarch. The other heads'' faces turned pale, fists clenched in extreme reluctance.


    With inadequate preparations, they couldn''t take out four billion spirit stones. The price had far exceeded their limits, not even giving them a chance to hesitate. They were entirely out of the auction.


    All the n head''s faces turned extremely grim.


    "Damn it! Where did this fat mane from, with so many spirit stones? I''ll kill him for his treasure when we get out," said the Feng n head, mming the table in frustration.


    The only calm one was the Long family patriarch, who gave Qian Jinjin on stage a meaningful look, his eyes filled with deep meaning.


    He had a guess but no evidence.


    In terms of wealth, how could the familiespete with the Merchant guild association? He had mentally prepared for this beforeing; this scene didn''t surprise him.


    Even if the Qian n Commerce Association didn''t bid, he believed the Long n couldn''tpete with the otherrge merchant guilds.


    The Long n patriarch turned to the other heads, smiling, "Heh! You see the situation now. We can''tpete with those Merchant guilds. Look, the price has already reached four billion five hundred million spirit stones and hasn''t stopped."


    "In terms of total wealth, our families might not lose to those Merchant guild''s, but the special nature of Merchant guild''s means they always reserverge amounts of spirit stones for transactions. In emergencies, they can quickly gather arge amount of spirit stones from their shops."


    "In this unprepared state, how can wepete with a Merchant guild''s association?"


    "Now, our only option is to unite. Each n puts in one billion spirit stones, a total of seven billion spirit stones to secure this fossil mine."


    The Long n patriarch squinted, his eyes gleaming with wisdom, "The profits from the fossil mine are immense. Even divided into seven parts, it''s enough for us to share."


    "If we unite to exploit this fossil mine, at least we can get one-seventh each. If we don''t unite, we won''t even get a piece of fossil. I''m sure you can do the math!"


    "Most importantly, if we unite, we can avoid unnecessary wars. Even foreign powers would think twice before targeting us."


    The Long n patriarch confidently scanned the other heads, certain they would agree. They had no choice but to agree.


    This was his strategy devised on the way here. He never intended to take the mine with just his n''s strength.


    Otherwise, even if they could secure the mine, the risk would be too high. With Feng Qingyang''s sinister nature, how could he let the Long n grow without causing trouble?


    So, he dared to spend so many spirit stones to buy arge number of Spirit Gathering Pills. It wasn''t that he wasn''t interested in the fossil vein. His n, if sessful, wouldn''t require spending so many spirit stones.


    As soon as he finished speaking, the other family heads showed thoughtful expressions, exchanging nces and looking tempted.


    Indeed, uniting at least meant getting one-seventh. Without uniting, they wouldn''t get anything.


    Besides, one-seventh was substantial. If the fossil mine wasrge, the seven ns might even find it insufficiently manned.


    The head of the Shi n pped his thigh, excitedly saying, "Great idea! Let''s do it. I agree. Whether you agree or not, we weren''t well-prepared, but neither were the chambers ofmerce. I think two or three ns joining forces is enough to secure the fossil mine. Seven ns aren''t necessary."


    With this, the other heads were startled, daring not to hesitate. They had no choice but to agree. Otherwise, they''d be left behind, widening the future gap with the other n. They wouldn''t want that.


    So, all the ny heads quickly expressed their agreement, afraid of missing out.


    Only the Feng n head''s face was dark, unhappy.


    At this moment, he finally understood why Long Wanli spent so many spirit stones on Spirit Gathering Pills. He was nning this all along.


    If the seven n joined forces, they wouldn''t need to deplete their strength. Each n would only contribute a small part of their spirit stones, leaving plenty for buying more resources.


    What a brilliant n. If he had known the n would unite, he wouldn''t have saved those spirit stones. He was equally interested in the Spirit Gathering Pills. Every family had their talents. If he had known, he would''vepeted for the Spirit Gathering Pills.


    Now, Long Wanli had gained a huge advantage, bing the biggest winner of this trip.


    "what a scheme! Truly well calcted!" Feng Qingyang thought angrily.

 Chapter 44: Obtaining the Spirit Stones

    Since the conversation among the group was conducted through sound transmission, no one else noticed anything.


    After each n head secretly handed one billion spirit stones to the head of the Long family, he stood up triumphantly and shouted loudly, "I bid seven billion!"


    The entire venue fell silent instantly.


    At this point, no one else continued bidding. Everyone was stunned,pletely overwhelmed by this number.


    Qian Duoduo''s face turned ashen, ring at him with a look that could kill. It''s him again! Where on earth did he get so many spirit stones?


    Qian Jinjin''s expression also changed, showing a trace of surprise, but it quickly vanished.


    Seven billion spirit stones far exceeded her limit. The limited time had restricted all ns from preparing enough spirit stones, but it had also limited her as well. She hadn''t had time to prepare either.


    She could only hastily draw all the liquid assets from her shops, but it was still far from seven billion spirit stones.


    She nced at the other n heads and noticed that they did not appear overly shocked. She had already guessed where the seven billion spirit stones came from.As such, even if she managed to gather seven billion spirit stones, it would be pointless. They could easily pool together ten billion or eleven billion spirit stones. Continuing to bid would be meaningless.


    "What should we do? Where did this head of the Long n get so many spirit stones? Could he be bluffing?" Qian Duoduo anxiously transmitted.


    Qian Jinjin did not reply immediately, contemting whether to cooperate with the other merchant guilds. But she quickly dismissed the idea.


    After all, the Qian Commerce guild was an outsider. They had already offended all other guilds by entering this territory. Even if the other guilds agreed to unite, they would most likely exclude the Qian guild.


    Thinking this, she sighed inwardly and replied, "The situation is already lost. But this was always a matter of mixed benefits and disadvantages. Even if we obtain this vein, it would offend the local forces, making business difficult."


    "With several guilds stirring trouble secretly, the Qian guild might be a target and invite disaster."


    "So be it. Since we have no fate with this vein, there''s no need to insist."


    Qian Jinjin was quite open-minded. Not securing the vein did not disappoint her too much. She looked around and smiled, "The head of the Long n bids seven billion spirit stones. Any higher bids?"


    "Seven billion spirit stones, going once!"


    "Seven billion spirit stones, going twice!"


    "Seven billion spirit stones, going thrice!"


    "Sold! Congrattions to the head of the Long n!"


    Qian Jinjin struck the small hammer heavily on the table.


    "Damn it!" The heads of several guilds stood up in panic, cursing loudly.


    They were discussing whether to join forces to secure this vein when Qian Jinjin spoke too quickly. The hammer fell before they could finish their discussion, catching them off guard, causing each one to feel frustrated to the point of spitting blood.


    She did it on purpose, absolutely on purpose. Despicable! All the guild heads looked livid.


    "Hahaha... Much obliged!"


    The head of the Long ncently cupped his hands to those around him and strode to the auction tform to receive the prize.


    Since the map was not in the auction house''s possession, Long Xuan also stood up and walked to the tform.


    Everyone was puzzled about his actions until he ced a rolled-up map on the table. They realized that he was the seller of the fossil vein.


    This rolled-up map was not the original enigmatic map but a true terrain map drawn by him. He was not afraid of the little medicine boy recognizing it.


    The head of the Long n curiously examined the man opposite him, finding him tightly wrapped up. He couldn''t see his appearance, age, or gender, making it hard even to address him. Calling him wrongly might offend him, so he remained silent.


    At this moment, Qian Jinjin ced a gold-colored toad on the table, solemnly saying, "In the presence of the integrity Gu, is it true that this map marks an unimed vein?"


    Long Xuan curiously examined the adorable-looking integrity Gu, resisting the urge to touch it.


    Is this the integrity Gu? Legend says it feeds on the power of honesty and detests dishonest beings. If someone dares lie in its presence, it would angrily devour the liar.


    Even its owner is not exempt and It would not suffer bacsh from a blood contract if it devoured it''s owner, making it terrifying.


    Long Xuan considered refining one himself to avoid being tricked in transactions but dismissed the thought, knowing it was the exclusive treasure of the Qian n, with their unique method of creating it. Same-type Gu could sense each other, so he gave up the idea.


    "Of course, it''s true. If there''s any falsehood, may I be struck down by heaven!" Long Xuan immediately swore.


    The integrity Gu nodded in satisfaction, not showing any anger, indicating that he was telling the truth.


    The head of the Long n smiled even more, knowing that although Long Xuan could alter his voice to hide his age, he could still be identified by gender. He decided to address him as ''sir'' and said kindly, "Sir, here are seven billion spirit stones. Please count them!"


    Long Xuan took the storage bag.


    Qian Jinjin watched his hand closely, noticing he wore ck gloves, feeling annoyed at how cautious he was.


    Long Xuan swept his soul force through the storage bag, almost blinded by the glitter of the seven billion spirit stones.


    However, he realized a dreadful fact: as a lone cultivator, he had no means of obtaining arge-space storage bag.


    These seven billion spirit stones couldn''t fit into his small storage bag, but he couldn''t admit it. iming to have a grand background but using the smallest storage bag would expose him.


    Quickly thinking, he said calmly, "No need to count. Ipletely trust the n of the Long family."


    He trusted nothing. He didn''t even know the head of the Long family. His trust was in the integrity Gu, believing it would ensure no deceit.


    Long Xuan then said, "But myrge storage bag is filled with spirit pills. I don''t know if it can hold so many spirit stones."


    "How about this? Give me therge storage bag, and I''ll give you a bottle of Spirit Gathering Pills in return. How about that?"


    After boasting, he ced a bottle of Spirit Gathering Pills on the table.


    "Of course, that works!"


    The head of the Long family smiled even more, quickly taking the pill bottle, opening it, and smelling the fragrance.


    Storage bags weremon items, even those with thergest spaces, and were of limited value. Trading one for a bottle of Spirit Gathering Pills was a great deal.


    At the same time, Qian Jinjin handed Long Xuan a storage bag, saying, "Here are the 6,700,000 spirit stones from the recent sale of your Spirit Gathering Pills."


    "After deducting the 5%mission, 6,365,000 spirit stones remain."


    "As for the seven billion spirit stones from selling the vein, our auction house won''t charge amission this time since the price wasn''t high, considering it as making a friend."


    "This storage bag is alsoplimentary."


    Long Xuan smiled wider, taking the storage bag and saying, "You''re considerate. Rest assured, if I find another vein, I''ll auction it at the Qian guild."


    Qian Jinjin smiled, but inwardly she was ranting. Another vein? Does he think veins are like cabbage, easily found? Finding one is already extraordinary, and expecting to find another is absurd.

 Chapter 45: The Wine Insect

    With the spirit stones in hand, Long Xuan hurriedly left without even saying goodbye. The onlookers who were still watching themotion made way for him. By now, they had already realized that this person was the source of arge number of Spirit Gathering Pills and must have an extraordinary background. They were eager to curry favor with him, not daring to offend him.


    Seeing that this person was merely a clone, they harbored no other thoughts.


    Just like that, the fire clone arranged by Long Xuan left the market safely. Along the way, he looked back from time to time. With the farsight ability of the Eye of Heaven''s secret, it wasn''t easy for anyone to follow him. Even if they released tiny Gu to track him, it would be impossible to escape his eyes.


    After confirming that no one was following him, the fire clone reunited with the main body and immediately returned to Great Stone Vige.


    The various n heads indeed had no intention of following him. They were too excited after acquiring the fossil veins, summoning all the experts in their families to head to that deste area. They had no time to make trouble.


    Over a month had passed since he set out. Long Xuan returned to his cozy little home, seeing the vibrant sea of flowers and the spirit bees dancing above them.


    He also saw the proud, fat chicken bro, which made him feel a sense of warmth. Long Xuan couldn''t resist trying to pet it, but it agilely avoided him.


    "Nothing unusual happened while I was away, right?"


    Seeing the busy figure in the herb garden, Long Xuan smiled as he approached, cing his hand on its body and quickly assimting wood clone''s memories.Finding nothing noteworthy in the memories, Long Xuan finally began his serious task.


    His so-called serious task was naturally to refine an peak-grade Gu insect. Having found an peak-grade spirit insect by chance in the mine, when else would be a better time to refine it?


    Long Xuan took out a small white snake from the insect-rearing bag, revealing an excited smile.


    This was the peak-grade spirit insect extracted from that fossil. It was a type of snake spirit insect, entirely white and extraordinarily cute. The strangest thing was that its body emitted a faint aroma of wine.


    Although Long Xuan was not well-versed in spirit insects, he recognized very few peak-grade spirit insects, but he did know this one.


    This little white snake was the famous Wine Insect. As the name implies, it was a type of insect that liked to drink wine.[1]


    The Wine Insect came in four qualities: low-grade, mid-grade, high-grade, and peak-grade. Unlike traditional Gu refining methods, Wine Insects were transformed into different Gu insects by tasting various wines.


    One could say the quality of the wine represented the strength of the Wine Gu. Different wines would endow the Wine Insect with different abilities and transformations.


    One could say the rarer the wine, the stronger the Wine Gu produced.


    So, Long Xuan had an idea. The brewing techniques of this world were different from those of his previous life. What would happen if he used distition techniques from his past life to refine a Wine Gu?


    With this thought, his heart itched like a cat scratching. He couldn''t wait to try it.


    Long Xuan immediately took out paper and pen, sat at the table, enjoying the breeze and the floral fragrance while seeking inspiration.


    He quickly wrote down the tworge characters "Wine Gu" on the white paper and, inspired by novels from his past life, wrote four vors of wine: sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy.


    At this moment, the progress on the iplete form shot to 100%.


    Long Xuan was stunned on the spot. Had he just created a Gu form in a few seconds? That couldn''t be right. Only four ingredients? Wasn''t that too hasty? How could a Gu insect be strong with so few ingredients? He was deeply skeptical.


    But he soon realized that the few ingredients might be just the appearance.


    It seemed that this Gu form only required four vors of wine: sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy. but how many ingredients are needed for each of these four wine recipes?


    1. The little white snake In Chinese, "Xiao Bai" (С°×) is amon name, and "Bai" (°×) means "white". However, "Bai" is also a character used in the name of a famous Chinese liquor, "Baijiu" (°×¾Æ), which literally means "white alcohol" or "white wine". Basically a word y on the name.

 Chapter 46: Immortal Wine

    In this world, there are mortal wines for ordinary people, and there are spiritual wines brewed from a vast array of heavenly materials and earthly treasures. Each natural treasure contains immense spiritual power, which leads to various incredible effects when these spiritual wines are consumed.


    For example, they can enhance a Gu Master''s strength, speed, and mostmonly, cultivation level. Due to this, the recipes for spiritual wines are closely guarded secrets, never shared publicly.


    The spiritual wine recipes avable in the market are often low-quality, while high-quality recipes are impossible to buy. Taverns rely on their exclusive recipes for profit, so they wouldn''t sell them. Furthermore, this barrennd doesn''t have good recipes to begin with.


    Creating one''s own recipes is a necessity, and even more challenging, as four different kinds are needed.


    If your goal is merely to satisfy your taste buds, then the spiritual wines on the market are not very expensive. However, if you seek quality spiritual wine, you need to use various invaluable natural treasure, making the cost unlimited and potentially very high.


    Especially for spiritual wines used to refine Gu, cheap wines are out of the question. You would need the best spiritual wine, and the cost for the best is naturally high.


    Therefore, even though the Gu recipe only requires four vors of wine¡ªsour, sweet, bitter, and spicy¡ªif you use the best materials, the cost would be exorbitant, and the number of materials required would be overwhelming.


    The materials for these four wine recipesbined might be more than what is needed to refine the Eye of heavenly secrets, making the cost even higher.


    Long Xuan took a deep breath, feeling numb all over. It''s not just about the cost; he also needed to create the four spiritual wine recipes from scratch.Who knows how long it will take, but certainly longer than the time consumed refining the Eye of Heavenly secret Gu recipe.


    Long Xuan couldn''t help but swallow hard.


    Of course, the choice is his. If he uses cheap wine, he won''t need many resources or much time, and no one is forcing him. However, with Long Xuan''s personality, he either doesn''t do something or does it to the best of his ability. How could hepromise?


    He decided to go all out!


    Long Xuan gritted his teeth and prepared to continue working tirelessly.


    Having already sessfully created the Gu recipe, he put away the recipe that only required four materials and took out new paper to create the wine recipes.


    The Gu recipe required four vors of wine: sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy.


    So what wine is sour? Long Xuan thought of fruit wine from his previous life.


    What wine is sweet? He thought of glutinous rice wine from his previous life.


    What wine is bitter? He thought of absinthe from his previous life.


    What wine is spicy? That would be baijiu from his previous life.


    Fortunately, Long Xuan knew how to brew all these wines.


    However, the materials for these wines were too cheap. Using them to refine Gu wouldn''t work; he needed to keep the same temtes but rece all the materials with various natural treasure from this world.


    Long Xuan decided to start with the sour wine, which is fruit wine.


    As the name suggests, fruit wine naturally requires various fruits. The materials should be based on fruits.


    But in this world, fruits are called spirit fruits, each containing arge amount of spiritual energy.


    Because spirit fruits are rich in spiritual energy, they are considered a type of spiritual medicine and can be used for alchemy, making them extremely expensive.


    So which spirit fruit is most suitable for sour wine? With trembling fingers, Long Xuan wrote down the most expensive spirit fruit...


    Time flew by, with spring, summer, autumn, and winter changing continuously outside the window. Sometimes the wind blew in, sometimes rain swept in, sometimes there was heavy snowfall outside, and sometimes the scorching sunlight shone through the window onto his manuscript...


    He forgot about the passage of time, often too focused to remember to close the window, letting the wind and rain batter his face. Only at these moments did he feel the flow of time...


    Until one day, he stretchedzily, wiped his beard, revealing a hint of fatigue, but his eyes were bright and full of excitement.


    "Already in thete stage of spirit gathering?"


    He felt his own cultivation and his joy grew even more.


    Unknowingly, two years had passed. During these two years, although he neglected his cultivation and indulged in non-productive activities, his cultivation progress had not fallen behind, thanks to his five clones pushing him to thete stage of spirit gathering.


    The feeling of being able to cultivate just by sitting was incredibly satisfying.


    However, this was not his greatest achievement in the past two years. His greatest achievement was the four spiritual wine recipes on the table.


    Seeing these four spiritual wine recipes filled him with a sense of aplishment, making the two years of effort worthwhile.


    These were no ordinary wines; in mythological stories, his wines could be called immortal wines.


    His sweet wine enhanced spiritual power.


    His spicy wine increased strength.


    His sour wine improved agility.


    His bitter wine healed injuries.


    His fine wines were not spirit pills, but better than spirit pills.


    After all, they were made from thousands of natural treasure rich in spiritual energy. How could they not have some miraculous effects?


    Indeed, to pursue the highest quality, he used an immense amount of materials, with each wine recipe using thousands of heavenly materials and earthly treasures, including thousand-year spirit fruits. If used to refine Gu, who knows how many spirit stones it would consume.


    But the cost far exceeded that of the Eye of heavenly secret.


    With such an exorbitant cost, the spiritual wine was naturally extremely delicious. It wouldn''t be an exaggeration to call it the wine of the gods, and it was a hundred times better than the wines from his previous life.


    In short, Long Xuan can becamepletely addicted after one sip, nning to drink it for a long time. Considering it permanently enhanced his physical attributes, it was worth using all the spirit stones he gained from auctioning fossil veins to brew the wine.


    Over these two years, he secluded himself to create the wine recipes while ordering his clones to go to the market in different disguises to collect the various materials for the recipes. Whenever he encountered them, he bought them at high prices, even several times the market price, as he had plenty of money and didn''t hesitate to spend spirit stones.


    Thanks to his financial power, he collected materials quickly, and thus, he brewed the three vors of sour, sweet, and spicy wines, even distilling them several times with modern distition techniques. The aroma was so strong that he almost got drunk just from smelling it, not daring to drink it himself, leaving it for his wine bug instead.


    Now, only the bitter wine''s final material was missing. Thest material for the bitter wine had just been discovered by chance, and he was waiting for his clone to buy it back to start brewing the bitter wine.


    Once the bitter wine was ready, he could start refining the wine Gu, and the thought of it excited him.


    "Fire Clone! Go! Buy me the bitter wormwood fruit, then brew the bitter wine. After brewing the bitter wine, distill it, and after distilling the bitter wine, refine the wine Gu."


    Long Xuan shouted out the window, and the Fire Clone, who was training in the sunlight, immediately got up and ran out.


    Ever since Long Xuan had clones, he would lie down rather than sit, sit rather than stand, and delegate everything to his clones, living more bossy than a boss himself.

 Chapter 47: Forbidden Technique

    Brewing the bitter wine would take some more time, requiring only patience. Bored, Long Xuan checked the cultivation results of his various clones over the years. He had assigned numerous tasks to his clones, such as reading books, body training, and enhancing their proficiency in spiritual techniques.


    Their schedules were packed, with no days off. Now that he had some free time, it was naturally time to inspect their progress.


    All their cultivation results were integrated within him, making it convenient to check. The results were standard in most aspects, but the clones had perfectly inherited his expertise in cultivating health-preserving techniques. The progress in the cultivation of the "Eternal Life Sutra" was impressive.


    When Long Xuan discovered that his clones had already cultivated the "Eternal Life Sutra" to the fifteenth level, his smile broadened. This meant he had gained an additional six hundred years of life spanpared to his peers.


    At this moment, a bold idea struck him. He liked to be prepared for any eventuality. What if he encountered an opponent who was a whole major realm above him, someone from the Gu cultivation world, who wanted to kill him and seize his treasures? This was not mere paranoia but a theoretically possible scenario. In the Gu world, the strong killing the weak was amon urrence.


    Should he not develop a powerful forbidden technique, capable of threatening a Gu cultivator one major realm above him?


    Long Xuan thought this idea was very necessary. Achieving it was not difficult; by sacrificing his life span, he could gain unimaginable power.


    Moreover, he was particrly suited to learning such a forbidden technique. Others with shorter life spans would be courting death by using such a technique, but he was different. Having cultivated the "Eternal Life Sutra," he essentially had an endless life span, and using it a few times would have no impact on him.


    This forbidden technique would be a perfect match for the "Eternal Life Sutra."Feeling a surge of excitement, he quickly decided to go for it. He wanted to design aplementary forbidden technique for the "Eternal Life Sutra."


    The forbidden technique would involve concentrating his life span into his palm, creating immense destructive power through an explosion. The more life span expended, the greater the destructive power. If the life span was sufficient, the attack''s power would be limitless.


    This technique was definitely powerful and seemed tailor-made for the "Eternal Life Sutra."


    Anyone else practicing this forbidden technique would die, but only those who had cultivated the "Eternal Life Sutra" could safely practice it. It was an absolutelyplementary spiritual technique.


    It perfectly matched the characteristic of aplementary spiritual technique being usable only by oneself, with significant restrictions for others.


    Long Xuan''s eyes grew brighter. This technique was incredibly strong and could definitely serve as a trump card in battles against higher-level opponents.


    He was very satisfied with this idea!


    He had always been fair. Since the "Ten Absolute scripture" hadplementary spiritual techniques, how could the "Eternal Life Sutra"ck one? He had to ensure bnce and fairness, so he decided to proceed!


    Creating aplementary spiritual technique for a health-preserving method, he could probably be considered the first person in history to do so!


    He was indeed pioneering a new path in history.


    He immediately took out pen and paper and began creating a terrifying forbidden technique that consumed life span as the cost.


    Since this technique did not consume spiritual power, it shouldn''t be called a spiritual technique. "Forbidden technique" was more fitting. A technique that kills its practitioner is indeed a forbidden technique, isn''t it?


    While he was creating the forbidden technique, his Fire Clone did not disappoint him and quickly bought the bitter herb fruit. Then, following the recipe for the bitter wine, it began brewing the wine in the courtyard.


    The wine brewing method was entirely Long Xuan''s creation. He had memorized all the steps, so he wasn''t curious to watch. He continued hiding in his room, researching the forbidden technique.


    Several monthster, the bitter wine was finally brewed sessfully. Using the distition tools Long Xuan had made, the clone began distilling the bitter wine.


    Long Xuan, still preupied with his forbidden technique research, didn''t pay attention until the strong aroma of the distilled wine wafted into the room, making his nose twitch. Only then did he leave his chair and go outside to help the clone prepare to refine the wine Gu.


    He had to participate in this step. Firstly, he was very interested in the process of refining Gu. Secondly, the clones, despite replicating everything from the main body,cked his special golden finger. His avatars could not see the progress of all things.


    Without his golden finger indicating right or wrong, he couldn''t trust the clones with such an important task. If they messed it up, it would cost him a lot of spiritual stones.


    By now, it was getting dark. Long Xuan moved all the jars of the four exquisite wines to arge wine vat in the courtyard.


    Truth be told, the longer the wine aged, the better. But he didn''t have the patience to wait, nor could he afford to.


    The best wine aged for ten thousand years. Was he supposed to wait ten thousand years? Nothing is perfect in this world. Since the refinement of the wine Gu couldn''t achieve perfection, there was no need to be overly demanding. He didn''t have obsessivepulsive disorder.


    He poured jar after jar of distilled fine wine into the vat. Instantly, the aroma of the wine spread everywhere, attracting the curious gaze of the spirit bees and the chickens in the coop.


    First, he poured in the sour wine, which was made from various spiritual fruits and was red in color.


    Next was the sweet wine, which was yellow.


    Then came the bitter wine, which was green.


    Lastly, the spicy wine, which was white.


    His wines not only used distition techniques but also many modern brewing techniques, resulting in each type of wine being very clear, free of impurities.


    Long Xuan poured numerous jars of wine into the vat until it was full. The four types of wine did not mix for some unknown reason, resembling theyered cocktails made by bartenders.


    From bottom to top, the firstyer was red, the second was yellow, the third was green, and the finalyer was white.


    Long Xuan marveled at this. What kind of wine Gu would be produced from multi-colored wine? He was secretly looking forward to it.


    After filling the vat, he pulled out little white, who was still asleep in the insect-rearing bag, and threw him into the vat with a ssh.


    Awakened from sleep, little white iled around in the wine like a drowning insect until it realized it was wine, and extremely high-quality wine at that. It had never tasted such delicious wine in its life.


    It was extremely excited, opening its mouth wide to greedily drink the wine, swimming happily in the vat. Sometimes it swam in the yellow sweet wine, sometimes in the green bitter wine, and other times in the white spicy wine.


    It enjoyed all the wines equally, finding this ce to be heaven. Once it entered, it didn''t want to leave.


    Seeing the wine insect so thrilled, Long Xuan nodded in satisfaction. This was indeed the top-quality fine wine he had brewed. Even the insect loved it.


    He slowly covered the vat, waiting for the wine insect to finish the wine and transform into a Gu insect.


    No one in this world had ever brewed wine using distilled spirits. This was his innovation. He eagerly anticipated what changes would ur in the wine insect refined from distilled wine.


    He didn''t know how long it would take for the wine insect to transform into a Gu insect, so he sat by the vat, continuing to research his almostpleted forbidden technique while waiting for the wine Gu to emerge.


    Another six months passed in a sh. Flowers bloomed and withered. Long Xuan had been waiting for so long that the flowers had almost withered. By this time, his forbidden technique had reached 50%pletion, but the wine vat showed no signs of activity, stuck at 50% progress.


    Long Xuan began to worry. This was taking far too long. Even when he refined the Eye of heavenly secret, it only took eighty-one days.


    This wine Gu, however, had already taken half a year with no signs of progress, far exceeding the time taken to refine the Eye of heavenly secret.

 Chapter 48: The Drunken Wine Insect

    "Could something have gone wrong?" Long Xuan was extremely anxious and could no longer focus on studying the forbidden technique. He pushed the lid of the jar slightly open and peeked inside.


    To his shock, he saw a small white snake belly-up, eyes closed, floating motionless on the surface of the liquor as if it were dead.


    If not for the progress indicator, he would have thought the snake was truly dead.


    Long Xuan''s expression became animated as an unbelievable thought crossed his mind: Could this wine insect have passed out drunk? He wondered incredulously.


    Innovation is always unpredictable. No one had ever used distilled liquor to refine a wine Gu before, and he recklessly decided to throw the wine insect into distilled liquor, not knowing what changes might ur.


    In this world, spiritual liquor is made from various heavenly natural treasures, resulting in extremely potent drinks.


    But he went further, distilling the spiritual liquor several times, making it extraordinarily strong¡ªlikely strong enough to kill someone. Even a wine insect, known for its high tolerance, might not withstand it and would simply pass out drunk.


    Long Xuan blinked, utterly bewildered.


    Could it be? Had this wine insect really gotten drunk?How was this possible? This was a wine insect, famous in this world for its immense drinking capacity, said to never be fazed even after threerge jars.


    And now it was passed out drunk? What happened to its legendary tolerance? What kind of wine insect was this? How shameful!


    Long Xuan waspletely at a loss. He had never heard of a wine insect getting drunk. The fact that a wine insect could actually pass out from drinking was a once-in-a-lifetime oddity, something unheard of, opening his eyes to a new phenomenon.


    What should he do now? Should he fish it out? He dared not act recklessly, fearing that he might ruin everything.


    But if he left it, and it died from the alcohol, he''d be in big trouble! This jar of liquor had cost him an unimaginable amount of resources, far exceeding the cost of the Eye of Heavenly secret! The most crucial thing was that he only had one peak-grade wine insect.


    Long Xuan hesitated, almost worrying himself sick.


    In the end, he dared not make any unnecessary moves.


    Since he didn''t understand what was happening, he decided to just leave it be. Long Xuan resigned himself to fate, thinking, "Whatever happens, happens. If it dies, so be it¡ªit''s just one peak-grade spiritual insect, I can afford the loss."


    With this pragmatic thought, he felt a bit more at ease. He sealed the lid tightly and returned to his chair to continue researching the forbidden technique.


    Time flew by, and another hundred days passed. By this time, Long Xuan had developed 80% of the forbidden technique, just a step away frompletion.


    Rubbing his sore neck, he couldn''t resist taking a break. He stood up slowly and walked to the wine jar, carefully pushing the lid open a crack, peeking inside nervously.


    To his dismay, the little white snake was still floating belly-up, eyes closed, as if dead.


    Long Xuan sighed softly.


    It was still there, soaked and thoroughly marinated.


    Still not waking up.


    Anyone who didn''t know better might think this was a jar of snake wine.


    However, he noticed that the liquid level in the jar had noticeably decreased, giving him a sliver of hope.


    The decreasing liquid meant it was still drinking, and drinking meant it was alive.


    But it would drink, pass out drunk, wake up a bit, drink a few sips, and pass out again. This cycle seemed to be unending.


    Long Xuan was beginning to wonder if it might actually drink itself to death, bing the first wine insect in history to die from drinking.


    After some contemtion, Long Xuan resealed the jar, leaving the wine insect to its fate.


    Using the distition method from his previous life to refine a Gu was an unexplored path, full of uncertainties. Whether it would seed or not, he didn''t know. All he could do now was wait; its fate was up to it.


    Long Xuan sighed, returned to his seat, picked up his pen, and eagerly resumed his research on the forbidden technique.


    He once again lost track of time, sitting there for what could be an entire day.


    Sometimes, he even forgot to sleep, pulling all-nighters. Besides drinking water and eating, he spent nearly all his time on his research. This was the daily life of a dedicated researcher.


    Thanks to his tireless effort, the progress was gratifying.


    After working tirelessly day and night for a hundred days, he finally seeded in developing a forbidden technique that exchanged life force for immense power.


    Life force is the most crucial element of a person and the most mysterious form of energy. Most ordinary people have less than a hundred years of life force; depleting it means reaching the end of life.


    The price for such powerful offensive capabilities was indeed terrifying.


    However, precisely because the power of this forbidden technique was so immense, it could also affect the user, potentially causing severe injury.


    He calcted that even with the resilience granted by his Little strong Gu, simply detonating a hundred years of life force could still injure him, even if he ran far away in advance.


    But this very danger was why it was called a forbidden technique; otherwise, why call it forbidden?


    The danger of the forbidden technique was one aspect; the other was the immense cost of using it. It consumed life force, a non-renewable resource, unlike spiritual power which could regenerate. Once life force was used, it was permanently lost.


    Only Long Xuan could afford to use a forbidden technique that consumed life force. Anyone else attempting it might not have many years left even if they weren''t killed by the technique itself.


    Even Long Xuan dared not use it lightly. His life force was precious and couldn''t be squandered. He wouldn''t even be willing to use a year''s worth of life force for a test.


    This technique was destined to be a rarely used trump card, reserved for life-and-death situations.


    While he wouldn''t use this forbidden technique lightly in the real world, it was a different story in the Origin Realm.


    The Origin Realm had a 100% reality simtion; the forbidden technique''s destructive power in the real world could be perfectly replicated there, including environmental damage.


    And since everything in the Origin Realm was illusory, using the forbidden technique there wouldn''t consume real life force.


    Thus, he could indulge in testing the forbidden technique''s power in the Origin Realm, satisfying his curiosity.


    At this moment, Long Xuan entered the Origin Realm again, conjuring a white energy ball in his hands, which he then spun,pressed, and detonated, creating deafening explosions and sting huge craters into the ground.


    Some craters were asrge as football fields, showcasing terrifying destructive power.


    This was the horror of using life force for power, far surpassing the destruction caused by spiritual power.


    Long Xuanughed maniacally in the illusionary realm, like a mad bomber, destroying everything around him.


    Since he was at home and closest to Elder Long''s residence, the Origin Realm was limited by distance, so he could only replicate Elder Long''s house, blowing it to bits.


    He continued until his life force was depleted, his hair turning white. Only then did he reluctantly leave the illusionary realm.


    Looking at the forbidden technique book he had created on the table, he felt immense satisfaction, still riding the wave of excitement.


    After closing the not-so-thick book, he wrote "Spirit Bomb" on the cover.


    This was the name he gave to the forbidden technique.


    Lastly, he added "¡òWritten by Long Xuan," in the lower right corner of the cover, before stopping his pen, a proud smile on his face.


    How much could this forbidden technique book be worth?


    Curiosity sparked within Long Xuan; he wanted to test its value at an auction house.


    But reason told him not to. Forbidden techniques must not be casually shared. The fewer who knew, the stronger the technique remained.


    The more people knew, the more likely he would encounter enemies who could counter the technique. The unknown was always the most terrifying.


    After calming down, he carefully stored the "Spirit Bomb" book away.


    Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he hurriedly walked outside.


    He had finally remembered the wine insect still soaking in the jar and decided to check on it immediately.


    Despite being prepared for failure, hope still lingered in his heart. What if it seeded? No one wants to give up until thest moment.


    After all, it was a peak-grade Gu insect. Just the thought of possibly owning one excited Long Xuan, filling him with high hopes.

 Chapter 49: An Encounter with the Great-Uncle

    Long Xuan hurried to therge wine jar, gently pushing aside the lid. Instantly, an adorable little white snake appeared in his sight.


    This little white snake was significantlyrger than before, but the wine in the jar waspletely gone. At this moment, the little white snake was curled up in the center of the jar, sleeping soundly, and Long Xuan could even hear its faint snores.


    Although it was still asleep, seemingly not yet sober, Long Xuan was overjoyed.


    The progress on the little white snake''s head had changed, now showing [0.00000%].


    Gu insects follow a different growth system. When a spiritual insect transforms into a Gu insect, the progress resets to zero, indicating that it haspletely transformed into a Gu insect.


    However, the distilled liquor was too potent, and it still hadn''t sobered up.


    But that was a good thing.


    Taking advantage of its deep sleep, Long Xuan sneakily dropped a blood droplet on its head, immediately establishing a blood contract with it.


    Soon, through the blood contract, Long Xuan learned of its abilities.The wine insect would acquire different abilities depending on the quality of the wine it consumed¡ªthe better the wine, the stronger the abilities.


    Long Xuan¡¯s self-created four-vor wine¡ªsour, sweet, bitter, and spicy¡ªwas of the highest quality. The abilities the wine insect gained from this wine could not be simple. Although Long Xuan had already prepared himself for strong abilities, he was still shocked by the wine insect¡¯s powers.


    The little white snake carried domain abilities.


    A domain, essentially, makes one invincible within its range; it is the most formidable ability.


    Domain abilities are exclusive to peak-grade Gu insects and are extremely rare even among them. Lower-grade Gu insects can never possess domain abilities.


    Not only did the little white snake carry a domain, but it carried two domains at once.


    Historically, no Gu insect had ever carried two domains. Long Xuan¡¯s wine Gu was the first, setting a historical precedent.


    The reason for this, Long Xuan attributed to the distilled liquor. Unlike traditional wine-making methods for Gu insects, he used distilled liquor.


    With no other exnation, it seemed his innovative wine-making method was indeed correct. Long Xuan''s eyes sparkled with excitement.


    The two domains the little white snake carried were the Slow Domain and the Speed Domain.


    As the names suggest, the Slow Domain slows down opponents within its range, while the Speed Domain elerates allies and the user.


    These two domains can be activated simultaneously, slowing opponents and speeding up oneself¡ªa clear advantage in battle.


    Do not underestimate this ability. The slow domain was already the ceiling ofbat power in the novel in the previous life, and with the Speed Domain, the little white snake directly exceeds the standard.


    Ecstatic, Long Xuan hurriedly picked up the little white snake, cherished it for a while, and then ced it into his insect-rearing pouch.


    The insect-rearing pouch was dark, silent, devoid of spiritual energy, and had stale air¡ªnot afortable ce to stay.


    But Long Xuan had no better option. Carrying a peak-grade Gu insect openly would be unwise, as the entire market did not have a single peak-grade Gu insect. The little white snake was invincible from birth.


    There are spatial treasures in this world that have their own realms, but Long Xuan had never seen one. He couldn¡¯t obtain one anytime soon, so he had to temporarily inconvenience the little white snake.


    After refining the wine Gu, Long Xuan felt great. He shaved his beard and finally stepped out of his long-neglected small house. After being cooped up at home for so long, he was ready to see the outside world.


    He nned to rx, stretch his muscles, and visit the market to see if he could find some millennium ice essence.


    Speaking of the millennium ice essence, it exhausted him.


    Anything over a thousand years old is incredibly difficult to find.


    For years, after creating the form for the Divine ice me, he had been unable to find the primary ingredient, the millennium ice essence. Despite his immense wealth from auctioning off the fossil vein location and having gathered all other materials for the Divine ice me, he couldn¡¯t find any trace of the millennium ice essence.


    The Divine ice me not only greatly aids in alchemy but also significantly boostsbat power, potentially surpassing Gu insects in destructive power.


    Long Xuan had long yearned to witness the me that could emit cold air, as described in novels. After being stuck for so many years, how could he not be anxious?


    Although Long Xuan hadn¡¯t been to the far west market in years, his clone frequently visited, collecting various materials for him. Thus, Long Xuan was still very familiar with the market despite the years that had passed.


    As soon as he arrived, he eagerly began browsing the stalls, inquiring about any trade fairs or auctions.


    But he was soon disappointed. There were no auctions or trade fairs, and the stallscked any decent treasures. He found nothing valuable, let alone the elusive millennium ice essence.


    This is why he always created Gu forms after obtaining peak-tier materials. This materials were extremely difficult to find. If he made the form first, he might never find the materials, potentially wasting years or even a lifetime.


    After another round of browsing with no sess, Long Xuan was about to leave when a muscr man approached, sniffing the air around him. The man¡¯s eyes lit up, and he eximed, ¡°Good wine!¡±


    Long Xuan sniffed his own clothes but couldn¡¯t detect any wine scent.


    He was meticulous about his appearance, shaving, bathing, and changing clothes before leaving. How could this man smell wine?


    ¡°Stop sniffing. I have an animal Gu with canine senses. Scents are hard to eliminatepletely. Humans can¡¯t smell it, but dogs can.¡±


    The man gave a smug smile and continued, ¡°What a fine wine! I¡¯ve never smelled such a delightful aroma in my life. It must be a newly created unique brew.¡±


    ¡°I pride myself on my tasting skills. Let me taste your wine, and I might offer you some valuable advice.¡±


    Hearing this, Long Xuan widened his eyes in disbelief. Did he hear correctly? Someone wanted to taste his wine? Did he need such help? This man was just looking for a free drink! How thick-skinned!


    But Long Xuan didn¡¯t dare voice his thoughts. The man¡¯s aura suggested he was at the peak of marrow cleansing, far beyond what Long Xuan could contend with.


    However, the man¡¯s gaze was kind, reassuring Long Xuan slightly. He couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that the man¡¯s look was like an elder admiring a talented junior.


    Ignoring this odd feeling, Long Xuan cautiously asked, ¡°I am an apprentice under Elder Long Lao. May I know who you are?¡±


    Long Xuan invoked a protective charm, leveraging his alchemist status, which was not to be trifled with. He hoped mentioning Elder Long Lao would deter any rash actions, as Long Lao''s reputation was formidable in the market.

 Chapter 50: Elder Longs Creditor

    After Long Xuan said those words, the man¡¯s eyes immediately lit up, and he smiled, ¡°So you¡¯re one of us, nice to meet you. I was going to just ask for a cup because I¡¯m shy, but now I wouldn¡¯t mind drinking dozens.¡±


    ¡°That old man owes me five million spirit stones. A master''s debt is to be repaid by his disciple! Bring out the good wine quickly!¡±


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan was dumbfounded. He never expected his words to have the opposite effect. Not mentioning Elder Long would have been better, but mentioning him only doubled the request!


    However, the good news was that this person seemed to be an acquaintance of Elder Long. This meant he wouldn¡¯t cause trouble for Long Xuan. Feeling more at ease, Long Xuan said,


    ¡°Um¡­ Senior, you may not know this, but my wine is not something normal people can drink. It¡¯s extremely potent, and anything that reaches an extreme can be harmful. Once the wine bes potent enough, it can be deadly!¡± Long Xuan kindly reminded him.


    He wasn¡¯t exaggerating. Even the wine bug, known for its drinking capacity, almost died from it. Let alone a human?


    Long Xuan himself almost got drunk just from smelling it and hasn¡¯t dared to touch a drop since.


    Distilled wine was drinkable, but Long Xuan had his own ns.


    He knew he couldn¡¯t avoid this ordeal today, so if he had to serve this person wine, it couldn¡¯t be ordinary wine.Otherwise, what if he got addicted and kepting back for more every day?


    The only solution was to serve wine potent enough to scare him off, so he wouldn¡¯t bother him again.


    Sure enough, upon hearing Long Xuan¡¯s words, the man became even more interested.


    ¡°What? Wine that normal people can¡¯t drink! Wine so potent it can be deadly! What a boast! Are you bluffing?¡±


    ¡°Or do you look down on me!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve loved strong wine since I was a kid, and my drinking capacity is renowned far and wide. I¡¯m known as the God of Wine!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll drink what humans can¡¯t! Come on, let me see how strong your wine is. I¡¯ve never found a wine strong enough for me to feel its strength!¡±


    ¡°Do you know my name? I¡¯m called Long Lie, because I¡¯m particrly good at drinking strong wine! Today, I want to see what kind of strong wine can knock me down!¡±[1]


    Long Lie felt challenged and was determined to test this potent wine today.


    Long Xuan¡¯s mouth twitched. It seemed today he had encountered a wine enthusiast who even named himself after strong wine. No wonder his nose was so sharp; he could smell good wine from so far away.


    Could this guy really have such an incredible drinking capacity? Long Xuan wasn¡¯t sure if his distilled wine could knock him down.


    But there was no turning back now. He had to go through with it. He braced himself and said, ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go to the Qian n restaurant over there.¡±


    Long Xuan pointed to a Qian n restaurant ahead.


    He couldn¡¯t take out the spirit wine in public and needed a secluded ce.


    ¡°If there¡¯s good food to go with the wine, even better. Let¡¯s go!¡± Long Lie didn¡¯t hesitate and strode toward the Qian n restaurant.


    The two weren¡¯t far from the restaurant. Before they even got close, the waiter inside rushed out to greet them with a fawning smile, ¡°Wee, esteemed guests! What would you like to drink? We have everything you could want at Qian¡¯s restaurant!¡±


    With Long Xuan¡¯s good wine, Long Lie had no interest in the restaurant¡¯s offerings and immediately declined, ¡°No need, we brought our own wine!¡±


    The waiter was stunned on the spot.


    Bringing your own wine to a restaurant? This guy must be here to cause trouble!


    Long Xuan couldn¡¯t bear it anymore and quickly said, ¡°First, bring out all your signature dishes!¡±


    The waiter¡¯s eyes lit up. No longer bothered by the previousment, he hurried to serve all the signature dishes, which weren¡¯t cheap. Even without the wine, he could make a good profit.


    ¡°Right away, esteemed guests! This way, please!¡±


    The waiter led them to a private room on the second floor by the window. After they sat down facing each other, Long Xuan didn¡¯t hesitate and took out a small bottle of bitter spirit wine.


    Although bitter wine had its own charm, if he had to rank the four wines, bitter wine would be hisst choice based on personal taste. So, he naturally offered it to others.


    But to his surprise, Long Lie waved his hand and said yfully, ¡°Don¡¯t be stingy! I can smell you have four types of wine. Bring them all out!¡±


    Long Xuan¡¯s arm froze, cursing inwardly. Does this guy have a dog¡¯s nose?


    Helpless, he had to take out the other three wines and ce them on the table.


    ¡°Don¡¯t say I¡¯m stingy. My wine really isn¡¯t for ordinary people. To avoid waste, I¡¯ll pour you half a ss of each. If you can handle it, I¡¯ll pour more.¡±


    With that, Long Xuan reluctantly poured small half sses of each wine.


    Calling them half sses was generous; they were more like tiny sips, enough to rinse a cup.


    Don¡¯t me him for being stingy; his wine was extremely expensive. These four small cups alone cost about ten thousand spirit stones.


    He was already thinking about how to recoup his costs. He was not one to take losses easily and wouldn¡¯t let this shameless man drink for free.


    Long Lie looked at the four tiny cups with disdain and said, ¡°What¡¯s this? Are you doubting the drinking capacity of a God of Wine? I used to down bottles in one go, and you¡¯re giving me this to rinse my mouth!¡±


    He took a deep sniff of the wine¡¯s aroma, making a gurgling sound in his throat, and couldn¡¯t help but swallow his saliva.


    ¡°Damn! This wine smells so good! Too good! What on earth is it made of!¡±


    He wanted Long Xuan to pour more, but now he couldn¡¯t wait any longer. He grabbed the spicy wine and gulped it down.


    The spicy wine was the strongest, and he downed it in one go. Long Xuan instinctively shrank back.


    The fiery wine burned his throat and set his stomach aze. His whole body became hot, and his pores opened, releasing heat.


    Long Lie¡¯s face turned red, and he looked like he was breathing fire, his eyes wide open.


    ¡°Delicious! Absolutely delicious!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve traveled far and wide for years and never had such strong wine. It¡¯s so strong it¡¯s burning me! This is the wine for men. What I drank before was nothing but water! My life has been wasted until now!¡±


    Long Lie shouted excitedly, his eyes growing brighter. His loud shouts attracted the attention of people downstairs and on the street, curious about what kind of wine could be so good.


    After shouting for a while, Long Lie suddenly felt dizzy, as if he was about to get drunk. He held onto the table to keep from falling.


    Long Lie was shocked. This was a feeling he hadn¡¯t experienced in years. He didn¡¯t expect to get drunk again in his lifetime, and he had only drunk a small half ss. What a powerful wine.


    No, I can¡¯t get drunk! There are still three types of wine left¡­


    Long Lie¡¯s eyes widened, and he stared at the remaining three sses. Using his strong willpower, he resisted the urge to pass out and downed the remaining three sses in one go.


    Long Xuan was stunned. He had to admit, this guy was really tough!


    1. So the lie "ÁÒ" from Long Lie name is y on word as it means strong alcohol. That''s why he can take strong alcohol lol.


    ---------------


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 Chapter 51: The Whereabouts of the Millennium Ice Essence

    The oue was naturally predictable. After downing three cups of wine, he hadn¡¯t even started shouting, nor had hested a second before copsing onto the table. Snoring immediately filled the air, resonating so loudly that it could be heard even from downstairs.


    Long Xuan shook his head helplessly. What a drunkard, willing to risk his life for alcohol.


    Anyone knowledgeable about alcohol knows that mixing different kinds of alcohol can make one drunk faster. Even drinking one kind can be dangerous, and yet, he mixed them. Truly stubborn.


    No wonder he¡¯s known as the Wine God. Impressive! Truly impressive!


    Long Xuan was in awe,pletely floored by the spectacle.


    Not long after, the waiter began serving dishes. The rich aroma whetted Long Xuan¡¯s appetite, and he started devouring the food with great enjoyment.


    It''s worth noting that the food and meat in this world contain spiritual energy, making their vors far superior to anything from his past life.


    Moreover, he had ordered all the signature dishes.


    How expensive can the signature dishes of this world be?Incredibly expensive, without an upper limit.


    If you use rare natural treasures and high-grade spirit beast meat, the price of the dish can skyrocket.


    The legendary dragon liver and phoenix marrow could easily sell for billions of spirit stones, but dragons and phoenixes went extinct in this world tens of thousands of years ago, making them impossible to obtain.


    Due to the poverty of this marketce and the limited quality of ingredients avable, the table full of signature dishes Long Xuan ordered only cost fifty thousand spirit stones.


    That¡¯s still a significant amount, considering Long Lie drank one thousand spirit stones worth of wine, and Long Xuan ate fifty thousand spirit stones worth of food. Quite fair.


    After eating and drinking to his heart¡¯s content, Long Xuan burped and immediately jumped out of the window to leave.


    Don''t misunderstand; he wasn¡¯t trying to dine and dash. After all, there was someone else inside.


    The rule of the paying world is simple: thest one to stay pays the bill.


    Little did Long Xuan know that the restaurant staff, fearing Long Lie might skip out on the bill for such an expensive meal, guarded him for three days and nights. He slept for three days and nights straight, almost being mistaken for a corpse and carried out...


    Meanwhile, Long Xuan, after leaving the restaurant, continued towards the direction of Great Stone Vige. However, a sudden change blocked his path home again.


    He patted his storage bag and took out amunication talisman. The back of the talisman was covered with strange symbols, and lines of small characters began appearing on the front.


    There are four highly lucrative special professions in this world: alchemists, weapon refiners, Formation masters, and talisman masters.


    Thismunication talisman is a product of talisman masters, used for long-distancemunication.


    However,munication talismans are expensive and single-use, so they are only used for important matters.


    Long Xuan had a small circle of friends and only exchangedmunication talismans with the wealthiest rogue cultivators in the marketce, such as the Formation master Di Xin.


    The purpose was to facilitate barter exchanges since rogue cultivators are elusive and hard to track down.


    Themunication talisman that suddenly vibrated was given to him by an artifact refiner named Jin Zeng, also known as Master Jin, whom Long Xuan''s fire clone had met at a trade fair.


    Master Jin is one of the three scatter cultivators in the marketce selling high-grade Gu insects, making a fortune from selling Vajra Gu.


    Long Xuan didn¡¯t expect Master Jin to contact him now, as their rtionship was purely transactional and not deep.


    Looking at the words on the talisman, aside from the pleasantries, the gist was that Master Jin had prepared food and drink and wanted to invite Long Xuan over. Recently, he had found something that looked like Millennium Ice Essence in the Snowy Mountains and wanted Long Xuan to appraise it, with the payment ready.


    Long Xuan''s eyes lit up instantly.


    Millennium Ice Essence had been difficult to find, but finally, there was a clue today?


    Long Xuan couldn''t help but clench his fists. With Millennium Ice Essence in hand, he could immediately refine the Divine Ice me, a me capable of releasing cold air. Just thinking about it excited him.


    So, Long Xuan immediately sent his fire clone home to fetch the money.


    This time, he only brought a small portion of his belongings. The wealthier he was, the harder it was to fit everything into his storage bag.


    It was already difficult to fit a billion spirit stones, let alone other treasures. He still had several storage bags of fossils from the fossil mine with nowhere to store them.


    Therefore, on each trip, he could only leave most of his wealth at home and carry less than ten percent of his possessions with him.


    Now, hearing that Master Jin had Millennium Ice Essence, Long Xuan immediately arranged for his fire clone to fetch treasures suitable for Master Jin.


    "Just had a big meal at Qian''s Restaurant, and now my stomach is full. How can I eat anything else? Master Jin''s timing is really off."


    Long Xuan rubbed his rounded belly and sighed helplessly. Although he couldn¡¯t refuse Master Jin¡¯s invitation, the most important thing was that he must get his hands on the Millennium Ice Essence. He could only symbolically eat a few bites.


    He thought about sending his clone in his ce, but considering the clonecked the golden finger for appraisal, he decided to endure the fullness and go himself.


    Master Jin, being a rogue cultivator with no fixed abode, had made a cave dwelling in a nearby mountain rich in spiritual energy. It wasn¡¯t far from the marketce, so Long Xuan arrived quickly.


    Seeing a cave with a stone door ahead, Long Xuan knew it was Master Jin¡¯s residence.


    Long Xuan found it intriguing that many rogue cultivators chose to live in caves.


    One reason was that the mountains had more spiritual energy, far surpassing the crowded marketces.


    Another reason was the peace and quiet, allowing for undisturbed cultivation.


    Most importantly, it was cheap. Renting in the marketce would be a significant expense.


    However, living in the mountains alone had its disadvantages, like being vulnerable to demonic cultivators seeking to rob and kill.


    This reason alone made Long Xuan hesitant to live in a cave.


    Master Jin had purchased a powerful protective Formation from Di Xin; otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have had peace either.


    "Senior Long, you¡¯re here. My master is waiting inside."


    As Long Xuan arrived at the door, a young boy waiting there greeted him respectfully.


    It was Long Xuan¡¯s first time being called a senior, and he feared being considered old.


    Yet he did fit the senior title. He was already ate-stage Spirit Gathering Gu Master, rtively average among rogue cultivators.


    "Is it true that your master found a piece of Millennium Ice Essence?" Long Xuan casually inquired.


    The boy replied immediately, "We rogue cultivators have limited knowledge. Even if we see a treasure, we may not fully recognize it."


    "Millennium Ice Essence is extremely rare. My master has never seen it and can only judge based on book descriptions. Its authenticity requires your appraisal."


    Long Xuan nodded, "Then I¡¯ll take a look. Lead the way!"


    ---------------


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 Chapter 52: Absolute Zero

    After spending so many years in this world, Long Xuan was no longer the naive person he once was. He often sent his clones to the markets to find ces with books. Then, he used the Origin Realm to replicate these scenes, allowing his clones to read all the books within the illusion.


    The clones would then return the acquired knowledge to his main body. As a result, although Long Xuan appeared unlearned and never read books, he was actually extremely knowledgeable, understanding a bit of everything.


    Others might not recognize Millennium Ice Essence, but he certainly wouldn''t miss it.


    With a heart full of anticipation, Long Xuan, led by the young man, entered the cave mansion.


    Along the way, the young man held a silver token, which allowed them to pass through various formations unimpeded into the cave mansion.


    To avoid being disturbed by demonic cultivators, the cave was surrounded by numerous formations. Only those carrying an object called an "Array Guide" could move through these formations freely.


    The Array Guide was like a key to these formations. Anyone who entered without it would be obliterated by the formations, which was why the young man waited outside for Long Xuan.


    Initially, Long Xuan was a bit worried. What if he and Master Jin didn''t get along, and things turned hostile? Wouldn''t he be in danger within the formations?


    Should he perhaps use the excuse of needing to relieve himself and let a clone rece him?However, a quick scan of the surroundings with his Eye of Heavenly secret dismissed such thoughts.


    His golden finger could see where the formation bases were buried. If anything went wrong, he could quickly and violently break the formations from within.


    Moreover, his Eye of Heavenly secret had a slight x-ray vision ability. Formation bases were generally not buried deeply, and he could erge the formation patterns in his vision.


    What did this mean? In his microscopic world, formations were like software codes he could directly see, making them easy for him to crack.


    Furthermore, these were formations by Di Xin. Considering he got knowledge from Di Xin, he was very familiar with her formations.


    Unintentionally, he had developed another ability for his Eye of Heavenly secret, realizing how terrifying it was to have the power to destroy mountain-protecting formations of various races at will.


    "Young friend Long, you finally arrived! I''ve been waiting for you. Pleasee in; the food and drinks are ready. Let''s chat while we eat!"


    Upon entering the cave mansion, a muscr man with a big smile greeted him warmly. This was the renowned Master Jin, a muscr man typical of most weapon refiners.


    "How could I note to Master Jin''s invitation? To be honest, I was just eating at the Qian''s Restaurant. Upon hearing you were hosting a banquet, I didn''t even finish my meal and jumped out the window toe here. I saved my appetite for this."


    "I''m not joking. You can check with Qian''s Restaurant if you don''t believe me."


    "Hahaha... pleasee in!"


    The two chatted happily as they walked deeper into the cave mansion. The cave was vast and not simply decorated, with many secret chambers dug out. It took Long Xuan quite a while to reach the spacious main hall.


    Several of Master Jin''s disciples were busy in the hall, indicating that he had quite a few students.


    Long Xuan sat down at the table without hesitation. Despite Master Jin''s words about waiting for a long time, there was not a single dish on the stone table, suggesting he had just arrived.


    Long Xuan didn''t point this out and continued making small talk with Master Jin. However, after a while, he couldn''t see Master Jin bringing out the Millennium ice Essence and became impatient. He went straight to the point: "Since the food isn''t served yet, Master Jin, why don''t you show me that piece of Millennium ice Essence first?"


    "Haha! You''re quite impatient. Very well. This thing is extremely cold; you won''t want to eat hot dishes once it''s out."


    Master Jinughed, putting on thick gloves before taking out a blue crystal from his storage bag. The crystal was translucent and beautiful, yet emitted a terrifying chill.


    Its presence instantly dropped the temperature of the cave mansion, making it feel like an ice cer. Even across the table, Long Xuan felt the bone-chilling cold, causing him to shiver. One could only imagine the cold Master Jin was enduring while holding it.


    No wonder he wore gloves. Such intense cold would freeze his hands without them.


    Even without examining it closely, Long Xuan knew this piece of Millennium ice Essence was genuine. A fake could never produce such an extreme effect.


    In his previous life, high temperatures could be infinitely high, but the lowest temperature was only minus two hundred degrees Celsius, known as absolute zero.


    However, this world broke that limit. Here, low temperatures had no limit, potentially reaching minus millions or tens of millions of degrees.


    The Millennium ice Essence surpassed the absolute zero of his previous world. He couldn''t imagine how low the temperature would be if the Divine ice me was refined.


    His heart raced as he looked at the progress of the Millennium Cold Ice Marrow, bing even more excited.


    [99.9999%]


    What did this mean? Once the progress of the Millennium Cold Ice Marrow reached 100%, it would evolve into Ten Thousand-Year Ice Essence.


    A thousand years made it Millennium Cold Ice Marrow, but even after nine thousand nine hundred ny-nine years, it was still Millennium Cold Ice Marrow. Wasn''t that different?


    If he bought this piece of Millennium ice Essence and stored it in a special environment for a few days, it would be Ten Thousand-Year Ice Essence, worth far more than what he paid. The thought thrilled him.


    Given this progress, he estimated he wouldn''t have to wait long to get a piece of Ten Thousand-Year ice Essence. His luck was simply incredible.


    Though the Divine Ice me recipe required Millennium Cold Ice Marrow, recing it with Ten Thousand-Year ice Essence would make the ice me even more terrifying, not worse. He had truly found a treasure today.


    Despite his inner joy, Long Xuan understood the art of negotiation. He maintained a calm demeanor but not too indifferent, as overacting would be suspicious.


    "So this is the legendary Millennium ice Essence? It does look impressive. Let me take a closer look and verify its authenticity." Long Xuan said calmly.


    "Here..." Master Jin smiled.


    Since they were in his home, Master Jin wasn''t worried about Long Xuan taking his treasure and running off. He generously ced the Millennium ice Essence on the stone table.


    Instantly, a thinyer of ice formed on the stone table, startling Long Xuan.


    Such terrifying power made him even more hesitant to touch it.


    He didn''t need to verify it; the progress indicator already confirmed its authenticity. Long Xuan stood up, pretending to study it for a moment, then looked at Master Jin and said:


    "We rogue cultivators haven''t seen much and haven''t systematically studied treasure appraisal. I can''t be sure if this is real."


    "But I''d rather be safe than sorry. I''m going to buy it. Master Jin, name your price!" Long Xuan said, appearing conflicted and hesitant before finally speaking.


    "Haha, you have quite the courage to buy something you aren''t sure about."


    "But even if you''re not sure, I''ll still sell it as if it were real. You''d better be prepared for my price."


    ---------------


    ? CHAPTER LIST


    ? Hey guys, as we''ve reached chapter 50 please take a movement to rate and review this novel at Novelupdate. I appreciate any and all invaluable feedback.

 Chapter 53: Releasing the Gu

    "This is only natural, Master Jin. Please feel free to ask for any price, and I will follow through."


    Long Xuan had already prepared himself for a high price, and this time, even if the cost exceeded the usual rate, he was ready to acquire it without hesitation.


    "No rush, let''s drink first, drink."


    Master Jin maintained his usual smiling demeanor, sincerely trying to pique Long Xuan''s interest. He even took back the Millennium ice Essence that was almost turning into ten-thousand-year-old ice Essence.


    After a long conversation, Master Jin''s disciples finally began to serve the dishes.


    Various aromatic and delicious meat dishes were brought out one after another by his disciples, along with fine wines. However,pared to Long Xuan''s wine, they were nothing but garbage.


    Despite thevish spread, Long Xuan had already eaten at Qian''s Restaurant and was still full, leaving him with no appetite.


    He wished he could acquire the Millennium ice Essence and leave immediately, having no interest in food or drink.


    However, he couldn''t show his eagerness, or Master Jin would seize the opportunity to raise the price.He could only suppress his impatience and force himself to eat the meal.


    "Haha, try this dish. This is the meat of a fourth-grade spiritual beast, a prey that only the Gu King could hunt. It''s ridiculously expensive. If it weren''t for our immediate connection, I wouldn''t have had the heart to eat it."


    Master Jin pointed to the most prized meat dish in the middle of the table, then took a piece and ate it in front of Long Xuan.


    Seeing him eat, Long Xuan picked up his chopsticks, ready to give Master Jin some face by trying the dish despite his full stomach.


    However, just as he extended his chopsticks, his arm froze.


    He had long been cautious of the various ways Gu could be used in this world, developing a habit of using his Eye of Heavenly secret to inspect anything before eating.


    So what if Master Jin has already tasted it himself? Even at the reputable Qian''s Restaurant, he would use the Eye of Heavenly secret to confirm that it was all right before he started eating.


    He had just used his Eye of Heavenly secret out of reflex, a habit so ingrained that his muscles acted on their own.


    To his surprise, he found a problem. There were tiny insects crawling on the dish, so small that they were almost invisible without enhanced vision.


    Cold sweat broke out on Long Xuan''s back, and he felt a chill on his scalp, his heart filled with fear.


    What exactly was Master Jin trying to do? How could there be insects in the food?


    Was it intentional or idental? Could this be a trap?


    Good old Master Jin, with his thick eyebrows and big eyes, always smiling andughing before speaking. Who would have thought he was a tiger with a smiling face, and today''s dishes were probably all problematic?


    Long Xuan felt fortunate to have his Eye of Heaven''s secret; otherwise, he might have fallen into this trap. Master Jin''s benevolent face had even deceived him.


    Despite his inner turmoil and fear, Long Xuan maintained hisposure, changing the direction of his chopsticks towards a vegetable dish.


    He was about to say he preferred vegetables, but before he could lower his chopsticks, his arm froze again.


    The vegetable dish also had insects, and even more of them.


    Long Xuan scanned all the dishes and drinks with his Eye, finding insects in every one of them.


    Master Jin, with his thick eyebrows and big eyes, had set up an insect feast. Had he put all his insects into the dishes?


    Long Xuan awkwardly held his chopsticks in mid-air, not daring to touch any dish.


    Master Jin had left him no way out. What could he do but awkwardly put down his chopsticks andugh dryly, "I''m terribly sorry, but I urgently need to use the restroom. I''ll be right back, and then we can have a deep conversation over drinks."


    Saying this, Long Xuan stood up and walked towards the exit, nning to escape.


    However, things didn''t end that easily. Before Long Xuan could take a few steps, a formation activated under his feet, and a transparent circr barrier rose, enclosing the hall. He almost bumped into it.


    Long Xuan''s expression changed slightly as he turned to Master Jin, pretending not to understand, "Master Jin, what is the meaning of this?"


    Master Jin still wore his smiling face but stepped out of the barrier with the formation controller, leaving Long Xuan inside.


    Master Jin no longer pretended and said with augh, "Though I don''t know how you detected the Gu in the food and drink, it''s wishful thinking to leave so easily."


    "This is my domain, filled with formations under my control. Even if you didn''t fall for the Gu, you can''t escape death today."


    Long Xuan had long discovered that his Eye of Heaven''s secret could break formations, so he wasn''t worried about being trapped. He calmly asked, "When did I ever offend Master Jin? Please enlighten me."


    Master Jin, still smiling, said, "Haha! In the Gu world, who needs to offend to kill? Few people have nothing better to do than offend others. Being weak yet possessing wealth is a crime."


    "Millennium ice Essence is priceless, worth billions in spirit stones. Collecting such things is like announcing you have a fortune. Do you think I, a refiner, can''t recognize materials and need you to identify them?"


    "So that''s why! No wonder," Long Xuan nodded. It was an unsolvable reason. He couldn''t stop collecting Millennium ice Essence to avoid trouble, as he needed it to refine the Divine ice me.


    He had done nothing wrong, but some things were unavoidable.


    "Master! Now that he''s trapped, let''s release the poison gas to kill him. Last time, we took down a rogue cultivator named Feng with poison gas, effortlessly," said the young man who had greeted Long Xuan at the door, no longer respectful.


    It was clear that Master Jin was a habitual offender, having tricked and killed many rogue cultivators in his cave.


    No wonder he often distributedmunication talismans to wealthy cultivators at treasure exchange meetings, under the pretext of facilitating private trades. Now it made sense to Long Xuan.


    "No need. He has the Little Strong Gu, which is incredibly resilient. Most methods can''t kill him. Poison gas won''t work."


    "I''ll release Gu insects to devour him. I refuse to believe that the Little Strong Gu will keep him alive when he''s reduced to pieces."


    Master Jin sneered, opened his insect pouch, and released three ferocious-looking Gu insects into the formation.

 Chapter 54: Acquiring the Millennium Ice Essence

    Three Gu insects appeared: one was a golden ant with a huge pair of scissors at its mouth, which was precisely the exclusive High-grade Gu insect, the Vajra Gu, owned by Master Jin.


    The second was a scorpion with two hooks, wielding a pair ofrge pincers. This was Emperor Xin''s exclusive High-grade Gu insect, the Twin-Tailed Flying Scorpion.


    The third was a centipede with knife-like spines along its sides, resembling a saw. This one came from a talisman master in the market, named the Sawtooth Centipede.


    Goodness! In the entire market, only three rogue cultivators sold high-grade Gu insects, and Master Jin had collected them all.


    Master Jinughed heartily, "Among the rogue cultivators in the market, only three have High-grade Gu insects. I have collected all three types of High-grade Gu insects. With all three High-grade Gu insects together, who can be my match?"


    Amidst hisughter, the three ferocious Gu insects charged fiercely at Long Xuan.


    Long Xuan''s expression slightly changed. He hurriedly patted his insect-raising pouch and threw out a still-sleeping Little white snake.


    "Wake up quickly! Come out and face the enemy! In this battle, victory is the only option."


    Little white was dazed by the throw but luckily woke up. It looked at the three attacking Gu insects with vignt eyes. Although it was still confused and didn''t know what was happening, something told it that it had to deal with these three Gu insects.Gu insects are blood-bound to their Gu masters; they share glory and loss. If the Gu master dies, the Gu insect will also die. Therefore, even though little strong usually indulged in food andziness and disliked fighting, it had to muster the courage to face the battle now.


    Long Xuan showed a worried expression. These three High-grade Gu insects looked extremely fierce, equipped with scissors, hooks, and pincers, and even a saw. Bringing so many weapons to a fight seemed excessive.


    In contrast, little white was pure white and smooth all over, with nothing on it, not even hands or feet. Could it really be reliable in a fight?


    Fortunately, his worries were unnecessary. Peak-grade Gu insects are indeed peak, with an insurmountable gap between them and High-grade Gu insects, which cannot be ovee by mere appearance. Although the three High-grade Gu insects were heavily armed, their movements became slow once the slow domain was activated. They couldn''t even touch little white, and the vajra Gu was knocked over by little white''s tail.


    At this point, Little white was fighting three at once, not only holding its ground but also gaining the upper hand, which was terrifying.


    Seeing this, Long Xuan finally smiled.


    On the contrary, Master Jin''s face stiffened in disbelief. "How is this possible? Three High-grade Gu insectsbined can''t defeat it? This can''t be real! Are you kidding me?" Master Jin shouted in frustration.


    "No! It is a peak-grade Gu insect. You actually have the legendary peak-grade Gu insect!" Master Jin suddenly eximed in surprise, his eyes widening with extreme greed as he looked at little white.


    "Hahaha! Heaven is truly helping me! I didn''t expect you to have a peak-grade Gu insect. If I kill you, I will be the only rogue cultivator in the market with a peak-grade Gu insect!"


    Just a moment ago, Master Jin looked defeated, but now he wasughing heartily again.


    Long Xuan didn''t stay idle. It was inconvenient for a Gu master to fight alongside tiny Gu insects, so he couldn''t intervene in that battle. Instead, he used the Five Elements Jade to madly attack the barrier that was blocking him.


    "Hahaha! It''s useless! This formation was set up by Di Xin herself at a high cost. It can''t be easily broken with brute force. Stop wasting your energy!" Master Jinughed andmanded his disciples, "Attack! Release all your Gu insects! I don''t believe all our Gu insectsbined can''t defeat it."


    The young disciples didn''t hesitate and released their Gu insects. Over ten various Gu insects joined the battle, increasing the pressure on Little white.


    Long Xuan wasn''t sure if little white could handle it and didn''t dare to take the risk. He decided to end the fight quickly, concentrating his 100% into the Five Elements Jade and throwing it at Master Jin''s face.


    Master Jin had no intention of dodging. He had already seen that although the move was powerful, it couldn''t shake the trapping formation. There was no need to dodge. Little did he know that Long Xuan''s previous attacks were just a performance. He could break the formation anytime, but timing was crucial for a surprise attack.


    Seeing that Master Jin wasn''t nning to dodge, Long Xuan smirked coldly and increased the power in his hand.


    At the same time, the five clones outside the cave began breaking the formation. Under the Eye of Heavenly secret, all formations were exposed like sieves. Working together, they quickly broke the formation.


    Thus, the barrier meant to block the Five Elements Jade suddenly disappeared, and the attack hit Master Jin squarely.


    The situation unfolded too quickly. Master Jin had no time to react or defend, resulting in a disastrous oue. Unprepared, he was struck by the full-force attack of the Five Elements Jade, shattering his upper body and killing him instantly.


    Master Jin couldn''t even scream before being killed. Even with a strong Gu insect, he couldn''t survive such an injury.


    Meanwhile, his Gu insects died from the bacsh caused by his death. Without the High-grade Gu insects to hold little white''s back, the battlefield turned into a one-sided ughter. Little white fought with increasing ferocity, killing lower-tier Gu insects one after another until the ground was littered with corpses.


    The remaining disciples of Master Jin turned pale. The sudden turn of events left them in shock. They couldn''t understand how the formation failed and why Master Jin died so abruptly.


    "Run!"


    Seeing little white''s unstoppable force, the terrified youths turned and fled, abandoning their Gu insects. But in the narrow cave, where could they escape to?


    They ran straight into the five clones guarding the entrance, who greeted them with a barrage of various five elements jades.


    The youths, who were of lower cultivation than Long Xuan, were no match for the five clones and were soon wiped out. The cave fell silent.


    Long Xuan showed no mercy to those who tried to kill him. Ignoring the corpses, he immediately picked up Master Jin''s storage pouch. Seeing that its contents were intact, unaffected by the battle, he breathed a sigh of relief.


    He quickly took Master Jin''s gloves and, after putting them on, retrieved the Millennium Ice Essence from the storage pouch, his smile widening. Despite the danger, acquiring the essence made all his efforts worthwhile.


    Feeling the bone-chilling cold, he put away his silly grin, stored the Millennium Ice Essence, and ordered the clones to clean up the battlefield and loot Master Jin''s wealth. Master Jin had killed countless guests in his residence, amassing great wealth.


    The rare materials for formations and arge number of weapon crafting books were invaluable treasures. Crafting skills couldn''t be bought or learned casually but had to be passed down from masters. Learning to craft would allow him to create a huge alchemy furnace and start researchingrge-scale pill refining techniques.

 Chapter 55: Cockroach-Style Gu Refining Method

    After thoroughly looting the entire cave mansion, Long Xuan excitedly walked out, taking along all the materials used for setting up the protective formation, and packed everything into storage bags before heading home.


    Once home, Long Xuan put away his spoils and immediately prepared warm clothes and arge amount of food. He left one clone at home to look after the medicine garden, and then took his remaining clones to the Snowy Mountain mentioned in themunication talisman.


    However, themunication talisman was too small to hold much information. All he knew was that the Millennium Ice Essence was dug by Master Jin in the Snowy Mountain, but the exact location was only vaguely mentioned.


    Long Xuan had three objectives for this trip to the Snowy Mountain. The first, of course, was to upgrade the Millennium Ice Essence. This reason alone was enough to make the trip indispensable.


    The transformation of the Millennium Ice Essence into the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Essence requires more than just time; it also needs a specific environment.


    Otherwise, everyone could simply store the Hundred-Year Ice Essence at home and wait for it to increase in value. If it were that simple, the Millennium Ice Essence in Master Jin''s storage bag would have advanced long ago.


    To allow the Millennium Ice Essence to continue growing, Long Xuan had to personally visit its birthce and ce it in an environment conducive to its growth.


    The second purpose was to refine the Divine ice me. The Divine ice me is unique; it is a cold me and refining it in a cold ce would yield better results.


    Even without the Millennium Ice Essence, he would still need to visit the Snowy Mountain for this purpose.The third reason was to search for water bears, which made him excited just thinking about it.


    Water bears live in various harsh environments and can be found in ces unsuitable for human survival.


    Over the years, he had sent his clones to search far and wide and had collected quite a few water bears.


    Water bears are not difficult to find. Since no one can see them, they have never been captured inrge quantities by humans, so their numbers are considerable.


    Even the low-grade water bears are abundant, and he often encounters high-grade ones.


    Because this is a microscopic world untouched by humans, the peak-grade spirit insects that are rare outside are everywhere in this microscopic world, and only Long Xuan has ess to this world, effectively giving him control over a vast wealth.


    This led Long Xuan to develop an idea: since he is so wealthy, he might as well use the Cockroach-Style Gu Refining Method to refine the water bear Gu.


    The Cockroach-Style Gu Refining Method is his own creation, and he named it himself.


    Traditional Gu refining methods in this world require the strongest primary insect, whichpletes the devouring of other spirit insects. His Eye of Heavenly secret was refined using the traditional method.


    However, his Cockroach-Style Gu Refining Method is vastly different and unconventional.


    In his method, there is no primary insect. All spirit insects are treated equally and must be of the same species and quality.


    If different species or qualities are used, a primary insect will inevitably emerge.


    This method has a significant drawback: all materials must be of low quality, medium quality, or high quality, and they must be of the same species.


    Breaking this rule will result in the emergence of a primary insect.


    peak-grade spirit insects are extremely rare, so refining a Gu entirely with peak-grade spirit insects is impossible.


    This makes it impossible for this method to produce peak-grade Gu, relegating it to low-end uses.


    However Long Xuan, knowing nothing when he first transmigrated, stumbled upon this method and unexpectedly seeded. he knew nothing and he tinkered around and came up with a recipe for a Little Strong Gu without a main insect. Otherwise, if he had a littlemon sense, he would never have been able to make it this way. Unexpectedly, he actually seeded by ident.


    Despite its limitations, this method can produce powerful Gu in a world full of peak-grade spirit insects.


    In this realm, the Cockroach-Style Gu Refining Method is not weak but incredibly strong.


    Imagine refining a Gu with thousands of peak-grade water bears¡ªwhat a terrifying result that would produce!


    Just thinking about using thousands of peak-grade spirit insects to refine a Gu makes Long Xuan shiver in awe.


    Is it really wise to develop such a frightening Gu method?


    Because this method requires so many peak-grade spirit insects, Long Xuan has not yet refined the water bear Gu.


    It is just an exaggeration to say that the microscopic world is full of peak-grade spiritual insects. After all, peak-grade spiritual insects are peak-grade spiritual insects. He still needs to spend a lot of time collecting them. It is impossible to collect them all easily in the market.


    Over the years, he has sent clones to search for peak-grade water bears and has only found about 600, with various specializations such as pressure resistance, regeneration, poison resistance, and starvation resistance.


    He has not yet collected those specializing in cold and heat resistance due to the them being too far away and he cannot go there easily.


    However, the Snowy Mountain, while far, is not unreachable. Master Jin wouldn''t have gone so far otherwise.


    Now, taking the opportunity to upgrade the Millennium Ice Essence, he can also collect the cold-resistant water bear species.


    By bringing together the best in each field, the resulting creature would be unimaginable, making Long Xuan excited.


    After quickly packing his things, he set off.


    The Snowy Mountain isn''t too far, but it''s cold due to its high altitude. The higher the altitude, the colder it gets, especially in this world filled with spiritual energy.


    It took Long Xuan half a month to reach the mountain, and another half month to climb to the snow-covered area.


    At mid-mountain, the weather changed drastically. The air was freezing, snow was falling heavily, and fierce winds roared, making it feel like the end of the world. Despite wearing severalyers of cotton clothes, he felt like he was only wearing a singleyer of paper, offering no protection. He wanted to go back.


    But the thought of refining a peak-grade gu with thousands of peak-grade spirit insects drove him to persevere.


    Just the mid-mountain conditions were daunting, and he couldn''t imagine the harsher conditions at the peak.


    He didn''t n to reach the peak. The Snowy Mountain is incredibly high, towering into the clouds with treacherous terrain. Even climbing for another month he might not reach the top.


    Moreover, the cold at mid-mountain was already unbearable. Even if he could climb up, he would freeze to death.


    So Long Xuan nned to walk around the very gentle slope halfway up the mountain, and go back immediately afterpleting all the tasks.


    Long Xuan really couldn''t imagine how the naked water bear could survive in such a hellish ce.

 Chapter 56: Treasure Encounter

    Long Xuan trudged along, using the farsight ability of the Eye of Heavenly secret to scan his surroundings. He was both on the lookout for dangerous creatures living in the area and hoping to find some treasures. The farsight ability was indeed convenient for treasure hunting; within just a few days, he had already found seven peak-grade water bear.


    Each region nurtures its own unique creatures, and the water bear living here were naturally extremely cold-resistant. Perhaps if Long Xuan could transfer their cold resistance to himself, he would no longer fear the cold here. Then, he might actually be able to walk to the peak of this mountain and leave a stone there inscribed with ¡°Long Xuan was here.¡±


    While he was indulging in this thought, his four external clones walked over from a distance, each holding a transparent empty bottle, and handed them to Long Xuan. If someone else were present, they might wonder why they were handing over empty bottles. However, Long Xuan simply used the farsight ability of the Eye of Heavenly secret to erge the bottles and was instantly overjoyed.


    Each bottle contained more than ten little creatures that looked like tiny bears, far surpassing the harvest of hiszy main body. "Excellent! Excellent! Collecting this many peak-grade tardigrades is enough for now. Let''s find a cave to rest for a while."


    Long Xuan put away all the bottles. A portion of the cold-resistant water bear was sufficient; he still needed to go to other dangerous ces to collect different varieties of tardigrades, so there was no need to deplete the peak-grade water bear here.


    Long Xuan used the farsight ability of the Eye of Heavenly secret to look around. He didn''t find a cave but something on the mountain wall caught his attention and made him ecstatic. He immediately called his clones and rushed over.


    He had inadvertently spotted a Millennium Iceberg Snow Lotus.


    It''s important to know that nts have lifespans too. The vast majority of nts wither after reaching a certain age and never be thousand-year or ten-thousand-year spirit herbs as in novels. Therefore, spirit herbs older than a thousand years are extremely rare and priceless, easily fetching exorbitant prices.


    What use is a thousand-year-old spirit herb? Besides its immense medicinal value, even keeping it in a medicinal garden is valuable. If a thousand-year-old spirit herb gets infested, it could produce high-grade spirit insects. Simrly, a ten-thousand-year-old spirit herb could produce peak-grade spirit insects, all of which are treasures.And this Millennium Iceberg Snow Lotus had a progress of [49.98794%]. Whether it¡¯s a spirit insect or spirit herb, or a person, once they mature, the growth progress converts to lifespan progress. The five digits after the decimal indicated that, although it appeared to be a thousand-year spirit herb, its growth limit was over ten thousand years, meaning it would inevitably be a ten-thousand-year spirit herb in the future.


    A ten-thousand-year spirit herb producing peak-grade spirit insects made Long Xuan''s breath quicken. He had to transnt this Millennium Iceberg Snow Lotus; leaving it here risked someone else taking it.


    However, Long Xuan quickly faced a headache. Low-grade spirit herbs could be cultivated manually, but higher-grade ones had extremely specific growth environments, making manual cultivation or transntation impossible. Although human wisdom could solve any problem, and manyrge ns had sessfully developed methods to cultivate certain high-grade spirit herbs on arge scale to make fortunes, these methods were closely guarded secrets.


    Moreover, no n had sessfully developed a cultivation method for the Iceberg Snow Lotus due to its unique environment requirement of extreme cold, making manual cultivation in medicinal gardens impossible. Long Xuan considered whether his golden finger could help him figure out how to cultivate the Iceberg Snow Lotus, but he was unsure. The extreme cold requirement alone stumped everyone, including himself.


    After a while, Long Xuan''s eyes lit up. His soon-to-be-born Divine ice me was cold, wasn''t it? If he couldn''t cultivate the Millennium Iceberg Snow Lotus, no one else could. Long Xuan pped his forehead, realizing he must have been frozen to overlook such a simple solution.


    Excitedly, he ran to the Millennium Iceberg Snow Lotus and looked up. It grew on a steep cliff, making it dangerous to pick, and there could be other unknown dangers like guardian spirit beasts. Long Xuan called to his avatar, ¡°Fire clone, go pick that Millennium Iceberg Snow Lotus for me without damaging its roots.¡±


    With his clones around, there was no need for him to take risks. If there were dangers, the clones would bear them. The Fire Clone climbed the steep cliff without hesitation and picked the Snow Lotus. After a while, he jumped down and was caught by the clones below.


    The whole process was uneventful, making Long Xuan sigh with relief. Without taking the time to admire the Snow Lotus, he called his clones and quickly left, knowing it wasn¡¯t safe to linger.


    Shortly after they left, a gigantic Snow Eagle descended from the sky, screeching at the empty cliff, almost causing an avnche. Meanwhile, Long Xuan found a cave using the farsight ability of the Eye of Heavenly secret, Confirming it was safe, he called his clones to block the entrance with stones, sealing out the cold wind and finally feeling a bit of warmth.


    After lighting a fire for warmth and light, Long Xuan roasted food while admiring the Snow Lotus. Its petals, resembling blue ice, shimmered beautifully under the light, emitting a fragrance that immediately swept away his fatigue, leaving him feeling intoxicated.


    ¡°What a treasure! I wonder if spirit bees feeding on the nectar of this Millennium Iceberg Snow Lotus could evolve into a queen bee,¡± Long Xuan thought. He wasn''t merely daydreaming; thousand-year-old natural treasures often had miraculous effects. Spirit beasts and insects consuming them invariably underwent changes, though the extent varied.


    Spirit bees consuming honey made from the nectar of a Millennium Iceberg Snow Lotus could indeed evolve, possibly into a queen bee. If this Snow Lotus matured into a ten-thousand-year Snow Lotus, the resulting honey would cause even more extraordinary changes.


    Long Xuan eagerly anticipated the changes in the spirit bees, hoping for a queen bee, which would yield abundant honey that he can then drink.

 Chapter 57: Bad Things

    With the discovery of the Millennium Iceberg Snow Lotus, Long Xuan immediately decided to return and establish his own medicinal garden as quickly as possible. The spiritual bees required arge quantity of floral spiritual herbs, and he could no longer rely on others'' gardens.


    This matter could not be dyed any longer. He initially nned to use the Eye of Heavenly secret to draw small formation patterns. On the same area of the formation te, he could draw a hundred times more patterns than others.


    By then, he would develop a new school of formations, bing the founder of this school in future historical records.


    The formation books he traded from Di Xin had already been read by his clone, and the memories had been assimted into him.


    However, he had too many tasks at hand, and creating his own formations was not an easy task. It would require a significant amount of his time, and he had to prioritize.


    Now that he was about to transnt the Millennium Iceberg Snow Lotus, he didn¡¯t have the time to research formations. So he decided to use the formations he had seized from Master Jin temporarily.


    The formation materials from the previous battle were not significantly damaged, so he decided to use the existing ones for now.


    Moreover, the formations set up by Di Xin were not simple and were more than enough to keep the marrow cleansing Gu practitioners at bay. Without such power, how could Master Jin dare to make a home in the wilderness? With the wealth of a weapon refining master, wouldn''t he be seen as a walking fat sheep by others?


    After warming himself by the fire and replenishing his strength with food, he picked up a piece of wood from the fire, fashioned a simple torch, and walked deeper into the cave.He hadn¡¯t forgotten his primary task. He needed to bury the Millennium Cold Ice Essence in a ce suitable for its growth. After it transformed into the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Ice Essence, he would dig it out again.


    From his observations, this ce was rich in spiritual energy and had good geomantic trends. With his rudimentary knowledge of Feng Shui, he felt that this was a suitable ce for the Millennium Cold Ice Essence to grow, so he decided to bury the ice marrow essence deep in the cave, waiting at the cave entrance.


    The cave was narrow and long, and he finally reached the end just as the torch was about to burn out.


    However, a deep pit had been dug out of the stone wall at the end, with traces clearly showing that it was man-made and not long ago.


    The pit emitted an eerie cold air, simr to the aura of the Millennium Cold Ice Essence.


    Long Xuan was stunned. Could Master Jin have dug out the Millennium Cold Ice Essence here? Could it be such a coincidence?


    He was dumbfounded. It turned out that he had unintentionally found the original location of the Millennium Cold Ice Essence.


    He swore he only knew that Master Jin had dug the Millennium Cold Ice Essence from the Snowy Mountain, but he didn¡¯t know the exact location. The Snowy Mountain was vast; how could he find the original burial spot?


    His initial purpose was simply to find a random ce to bury it, never expecting to find its original location.


    But many things in this world are just like this. When you have the intention to nt flowers, they do not bloom; but when you unintentionally nt willows, they form a shade. This was indeed a huge surprise for him.


    He had no confidence that burying it randomly would allow the Millennium Cold Ice Essence to continue growing.


    However, if he buried it in its original location, the Millennium Cold Ice Essence would undoubtedly continue to grow, allowing him to rest assured. Long Xuan revealed an excited smile.


    ¡°Luck is really good. Quickly bury the Millennium Cold Ice Essence!¡±


    After throwing the Millennium Cold Ice Essence into the pit, Long Xuan immediately called his clones to work while he supervised, standing by the side.


    When the torch was about to burn out, he took another prepared wooden stick and made another torch.


    It had to be said that the Millennium Cold Ice Essence was genuinely cold. The cave was already cold enough, but the cold air released by the Millennium Cold Ice Essence almost turned him into an ice stick.


    Even though he was the farthest away and the cold air was borne by the clones burying the Millennium Cold Ice Essence, he was still shivering with cold.


    Once the clones hadpletely buried the Millennium Cold Ice Essence, he immediately walked back, unwilling to stay in that ce any longer.


    Next, he only needed to wait patiently. He calcted that if all conditions were met, he would only need to wait about ten days.


    During these ten days, he kept observing the progress of the Millennium Cold Ice Essence in the cave. Every time he saw any progress, a smile would appear on his lips.


    After ten days, the Fire Clone ran out from the depths of the cave holding the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Ice Essence. The cold air released by the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Ice Essence was much more terrifying than that of the Millennium Cold Ice Essence, and the me Clone holding it was almost frozen to death.


    Seeing the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Ice Essence that he had waited for so long, Long Xuan couldn''t hold back hisughter.


    ¡°Good! Good! I want to see what the Divine Ice me refined from the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Ice Essence will look like. All clones, prepare the materials immediately¡­¡±


    Under Long Xuan¡¯smand, another ten days passed quickly.


    Refining the Divine Ice me was not like refining a Gu; it didn¡¯t take too long.


    On the day the Divine Ice me emerged, a blue-ice me descended out of nowhere in the middle of the cave, burning fiercely and releasing devastatingly cold air. The cave¡¯s temperature plummeted, ice formed on the ground and stone walls, and the entire mountain seemed to tremble.


    Long Xuan was nearly frozen to death by the intense cold air and had to stay far away, not daring to get close. He didn¡¯t have time to admire it carefully and immediately ordered the Fire Clone to refine the Divine Ice me.


    It''s well known that swallowing mes is highly risky. How could a flesh and blood body swallow mes? Most people would end up being devoured by the mes, with sessful ones being a minority.


    However, Long Xuan was clever. Instead of refining the me himself, he let the Fire Clone do it.


    All the cultivation achievements of the clone could be returned to the main body. If the clone sessfully refined the me, it would be equivalent to Long Xuan sessfully refining it.


    Even if the clone failed and died, it was just a clone. The main body wouldn¡¯t be affected. If sessful, he could enjoy the fruits without any effort¡ªsimply perfect.


    Clearly, luck was not on his side. When the Fire Clone swallowed the Divine Ice me, its body immediately froze, turning stiff, and its life force quickly drained away. It wouldn¡¯tst long before it perished.


    The crucial part was that Long Xuan couldn''t see the progress of the me refining, indicating that failure was imminent.


    It was also Long Xuan¡¯s fault. The form required the Millennium Cold Ice Essence. If he had used the Millennium Cold Ice Marrow as required, with four clones and four chances, his sess rate would have been high.


    But he chose to substitute the Millennium Cold Ice Essence with the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Ice Essence. Although there was only a one-word difference, the gap was as vast as heaven and earth.


    The me refined from the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Ice Essence was not simple. Its power increased exponentially, bing as formidable as divine might. How could a mere Spirit Gathering Gu cultivator dare to swallow it?


    Things taken to the extreme backfires; creating something too powerful can also backfire.

 Chapter 58: Resisting the Cold

    "What should we do?" Long Xuan was in a panic, pacing back and forth in the cave, bing increasingly flustered.


    "You all go! Share the me''s pressure with him!"


    Finally, Long Xuan came up with an idea: let all his clones share the power of the Divine ice me.


    Refining the me is something outsiders cannot help with, but Long Xuan is special. Without wood''s clone, there appeared to be five people in the cave, but they were all the same in essence, essentially one person.


    Identical bodies would likely be judged as the same person by the Divine ice me. Thus, the power of the Divine ice me would be divided among the five, significantly weakening the cold.


    Of course, at this moment, Long Xuan only sent his clones. He was too afraid to risk himself.


    His guess was correct. When the four clones sat in a circle holding hands, the Divine ice me indeed recognized them as one person. Its power was divided among the four, greatly reducing the pressure on the me clone.


    However, the power of the Divine ice me was too terrifying. Even divided by four, it was unbearable for the clones.


    Soon, the other three clones began to freeze rapidly, almost turning into ice lumps, with their vitality fading fast.The worst part was that Long Xuan still hadn''t seen any progress in refining the me. This meant that although his method was correct, the power of the Divine ice me was too terrifying. The strength of the four clones wasn''t enough, leading inevitably to failure.


    Long Xuan grew anxious again, feeling desperate.


    Although the death of a clone wouldn''t affect him, and he could always regenerate them, this process required starting cultivation from scratch, taking a long time. Moreover, it was likely to fail again, and he didn''t have that much time to waste.


    If he failed to refine the me this time, the millennium iceberg snow lotus would die, and he wouldn''t be able to evolve the spiritual bees in the short term, disrupting his ns.


    Gritting his teeth and hardening his resolve, Long Xuan finally decided to join his clones, sharing the pressure of the Divine ice me with them.


    Previously, he always left everything to his clones, and it was rare for him to take action personally.


    As expected, his body was also counted as the same person as the Fire clone, and the cold was further distributed to him.


    Immediately, Long Xuan felt an extreme cold enter his body, drilling into his bones, almost making him pass out on the spot.


    The pain was unbearable, a torture worse than death.


    Even with the Divine ice me''s power divided among five, it was still so painful. He couldn''t imagine the agony the Fire clone endured when it faced the full power of the Ice me alone.


    Fortunately, his mouth was frozen shut, or the cave would have echoed with his screams.


    Long Xuan truly felt the terror of the Divine ice me. It appeared cold and felt cold, but once it burned on you, you would felt extreme heat. However, the heat didn''t spread out; instead, it emitted extreme cold, which was why his body was freezing while feeling burning hot inside.


    Such a bizarre me was beyond belief. Did he really create this terrifying thing? He couldn''t believe it.


    The alternating cold and heat were driving him to madness, a torment that almost broke him.


    Long Xuan, ustomed tofort, had never endured such pain. At this moment, he finally understood the hardship of his clones.


    Looking at the center where the five were, Long Xuan was stunned to see there was still no progress. Even with five people sharing the pressure, it still wasn''t enough. The terror of the Divine ice me was beyond his imagination.


    He began to doubt himself, realizing he might have gotten the sequence wrong. He should have refined the immortal water bear Gu first, then attempted to refine the Divine ice me. With the power of immortality, his clones might seed, sparing him this pain.


    But it was toote to turn back, so he had to keep going.


    His clever mind quickly came up with another n: he ordered all his clones to activate their respective cultivation method simultaneously.


    Each clone cultivated a different attribute. Although wood clone wasn''t here, Long Xuan could fill the gap himself. By activating their techniques, they allowed the spiritual energy to circte among the five, forming a Five Elements cycle to counter the Ice God me''s power.


    He didn''t know if this would work but had no choice but to try.


    If it failed, he would have to let go and hope for the best, unwilling to risk his own life.


    Following his instructions, all clones activated their techniques, and the effect was immediate.


    Wood generates Fire, creating a strong fire. If strong Wood is generated from Water, then Fire generated from strong Wood would be even stronger.


    Starting with Earth and ending with Fire, this cycle would amplify Fire four times.


    While energy conservation seemed to keep the total energy the same, the power had dramatically changed.


    This level of strong Fire could barely match the divided power of the Divine ice me.


    Under the power of the Five Elements cycle, the ice on their bodies began to melt, and the center showed a [1%] progress, tilting the scale in their favor. Long Xuan saw the light of victory.


    Overjoyed, he increased the speed of his spiritual energy cirction.


    He closed his eyes and patiently waited. As the ice on his body gradually melted, his pain subsided, and he could endure the remaining difort.


    Time passed, and when Long Xuan opened his eyes again, a blue light shed, and an ice-blue me briefly appeared in his pupils.


    He let out a long breath, showing undisguised excitement.


    Opening his right hand, an ice-blue me rose, emitting a dazzling blue light and a bone-chilling cold.


    But he no longer felt any cold.


    This meant he had fully subdued the Divine ice me, which now recognized him as its master and wouldn''t harm him.


    "Such a beautiful me. I wonder how itpares to the legendary Heavenly Skyfire."


    Long Xuan, ecstatic, admired the me for a while before reluctantly putting it away.


    With the blue light gone, the cave returned to darkness.


    "Let''s go! I''m taking you all home!" Long Xuan excitedly told his four clones.


    Havingpleted all three tasks, he was determined to leave this dreadful ce and head home immediately, eager to return.

 Chapter 59: The Great Ice Formation

    Half a monthter, Long Xuan returned to Great Stone Vige and stepped back into his long-lost small home.


    Upon returning, he did not rest immediately. Instead, he prepared to nt the Millennium Iceberg Snow Lotus without dy.


    This matter could not be postponed, as the longer it was dyed, the greater the risk of the Millennium Iceberg Snow Lotus dying. After leaving the Great Snow Mountain, it had already left its suitable growing environment.


    As for where to nt it, Long Xuan had already decided on the way. The original owner¡¯s parents, who had passed away early, were farmers and had a piece of farnd.


    Because both parents had died, thatnd had long been neglected. He could use it directly since it was entirely his private property, and using it was legal.


    At that time, by arranging Master Jin''s formation around that piece of farnd, it would ensureplete safety.


    Moreover, thend was not far from his home, making it convenient for him to go back and forth. At worst, he could send a clone to guard it.


    So, after returning home and quickly organizing his supplies, he rushed to the piece ofnd without stopping.


    Through the absorbed knowledge from his clone, he was now considered a semi-skilled formation master. Setting up a formation with all the materials already prepared was not very difficult.Upon reaching the farnd, he began attempting to set up the formation. This was his first time setting up a formation in his life, and he was full of enthusiasm because of the novelty.


    In this world, formations consist of three parts: the formation base, the formation core, and the formation key. To create a formation diagram, these threeponents are indispensable.


    The formation base is the foundation of arge formation, akin to its skeleton, and it is also the core area for engraving formation patterns.


    Therefore, the more solid the formation base, the better. It can be made of any material but must meet two requirements: sturdiness and the ability to contain spiritual power, usually made of rare metals.


    Formation masters will engrave the formation patterns on several hard metal materials and then bury them in different locations ording to the requirements of the formation diagram. The burial locations are strictly regted.


    Once the formation base is arranged, all the bases will interconnect and mobilize the spiritual power of heaven and earth to operate automatically, thereby utilizing the power of heaven and earth to produce various miraculous effects.


    The scope of influence of arge formation is directly proportional to the number of formation bases, making the cost of arge formation extremely high.


    Especially for a protective mountain formation that guards a n¡¯s residence, the expensive materials required make the cost astronomical.


    If the formation base is the foundation of arge formation, then the formation core is its heart.


    The formation core''s function is to manage the operation of a formation, acting as its central nervous system and the most critical area.


    Usually, arge number of spirit stones are arranged near the formation core, making it the energy source for the entire formation.


    Therefore, a high-energy treasure is often ced at the formation core, known as the core-pressing treasure, to enhance the formation¡¯s operational power.


    The treasure can be of any kind, but its level should not be too low. The more powerful the treasure, the better, especially if it has special powers that can further enhance the formation''s potency.


    For example, the Divine ice me, which can release cold energy, could serve as the core-pressing treasure. The formation base and the Divine ice me canplement each other.


    By engraving numerous amplifying formation patterns on the formation base, the power of the Divine ice me can be greatly enhanced, thus creating a killing formation that releases deadly cold mes.


    The core-pressing treasures are not limited to various treasures but can also include earth veins, dragon veins, spirit stone mines, orrge spiritual mountains.


    These elements are even more terrifying. If a formation core is made up of such elements, the formation bes impregnable. Without a force capable of shaking the heavens and earth, it is impossible to move the formation by brute force.


    Such formations can even invoke heavenly might, harnessing the power of heaven and earth, and the power of the sun, moon, and stars. They have numerous deadly moves and enormous destructive power. Entering such a formation often means near-certain death.


    The formation core is usually at the center of the formation but can also be ced off-center or even have multiple cores, depending on the formation master''s preference.


    However, because the formation core is so crucial, it also bes the weak point of all formations. Destroying the formation core will stop almost all formations from operating.


    The formation key is the key to freely entering and exiting the formation. The holder of the formation key will not be attacked by the formation and is owned by the formation¡¯s master to avoid being harmed by their own formation.


    Additionally, the formation key serves as the controller of a formation, with all its functions operated through the key.


    If the formation master wants to activate any killing moves, they must use the formation key to issuemands.


    Therefore, the formation key is indispensable and must not be lost. Losing it would make controlling aplex formation extremely troublesome.


    These are the threeponents of a formation. To create a formation diagram, these three parts are essential.


    However, there is a type of formation in this world that does not require these threeponents, known as a mobile formation or formation te.


    The downside of traditional formations is that they are fixed in ce, requiring significant time to set up and cannot be carried around or used in battle.


    But the formation te perfectly solves this problem. Formation masters can concentrate all parts of a formation onto a formation te, which can take any form but is often a g, also called a formation g.


    The formation g is small, can be ced in a storage bag and carried around, and the formation can be set up by simply nting the g into the ground,pleting the setup in a second.


    However, anyone can foresee the disadvantage of this form of formation: its power is bound to be very weak, far inferior to the extensive protective mountain formations.


    Long Xuan had long memorized this basic formation knowledge. As for what to use as the core-pressing treasure, it would undoubtedly be the Divine ice me, as the Millennium iceberg Snow Lotus could not survive without it.


    So, in the farnd, he buried various formation bases, primarily to amplify the power of the Divine ice me, therebypleting the killing formation.


    Anyone triggering the killing formation would be bombarded by countless cold mes.


    The power of the Divine ice me was already terrifying, and with the formation further amplifying its power, Long Xuan could hardly imagine how powerful it could be.


    If a spiritual sea stage Gu cultivator triggered the killing formation, the oue would be uncertain, but if a marrow cleansing stage Gu cultivator did, their chances of survival would be slim.


    Even with the formation base being quite rudimentary, once he creates a formation base with patterns a hundred times smaller, he could nt anything in his medicine garden.


    After two days of work, Long Xuan finallypleted the formation and named it the Great Ice Formation.


    The Millennium iceberg Snow Lotus was nted next to the formation core, which was also near the Divine ice me, standing alone as the only nt in the entire medicine garden.


    The cold energy of the Divine ice me was much colder than the middle region of the Great Snow Mountain. In this colder environment, the iceberg Snow Lotus not only did not feel ufortable but thrived even more.


    It seemed that the region with the Ice Divine me was the most suitable environment for the iceberg Snow Lotus to grow.


    This made things much easier. Since the Iceberg Snow Lotus liked the environment of the Divine ice me so much, Long Xuan could consider mass-nting iceberg Snow Lotuses, bing the only person in the Gu world to master their artificial cultivation.


    Rarity increases value. He could make a fortune from this, and Long Xuan smiled with satisfaction.


    The next urgent task was to transnt arge number of flower-type spiritual herbs into this medicine garden. Having enough of these herbs would also help move the spirit bees here.


    With only one spiritual herb in such arge medicine garden, it seemed too sparse...

 Chapter 60: Farewell to Di Xin

    Long Xuan nned to start the transntation of spiritual herbs immediately. He took amunication talisman from his storage bag and wrote on it with a pen:


    "I have arge quantity of mid-grade and high-grade spirit insects to sell. I need arge amount of unharvested spiritual herbs. Where is your ce? I wille over personally."


    As the pen left the talisman, it dissipated into a stream of light and flew out the window.


    Thismunication talisman was one that he and Di Xin had kept for each other, convenient for trading between two wealthy individuals.


    Although the market had many spiritual herbs, they were all dead. He needed living herbs that could be transnted, preferably freshly pulled from the soil. It didn¡¯t matter if they were ripe; as long as they had flowers, they were fine.


    Who had thergest herb garden in this area? It had to be Di Xin''s herb garden.


    On one hand, she was skilled in formations, allowing her to expand her herb garden without restraint. Her formation skills were so high that almost no one could break them.


    On the other hand, she had a high demand for mid-grade and high-grade spirit insects and had always been a major customer of Long Xuan. The spirit insects he obtained from the Qian n''s stone gambling shop were mostly sold to her.


    High-grade spiritual herbs could produce high-grade spirit insects, so she naturally invested a lot in her herb garden, making it unimaginablyrge.Compared to hers, Elder Long''s herb garden was simply shabby and embarrassing.


    If he were to pull spiritual herbs from anyone''s garden, Di Xin''s would be the first choice.


    Soon, themunication talisman returned. Long Xuan''s storage bag shook slightly, and he quickly took out anothermunication talisman. It contained Di Xin''s address.


    Long Xuan couldn''t help but miss the world with mobile phones. Communication in this world was really inconvenient. It seemed he needed to find time to create something simr to long-distancemunication.


    With a slight sigh, Long Xuan prepared arge number of mid-grade and high-grade spirit insects and set off for Di Xin''s ce.


    He was notcking in mid-grade and high-grade spirit insects, as he could easily acquire some from the stone gambling shop. The nine storage bags full of fossils from the fossil mine had not yet been dealt with, and there were many good insects among them. Today, he would handle them all, as they were taking up too much space.


    Apart from peak-grade spirit insects, Long Xuan was not interested in any other spirit insects. They could be easily bought with spirit stones whenever needed for Gu refining, so there was no need to hoard them.


    After a day''s journey, Long Xuan arrived at a vast grasnd and finally stopped in front of a small wooden house.


    "Oh! Our big homebody finally steps out?"


    Di Xin had been waiting at home early. Seeing Long Xuan''s arrival, she smiled and greeted him. She was dressed as usual, in a yellow dress with a veil that couldn''t hide her stunning beauty.


    "Is this your home?"


    "Do you think the most dangerous ce is the safest ce?"


    Long Xuan looked around in surprise. It was a t in where the wind blew low, revealing cattle and sheep. It was wide open with no mountains or obstacles in sight, making it very exposed. It was right at the market''s entrance, only a day''s journey away, and seemed very unsafe.


    And where was herrge herb garden? Long Xuan used his Heavenly Eye to scan the area but saw nothing.


    Di Xin chuckled yfully, "Don''t bother looking. No one in the entire market has found my herb garden. Do you think you can?"


    "My herb garden is not hidden. It''s openly nted here, in this vast area."


    "But it''s covered by a massive illusion array. Anyone entering will unknowingly avoid my herb garden without noticing."


    "My herb garden is masked by the illusion of this grasnd. Even if you''re close, you won''t see it."


    Hearing this, Long Xuan couldn''t help but p his hands. Impressive, truly impressive. Boldly cing the herb garden where everyone could see but no one could find it¡ªabsolutely brilliant.


    He sincerely admired her and became increasingly interested in the art of formations.


    "Shocked, aren''t you? To date, you''re the first one daring enough toe to my house. You''ve got guts." Di Xin gave him a strange smile.


    In the world of Gu, normal people wouldn''t easily visit someone''s house, especially a formation master''s house.


    Formations were not convenient to carry and didn''t provide muchbat power, but visiting a formation master''s home was different.


    If the formation master was wealthy enough, the power of their formations could be terrifying. If they found a spiritual vein and used it as the formation''s core, even fighting across major stages battles were normal.


    This was her home turf, where she was like a god. Almost anyone who came would die, no matter how many.


    In such circumstances, who would dare visit her home, risking their life?


    Long Xuan was the first man to enter her house.


    But Di Xin thought again. This guy usually stayed home, cautious and timid, not liking to take risks.


    Unless he had some means of dealing with formations, with his overly cautious nature, he wouldn''t dare to venture into a formation master''s house.


    Her eyes rolled as she recalled selling him formation books. Could he have mastered them enough to break formations, thus not fearing her?


    Could he break her formation instantly? Breaking it slowly wouldn''t work, as no one would give him time to break it during a fight.


    Could he break her formation instantly?


    Di Xin couldn''t help butugh. The boy must be overconfident. Her chain formation, backed by a dragon vein, couldn''t be broken so easily. Underestimating her would be ridiculous.


    Moreover, she only sold him basic formation knowledge, not her ultimate secrets. Could he break her formation with just the basics? Ridiculous!


    Long Xuan, unaware of her inner thoughts, went straight to the point: "No need to invite me in for food or drinks. Just take me to the herb garden. I''ll leave after the trade. I have things to do at home."


    Once bitten, twice shy. He was genuinely scared after being tricked by Master Jin.


    Not going inside avoided trouble. If she really spiked his drink, it would be hard to resolve.


    Di Xin''s beautiful eyes widened, "Come inside and eat and drink with me? A single man''s home isn''t a ce for a stranger to casually visit! What about my reputation?"


    "I never intended to invite you in for a meal! Don''t get ahead of yourself."


    She gave him a sideways nce, feeling that his homebody nature made him too straightforward.


    Long Xuan was sometimes influenced by modern thinking. He only realized now that in a conservative world, it was impossible for men and women to be alone together. His worries were overblown and unnecessary.


    But he had a thick skin. Despite her scolding, he showed no reaction.


    Di Xin had no choice but to lead him to her herb garden, unable to continue the conversation.

 Chapter 61: Di Xins Grand Medicine Garden

    Di Xin''s grand medicine garden was right in front of her house, just a few steps away. Long Xuan never imagined that such a grand garden would be right under his nose.


    After Di Xin threw him a talisman-like formation key, his vision blurred, and the illusion cast by the formation immediately lost its effect on him. The hidden scenery under the illusion appeared before his eyes.


    What was just a vast green meadow suddenly transformed into a paradise filled with spiritual herbs, leaving him utterly shocked.


    This medicine garden was incredibly beautiful, with a dazzling array of flowers in various colors, each more beautiful than thest, with swarms of butterflies dancing among them.


    Beside the flower garden was a fruit orchard, with spiritual fruits of all shapes and colors. The fruit trees varied in height and form.


    Next to the orchard was a tea garden with an array of different tea trees, each with unique appearances and various shapes of tea leaves. At the entrance of the tea garden, there was arge teapot, seemingly brewing tea Gu.


    Adjacent to the tea garden was a patch of strange grasses, though shorter, their variety was visually striking.


    Next to the grass garden was a tree garden, featuring iron trees, fire trees, and beautiful cherry blossom trees with pink flowers that were surely beloved by spiritual bees.


    Beside the tree garden was a vegetable garden rich in various attributes of spiritual energy, with all sorts of grades and types, even including small chili peppers.Amazing, the spiritual herbs were categorized into flowers, grasses, trees, and woods, and Di Xin''s medicine garden epassed all of them.


    In this world, spiritual herbs are generally divided into four major categories: flowers, grasses, trees, and woods. However, unlike in the previous life where trees and woods were considered the same, they arepletely different in this world.


    The simplest way to understand is that the leaves and fruits of trees can be used for alchemy, while woods are valued for their material, used in crafting tools and formations, and even for building houses.


    Besides the four major categories of spiritual herbs, there are also some rare types, but due to their limited use, they are collectively ssified as others, such as vegetables, grains, vines, bamboo, medicinal nts, moss, and aquatic nts from the sea.


    Even these rare misceneous types were all present in Di Xin''s garden. She even dug a pond to grow aquatic nts, adorned with beautiful lotuses.


    Is she a bit of a collector, perhaps even obsessive? Otherwise, why collect soprehensively and in such quantity, making it look like a paradise, leaving Long Xuanpletely astounded.


    What is she nning? Does she really consider this her home?


    However, Long Xuan suddenly remembered that she is a formation master. This girl often cracks others'' formations with her hacking skills and visits their medicine gardens. So, it''s not surprising that her own garden is soplete. It would be strange if it weren''t.


    Thinking this way, he suddenly found it reasonable. Perhaps she moved all the spiritual herbs from other people''s gardens into her own? Truly ruthless and terrifying.


    From now on, he must keep an eye on his own medicine garden. If she ever visited, that would be disastrous. How would he survive then?


    "Don''t just stand there, move the spiritual herbs you like quickly!"


    "Let me be clear, I don''t do business for less than a billion. If you trouble me for a few spiritual herbs, I''ll kick you out immediately!"


    Seeing Long Xuan''s shocked expression, Di Xin revealed a proud smile.


    This was her own paradise, a wondend on earth, her warm little home. She had traveled to countless ces to create it, and it was all a result of her hard work.


    Long Xuan snapped back to reality and immediately walked into the garden.


    As soon as he entered, he felt different. The air was exceptionally fresh, mixed with the fragrance of spiritual herbs and flowers.


    The ce was also rich in spiritual energy. As soon as Long Xuan entered, he feltpletelyfortable, as if staying here would extend his life. It was indeed a nourishing ce.


    He decided that he also wanted to create such a medicine garden. Living like this, focusing onfort and enjoyment while practicing on the side, was what the immortal path should be.


    Initially, Long Xuan nned to transnt a bunch of first-grade spiritual flowers back to feed the spiritual bees. Otherwise, a bare garden with just one spiritual herb would not look good.


    But now, he suddenly changed his mind. He wanted to strive for perfection. If he was going to do it, he had to do it the best.


    He also wanted to create a medicine garden of the same caliber as Di Xin''s, with zones for spiritual flowers, fruit trees, tea, and everything else.


    If he didn''t make it grand, how could it live up to the formidable formation of the Great ice formation?


    The Ice formation even had a turret, so no matter how many people came, they couldn''t attack his medicine garden. He could boldly nt some expensive spiritual herbs.


    Long Xuan used the Eye of Heaven''s secret to quickly scan the spiritual herbs, but there were so many that he felt dizzy, as if he was exceeding his limit.


    But he quickly discovered another function of his golden finger.


    Before, Elder Long Lao''s medicine garden was too low-level, with only the lowest grade first-grade spiritual herbs, so his golden finger didn''t reveal much.


    But upon entering this high-spec garden, his golden finger immediately showed many different things.


    First, he realized one thing: the lifespan of spiritual herbs is not directly proportional to their grade. The lifespan of a spiritual herb is entirely rted to its type.


    Tree-type spiritual herbs live long, with many thousand-year-old trees.


    Grass-type spiritual herbs have short lifespans and often wither quickly.


    So in the spiritual herb world, a fourth-grade spiritual grass has a much shorter lifespan than a first-grade spiritual tree.


    This is also a normal naturalw. Even in the previous life, trees lived the longest, with many thousand-year-old ancient trees.


    However, in this world, the lifespan of spiritual insects is directly proportional to their grade.


    This means that if a spiritual tree is infested with insects, the insects produced will be highly valuable.


    But just as humans have different aptitudes, so do spiritual herbs. The lifespan of the same spiritual herb can vary.


    For example, in front of Long Xuan, there was a patch of peach trees, about a hundred of them, with a maximum lifespan of a thousand years. Of course, this thousand-year lifespan isn''t an exact thousand years. Each tree is different, influenced by its aptitude. Some can live a thousand years longer, some even two thousand years longer.


    But there was one tree with outstanding aptitude that could live for ten thousand years, standing out from the rest.


    A ten-thousand-year-old tree, if infested with insects, would produce peak-grade spiritual insects.


    Long Xuan couldn''t help but swallow his saliva. This was a golden opportunity.


    Di Xin''s medicine garden was toorge, with too many such outstanding spiritual herbs. He was going to hit the jackpot.


    With a nce, he discovered at least ten types of spiritual herbs with ten-thousand-year potential, capable of producing peak-grade spiritual insects in the future. Each ten-thousand-year-old tree could produce more than one peak-grade spiritual insect, making him breathe heavily.


    Most spiritual herbs die before reaching ten thousand years. Who could tell which one could live that long? Di Xin surely didn''t have that ability, but Long Xuan did!


    With this vision, Long Xuan''s future medicine garden could be full of ten-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs, which was terrifying to think about.


    A garden full of ten-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs would be far superior to Di Xin''s garden, like heaven and earth, iparable. He wouldn''t need to envy anything anymore.

 Chapter 62: Spiritual Soil

    "Truly befitting of a renowned formation master, your collection is indeed vast. Almost every rare spirit herb avable on the market can be found in your herb garden."


    "However, each high-grade spirit herb requires different nting methods. It''s not something just anyone can grow. How did you manage to grow different types of spirit herbs in one garden?" Long Xuan asked, expressing his greatest curiosity.


    In this world, first-grade and second-grade spirit herbs are akin to weeds, growing anywhere without much care, naturally allowing forrge-scale cultivation.


    However, third-grade and above spirit herbs are different. Due to their special growth requirements, they are extremely rare in the wild. Gu cultivators also find it difficult to cultivate them artificially, requiring research into special nting methods.


    In Di xin''s herb garden, the number of third-grade and fourth-grade spirit herbs is substantial, with a rich variety. Could she be so knowledgeable as to understand the nting methods of all these spirit herbs?


    Even if she were knowledgeable, how could she have the energy to care for so many types of spirit herbs using different methods?


    "Guess," Di xin teased.


    Long Xuan turned his head and immediately used the Eye of Heaven''s Secret to magnify everything before him, scanning the entire herb garden as quickly as possible, trying to find the secret of this garden using his microscopic vision.


    The Eye of Heaven''s Secret is practically a cheat in this world. It didn''t take long for him to find the secret of the herb garden and understand why Di xin could grow so many types of spirit herbs.He directed his gaze towards the soil where the fourth-grade spirit herbs were growing.


    It''s the soil, the soil is different. The soil in the herb garden for second-grade and below spirit herbs is all local soil, ordinary and unremarkable.


    However, the soil for the third-grade and above spirit herbs is different. The soil is red and contains abundant spiritual energy and incredible fertility. This soil is extraordinary.


    Long Xuan couldn''t help but walk over immediately, grabbing a small clump of the red soil from under a third-grade spirit herb and examining it closely.


    "You discovered it so quickly? Not bad!" Di xin looked at Long Xuan with a smile.


    "This is spirit soil. Spirit soil is a magical soil that can elerate the growth of spirit herbs and can sustain most spirit herbs."


    "But those spirit herbs with extreme environmental requirements still cannot be grown, such as spirit herbs that grow in extremely cold ces, those that grow in magma, or those that live in water..."


    "These overly special spirit herbs cannot be grown even with peak-grade spirit soil."


    "Spirit soil is ssified into four grades: lower, middle, higher, and peak-grade. My spirit soil is a type called red soil, an low grade spirit soil, which can only sustain most spirit herbs below fourth grade and can only double their growth speed."


    "There are many types of spirit soil, divided into naturally urring innate spirit soil and artificially formted acquired spirit soil."


    "Spirit soil forms are closely guarded secrets among various ns, with confidentiality surpassing that of unique Gu forms, never to be disclosed."


    "I told you a long time ago, as long as the price is right, I''ll sell anything. If you like, I can sell you the red soil form at a low price!"


    Dixin smiled at Long Xuan, having already seen his keen interest in this soil.


    However, she misunderstood one point. Long Xuan had just magnified the spirit soil with the Eye of Heaven''s Secret and already knew the form. Why spend money on it? He''s not foolish.


    Moreover, he had a high standard. Since he knew the form for low grade spirit soil, he could infer the forms for middle grade and even peak-grade spirit soil by analogy.


    Who would want this trashy low grade spirit soil? This low-grade spirit soil is not worthy of his high-end, top-tier herb garden.


    So, Long Xuan shook his head, saying, "No need! Your stuff is probably stolen secrets. Using it might bring trouble. I don''t dare use it."


    Di xin nced at him, thinking that he was indeed cautious and timid, not daring to take even this small risk.


    Long Xuan was not wrong. Her red soil form dide from a great n''s treasured secret, and using it could indeed bring trouble.


    But no one had discovered her herb garden, so nothing had happened so far.


    "No need for the form, but can you sell me some spirit soil? What''s the price?" Long Xuan asked.


    He suddenly thought that creating his own spirit soil form would take time, and without spirit soil, he couldn''t sustain third or fourth-grade spirit herbs. So he might as well buy some red soil to use for now.


    Not too much, just enough for the third and fourth-grade spirit herbs. As for the first and second-grade spirit herbs, ordinary soil would suffice, there''s no need to spend on them.


    Di xin smiled, saying, "My spirit soil is not cheap. After all, it can elerate the growth of spirit herbs and transnt fourth-grade spirit herbs, an extraordinary thing."


    Long Xuan decisively threw all nine storage bags full of fossils to Di xin, saying, "Is this enough?"


    "If you find a few peak-grade spirit insects inside, you''ll make a fortune."


    Di xin took the storage bags and looked inside, her eyes instantly curving with delight.


    Everyone has a bit of gambler''s mentality, and Di xin was no exception. What if she really found a peak-grade spirit insect?


    With so many fossils, finding a peak-grade spirit insect seemed reasonable!


    Thinking this way, Di xin was even happier. She loved the thrill of opening blind boxes and the excitement of unknown challenges.


    However, she couldn''t imagine that any peak-grade spirit insects would have been picked out by Long Xuan long ago, leaving nothing for her.


    Long Xuan had also picked out a considerable number of fossils containing peak-grade spirit insects.


    So, although the ninerge storage bags were full of fossils, making them look impressive, most were just useless stones. Di xin was destined to make a losing deal this time.


    "My remaining spirit soil can just be exchanged for these nine storage bags of fossils. Deal!"


    "You need to transnt spirit herbs, right? Select quickly. These spirit herbs need to be priced separately," Di xin said after putting away the nine storage bags.


    Long Xuan nodded and immediately walked deeper into the herb garden.


    First things first, he needed to pull out those dozen or so spirit herbs with potential to live for ten thousand years.


    With these dozen future ten-thousand-year spirit herbs, today''s effort was worth it, no matter the cost.


    Long Xuan eagerly headed straight for the t peach tree.


    Selecting herbs took Long Xuan half a day, mainly because digging up fruit trees and tea trees was time-consuming.


    These tree-type spirit herbs were the most valuable, but each was astonishinglyrge, making them difficult to dig out.


    Luckily, Di xin had a giant beetle with arge shovel-like mouth. One scoop would uproot a tree.


    Otherwise, half a day wouldn''t have been enough to finish, even with a week.

 Chapter 63: Recreating Spiritual Techniques

    Until Long Xuan''s storage bags were all full, including the ones he bought from Di Xin, he reluctantly left Di Xin''s medicine garden. He had an urge to pluck all the spiritual herbs in the garden, but unfortunately, it was impossible.


    Firstly, his medicine garden was too small to hold so many spiritual herbs. He would need to buy arge piece ofnd from his neighbor to fit everything.


    Meanwhile, Long Xuan traded away all the spiritual insects and arge number of spiritual pills he had, including a substantial amount of Spirit Gathering Pills.


    He couldn''t help it; he had taken half of Di Xin''s Grade 4 spiritual herbs.


    When all his clones were also loaded with storage bags, he waved goodbye with a smile and left with a full load.


    However, Di Xin was not in a good mood. Looking at her meticulously managed garden, she was extremely unhappy.


    Her earthly paradise now had bald patches, looking like it had been chewed by a dog, almost destroyed by Long Xuan.


    What was once a beautiful utopia now looked like it had been looted, bing extremely ugly.


    This was her cozy home she had built over countless years of effort, and now it had lost its warmth. She even had the impulse to kill......


    After returning to his garden, Long Xuan immediately began directing his clones to transnt all the traded spiritual herbs into the cultivatednd.


    He also designated an area and spread spiritual soil to nt Grade 3 and Grade 4 spiritual herbs.


    As usual, each clone was working enthusiastically, sweating profusely, while Long Xuan sat on the side as a supervisor.


    Considering that the central area of the formation was too cold for most spiritual herbs to grow, he had to use the formation to iste it.


    However, this left arge area in the center vacant, so Long Xuan had to send clones to buy the surroundingnd to make up for the empty space.


    The formation also needed expansion, which required more time from his main body.


    After doing all this, he left the clones to continue working and returned to his residence. Sitting at the table, he took out paper and pen and began to create a spiritual soil form.


    Spiritual soil can elerate the growth of spiritual herbs and ovee the limatization problems of most high-grade spiritual herbs, so he couldn''t afford to be careless.


    He had no intention of using low-grade spiritual soil; he only nned to reference the soil refining process in the form and rece all the materials.


    First, he wrote "Spiritual Soil Form" on the paper, indicating to his golden finger what he wanted to create. Then he began to think about suitable materials.


    He suddenly remembered that bone meal could elerate nt growth in games he yed in his previous life. Without hesitation, he wrote "bone meal" as the first ingredient.


    Luckily, Long Xuan''s first guess was correct, and the paper showed a progress of [0.1%].


    He smiled slightly...


    Two months passed in the blink of an eye. During these two months, Long Xuan focused solely on the spiritual soil form, doing nothing else, and the time passed peacefully.


    However, there was a small incident with wood clone. Wood clone had been taking care of Elder Long''s garden, and Long Xuan had not yet developed a spiritual art of hiding his cultivation stage, so he directly drained most of wood clone spiritual power, allowing it to maintain an extremely low level, and he was not afraid that Elder Long would be able to see any ws.


    As expected, Long Lie came looking for him during these two months. Long Xuan didn''t want to know the reason, suspecting it was to ask for wine shamelessly, so he avoided meeting him.


    Avoiding was simple: he told Elder Long that someone named Long Lie was outside, seemingly to collect a debt. Elder Long''s face changed, and he activated the formation to expel Long Lie without listening to his exnation.


    After being expelled several times, Long Lie cursed Elder Long and finally stoppeding.


    His life returned to normal.


    On this day, Long Xuan held a piece of paper, feeling both excited and slightly dissatisfied.


    The spiritual soil form was sessfully created, thanks to the golden finger cheat, making failure impossible¡ªonly a matter of time.


    Creating spiritual soil didn''t require thousands of materials like refining Gu; less than a hundred materials were enough. Most of the words in the form described the process of preparing the soil.


    So, he surprisinglypleted the spiritual soil form in just two months, but he still felt unfulfilled.


    What dissatisfied him was that this form was only for high-grade spiritual soil, not peak-grade.


    It seemed that high-grade spiritual soil was his limit.


    It wasn''t that he couldn''t guess the ingredients; it was due to material constraints. He couldn''t obtain certain materials at his current stage, or they simply didn''t exist in this region.


    This high-grade spiritual soil form was his limit, and Long Xuan sighed slightly, suppressing his dissatisfaction and settling for what he had.


    The spiritual soil he created was snowy white, probably due to therge amount of bone meal used. It looked as pristine as winter snow, so he named it Pure Soil.


    Pure Soil could amodate more types of high-grade spiritual herbs than red soil and triple the growth speed of spiritual herbs.


    Long Xuan was not too satisfied with his creation, but he had no idea how envious others would be if they knew he had high-grade spiritual soil.


    In the entire Far west, even middle-grade spiritual soil was scarce. He had created high-grade soil and still felt unsatisfied.


    After storing the Pure Soil form, Long Xuan immediately headed to his garden.


    The form was done, so now he needed to quickly prepare the soil, a task naturally assigned to his five clones.


    Upon arriving at the garden, Long Xuan was surprised by the scene. After two months of relentless effort by the clones, his garden finally took shape and lookedpletely new, showing the potential of a utopia.


    Theyout of his garden was simr to Di Xin''s, with sections for flowers, fruits, and tea.


    The only difference was his garden was much smaller, like a miniature version of Di Xin''s garden.


    But it was equally beautiful, especially with the abundant flowers of various colors, rare and exotic,peting to bloom, creating a stunning scene.


    The entire garden was filled with the fragrance of flowers, providing a refreshing breath that could relieve fatigue.


    Of course, protected by the formation, this earthly paradise was invisible to others; only Long Xuan, holding the formation key, could see it.


    Upon entering, Long Xuan fell in love with the ce.


    Compared to this, Elder Long''s garden was nothing. it couldn''tpare to his garden, where even the lowest-grade spiritual herbs were Grade 2.


    Thinking this, Long Xuan suddenly had an idea. He manipted the formation key to secretly open a small gap near Elder Long''s garden.


    Spiritual beasts and insects have a far superior sense of smell than humans. Despite the distance, the spiritual bees could smell the flowers here.


    The spiritual flowers in this garden were at least Grade 2, and there were even several Grade 4 cherry blossom trees in full bloom.


    The allure of high-grade spiritual flowers to the bees was obvious.


    Soon, Long Xuan heard the buzzing of bees. The swarm, numbering in the thousands, seemed to have navigated directly, flying excitedly towards the gap and swarming into the garden, heading straight for the Grade 4 cherry blossoms.


    The bees were clearly nning to settle here permanently.


    Seeing the bees busy in the garden, Long Xuan felt great, smiling slightly.


    He realized what the gardencked¡ªlife, the presence of animals.


    Without living creatures, the garden, no matter how beautiful, was lifeless. The arrival of the bees finally brought some vitality.


    He suddenly remembered something and rushed to the garden center, where the Iceberg Snow Lotus was nted.


    The Snow Lotus was growing faster near the Divine Ice me, and its lifespan progress was already at 50%. It had be a ten-thousand-year spiritual herb, indicating a lifespan of twenty thousand years.


    Yes, the thousand-year Iceberg Snow Lotus had sessfully upgraded to a ten-thousand-year Snow Lotus, the only ten-thousand-year spiritual herb in the garden.


    Surrounding it were other cold-loving spiritual herbs, nted to keep itpany.


    He couldn''t leave such arge area empty, so he bought many ice-type spiritual herbs that could only grow in cold environments.


    Among all the spiritual herbs in the garden, the ten-thousand-year Iceberg Snow Lotus was undoubtedly the most valuable.


    In terms of fame and value among Grade 4 spiritual herbs, it was one of the top ones, and being a ten-thousand-year herb, it was the garden''s most precious treasure.


    The Snow Lotus was also a favorite of the spiritual bees, who knew its value and the quality of its honey.


    However, the bees hovered anxiously around the Snow Lotus, unable to approach due to the extreme cold.


    Any bee trying to collect nectar from the Snow Lotus would be frozen, so none dared to take the risk.


    But there was always one daring bee. It flew over and dived into the Snow Lotus''s bud.


    Long Xuan''s eyelid twitched.


    "Goodness, this little one is brave! Maybe it has the potential to be a queen bee!" Long Xuan was intrigued, wondering if the bee could evolve into a queen after consuming the nectar from the ten-thousand-year Snow Lotus.


    However, his hopes were soon dashed. The greedy bee collected nectar frantically, shivering from the cold but not stopping. When it finished, it found its wings covered in ice, unable to fly.


    It struggled in vain, gradually losing its life force.


    Long Xuan shook his head, realizing this little fool couldn''t handle the responsibility of a queen bee.


    He reluctantly retrieved the frozen bee from the Snow Lotus and ced it on the ground, saving its life.


    The bee, after a long recovery, flew back to its unfinished hive, seemingly forgetting the danger.


    Looking at the spiritual bee he had high hopes for, Long Xuan suddenly had another thought.


    "Right!"


    He hurriedly ran out of the medicine garden towards Elder Long''s garden.


    Soon after, he returned carrying a beehive as tall as half a person, his expression full of excitement, unable to hide his joy.


    Therge beehive was heavy, filled to the brim with honey, nearly overflowing.


    Now that the spiritual bees had a better option and no longer needed this beehive, the honey in it would belong to him, right?


    After waiting so long, he finally could enjoy some delicious spiritual honey!


    So he returned, happily drinking honey while continuing to supervise the work, even adding some ice cubes.


    The form for the high-quality spiritual soil had been created. Now he needed to send his clones out to buy materials and then mix them into Pure Soil, which would be spread throughout the medicine garden.


    It was a major project, time-consuming andbor-intensive, and he didn''t know how long it would take toplete.


    Long Xuan didn¡¯t idle around. He took out tables and chairs from his storage bag, along with paper and pen, nning to design the second supporting spiritual technique for the "Ten Absolute scripture" while his clones prepared the spiritual soil.


    He had already nned the type of the second supporting spiritual technique.


    His offensive capabilities were insufficient, quite limited, andcking in area-of-effect attacks. Therefore, he wanted to develop an area-of-effect spiritual technique.


    Among the Five Elements, fire has the greatest destructive power, so he intended to design a technique that could release fire attacks. Although this attack method was simple, it was definitely practical.


    With the fragrance of flowers and the taste of honey water, his thoughts flowed freely, and inspiration surged as many fantastic ideas poured into his mind in a short time.


    The fire-releasing spiritual technique could be considered a very ordinary technique, one that anyone could think of. Simr techniques were quitemon, and Long Xuan understood the principles fully.


    However, he wanted something that stood out, something unique, to shine among other fire-based abilities. This required careful thought.


    He didn''t ponder for long. Since it was a supporting spiritual technique, it needed to fully utilize the five attributes.


    He nned to develop a fire-based ability, so fire would be the primary attribute, with the other four attributes as secondary.


    The fire would be enhanced by the support of the other attributes.


    Utilizing the other attributes to achieve this effect was not difficult. It followed the same old pattern, using one of the Five Elements¡¯ three major cycles: the generating cycle.


    Since fire was the main attribute, the cycle route for the Five Elements should be:


    Earth ¡ú Metal ¡ú Water ¡ú Wood ¡ú Fire


    Pure fire alone might not be strong, but what if it were nourished by wood?


    And what if the wood were nourished by water?


    ...


    Starting with earth, thenyer byyer as nourishment, until the final fire at the end¡ªhow powerful would this final fire be?


    How great would the power of the fire-based spiritual technique released in this way be?


    Long Xuan couldn''t even imagine or estimate it.


    But it was bound to be extremely terrifying and would definitely stand out among fire-based abilities.

 Chapter 64: (1): Peak-grade Spiritual Insects

    Amidst the hustle and bustle of the medicine garden, Long Xuan began his grand undertaking of spiritual cultivation.


    While the clones toiled and sweated in the fields, Long Xuan immersed himself in spiritual cultivation. The spiritual bees buzzed busily in the medicine garden, and Long Xuan continued his spiritual practice, undeterred by the wind and rain.


    Just like that, half a year flew by.


    Long Xuan heavily closed a book with the words "Five Elements Palm" inscribed on the cover. In the lower right corner of the cover, a small line of text read:


    ¡ª Written by Long Xuan


    This book, titled "Five Elements Palm," was a spiritual technique he had arduously created over the past six months.


    Long Xuan felt ted and aplished, a faint smile on his lips.


    Creating such an impressive spiritual technique made him feel proud and invincible, filled with a sense of youthful exuberance and confidence. He felt as if he was about to soar.


    What kind of spiritual technique could make him so proud?The "Five Elements Palm" is a palm technique he developed using the cyclical principles of the five elements, divided into five forms.


    <em>First Form: zing me Palm</em>


    The spiritual energy circtes in the order of Earth ¡ú Metal ¡ú Water ¡ú Wood ¡ú Fire.


    <em>Second Form: Life-Destruction Palm</em>


    The spiritual energy circtes in the order of Fire ¡ú Earth ¡ú Metal ¡ú Water ¡ú Wood.


    <em>Third Form: Surging Wave Palm</em>


    The spiritual energy circtes in the order of Wood ¡ú Fire ¡ú Earth ¡ú Metal ¡ú Water.


    <em>Fourth Form: Vajra Palm</em>


    The spiritual energy circtes in the order of Water ¡ú Wood ¡ú Fire ¡ú Earth ¡ú Metal.


    <em>Fifth Form: Tathagata Palm</em>


    The spiritual energy circtes in the order of Metal ¡ú Water ¡ú Wood ¡ú Fire ¡ú Earth.


    The first form, zing me Palm, was designed to unleash mes.


    Starting with Earth as the initial element and progressively advancing, the zing me Palm became terrifyingly powerful.


    If other fire-attribute spiritual techniques could produce mes, then his zing me Palm could unleash a sea of fire¡ªa vast, potent firestorm with a wide attack range.


    Using this sea of fire forrge-scale attacks left enemies with nowhere to hide.


    It could be said that his normal attack was equivalent to others'' ultimate moves.


    Immensely powerful.


    Even among fire-based spiritual techniques, his zing me Palm could dominate the majority of fire-attribute techniques in this world.


    Since the cycle ending with Fire could create the zing me Palm, by the same logic, ending with the other elements could naturally create techniques of the remaining four attributes.


    This required him to brainstorm four more ideas toplete the "Five Elements Palm."


    This time, it wasn¡¯t as challenging. Since they were part of a suite of spiritual techniques, the attack methods he devised matched the characteristics of the mutated spiritual energy.


    Different from ordinary spiritual energy, mutated spiritual energy had unique traits. Each type of mutated spiritual energy was unique, with its own characteristics.


    The characteristics of the mutated spiritual energy from the "Ten Absolute Scripture" could be summarized with one word each:


    Fire¡ªburn, Wood¡ªgrow, Water¡ªdense, Metal¡ªsolid, Earth¡ªheavy.


    Thus, designing the remaining four forms centered around growth, density, solidity, and heaviness ensured a perfect match.


    For example, the characteristic of Wood is growth. Growth represents the power of Life, and Long Xuan first thought of a maturation technique often seen in cultivation novels¡ªa spiritual technique that could elerate the growth of spiritual herbs. Unexpectedly, he sessfully developed it.


    The Life-Destruction Palm could elerate the growth of spiritual herbs, but when used on a person, it had the opposite effect, destroying a person''s vitality and causing irreversible damage.


    Therefore, this technique was named the Life-Destruction Palm rather than the Maturation Palm.


    Moreover, while the Life-Destruction Palm¡¯s ability to elerate the growth of spiritual herbs was formidable, it was limited by one''s cultivation level.


    The higher the cultivation level and the more spiritual energy avable, the more years it could elerate.


    With a low cultivation level and limited spiritual energy, the elerated growth would naturally be minimal.


    Currently, he was only at the Spirit Gathering stage, and the mutated spiritual energy was still in the initial fusion phase of two attributes. The maturation effect was negligible, at best elerating growth by ten days with a single palm strike, making it rather impractical. In the short term, its destructive aspect was far more useful.


    As for thetter three forms of the "Five Elements Palm"¡ªSurging Wave Palm, Vajra Palm, and Tathagata Palm¡ªhe already had ideas and had prepared drafts.


    If the zing me Palm was for group attacks, the Tathagata Palm was for single attacks, the Surging Wave Palm for ranged attacks, and the Vajra Palm for closebat.


    The abilities of the five forms of the "Five Elements Palm" wereprehensive.


    However, due to time constraints and his fatigue, he had to pause the development of thest three forms temporarily...


    Long Xuan took out amunication talisman from his storage bag, given by Li Laodao. It roughly conveyed that Li Laodao nned to hunt spiritual beasts in the Ten Thousand Mountains and invited him to join the team.


    Previously, he would have refused without a second thought, finding the wilderness too dangerous and preferring thefort of his cozy nest.


    But this time, he couldn''t refuse. Recently, there were signs of spiritual beasts gathering in the Ten Thousand Mountains, indicating a potential beast tide.


    Nearby experts had issued a statement requiring all itinerant cultivators to go to the Ten Thousand Mountains to clear the spiritual beasts, preventing the beast tide from threatening viges.


    This was a mandatory order. With a beast tide imminent, everyone had a responsibility and couldn''t stand aside.


    So, he had to pause his research on spiritual techniques and prepare to venture into the Ten Thousand Mountains.


    Li Laodao''s invitation came at the right time, so he agreed to join the team.


    He was also interested in hunting spiritual beasts. In his previous life, animals could have parasites, so it was reasonable to assume that the spiritual beasts in this world could have parasites too.

 Chapter 64: (2): Peak-grade Spiritual Insects

    In this world, hunting spiritual beasts was akin to acquiring equipment in games¡ªspiritual insects of various qualities would drop, attracting countless rogue cultivators and forming the hunter profession, where they made a living by hunting spiritual beasts.


    Like in games where monsters drop equipment, the dropped spiritual insects were random. Whether one could obtain supreme spiritual insects depended entirely on luck.


    Some people had bad luck, always getting low-grade spiritual insects, while others, blessed with fortune, could get peak-grade spiritual insects on their first hunt.


    It was impossible to tell which spiritual beast had good insects inside, so hunters targeted high-grade spiritual beasts to increase their chances.


    Since spiritual beasts had a different growth system from humans, their abilities were inherited through bloodlines, not learned.


    The ancestors of spiritual beasts embedded their abilities in their bloodlines, passing them down through generations, allowing spiritual beasts to naturally possess various powerful abilities.


    Of course, the next generation of spiritual beasts couldn¡¯t inherit all the abilities of their ancestors; otherwise, there would be ancestral beasts everywhere.


    For example, a powerful ancestral beast might have ten thousand abilities, but its descendants would inherit these abilities randomly. Bad luck could result in awakening a useless ability, cing them at the bottom of the food chain, while good luck could awaken a heaven-defying ability, making them a beast king.


    As the bloodline of ancestral beasts thinned over generations, the number of awakened abilities decreased, and most spiritual beasts today had only one or a few abilities.Those unawakened abilities were calledtent abilities by humans, hidden within the bloodline, not lost.


    If a spiritual beast was exceptionally gifted and experienced atavism, thosetent abilities could awaken.


    Interestingly, the parasites within spiritual beasts could carry thesetent abilities.


    Spiritual beasts, however, are not Gu cultivators and cannot use this kind of power at all.


    Therefore, it''s impossible to determine what kind of spirit insects a spiritual beast might have based on its abilities.


    A garbage spiritual beast that can only blow bubbles might host spirit insects with the power to cause catastrophic floods. It''s like opening a blind box¡ªthere''s no pattern and no way to predict it.


    Long Xuan is aplete exception; he can see the progress of spirit insects within spiritual beasts at a nce. He doesn''t need to gamble like others. Entering the world of spiritual beasts for him is like using a navigation system.


    Thisrge-scale mission to hunt spiritual beasts, while dangerous, is also an opportunity for him. His clones don''t have the ability to see the progress of spirit insects, so they cannot rece him. He needs to use his main body to find the best spirit insects like using navigation.


    For someone like him, the Ten Thousand Great Mountains are full of treasures. It''s not just possible, but certain, that he''ll find peak-grade spirit insects there. His only concern is whether he has enough strength.


    Therefore, he doesn''t resent thispulsory mission. On the contrary, he''s somewhat excited, as if arge number of peak-grade spirit insects are calling to him.


    In fact, there''s another type of parasite found in spiritual beasts. Spirit insects within a spiritual beast can be naturally born ore from the outside.


    When a spiritual beast drinks water or passes through a certain bush, it might get spirit insects that jump onto it and hide in its fur, bing parasites.


    These are like fleas, lice, and ticks¡­ parasites.


    There are also many insects unique to this world that even an entomologist like Long Xuan has never seen.


    However, parasites on the surface of a spiritual beast can easily be spotted by sharp-eyed Gu cultivators. If he teams up with other Gu cultivators, these surface parasites would not be easy for him to im.


    His target remains the naturally born spirit insects within spiritual beasts, which his teammates can''t see. This gives him much more room to maneuver.


    Long Xuan became very interested in this trip. After replying via themunication talisman, he immediately packed his things and headed to the agreed meeting ce with Li Laodao.


    Due to the circumstances, he asked Elder Long for a leave before departing, pausing his work at the herb garden.


    Being absent from the herb garden for a month wouldn''t be fatal. Elder Long agreed without much thought. He was aware of the potential beast tide and didn''t ask much, continuing to research the Hundred flowers Pill recipe, which Long Xuan found exasperating.


    It had been so long, and Long Xuan was tired of the Hundred flowers Pill. Yet Old Long still hadn''t figured it out.


    It''s worth mentioning that for this beast tide clearing task, not all major n Gu cultivators would go. A significant number would stay behind.


    Big ns, unlike individual rogue cultivators, haverge assets and need to keep some strength at home. Elder Long was among those who didn''t need to participate.


    Don''t talk about fairness; this world is never fair. Fairness always belongs to the stronger side. Individual cultivators, being weak, have no choice but to be manipted.


    The meeting ce was Qian''s Inn in the market city. Long Xuan followed themunication talisman''s directions and entered one of the private rooms in the inn.


    Inside, he found quite a few people already present. Clearly, Li Laodao had invited more than just him. These people would be his teammates for this journey.


    There were three men and two women in the room. Li Laodao, whom he was very familiar with, and a little medicine boy whose name he didn''t know but often sold him junk¡ªso he could be considered a semi-acquaintance.


    Another was an old man whose face Long Xuan recognized after a moment''s thought as the one who had sold him the honeb years ago. This old man mistakenly sold high-grade spirit bees as middle-grade ones.


    Unexpectedly, after so many years, they met again and coincidentally became teammates. Truly, fate works in mysterious ways.


    As for the other two women, since Long Xuan''s clones frequently visited the market city and attended various trade fairs, he knew them too.


    One was an old woman named Han Mei, and the other was a in-looking middle-aged woman named Zhang Ling.


    All five of them were at the peak of the Spirit Gathering, just one step away from the Marrow Cleansing stage. They were among the strongest individual cultivators in the market city.


    Only Long Xuan was at thete Spirit Gathering stage, making him the weakest link.


    "Li Laodao, why did you bring ate Spirit Gathering stage here? This is just dragging us down. I don''t want to carry a burden,"ined the old man with poor eyesight, still not recognizing Long Xuan.


    Li Laodao immediately stepped in to smooth things over. "Old Ma, you''ve been away from the market city for so long, you don''t know. This young friend here is Long Xuan. Despite his lower stage, hisbat power is no less than ours."


    "I can''t reveal specifics, but he definitely has the strength of someone at the peak of the Spirit Gathering stage. Why would I invite him otherwise? Trust me, he won''t drag us down. Even if his strength falters, his Little Strong Gu will keep him safe. He won''t be a burden."


    Hearing that Long Xuan, though at thete stage, had the strength of someone at the peak, Old Ma looked skeptical but gave Long Xuan another look. The more he looked, the more familiar Long Xuan seemed.


    Finally, Old Ma recognized him as the young man who had bought the honeb years ago. He shouted, "So it was you! You crafty brat, you tricked me terribly. Give me back my high-grade spirit bee hive!"


    Long Xuan looked puzzled and replied, "Who are you? I don''t know you. What spirit bee hive? I have no idea what you''re talking about¡­"


    "Hahaha," Li Laodaoughed, patting him on the shoulder. "Old friend, it''s been years, don''t you remember the rules? No taking back mistakes. Forget it."


    After saying that, Li Laodao no longer paid attention to him, walked up to Long Xuan and said, "Don''t mind him. The market city has its rules. You were lucky to get a high-grade spirit bee hive at a low price."


    "high-grade spirit honey fetches a high price. If your herb garden is full of flowers, selling honey would be a great source of ie."


    Li Laodao looked envious, considering whether he should trade for some high-grade honey himself. He wondered what kind of high-grade spirit bee it was that made Old Ma so upset.


    Ignoring the ring Old Ma, Long Xuan chatted with Li Laodao.


    "Let''s cut the small talk. I''ve never hunted in the Ten Thousand Great Mountains. What''s the risk level?" Long Xuan asked seriously.


    "Don''t worry. This trip is 100% safe. No idents. You can be totally at ease!" Li Laodao promised confidently.


    "100% safe?" Long Xuan raised an eyebrow, feeling a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu. Li Laodao had said the same about the ancient tomb. But what happened then?


    They were used as cannon fodder by therge ns, and many rogue cultivators died. He was lucky not to go.


    "Are you sure? You said the samest time." Long Xuan couldn''t help but question, showing his doubt.


    Li Laodao, understanding the reference, blushed slightly and said awkwardly, "That was an ident. This time is different. I have a powerful backer leading us¡­"

 Chapter 65: (1): The Imagination of the Little Medicine Boy

    Upon hearing this, everyone in the room immediately perked up their ears.


    They were all too aware of the dangers of hunting spirit beasts in the Ten Thousand Great Mountains¡ªit''s a task that could cost them their lives.


    Spirit beasts are not so easy to hunt. If it were that simple, all loose cultivators would be rich, rather than each one struggling to make ends meet.


    Spirit beasts generally have incredibly strong bodies and run much faster than humans.


    If a spirit beast goes straight for a weak-bodied Gu cultivator rather than the Gu insect, it would definitely be a deadly situation.


    Most rogue cultivators who go to hunt spirit beasts meet their end this way.


    Moreover, they are all at the lowest level of cultivation, the Spirit Gathering stage, which ces them at the bottom of the food chain in the natural world.


    In a world where spirit beasts practice survival of the fittest, there''s no concept of "shame in bullying the weak." If they encounter a fourth-level spirit beast, they could be its prey.


    In the spirit beast world, the strong always prey on the weak, and battles between opponents of equal strength are rare.So, the dangers of the Ten Thousand Great Mountains are easily imagined. Each of them was uncertain and full of worry about the path ahead.


    When they heard that Li Laodao had found a powerful ally who could guarantee their safety, they all immediately became interested and listened attentively.


    Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Li Laodao immediately showed a proud expression and continued, "To be honest with you, I have found a Gu cultivator from a great n, and he is a genius at the initial stage of the marrow cleansing stage. He possesses a peak-grade Gu and has incrediblebat power."


    "With him leading the way, our safety is guaranteed. Moreover, we will only stay on the edge of the Ten Thousand Great Mountains and will not go deep. With a skilled protector, how could we encounter danger?"


    "This trip is absolutely safe, I assure you!" Li Laodao said with great confidence.


    Upon hearing this, the others were not pleased; instead, their worry increased.


    Han Mei furrowed her wrinkled brows and questioned first, "Is that so? How could a genius Gu cultivator from a great n be willing to lead a group of rogue cultivators?"


    "What benefit would this be for him? Could it be a trap?"


    Long Xuan nodded in agreement, feeling that this matter seemed unreliable. Would such a Gu cultivator really be so kind?


    "Absolutely not!" Li Laodao said confidently, "The person I mentioned is someone you''ve all heard of¡ªLong Qilin, the son of the Long family head."


    "Unlike his scheming father, Long Qilin is known for being honest and kind-hearted."


    "I pleaded with him a bit, and he agreed without much hesitation. Of course, he will only take us part of the way. Once we reach the depths of the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, he will continue on his journey, and we will return the same way."


    Upon hearing this, Zhang Ling''s worried expression immediately disappeared, and she smiled, "I see. If it¡¯s just a matter of him taking us part of the way, then it¡¯s not a problem."


    "When we return, the route will already have been cleared by him, so we will not encounter any danger."


    The Little Medicine Boy also said, "I trust his character. With him leading the way, there will be no problems. We can ensure a safe trip."


    The others also agreed, nodding in agreement. Their worry faded, and they even showed signs of joy.


    Long Xuan was greatly surprised. What kind of person is this Long Qilin to have such trust in his character?


    Just by mentioning that he would be the guide, everyone immediately put down their guard and had no doubts about him.


    In the Gu world,pletely trusting someone is quite rare.


    How high must Long Qilin¡¯s character be to earn such terrifying trust?


    Long Xuan looked at Li Laodao. Although his doubts remained, he said, "Alright, I''ll trust you one more time!"


    After all, this person¡¯s surname is Long. When the timees, if anything happens, he can still Elder Long''s name and say that he''s the medicine boy working for him.


    With this in mind, Long Xuan decided not to doubt any further.


    As soon as they mentioned Long Qilin, the person in question arrived.


    Long Qilin suddenly pushed open the door and walked in with a smiling face.


    Long Xuan immediately looked at the neer. Indeed, he looked familiar, with a simple and honest appearance. Just by his looks, one could tell he was a kind-hearted person.


    He did not carry the arrogant aura typical of a great n¡¯s offspring; he was very amiable, and his muscr build made him look like a rural strongman, quite approachable.


    Seeing his muscr frame, Long Xuan realized he must specialize in closebat, using his blood contract Gu in battle and charging into the fray himself.


    However, he was not alone; a ragged boy followed him, who also seemed to be a rogue cultivator.


    Upon seeing this person, Li Laodao frowned. He trusted Long Qilinpletely, but he did not trust or know this boy. He had never seen him before.


    Nobody wants to team up with apletely unfamiliar person. Not only is there ack of trust, but it¡¯s also easy to cause disputes due to uneven distribution, and it could even lead to internal strife, which is detrimental to the team.


    Variations and uncertainties are the most taboo in any task. Li Laodao was unhappy about this addition but did not dare to voice his concerns.


    "I wonder who this is..."


    Li Laodao asked tentatively, looking at the boy behind Long Qilin.


    "Oh, I forgot to introduce him."


    Long Qilin pointed at the boy and said, "Like you, this boy named Ma Wu requested that I take him along. Since taking one or two doesn¡¯t make a difference and it''s on the way, I decided to take both of you. It¡¯s just a small favor, no need to thank me."


    He spoke lightly, but the others'' moods were not as pleasant.


    However, at this point, they were the ones asking for help and naturally did not dare to make too many demands. They could only suppress their dissatisfaction and force a smile.


    Li Laodao cast a skeptical nce at the boy before starting to introduce the people in the room to Long Qilin.


    When it came to Long Xuan, Long Xuan immediately took the initiative to introduce himself, "Hello, I am Long Xuan, I''m Elder Long''s medicine boy. Please take care of me."


    The purpose of his statement was clearly to build connections. If this person harbored ill intentions, maybe he could give Elder Long some face and not make things difficult for him.


    In reality, he was not Elder Long''s disciple at all. He was just a minor errand boy, not even remotely rted to being a disciple. He rarely saw Elder Long and had little to no connection with him.


    However, as soon as Long Xuan mentioned Elder Long''s name, Long Qilin¡¯s expression changed instantly. He turned to Long Xuan with a fierce look and said, "Oh, so you are Old Long''s disciple! And you even share the same surname!"


    "Your master owes me one million spirit stones. Debts must be repaid, so what do you think we should do about this?"


    "Uh?" Long Xuan waspletely stunned. The script seemed to be off.


    Goodness, this guy automatically upgraded him from a medicine boy to a disciple.


    And this scene seemed oddly familiar.


    It was like thest time he mentioned Elder Long in front of Long Lie; things only got worse when he mentioned Elder Long''s name.


    At this moment, he realized he might have made a foolish move. Elder Long''s reputation didn¡¯t seem to hold much weight outside. When out, one should avoid mentioning his name. If not mentioned, he might just get beaten up; but mentioning it only made things worse.


    "Hahaha... Alright! I¡¯m just joking. The debt has a head and the money has a master. How could I possibly take money from a junior? It¡¯s gettingte; let¡¯s set off now!"


    Long Qilinughed heartily, turned around, and walked out, with the boy following closely behind.


    The six people in the room looked at each other and followed Long Qilin out, slowly leaving the inn.


    Outside the inn, the crowd was already immense. The number of people preparing for the hunt was far more than just their group. The market was packed with people, and the shops were crowded.


    The uing beast tide filled the entire market with a tense atmosphere. All Gu cultivators were rushing to buy supplies, trying to enhance their power as quickly as possible and arm themselves to protect themselves during theing beast tide.


    Thus, the major stores were packed, and the market was a sea of people, with many more times the usual crowd. Each store was making a fortune.


    As the group left the market, they tacitly began to quicken their pace, heading rapidly toward the Ten Thousand Great Mountains.

 Chapter 65: (2): The Imagination of the Little Medicine Boy

    The Ten Thousand Great Mountains are not close to the market. Walking slowly would not do; they could only infuse spiritual power into their legs to speed up.


    However, this was a primitive method, and their speed was still limited. It was impossible to outrun spirit beasts.


    Long Xuan liked to n ahead, identifying his own shorings and addressing them in a timely manner.


    After today¡¯s run, he realized that speed was his weakness. If he encountered a speed-type opponent, it would be troublesome.


    Not only spirit beasts with incredible speed but also the speed of Gu far surpasses that of humans.


    If he were to face an opponent with a particrly fast Gu, bypassing little white to attack him directly, it would be a big problem.


    With this in mind, Long Xuan immediately included the creation of his own movement technique in his n.


    As the group ran, half a day quickly passed.


    At this point, apart from Long Qilin, the rogue cultivators were all sweating profusely and panting heavily.The situation of the young medicine boy seemed much better; he was only slightly out of breath. Seeing the elderly Li Laodao beside him drenched in sweat, he smirked with a hint of sarcasm, his expression showing disdain.


    He subtly mocked Li Laodao for not being imaginative enough. Cultivating the body could cause harm, and others dared not overdo it, fearing hidden injuries or even damage to their foundation.


    But why didn¡¯t he think of using his own Little Strong Gu? The Little Strong Gu could eliminate all conventional damage, making the harm from body cultivation a trivial matter.


    Cultivators with the Little Strong Gu could increase their training volume tenfold without causing any harm to their bodies. They could over-train and severely damage their bodies to achieve rapid progress in body cultivation.


    This was a shortcut, a path to leave peers far behind.


    The fact that Long Xuan could think of this so easily, while Li Laodao had not considered it until now, showed how little he had achieved despite his age. Theck of intellect was evident.


    The young medicine boy looked at Li Laodao¡¯s head with a look of sympathy.


    These rogue cultivators were all at the Spirit Gathering stage, how could they keep up with Long Qilin¡¯s speed? Long Qilin was not only at the early stage of marrow washing but also specialized in body cultivation, thus excelling in long-distance running.


    Long Qilin was deliberately slowing down to amodate the group, otherwise, they would have been left far behind, and they wouldn¡¯t even see a trace of him.


    No one wanted to be a drag, so they gritted their teeth and persevered, but their spiritual power was limited. No matter how much willpower they had, it was of no use.


    Except for the remarkably enduring young medicine boy, there was an outlier, which was naturally Long Xuan. His condition was even better than the young medicine boy¡¯s.


    While everyone was exhausted and drenched in sweat, he remained expressionless, not a drop of sweat on him.


    He appeared as if he was untroubled, even leisurely admiring the scenery. Those who did not know might think he was on a sightseeing tour.


    Everyone was greatly astonished. All the rogue cultivators were at the peak of the Spirit Gathering stage, yet he was at theter stage of Spirit Gathering with the least spiritual power.


    Logically, he should have been the first to copse and be the one holding back.


    How could he endure so well?


    It simply didn¡¯t make sense.


    Everyone puzzled over this, their eyes filled with astonishment as they looked at Long Xuan.


    They had no idea that Long Xuan normally had five clones continuously feeding back the results of body cultivation, equivalent to five times the results. Therefore, his physical strength was not only adequate but far superior to ordinary people.


    As for his spiritual power, it was even more impressive. The Ten Absolute Bodies were powerful due to their immense spiritual power, excellent endurance, and far superior to others of the same rank.


    Though he was only ate-stage Spirit Gathering cultivator, his spiritual power was actually more terrifying than that of peak-stage cultivators.


    Moreover, his mutated spiritual power was of high quality and of five types. How could these rogue cultivators possibly oust him? It was beyond imagination.


    He might even be able topete with Long Qilin in an arm wrestling match.


    Suddenly seeing everyone looking at him with suspicion, each of them exhausted to the point of near copse, Long Xuan finally realized and hurriedly put on a breathless appearance, panting heavily.


    However, he hadn¡¯t broken a sweat, so who could believe his poor acting?


    Who is he trying to fool? The crowd rolled their eyes collectively.


    Long Qilin suddenly turned around, knowing from the looks of the crowd that they had reached their limit, and immediately ordered a rest.


    The rogue cultivators were instantly relieved, copsing onto the ground, panting heavily, and drinking water like crazy.


    At this moment, their legs felt like they were filled with lead, making any movement difficult.


    ¡°You guys are not up to par. You can¡¯t evenst as long as the one with the lowest realm!¡±


    ¡°Indeed, it seems that the Long family members are the most enduring.¡±


    Long Qilin nced disdainfully at the rogue cultivators lying on the ground, then turned to Long Xuan, who was still gasping for air, with a look of interest.


    ¡°Enough! Stop pretending! There isn¡¯t even a drop of sweat on your face. Don¡¯t insult their intelligence.¡±


    ¡°What body cultivation technique are you practicing? It doesn¡¯t seem weak! I haven¡¯t heard of such a powerful body cultivation technique from Elder Long.¡± Long Qilin asked Long Xuan with curiosity.


    ¡°I haven¡¯t practiced any body cultivation technique; it¡¯s just innate strength,¡± Long Xuan replied evasively.


    His strength was purely due to the result of his five clones working together.


    He had not yet practiced any body cultivation techniques. His endurance was entirely due to his physical attributes and the Ten Absolute Bodies.


    He was certainly going to practice body cultivation techniques, and due to the uniqueness of the Ten Absolute Bodies, he might even create his own. However, this was not in his current n.


    Using five clones for basic training was fine, but using techniques for body cultivation was risky. If one didn¡¯t understand body cultivation and trained recklessly, it could lead to problems.


    He had figured out that the golden finger would only tell him if the researched method was feasible, but would never inform him if it was dangerous.


    Even if he developed a technique with a 90% chance of death upon practice, the progress would still show 100% without any warning of the technique¡¯s drawbacks.


    So, he nned to create his own body cultivation technique only after developing the Water Bear Gu.


    With the Water Bear Gu, he would have an immortal body,pletely ignoring the damage caused by body cultivation.


    That would be the time to research body cultivation techniques. At that point, he could endure any danger from the techniques.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ve practiced body cultivation techniques, but you definitely have practiced techniques for spiritual power, and they are quite formidable, not inferior to our Long family¡¯s ¡®Yellow Emperor''s Dragon technique,¡¯ and your mutated spiritual power is also not inferior to our Long family¡¯s Dragon Power.¡±


    Long Qilin looked at Long Xuan with a serious expression.


    ¡°Brother Long, you have a good eye. However, my situation is special. Elder Long has instructed me not to disclose it to others, so I apologize.¡±


    Long Xuan presented the excuse he had long prepared. Although Elder Long¡¯s name did not carry much weight outside, he had no choice but to use it now.


    He truly could not hide the fact that he had mutated spiritual power. Any use of spiritual techniques would reveal it, and even if he hid it now, he couldn¡¯t do so during battle.


    Thus, Long Xuan had already prepared himself.


    Long Qilin nodded, acknowledging his exnation, and continued, ¡°It seems that it is indeed Elder Long who passed it on to you. The Long family¡¯s secret techniques are never passed on. Even if that person is a heavenly genius, they would not be trained by the Long family.¡±


    ¡°It seems you really have the Long family¡¯s bloodline. Otherwise, Elder Long would never have done this.¡±


    Li Laodao beside them showed an astonished expression. He knew that Long Xuan¡¯s techniques were powerful, but he hadn¡¯t expected them to be this strong, evenparable to the Long n''s Martial arts techniques.


    The Long family¡¯s ¡®Yellow Emperor''s Dragon technique¡¯ was one of the strongest techniques in the Far western regions. Its divine ability enhances the power of the dragon and, when perfected, allows one to cultivate the strength of a dragon. Every Long n cultivator is a closebat powerhouse.


    The fact that Long Xuan''s cultivation method can bepared with the "Yellow Emperor''s Dragon technique" is truly an extremely high praise.


    ........................................................................


    Read ahead on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 66: (1): Obtaining the peak-grade Spiritual Insect

    After resting for a while and replenishing their energy with some food, the group set off again. They walked intermittently, stopping to rest every half day. It took them five days to reach the edge of the Ten Thousand Great Mountains.


    As soon as they entered the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, Long Xuan saw ancient trees towering before him. The trees had thick, tall trunks and lush foliage, forming a sea of green. When the wind blew, he could smell the scent of grass and wood, mixed with the rich presence of spiritual energy.


    The concentration of spiritual energy here was much higher than in the market town, making it an ideal environment for cultivation.


    However, no family dared to settle here. Despite the excellent cultivation environment, they would be the first to suffer in the event of a beast tide.


    The Ten Thousand Great Mountains were named because theyprised over one hundred thousand peaks, continuously extending one after another. The vast area they covered was unimaginable.


    It was said that the Ten Thousand Great Mountains spanned across countless regions, with the Far west being just a small adjacent part.


    Within this vast forest, countless powerful spiritual beasts and many unknown mysteries were hidden.


    It''s no exaggeration to say that the overall strength of spiritual beasts far exceeded that of humans.


    After all, most humans were born as mortals unable to cultivate, and the small portion that can practice cultivation needs to grow through acquired efforts.Spiritual beasts, on the other hand, were born withbat abilities, inheriting all their skills innately. They also had a high reproduction rate, with a single brood producing more than ten offspring.


    If not for the disorganized state of the spiritual beast world and their low intelligence, humans could never have been the dominant species in this realm.


    Given this situation, no family dared to settle in the Ten Thousand Great Mountains.


    Upon entering the edge of the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, the group slowed their pace to conserve their spiritual energy, no longer using it to hasten their journey.


    Entering this area was considered dangerous; battles could break out at any moment, making it crucial not to recklessly waste spiritual energy.


    Everyone became extremely cautious, frequently casting vignt nces around.


    Old Ma was the most cautious, advising, "Everyone, be careful. In the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, dangerse not only from spiritual beasts. Often, insects can be more hazardous and harder to defend against than spiritual beasts."


    The group nodded in agreement. Compared to spiritual beasts, insects were not necessarily stronger but were much smaller and harder to detect. A single careless moment could lead to being bitten, making them more troublesome thanrge spiritual beasts.


    Moreover, these insects could be deadly despite their size. A single bite could be fatal.


    "Old Ma, we¡¯ll be careful even if you don''t remind us. But why is your face so pale? If you''re not feeling well, you can still go back now."


    "Once we reach deeper areas, it will be toote to turn back. We won''t be able to escort you back," Old Li Laodao remarked, kindly reminding Old Ma after noticing his pale face.


    Hearing this, Long Xuan instinctively looked at Old Ma¡¯s face. Indeed, his face was frighteningly pale, devoid of any color, as if he were about to die.


    This was definitely not the face of a healthy person; something was definitely wrong with Old Ma¡¯s body.


    He was perfectly fine just a moment ago. Long Xuan felt that his sudden change was not due to illness but was likely caused by something in the forest.


    "Is that so? I feel fine," Old Ma said, touching his face. Suddenly, he felt dizzy and copsed to the ground uncontrobly.


    It was then that the group noticed arge mosquito on Old Ma¡¯s back. Its six long legs clung tightly, and its needle-like mouth was deeply inserted into his back. Its belly was already swollen, ready to burst.


    The elderly woman Han Mei, who was closest to him, and adept with needles, swiftly shot the mosquito down, saving Old Ma¡¯s life.


    Seeing therge mosquito fall from his back, Old Ma¡¯s face turned white, muttering in disbelief, "How could this be? I was so careful."


    He had just been warning others in a senior''s tone, but now he was the one who got bitten. His face flushed red with embarrassment.


    "With such skills, you¡¯re advising others?" Zhang Ling chuckled softly.


    Long Xuan didn¡¯tugh; instead, he looked surprised. This time, he truly realized the terrifying nature of insects in this world.


    In his previous life, he believed mosquitoes were the least likely to evolve.


    If they didn''t evolve to produce the maddening itch-inducing toxins, would humans bother killing them?


    Even if they caused itching, couldn¡¯t they just stay in one ce and drink their fill before flying away? But no, a single mosquito would bite ten different spots before it was satisfied, naturally inviting humans to swat them.


    Moreover, they evolved to produce a buzzing sound, acting like a tracking device, as if they feared people wouldn¡¯t know where they were.


    If mosquitoes hadn¡¯t evolved these traits, humans wouldn¡¯t bother with them. Who cares about a little blood? Mosquitoes could survive just fine.


    However, mosquitoes in this world had evolved exceptionally well, flying without making any sound. No one noticed when itnded on Old Ma¡¯s back.


    Furthermore, their bites were painless and didn¡¯t cause itching, making them undetectable. They only made one puncture and drank until they were full.


    This world¡¯s mosquitoes were so adept at evolving that even a cautious person like Old Ma fell victim, nearly being sucked dry.


    Long Xuan was shocked, quickly brushing his hand over his back. Finding nothing, he discreetly moved to the middle of the group.


    This way, if a mosquito tried to sneak up on him, his teammates behind him would notice in time.


    Wait, any smart mosquito would target the person at the back first, not fly into the middle of the group and risk exposure.


    Thinking this, Long Xuan felt even more secure.


    Not just Long Xuan, but everyone checked themselves after Old Ma¡¯s incident.


    This self-check revealed even more issues.


    ........................................................................


    Read ahead on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 66: (2): Obtaining the peak-grade Spiritual Insect

    For instance, Zhang Ling had just mocked Old Ma, but when she looked down, she saw a grass crawler clinging to her ankle, its mouth deeply embedded in her skin without her realizing it. She let out a piercing scream and then blushed in embarrassment.


    Little medicine boy found a leech on his leg, which he had to stomp on several times before it died. This showed how resilient creatures in the wild could be.


    They were all inexperienced, first-time hunters thrust into the task, and despite being careful, they still fell victim to the dangers.


    Long Xuan now understood why rogue cultivators were so poor. Despite the forest being filled with treasures, few dared to venture in.


    He nced at a young man named Ma Wu in their group. The young man stood confidently, arms crossed, looking at the others with disdain, not even bothering to check himself. He seemed very experienced despite his simple clothing. Long Xuan found it hard to believe that Ma Wu had more experience than the older and supposedly more experienced Old Ma and Li Laodao.


    "Old Ma, are you okay?" Li Laodao helped him up and asked with concern.


    "I''m fine, just lost too much blood. A blood-replenishing pill will fix it," Old Ma said, taking out a red pill from a storage pouch and swallowing it. His face soon regained some color.


    "If you''re okay, let''s move on. These little critters aren''t deadly, but it''s different deeper in the mountains. When we reach the depths, you must turn back. It''s not a ce for you to continue," Long Qilin said seriously, ncing at the rogue cultivators before continuing forward. The others hurried to follow.


    After another day, they finally saw their prey. It wasn''t wolves or fierce beasts but a group ofrge, white rabbits. They looked cute with their soft, snowy fur, and there were quite a few of them.Seeing everyone''sck of interest, Long Qilin exined, "If you expect to huntrge spiritual beasts, you''ll be disappointed. The edge of the Ten Thousand Great Mountains has long been cleared ofrge spiritual beasts by Gu cultivators, leaving only unwanted rabbits and mice. With no natural enemies, the rabbits have multiplied and taken over the area. They''re everywhere, and there''s no end to them. To huntrge spiritual beasts, we''d need to travel several more days."


    Hearing this, everyone''s faces fell. Although rabbits were spiritual beasts, some species remained at the bottom of the food chain because they were weak. These spiritual beasts had no remarkable abilities, their ancestors were not strong, and their descendants were always prey.


    Rabbits held no valuable spiritual insects. If they did, they wouldn''t be left alone. Long Xuan used his special ability to check the progress of the spiritual rabbits. The rabbits'' heads showed their growth stages, and their bodies could host spiritual insects, usually in the spiritual core, where spiritual beasts stored their energy. Sometimes spiritual insects parasitized the core without harming the beast, but most cores were insect-free, making the drop rate extremely low.


    Even if one managed to find a spiritual insect, it was likely to be of low quality. For Gu cultivators who loved hunting, spiritual rabbits weren''t worth the effort since they were hard to catch and yielded poor rewards. This led to an overpoption of rabbits.


    After scanning the area, Long Xuan randomly killed a rabbit carrying a mid-grade spiritual insect. He nned to have some fresh meat.


    Since Long Qilin mentioned norge carnivorous spiritual beasts, he figured the smell of roasting meat wouldn''t attract danger. A mid-grade spiritual insect wasn''t highly valuable, so Long Xuan boldly extracted the core with the insect.


    Being the first to make a catch, Long Xuan''s sess with a mid-grade spiritual insect excited everyone.


    "Nice luck! First hunt, and you get a mid-grade spiritual insect. Good omen!" Long Qilinughed.


    "Can''t help it, I''m just lucky!" Long Xuan joked. "Let''s rest here since there are so many rabbits. We haven''t had fresh meat for a while."


    "Agreed!" Long Qilin said. "Rabbits may not hold treasures, but their meat is good. And even a small insect is still valuable. If we''re lucky, we might find more mid-grade insects."


    With Long Qilin''s agreement, the other rogue cultivators eagerly hunted rabbits, their enthusiasm high after seeing Long Xuan''s catch.


    Reality quickly hit them; despite killing many rabbits, they only found a few low-grade spiritual insects. Old Ma, with his poor vision, missed every opportunity. Unlike others who got at least one low-grade insect, he found none, leading him to question his life choices.


    The group''s interest in rabbit hunting waned, and after eating the roasted meat, they were eager to move on. Hunting rabbits wasn''t worth the effort and danger of the Ten Thousand Great Mountains for a few low-grade spiritual insects, not even covering travel costs.


    Two more days passed. Long Xuan used his Life-destruction palm technique on a pink-furred rabbit, killing it instantly. He grabbed its ears,ughing.


    "Why waste time on rabbits? They''re worthless and time-consuming," Old Ma remarked.


    Long Xuanughed, storing the rabbit in his pouch. "Just practicing my palm technique. What did you think of my strike?"


    He inwardlyughed. This pink-furred rabbit, unlike the others, held a peak-grade spiritual insect. It was an unexpected surprise.


    Normally, rabbits here wouldn''t have peak-grade spiritual insects, but this pink one, possibly a mutation, did. Discovering this among weak rabbits was a stroke of luck his teammates couldn''t fathom.


    Before Old Ma could respond, Long Qilin spoke. "Your strike was impressive, no external damage but a lethal blow. It''s a great hunting skill, preserving the beast''s skin for higher value."


    Long Qilin''s serious expression indicated he recognized the technique''s strength and potential for bloodless kills. This was also a spiritual technique that he had never seen before, and he didn''t even know its name.


    ........................................................................


    Read ahead on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 67: (1): Ma Wus Scheme

    ¡°Roar!¡±


    At this moment, a low growl of a spirit beast suddenly came from afar, causing everyone to change their expressions.


    ¡°How is it possible? It''s an Earth Bear. This creature is born as a second-tier spirit beast with strengthparable to a marrow cleansing Gu cultivator. Logically, such a powerful spirit beast should never appear in this area. Could a beast tide be imminent?¡±


    Hearing the roar of the spirit beast, Long Qilin turned pale with fright.


    Upon hearing this, the group of rogue cultivators who had been eager to try their luck immediately deted, their excitement vanishing without a trace.


    They had just been jumping around wanting to huntrge carnivorous spirit beasts. Now that their target had appeared, they all turned into cowards.


    Their legs naturally became weak; after all, this was a second-tier spirit beast equivalent to a marrow-cleansing Gu cultivator. They might handle hunting rabbits, but facing this second-tier spirit beast was like delivering themselves on a tter, and the beast might not even get full.


    ¡°The Earth Bear is a solitary spirit beast with a rare ability called Earth Spike. If we kill it, we might gain this ability.¡±


    After a brief shock, Long Qilin showed excitement again. Killing beasts to acquire skills was his kind of game, so he ran towards the direction from which the sound came.The rogue cultivators, with bitter expressions, reluctantly followed.


    Long Xuan shook his head helplessly. He had just taken a nce at the Earth Bear. It looked impressive; with a wave of its hand, the ground could instantly sprout sharp earth spikes, leaving prey no chance to dodge, resulting in a fatal blow.


    This ability to make spikes grow from the ground was probably the Earth Spike mentioned by Long Qilin. No wonder he was so excited; it was indeed a terrifyingly powerful ability that could tempt anyone.


    But Long Xuan had already seen through it with his Eye of Heavenly secret; there was no insect in the spirit core of this Earth Bear.


    Such a top-tier boss yielding nothing, not even a low-grade spirit worm, was unimaginable.


    Therefore, Long Xuan didn''t rmend provoking this big guy.


    If you waste a lot of effort and end up injured, only to find that nothing dropped, your mentality would definitely copse.


    This was destined to be a losing deal, not worth the fight.


    However, he couldn''t reveal his ability to see through loot drops, so even though he wanted to warn them, he didn''t know how to do so. After pondering for a long time without a solution, he could only follow reluctantly.


    When he arrived, Long Qilin had already engaged inbat with the Earth Bear. The rogue cultivators couldn''t intervene in such a high-level battle and could only watch from the side.


    At this moment, Long Xuan truly realized the terrifying strength of Long Qilin. The Earth Bear was a behemoth, four meters tall, and yet Long Qilin''s power could challenge this giant beast.


    The Earth Bear''s massive paw shed directly with Long Qilin''s fist, and they were evenly matched, neither side gaining the upper hand.


    There was even a moment when the Earth Bear almost got knocked down by Long Qilin. Enraged, it let out a deafening roar and became even more violent.


    The ground asionally sprouted Earth Spikes, but Long Qilin seemed very familiar with this move, always dodging in time and continuing to grapple with the Earth Bear.


    To avoid injuring itself, the Earth Bear had to stop using Earth Spike and engage in closebat with Long Qilin.


    The massive body shook the ground with every movement, creating a ground-shaking, dust-raising spectacle that made Long Xuan''s heart race.


    Through this battle, Long Xuan truly realized how terrifying human strength could be in this world.


    However, he also saw that although Long Qilin and the Earth Bear were evenly matched in direct shes, if the fight continued, Long Qilin would inevitably lose.


    A huge body had a massive advantage in pure physical confrontations. The opponent had to endure not only its strength but also the inertia of itsrge body.


    Therger the mass, the greater the inertia. This principle also applied in this world.


    So Long Qilin had to bear both the Earth Bear''s strength and the impact of its four-meter-tall body, making his energy expenditure much higher than that of the Earth Bear.


    Moreover, spirit beasts naturally had more stamina than humans. If Long Qilin continued this way without another n, the situation would be dangerous.


    Long Qilin was not foolish; he knew his situation well and couldn''t afford a prolonged fight with the Earth Bear.


    So he found an opportunity to distance himself and adopted a different tactic. He sped his hands together, aligning his pinky, ring, and thumb while raising his index and middle fingers. Suddenly, massive hands formed from the earth and mmed towards the Earth Bear.


    The Earth Bear nimbly dodged, evading one giant hand after another. Each time a giant hand hit the ground, it caused a thunderous boom and left a massive handprint on the ground, a shocking sight.


    Long Xuan was astounded by this battle scene. Such massivebat, such destructive power ¨C was this the strength of a marrow cleansing Gu cultivator?


    These giant hands rising from the ground were definitely a talent ability of a Gu. No matter how advanced a spirit technique, it couldn''t achieve such an attack.


    As expected of a genius Gu cultivator from a major family, his Gu insect''s strength far surpassed that of regr cultivators. This was the power of a major family''s exclusive Gu insect? Long Xuan thought in shock.


    Just then, the Earth Bear was caught off guard, attacked by a hand that suddenly emerged from the ground and grabbed its ankle, immobilizing it.


    Unable to move, the Earth Bear could no longer dodge the giant hands'' attacks.


    One massive hand after anothernded on the Earth Bear, pinning it firmly to the ground.


    As the Earth Bear was pinned down, the ground shook violently, sending dust and rocks flying, obstructing the rogue cultivator''s view. They could only hear the Earth Bear''s continuous, deafening roars from within the dust.


    However, the battle was not over yet.


    Although Long Qilin''s move was terrifying, stunning the rogue cultivators, it had a fatal w.


    To use this ability, a Gu cultivator needed to control it from a distance. Although Long Qilin could move, he couldn''t use another ability while maintaining the Earth Hands, or they would dissipate due to interrupted spiritual energy.


    So while the Earth Bear roared in the dust, Long Qilin had no follow-up attack means, and the scene was at an impasse.


    Long Qilin shouted anxiously, ¡°My Earth Hands didn''t kill it; they can only restrict its movement.¡±


    ¡°Anyone or any beast bound by Earth Hands is immobilized and unable to use any abilities. But I can''t use any other abilities while maintaining the Earth Hands.¡±


    ¡°Now it¡¯s up to you. Hurry and kill the Earth Bear. Don''t worry, under the Earth Hands¡¯ restriction, it can no longer use Earth Spike!¡±


    The scattered cultivators looked at each other, then gritted their teeth and ran towards the Earth Bear.


    Since it had lost its mobility and couldn''t use any abilities, there was nothing to fear.


    The Earth Bear was now like Sun Wukong trapped under the Five Elements Mountain, with only its head exposed and the rest of its body pinned down, unable to even stretch out an arm.


    Seeing this, the rogue cultivators felt relieved and took out their low-grade spirit swords to attack the Earth Bear''s head.


    However, their attacks were akin to giving the Earth Bear a massage, barely scratching its defenses.


    Despite all its abilities being restricted by the Earth Hands, the Earth Bear, with its thick hide, could withstand all attacks from the spirit gathering-stage cultivators.


    The rogue cultivators tried their best but couldn¡¯t inflict any significant damage.


    Old Ma and Zhang Ling released their Gu worms to bite the Earth Bear''s face, but even after a long time, they couldn¡¯t prate its defenses. Instead, the Earth Bear stuck out its tongue, pulled the worms into its mouth, and crushed them before swallowing.


    The old woman named Han mei tried to pierce the Earth Bear''s eyes with her silver needles. Eyes were a weak spot for all creatures, but when the Earth Bear closed its eyelids, the needle couldn''t prate.


    This angered the Earth Bear, which roared, creating a gust from its gaping mouth that blew the old woman away. She crashed into a giant tree and fell to the ground, severely injured.


    Seeing this, Long Qilin almost spat blood. He knew rogue cultivators were weak, but he didn''t expect them to be this useless, getting severely injured by a single breath from the spirit beast.


    Ma Wu, hiding at the Earth Bear''s side, wasn''t blown away and showed a disdainful expression,ughing coldly inside.


    Long Qilin had overestimated the strength of these rogue cultivators. The Earth Bear was famous for its tough hide and thick flesh, not something that scattered cultivators could easily break through.


    No exaggeration, even if the Earth Beary down and slept, the scattered cultivators wouldn¡¯t be able to harm it; their attacks were like massages, making the Earth Bear sleep even better.


    ¡°I''ll do it!¡±


    Long Xuan could no longer stand it and finally ran over.


    Being part of the same team, they would share glory and defeat. If the rogue cultivators and Long Qilin suffered too much, it would directly impact his safety.


    So he couldn''t just watch; he had to find a way to deal with the Earth Bear quickly.


    Seeing Long Xuan rush over, Ma Wu¡¯s disdain grew. Among them, he had the lowest cultivation level and the weakest strength. What could he do ¨C get blown away by a breath?


    Long Qilin didn¡¯t hold any hope for him either.


    Long Xuan learned from Han mei¡¯s lesson and didn''t approach the Earth Bear''s front. Instead, he circled to its side and stood at its left temple.


    At close range, Long Xuan could clearly feel the heat radiating from the Earth Bear''s body and its powerful heartbeat.


    He was shocked at how terrifying this spirit beast was. It was frightening even when motionless. How did Long Qilin manage to confront this monster head-on?


    There was no time to think. He aimed at the Earth Bear¡¯s temple.


    The temple was a small weak spot for most beings. The Earth Bear¡¯s temple pulsed with blue veins, following its heartbeat.


    Long Xuan struck the temple with a palm.


    ¡°Life-destruction Palm!¡±


    His left palm followed.


    ¡°Life-destruction Palm!¡±


    Long Xuan was overly cautious and paranoid. Fearing the Earth Bear might y dead or not be thoroughly killed, he attacked with both palms, striking repeatedly.


    ¡°Life-destruction Palm!¡±


    ¡°Life-destruction Palm!¡±


    ¡°Life-destruction Palm!¡±


    ¡­


    ........................................................................


    Read ahead on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 67: (2): Ma Wus Scheme

    Relying on his abundant spiritual power, Long Xuan didn''t know how many Life-destruction Palms he hadnded on the Earth Bear''s head. He didn''t stop until the bear''s heartbeatpletely ceased. Only then did he cautiously extend his hand to its nose.


    Seeing no breathing out, he finally rxed his guard.


    He then gave the bear''s nose another palm strike for good measure.


    At this point, everyone finally realized that the Earth Bear was dead. It had died silently, and they didn''t even know when or how it happened, leaving thempletely baffled.


    "How is this possible? How did he do it?" Ma Wu''s eyes widened in disbelief as he watched Long Xuan effortlessly kill the Earth Bear. His gaze gradually became more serious.


    Long Qilin looked at Long Xuan with a shocked expression before finally retracting his Earth Hands ability. The massive hands that had been holding down the Earth Bear turned into a pile of dirt, scattering and raising a cloud of dust.


    Long Qilin then sat down heavily, gasping for breath. It was clear that using that ability had been a significant drain on him, both in terms of spiritual power and physical strength. Fortunately, Long Xuan had dealt with the Earth Bear, otherwise the consequences would have been unimaginable.


    Excitement filled Long Qilin''s eyes as he looked at the Earth Bear''s corpse. Despite his exhaustion, he hurried over, eager to see what treasures the bear had dropped. He couldn''t wait to take out a high-quality de and easily cut open the Earth Bear''s chest, retrieving the spirit core hidden within.


    The location of a spirit beast''s core varied; some were in the head, others in the chest. For the Earth Bear, its core was typically in the chest and was asrge as a basketball, glowing faintly and emitting immense spiritual energy.However, as Long Qilin looked at the spirit core in his hand, his expression froze, unable to smile. His mentalitypletely copsed.


    As Long Xuan had predicted, despite the Earth Bear''s overwhelmingbat strength, its body contained nothing of value. It hadn''t dropped anything.


    In other words, all their hard work and effort had been for nothing. They had exhausted themselves, lost several Gu, and even had one of their own injured, all for nothing.


    "How could this happen? This shouldn''t be!" The rogue cultivators'' faces turned grim as they looked at the spirit core that didn''t contain any spirit insect. A creature as powerful as the Earth Bear should have at least dropped a high-grade spirit insect, if not an exceptional one. The fact that it hadn''t dropped even a low-grade worm was unfathomable and left everyone feeling dejected.


    Only Long Xuan, who had foreseen this oue, remained unfazed.


    "Well, it seems we were just unlucky and wasted our efforts," Long Qilin sighed. "But the Earth Bear''s materials are still worth some spirit stones. Let''s divide them up to make up for our losses."


    "The Earth Bear''s meat is also quite good. Let''s replenish our strength before we move on. Those withrger storage bags can take some meat with them."


    As soon as Long Qilin finished speaking, Long Xuan headed straight for the bear''s paw. The paw was the most delicious part of the bear, a rare delicacy that he was finally able to enjoy today.


    Despite their frustration, the others reluctantly began dividing the bear''s materials and meat. Ma Wu, however, didn''t rush to join them. Instead, he started a fire and set up a pot.


    Long Xuan, ever suspicious, had been watching Ma Wu closely. As a rogue cultivator, Ma Wu''s behavior seemed too generous, which didn''t fit the typical mindset of a struggling cultivator. This only deepened Long Xuan''s suspicions about Ma Wu''s true identity.


    While processing the meat, Long Xuan used his Eye of Heavenly secret to secretly observe Ma Wu, watching for any tricks he might pull with the cooking.


    This cautiousness paid off. He noticed Ma Wu cing a ck incense burner into the fire and lighting it, causing thick smoke to rise.


    "An incense burner? Why would he need that for cooking meat?" Long Xuan''s suspicions grew, prompting him to use his Eye of Heavenly secret to closely examine the fire.


    What he saw shocked him. Hidden in the thick smoke were countless tiny, grotesque insects emerging from the incense burner and spreading with the smoke towards the others who were dividing the bear''s materials.


    "Shit!" Long Xuan''s expression changed drastically. He quickly stood up and ran away, shouting a warning, "Get away from the smoke! There are bugs in it!"


    "What?" The others were rmed, immediately dropping the meat and covering their mouths and noses as they fled, nearly tripping over themselves in their haste.


    Long Qilin, who had been meditating to recover his spiritual power, was also startled. Despite not fully understanding what was happening, his survival instincts kicked in, and he ran.


    Once everyone had run a safe distance, Li Laodao turned back to Ma Wu with an ashen face, furious. "How could you? Putting bugs in the smoke! Just for a bit of beast material? Are you even human?"


    Li Laodao, being an expert in such Gu insects, had never encountered such a devious method before. He was shaken, realizing how close they hade to disaster, and was grateful for Long Xuan''s warning.


    The others red at Ma Wu, ready to tear him apart if he didn''t give a satisfactory exnation.


    Ma Wu looked at Long Xuan with hatred, cursing him silently. How had he seen through his n again?


    But with no time to think, Ma Wu could only forcefully deny the usations. "You¡¯re ndering me! I''m standing in the smoke myself, and I''m fine. Where''s your evidence?"


    Seeing Ma Wu''s exnation, the others turned their gaze to Long Xuan.


    Long Xuan couldn''t reveal the power of his Eye of Heavenly secret, so he simply said, "Believe it or not, but if you trust him, go ahead and step into the smoke."


    Despite Long Xuan''sck of evidence, no one dared to test the smoke. The stakes were too high, and no one wanted to gamble with their lives.


    Even Long Qilin hesitated, unsure whom to believe but unwilling to take the risk.


    Seeing no one willing to step forward, Ma Wu knew his n had failed and that further denial was pointless. He called out, "The n has failed. There''s no need to hide. Attack!"


    As soon as he spoke, nine people emerged from the surrounding trees, bushes, and rocks, quickly encircling the group.


    "Ha ha ha... Long Qilin, you¡¯re alone now!" A red-robed man exuded the powerful aura of a marrow cleansing Gu cultivator, causing everyone''s faces to turn pale.


    "Long Qilin, even though you survived the previous battle, you''re now exhausted. How can you possibly fight me and my brother?" Another man, simr in appearance, also revealed his Marrow cleansing cultivation level, causing the rogue cultivators'' hearts to sink.


    Realizing they had walked into a trap, the rogue cultivators felt despair. Even with Long Qilin''s help, their chances of survival against two marrow cleansing Gu cultivators were slim.


    Long Xuan sighed in his heart. There were progress numbers everywhere in the forest. Even every weed on the ground had progress numbers. The numbers were so dense that his vision was too messy. In addition, his attention was always on Ma Wu, so he really didn''t notice that there was someone behind the cover.


    He couldn''t help but look at Li Laodao and asked, "Is this what you call 100% safe? Is this what you call reliable?"


    However, at this moment, Li Laodao was in no mood to say these things. He said with a very grim expression, "We are probably in big trouble. This group of people are Gu cultivators from the Feng family. The Long and Feng families have always been enemies."


    "That Ma Wu is obviously a spy they nted. This is a long-nned assassination against Long Qilin, and we are now caught in the crossfire"


    "We''ve run into trouble by teaming up with Long Qilin! Now let''s think about how to survive!"


    Li Laodao words cast a gloom over the hearts of the rogue cultivators, and despair gradually appeared in their eyes.


    Even though they were cautious enough and even found an expert to escort them for 100% safety, idents were everywhere and the ship they were on was not only unsafe, but a dangerous one.


    No matter how careful they had been, If fate wants you to die, no matter how careful you are or how well you prepare, it will be useless. It had led them into this deadly trap.


    ........................................................................


    Read ahead on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 68: (1): Long Xuans Method to break through the predicament

    Old Ma, with a gloomy face, looked at the opposite group asked, "We have nothing to do with Long Qilin. We just met by chance and aren''t familiar with him at all. Can''t you let us go since we have no grudges?"


    Ma Wu looked at him mockingly and said, "Let you go? Letting you go would expose the fact that we killed Long Qilin, wouldn''t it?"


    "Long Qilin is the son of the head of the Long family, a renowned genius of the Long n. If this news leaks, it could trigger a war between the two ns."


    "Do you think I''ll let you go?"


    Upon hearing this, Old Ma stopped talking. He had already known that it was impossible, but he couldn''t help but ask out of a sliver of hope. Now, he haspletely given up hope.


    "Feng San, Feng Si? I didn''t expect it to be you two!"


    Long Qilin scanned the faces of the two people in front and recognized them. He questioned, "Was it you who brought that useless Earth Bear over just now?"


    "That''s right! It was a gift prepared for you by us three brothers. How do you feel? Surprised?" Feng Si said with a sinister smile.


    "Don''t misunderstand, the Earth Bear was indeed for you, but whether it had anything valuable inside, we didn''t know. You can only me your bad luck for not finding anything good. Hehe!" Feng San mocked."You must think highly of me, sending so many people to deal with me."


    Long Qilin nced at the gathered Feng n Gu cultivators and sarcastically said, "Just two early-stage marrow cleansing cultivators would be enough to take me down. Why send so many people?"


    "And you even nted a spy, which was unnecessary. In fact, he was of no use at all." Long Qilin looked at Ma Wu not far away.


    "Hmph! If it weren''t for Long Xuan''s lucky method to kill the Earth Bear, and if it weren''t for Long Xuan''s luck in seeing through my Gu technique, do you really think you could have avoided the first two disasters?" Ma Wu, angered by these words, retorted furiously.


    Feng Sanughed instead of getting angry, "Being cautious is necessary, isn''t it? To deal with a genius like you, naturally, we have to set up more tricks."


    "Even if the first two ns didn''t seed, we have other ways to deal with you. Moreover, the Earth Bear has already consumed most of your spiritual power, hasn''t it? Today, you are destined to be unable to escape!"


    Feng San''s eyes suddenly turned sharp, and without further ado, he charged at Long Qilin. Feng Si followed closely behind.


    "Feng Wu! Take care of those rogue cultivators. Don''t let a single one escape!" Feng Si said to Ma Wu after ncing at him.


    "Don''t worry! I''ve already seen their patheticbat power. Dealing with them will be a piece of cake."


    Feng Wu showed a cruel smile and, along with a group of Feng n Gu cultivators, began attacking the rogue cultivators trapped in the center.


    "Damn! I hate it when the enemy is overly cautious."


    Long Xuan cursed inwardly. Seeing all exits blocked, he knew that he had to fight for his life today. He immediately used all his strength to hurl a Five Elements Jade at one of the approaching Feng n Gu cultivators.


    The fighting styles of the Long and Feng n Gu cultivators generally involved closebat. This Feng n Gu cultivator condensed a massive fireball with his right hand and hurled it heavily at Long Xuan. Seeing that this rogue cultivator, who was a level below him, dared to face him head-on, he revealed a cruel smile.


    He increased the fireball''s power, shing it heavily against Long Xuan''s Five Elements Jade.


    "Boom!!!"


    The Five Elements Jade and the fireball collided with a deafening explosion, and the shockwave spread out from the center of the collision.


    Under the impact of the explosion, both retreated.


    However, Long Xuan only took five steps back, while the Feng n Gu cultivator, who was a level above him, was sent flying backward, retreating at least ten steps.


    He barely stopped himself by stepping on a stone behind him, his expression filled with shock and disbelief as he looked at Long Xuan.


    Despite being a level higher, he was at a significant disadvantage in a head-on sh. How could this not surprise him?


    It wasn''t just him; everyone else paused and looked over with incredulous expressions.


    As a Gu cultivator from a prominent n, Feng San immediately shouted, "His spiritual technique''s power is abnormal. It is very likely that he has the legendary Ten Absolute Bodies."


    "Be careful, the Ten Absolute Bodies have the ability to fight above their level. But in this era, they can only show their might during the Spirit Gathering stage and can''t break through the Marrow Cleansing stage!"


    "If you can''t beat him, just hold him off until Feng Si and I kill Long Qilin, then we''ll deal with him together!"


    With that, he intensified his attack on Long Qilin.


    "You again! You again! Every time, something goes wrong because of you. Do you think I''ll let you ruin my ns a third time?"


    Feng Wu, filled with resentment, looked at Long Xuan. Pulling out the sword stabbed into Li Laodao''s heart, he turned to attack Long Xuan, determined to kill him first to quell his anger.


    However, as he pulled out the sword and turned, he sensed something was wrong. Instinctively dodging, he was still a beat too slow and was struck on the shoulder by Li Laodao''s sword.


    Feng Wu, in pain, kicked Li Laodao away, leaving the low-grade spiritual sword embedded in his shoulder.


    "Damn! It''s the Little Stong Gu!"


    Feng Wu cursed, pulling out the deeply embedded spiritual sword and throwing it to the ground.


    Normally, a person with a pierced heart would surely die, but in this world, a certain day suddenly brought about a type of Gu called the Little Strong Gu, making thatmon knowledge obsolete.


    Feng Wu had heard of the Little Strong Gu. He should have been on guard, but in his rage, he was influenced by habitual thinking and fell into the trap.


    Being outsmarted by a rogue cultivator infuriated him, making him lose his mindpletely, his face bing more and more ferocious.


    "You forced me! The Little Strong Gu is said to be immortal, but let''s see if you can revive after being eaten by bugs!"


    Feng Wu patted one of his insect bags, and arge swarm of ck insects flew out, forming a cloud that headed towards Li Laodao.


    Li Laodao was terrified, knowing well the weaknesses of the Little Strong Gu. If he were devoured by a swarm of insects, he would surely die.


    Gu cultivators didn''t always use Gu insects forbat; spiritual insects could also be deadly weapons. Though far weaker than Gu insects, even poor rogue cultivators disdained using them.


    However, one couldn''t deny the advantage of spiritual insects: they could reproduce massively through self-breeding.


    Quantity could be an advantage. Once a certain kind of spiritual insect bes overwhelming in scale, it is even possible to surround and kill a peak-grade spiritual insect.


    And controlling such arge swarm only required a blood contract with a single insect king, upying just one slot.


    However, thisbat style, despite having the potential to surpass peak-grade Gu insects, had obvious drawbacks.


    Feeding hundreds of thousands or millions of insects consumed a massive amount of food and resources, something only the wealthy could afford.


    Moreover, swarm insects had extremely poor individualbat capabilities in terms of attack and defense, making them easily wiped out by a single powerful attack, wasting the huge initial investment.


    Therefore, only a few insect species were suitable for the swarm tactic, and not any insect could be bred in vast numbers forbat. Using such insects would only result in them being killed en masse by a powerful attack, leading to significant losses.


    But if someone could cultivate an insect species that wasn''t afraid ofrge-scale attacks and breed them to a scale of tens of thousands, it would be a nightmare for all enemies, with few opponents at the same level.


    The Little Strong Gu feared few things, and a swarm was definitely one of them.


    Li Laodao hadn''t expected Feng Wu to be one of the rare swarm Gu cultivators, a an existence that could extremely restrain him. His face changed drastically.


    "Damn it!"


    Li Laodao shouted in rm and turned to run.


    However, his speed couldn''t match that of the spiritual insects. After just a few steps, he was engulfed by the swarm.


    Seeing the ck insects tearing through his clothes and skin, about to burrow into his body, at this critical moment, a massive fire engulfed him.


    With the Little Stong Gu, Li Laodao might survive the fire.


    But the ck insects were different. Despite their overwhelming numbers, they were all incinerated by the sudden fire.


    Feng Wu''s carefully cultivated ck armor insects were fire-resistant, but Long Xuan''s zing me palm-produced fire was no ordinary fire.


    That was an enhanced sea of ??fire that was fueled by four types of mutated spiritual power, and it had been enhanced four times. Its power was far beyond that of ordinary mes.


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    Read ahead on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 68: (2): Long Xuans Method to break through the predicament

    It was also a coincidence that the Feng family Gu cultivator fighting Long Xuan just now did not believe he would lose in a head-on sh with a lower stage rogue cultivator. Unwilling to ept defeat, he charged at Long Xuan again with a fierce expression.


    However, Long Xuan had no intention of continuing the fistfight. Seeing the Feng family cultivator rushing straight at him, he greeted him with a vast sea of mes, turning him into a living target.


    Since this was Long Xuan''s first time using the zing me Palm in actualbat, he couldn''t control the power well, resulting in a wide attack range. The sea of fire not only engulfed his opponent but also affected his teammates.


    The fire not only injured Li Laodao but also surrounded Little Medicine Boy and his opponent.


    Thus, the earlier scene unfolded, coincidentally saving Li Laodao''s life.


    Feng Wu''s eyes almost popped out, and he was about to spit blood.


    Those were the ck beetles he painstakingly cultivated, consuming countless resources.


    To raise these 100,000 ck beetles, he spent resources worth far more than a peak-grade Gu insect. Most of his fortune was invested in them, hoping to be invincible among his peers with this insect sea. He never expected that in the first battle, they would be burned to ashes by a single fire, bringing him back to square one. The significant investment of resources was entirely wasted.


    His vision went dark, and he nearly fainted."I''ll kill you!"


    He was utterly enraged, losing all rationality, and with a murderous look in his eyes, he rushed at Long Xuan like a madman, no longer caring about his opponent, Li Laodao.


    Meanwhile, on the other battlefield, Long Qilin was holding his ground in a two-on-one fight. Each of his punches was extremely heavy, causing his two opponents to avoid direct confrontation, choosing to fight strategically.


    "Hehe! Long Qilin, your spiritual power is almost depleted! Let''s see how long you can hold on!" Feng Si said while moving behind Long Qilin, asionallyunching sneak attacks.


    Long Qilin had Feng San in front of him, which was troublesome.


    Long Qilin''s expression was grim. He knew his situation well and understood that if the fight continued, he would lose. He had to use his trump card.


    With a roar, his aura began to surge, quickly breaking through to the mid-Marrow cleansing stage, instantly turning him into a mid stage marrow cleansing Gu cultivator.


    With his level suddenly increased, hisbat power multiplied, quickly changing the battlefield''s dynamics. Using his higher level, he started to overpower his two opponents.


    "It''s actually the top-grade Gu insect Ascending Dragon Gu! Hahaha!" Feng Sanughed and said to Feng Si, "See, my preparations were right!"


    He then turned to Long Qilin andughed, "I suspected you had more than one peak-grade Gu insect, so I made thorough preparations!"


    "Look at the nice surprise I brought you! It''s something that perfectly counters your Ascending Dragon Gu!"


    With augh, Feng San took out a ck Gu insect and ced it in his palm.


    Seeing this Gu insect, Long Qilin''s pupils contracted, and his expression changed drastically.


    As a mortal enemy of the Feng family, he knew their exclusive Gu insects very well.


    This was one of the Feng family''s strongest exclusive Gu insects, the Weakening Gu. The Weakening Gu created a weak field, causing anyone within it to be automatically downgraded by one level, regardless of any logic.


    So, the power Long Qilin borrowed from the Shenglong Gu to temporarily increase his level was immediately reduced back to the initial Marrow cleansing stage with the appearance of the Weakening Gu.


    Feeling his strength weaken again, Long Qilin felt a deep sense of helplessness. His biggest trump card was easily neutralized.


    His opponent was indeed highly prepared. Even though he had narrowly avoided the first two traps, they still had more tricks up their sleeves. It seemed like today was his destined end.


    At the same time, Long Xuan, fighting like a mad dog, suddenly felt the battlefield enveloped in a vast dark curtain. His level began to plummet.


    The Weakening Field reduced everyone''s level by one in the same stage, and it nullified the effect if someone was a major stage higher. However, being a major stage lower resulted in a double reduction in level.


    Long Xuan was one major stage lower than the Weakening Gu''s user, so his level dropped two stages from thete Spirit Gathering stage to the early Spirit Gathering stage.


    Long Xuan was stunned. Wasn''t this his level when he first arrived in this world? How did he return to it? What was going on?


    Now, his opponent was a peak Spirit Gathering stage Gu cultivator, three stages higher than his current early Spirit Gathering stage. How could he fight?


    Even the mighty Ten Absolute Body couldn''t cross three levels to fight.


    Long Xuan''s expression darkened. He realized that if he didn''t find a way to break the situation, he would be doomed. He steeled his heart and prepared to use that move.


    The Weakening Gu''s ability only reduced levels but didn''t affect lifespan. This ability wouldn''t decrease a person''s lifespan.


    At this moment, Long Xuan decided to use the forbidden technique from the Eternal Life Sutra¡ª the Spirit Bomb.


    The Spirit Bomb was a suicide technique that exchanged lifespan for power, capable of threatening those at higher stages.


    Only this move could break the situation now. With Long Qilin still holding on, he had to use the Spirit Bomb to quickly create an escape route.


    Otherwise, once the two Marrow cleansing stage Gu cultivators defeated Long Qilin and came for him, he would surely die.


    Long Xuan gritted his teeth and made up his mind.


    So far, his clone had cultivated the Eternal Life Sutra to the 17 level, giving him an additional seven hundred years of lifespan, not including the first ten levels.


    With such arge reserve of lifespan, he could afford to use it once.


    Long Xuan didn''t hesitate. Dodging Feng Wu''s attack, he condensed a white ball of energy in his right hand, which rotated rapidly,pressed continuously, and emitted a faint white light with a terrifying power.


    The white ball of energy instantly drained one hundred years of Long Xuan''s lifespan, causing slight difort in his body.


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    Read ahead on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 69: (1): Conceiving the Third peak-grade Gu Formula

    However, Long Xuan''s extremely cautious nature made him feel that even a hundred years of life essence might not be enough. Although the power should already be sufficient, what if Feng Wu dodged the attack or the st missed? What if Feng Wu had some Peak defensive treasure? Theoretically, there were too many uncertainties. What if these situations really urred? What if he was just a sliver away from killing him?


    Long Xuan, being highly suspicious, preferred to waste an additional hundred years of life essence to eliminate that tiny uncertainty.


    After all, he already had seven hundred years more life span than his peers and would continue to increase this in the future, so there was no need to save it.


    So, gritting his teeth, he infused another hundred years of life span into the Spirit Bomb. With the injection of another hundred years of life span, the Spirit Bomb grewrger and brighter, emitting a dazzling light and terrifying power.


    "Die!"


    When the Spirit Bomb became extremely unstable, Long Xuan quickly hurled it at the enraged Feng Wu and then turned and ran.


    He had already anticipated that the Spirit Bomb, infused with two hundred years of life span, would create a terrifyingly powerful explosion. The destructive force of the explosion would be enough to affect him as well, so there was no better time to run than now.


    "Hmph! Child''s y!"


    Feng Wu''s back sprouted a pair of ck phoenix wings, shielding him firmly.He had already noticed the extraordinariness of this move, but so what? No matter how powerful the Ten Absolute Bodies was, it was impossible to fight across three levels, so he did not take the iing light ball seriously.


    However, he was destined to pay a heavy price for his underestimation.


    "Boom!!!"


    The Spirit Bomb mmed heavily onto his phoenix wings, releasing dazzling light, and then exploded instantly, creating a deafening roar.


    His pair of ck wings, as fragile as paper, were directly vaporized by the intense light. Without the wings'' protection, the destructive force wantonly ravaged Feng Wu''s body, making him let out a painful scream. In just a moment, his entire body was crushed into pieces by the overwhelming force, and his scream was abruptly cut off.


    However, this was not the end. The power of the Spirit Bomb had not been fully unleashed, and the explosion continued to spread, impacting in all directions.


    At this moment, the ground trembled crazily, withrge patches of earth being lifted and thrown in all directions by the shockwave.


    "Poof!"


    Even though Long Xuan had already run far away, he could not escape the range of the Spirit Bomb''s devastation. He suddenly felt a burning pain on his back and was then thrown high into the air,nding far away in a pitiful state and kneeling on the ground, spitting out blood.


    If he, having run so far, ended up like this, the others on the battlefield would be in an even worse condition.


    Those who were engaged in fierce battles were suddenly stunned by the sudden explosion, everyone being enveloped in the explosion, subjected to its wanton ravaging and destruction.


    Thus, Long Xuan''s teammates were once again injured, blown away by the shockwave of the explosion and spitting out blood after crashing into the ground.


    The Feng family''s Gu cultivators they were fighting against could not escape either, being directly affected by the explosion. Those who were nearby were torn into pieces by the violent force, leaving no bones behind.


    Meanwhile, Long Qilin and Feng San and Feng Si, who were fighting, also spat out blood together, being thrown away by the shockwave and crashing heavily into arge rock.


    The rock was instantly shattered, and they rolled out far away, finally propping themselves up with both hands and spitting out blood, seriously injured.


    As for the Weakening Gu, though it was a peak-grade Gu insect, its defense was surprisingly fragile, being blown to pieces instantly without even having the chance to make a sound.


    The sudden explosionpletely stunned the three of them, their heads buzzing, each of them showing a look of disbelief.


    The explosion happened too suddenly, catching them off guard, and they were all seriously injured by the st.


    Long Qilin, with his strong body refining, was slightly better off, but Feng San and Feng Si were much more severely injured.


    If three Gu cultivators at the early stage of marrow cleansing were like this, there was no need to mention those at the spirit gathering stage.


    Except for Li Laodao and Little Medicine Boy, who survived half-dead due to the Small Strong Gu, everyone else was blown to pieces, the Feng family''s Gu cultivators beingpletely annihted with no survivors.


    All the survivors showed looks of horror, not knowing what had happened.


    Long Xuan''s ultimate move was too ruthless, injuring enemies and allies alike.


    Even the Feng family''s Gu cultivators were killed by the explosion, so how could Old Ma and others be spared?


    However, even without Long Xuan, they were destined to be killed by the Feng family''s Gu cultivators today. Before the Spirit Bomb explosion, they were already on theirst breath, and the result would have been the same.


    At least under this move, Elder Li and Little Medicine Boy were able to escape the Feng family''s Gu cultivators'' pursuit, equivalent to saving two people, which Long Xuan could onlyfort himself with in his heart. Then he got up and ran.


    Long Qilin was still dizzy,pletely stunned by the explosion, looking nkly at Long Xuan''s escaping figure.


    Is this the power of the Ten Absolute Body? This is too exaggerated!


    He felt that the historical records were wrong. The descriptions of the Ten Absolute Body were too conservative, far underestimating its power.


    When Long Xuan ran far away, he finally reacted, quickly getting up and shaking his head, then also turning to run.


    Is there a better time to run than now?


    "Don''t run!"


    Feng San got up quickly, suppressing his injuries, and chased after them.


    "Brother!!!"


    Feng Si finally noticed that his younger brother Feng Wu had been blown to pieces, his eyes instantly turning red, and he roared madly, chasing after Long Xuan without any hesitation.


    The speed of Gu cultivators in the marrow cleansing period was astonishing. Feng San and Feng Si, one from the south and one from the north, had already closed a significant distance in a short time.


    Feng San soon realized that Feng Si was not following. When he turned back, tall trees blocked his view, and Feng Si was nowhere to be seen.


    "Damn! What is he doing!"


    Feng Si cursed, suddenly changing his expression.


    "Oh no! Where is my weakening Gu!"


    He realized something was wrong and was immediately terrified.


    Without the weakening Gu''s restraint, Long Qilin, now in the middle stage of marrow cleansing under the enhancement of the Ascending Dragon Gu, while he was only in the early stage and alone, and even more seriously injured than Long Qilin.


    Realizing the gravity of the situation, he immediately stopped chasing.


    ........................................................................


    Read ahead on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 69: (2): Conceiving the Third peak-grade Gu Formula

    However, at this moment, Long qilin finally realized the situation. He noticed that he had already recovered to the mid-stage of the marrow cleansing stage, and there was just a small early-stage marrow cleansing cultivator chasing him.


    He couldn''t help butugh grinly. A heaven-sent opportunity like this, how could he not seize it? So he immediately stopped, turned around, and swung his fist at Feng San, suddenlyunching a surprise counterattack.


    Meanwhile, Long Xuan, upon seeing a sinister-faced Gu cultivator of the marrow cleansing stage trailing behind him with his Eye of Heavenly secret, was startled and turned to run towards moreplex terrain.


    At this moment, he once again realized the importance of speed. His short legs couldn''t outrun the marrow cleansing Gu cultivator, so he had to rely on theplicated terrain to shake him off.


    Creating his own movement technique had to be put on the agenda. He would do it once he escaped this time.


    The mountain road was rugged, full of pits, and covered with fallen branches and leaves, making them hard to notice.


    Long Xuan specifically ran towards areas with many pits. His Eye of Heavenly secret had a slight X-ray ability, allowing him to perfectly avoid the pits under the leaves.


    But Feng Si, who was behind him, was miserable. He felt the ground softening under his feet from time to time, causing him to almost fall. He had fallen countless times over a short distance, making it impossible for him to catch up with Long Xuan despite being a whole realm higher.


    However, relying solely on the pits along the road to shake him off was clearly impossible.Feng Si was so furious that hepletely lost his sanity. All he could see was Long Xuan''s back, and he wouldn''t stop until one of them was dead.


    He pulled out a giant ck beetle from his insect bag and rode on its back. Although it wasn''t as fast as before, the beetle could move smoothly on this terrain, ignoring the pits and gradually catching up to Long Xuan.


    Long Xuan was shocked. The characteristic of insects was their small size. He had never seen such arge Gu insect that could be ridden, It can actually be ridden by people. It has the potential to be a mount.


    At this moment, he had the urge to refine arge Gu insect himself. How could he go out without a ride? But now wasn''t the time to think about that. If he kept daydreaming, he would be caught by the giant beetle.


    It didn''t take long for Long Xuan toe up with a way to break the situation. He had Gu insects too, didn''t he?


    He finally took out the still-sleeping Little White from his insect bag. Little White had drunk too much distilled wine and was sound asleep in the insect bag, snoring sweetly.


    Alcohol had dyed things, and it had been no help in the recent fight,pletely oblivious.


    But now, in a life-or-death situation, he couldn''t let it sleep anymore. Was it the reincarnation of the God of Sleep?


    Long Xuan shook it awake forcefully.


    "Stop sleeping, look at me!"


    Little White opened its sleepy eyes, nced at him, then at the person behind him, and released its slow domain before falling back asleep.


    Long Xuan was holding its tail. It hung head down like a rope, swaying in the wind.


    Even in this position, it could sleep. Long Xuan was thoroughly impressed. What kind of gu had he raised?


    As soon as the slow domain activated, the person and the Gu behind him slowed down significantly.


    Feng Si felt an endless resistance preventing any of his movements. Each step required enormous effort.


    Not only did his speed decrease significantly, but his energy consumption also multiplied. Despite using all his strength, he couldn''t get any closer and was instead falling further behind.


    He waspletely baffled. What kind of ability was this? It was something he had never seen in this region and had no idea how to counter.


    "It''s a peak-grade Gu insect!"


    Feng Si''s pupils shrank in shock.


    Peak-grade Gu insects were the highest quality, the rarest existence. Evening from arge n, he had seen very few.


    He didn''t expect a small wandering cultivator to have a peak-grade Gu insect with such a bizarre ability.


    In most cases, the abilities of Gu insects had little effect on those a realm higher or werepletely ineffective, like the weakening Gu.


    But this little white snake was clearly an exception. Its ability could ignore the realm gap, surprising and troubling him.


    With his movements slowed, he realized he could no longer catch up to Long Xuan. Continuing the chase was futile.


    Feng Si checked Long Xuan''s spiritual power again and was stunned.


    Full! It was still full!


    He couldn''t understand how this freak could maintain full spiritual power despite fighting for so long and using a devastating ultimate move.


    He had regained his senses. His opponent had endurance, while he consumed energy exponentially in this resistance. He might really be ousted by this kid.


    "Damn it! What kind of freak is this?"


    Feng Si gritted his teeth and cursed and finally stopped. He remembered Long Qilin had not been dealt with yet, and Feng San hadn''t caught up.


    The main task was important. Since he couldn''t catch up in a short time, he decisively gave up the chase and turned back.


    Seeing Feng Si riding the giant beetle away, Long Xuan finally breathed a sigh of relief, patting his frightened heart, feeling a lingering fear.


    This trip was really perilous, but he was lucky to have endless trump cards. Otherwise, missing any link could have led to disaster.


    He couldn''t help but wonder if Li Laodao was cursed, constantly encountering bad luck. Without Long Xuan''s rescue, he wouldn''t have survived despite his Little Stong Gu.


    Feng Si returned to the scene after some time, but there was no sign of Long Qilin.


    Looking at therge pit and the scattered fragments around it, his heart sank as he quickly searched for Feng San.


    Finally, at a distance from the pit, he found a headless corpse.


    The area around the corpse showed signs of a fierce battle.


    The clothing on the corpse was unmistakably Feng San''s.


    "Brother!"


    He roared, rushing over and holding the headless body, screaming in rage. He lost his sanity again.


    "Long Qilin! And that boy with the Ten Absolute Body physique! I won''t rest until I kill you!"


    His furious shouts echoed through the mountains, reaching far and wide.


    Long Xuan didn''t know that Long Qilin had already killed Feng San. but despite being so well prepared, he still died in the end. It was really unfair.


    It was also Feng Si''s fault for letting anger cloud his judgment, failing to distinguish priorities and losing his rationality. If he hadn''t been so fixated on chasing Long Xuan, his brother wouldn''t have died.


    Long Xuan, having narrowly escaped, dared not wander aimlessly. With teammates either dead or escaped, he was unfamiliar with everything around and couldn''t risk roaming.


    He thought of using his Eye of Heavenly secret to find a cave but realized that spiritual beasts also liked caves and treated them as homes.


    If he entered an upied cave and was trapped by a returning spiritual beast, he''d be a sitting duck.


    So he quickly abandoned that idea and climbed a giant tree to hide until his wounds healed.


    Despite being injured by the recent explosion, it was much lighterpared to others.


    His Little Stong Gu had strong defense and self-healing abilities, so he didn''t need much time to recover.


    While sitting idle in the tree, he took out paper and pen, thinking about creating his third Gu form, while his clones kept watch.


    He had unexpectedly found a peak-grade spirit insect, providing a key ingredient for a peak-grade Gu form, igniting his enthusiasm.


    He had done extensive homework beforeing, knowing that spirit insects from spiritual beasts were often used to refine animal Gu.


    Animal Gu wasmon. He had seen it firsthand on Long Lie.


    Animal Gu inherited certain characteristics of spiritual beasts, including simr shapes and abilities.


    For example, Long Lie''s dog Gu perfectly inherited the dog''s sense of smell, even surpassing it, making it easy to detect the alcohol on Long Xuan.


    Animal bodies were far more magical than humans, possessing various strange abilities. Gu insects inheriting these traits were often formidable.


    Animal Gu included both external Gu, which were physically strong, and internal Gu, which could transform a Gu cultivator, giving them a beast-like transformation and greatly enhancing theirbat power.


    Animal Gu''s abilities wereplex and highly potential, making Long Xuan very interested.


    Since most spirit insects from spiritual beasts were used to refine animal Gu, he decided his third peak-grade Gu insect would be an animal Gu.


    He began brainstorming, his mind racing with numerous amazing ideas, which he carefully filtered.


    He aimed to create a unique animal Gu, different from others, perhaps even pioneering a new system, deviating from tradition.


    Otherwise, he might as well use existing Gu forms. Spending a long time creating a form without advantages would be pointless.


    Creating a Gu form consumed massive time, and he needed to ensure it was worth the effort.


    With this mindset, his requirements were extremely high, and even with his extraordinary imagination, it wasn''t something he could figure out quickly.


    He soon frowned, encountering a significant issue.


    Animal Gu not only had abilities simr to spiritual beasts but often resembled them in form.


    For instance, Long Lie''s dog Gu looked like a miniature dog, people who don¡¯t know much about it can¡¯t tell that it is a Gu.


    So, if he refined a Gu insect from a rabbit, wouldn''t it resemble a rabbit?


    This was uneptable. Rabbits were too weak and unimpressive in this world.


    What could a rabbit''s form do? Could it harm others by being cute?


    Long Xuan shook his head in dissatisfaction. His animal Gu couldn''t look like a rabbit. Form was crucial for a species, determining itsbat suitability.


    Some forms were inherently suited forbat, while others weren''t. Otherwise, there wouldn''t be five poisonous species among insects in this world, and they would be divided into different levels based on their innate qualities.


    If the Gu he refined ended up resembling a rabbit, it would be essentially useless, and he couldn''t allow that to happen.


    Long Xuan''s brain started operating at high speed again, killing countless brain cells, until his brain''s CPU started smoking. Then, he had a sudden inspiration, and his eyes shed.


    He was a man who liked to break the rules and go against convention. Why stick to the norm when he could create something entirely unique? While others refined their Gu insects to resemble specific animals, he would refine a hybrid, a creature with features of various animals, creating a monster that looked like nothing else.


    With this open-minded approach, inspiration quickly struck him.


    He soon recalled a hybrid monster from his past life.


    This creature had the horns of a deer, the head of a camel, the eyes of a rabbit, the neck of a snake, the belly of a m, the scales of a fish, the ws of an eagle, the paws of a tiger, and the ears of an ox.


    This creature was none other than the famous Eastern dragon from his previous life.


    Since the Gu he was refining with this peak-grade spiritual insect was destined to have characteristic of a rabbit, he would just make it look so it looks like a rabbit''s eyes, so that it would match the eyes of the Eastern Dragon.


    Then he would find spirit insects corresponding to the remaining eight spirit beasts andbine them so each part would resemble one of the spirit beasts. By piecing them all together, he would create a living Eastern dragon.


    Long Xuan''s eyes suddenly lit up with a fiery glow, and his heart began to race.


    To verify this idea, he quickly wrote "Dragon Gu" on paper, considering it a proposal.


    He then rapidly jotted down the nine types of spirit insects for the nine spirit beasts.


    After writing them all down in one go, he eagerly looked at the progress bar at the top of the paper, showing an excited expression.


    There was progress! Since there was progress, it meant that theoretically, his idea was entirely feasible. He could indeed create a Gu that resembled an eastern dragon.


    Regardless of whether the Gu insect he created was truly a dragon, as long as it looked like one, that was enough for him. It would be worth spending a significant amount of time researching it.


    Imagine, while others used giant beetles as their mounts, he would be riding an eastern dragon through the skies. How cool would that be?


    He had just been thinking about refining a mount while escaping, and now he had the idea.


    Long Xuan''s eyes brightened, and a slow smile spread across his face.


    However, he soon stopped smiling, his smile freezing on his face.


    He had been too excited to consider everything, and now he realized a terrifying fact.


    Toplete this Gu recipe, he would undoubtedly need the peak-grade spirit insects of nine different spirit beasts.


    These were nine peak-grade spirit insects! Where could he possibly find them?


    These were notmon peak-grade spirit insects, which could be easily found. peak-grade spirit insects were extremely rare. Even if you had lots of spirit stones, you wouldn''t know where to buy them.


    As for recing the remaining eight spirit insects with high-grade ones, Long Xuan didn''t even need to think about it. It definitely wouldn''t work.


    If he did so, the rabbit insect would be the main ingredient, and the entire refining process would revolve around it. If the final Gu insect didn''t end up looking like a rabbit, it would be a miracle.


    Therefore, the remaining eight spirit insects must be peak-grade, equal to the rabbit insect.


    Only in this way would the power of the nine parts be bnced. After refining, each part would take on the characteristics of a different spirit beast, rather than beingpletely overwhelmed by the strongest one.


    This meant that Long Xuan''s Gu recipe would require nine peak-grade spirit insects, no matter what. Not to mention the other materials needed. Could there be a small number of such terrifying Gu insect materials? If there were, it would be a miracle.


    Long Xuan had already foreseen that the cost of this Gu form would far exceed that of the Wine Gu little white.


    The prerequisite was that he could even find the corresponding peak-grade spirit insects, which required specific breeds. No matter how many connections he had, he might not be able to find them.


    This troubled him greatly. Who knew if he could find the remaining eight peak-grade spirit insects? How long would it take to find so many peak-grade spirit insects?


    What if he spent a huge amount of time creating the Dragon Gu recipe, only to find that gathering the materials would take ten years or even a lifetime? That would be truly tragic.


    Ultimately, he gritted his teeth and decided to go for it! Who could resist the temptation of a cool mount?


    Moreover, he was the protagonist. He didn''t believe that with his protagonist''s luck, he wouldn''t be able to gather those materials.


    Like a gambler, he began working on the Gu form without considering the consequences.


    ........................................................................


    Read ahead on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 70: (1): The Beast Tide Erupts

    Three days passed in the blink of an eye. Under the formidable self-healing power of the Little Strong Gu, Long Xuan''s injuries were almostpletely healed.


    During these three days, he didn''t write anything, but he still gained some insights.


    At the very least, he learned that this Gu recipe not only required nine peak-grade spirit insects but also corresponding body parts from nine types of spirit beasts.


    For example, since a dragon''s horns resembles a deer, the recipe must include deer antlers.


    Since a dragon''s scales resemble a fish''s, the recipe must include fish scales.


    Since a dragon''s ws resemble an eagle''s, the recipe must include eagle ws.


    Moreover, these beast materials cannot be from ordinary spirit beasts; they muste from rare spirit beasts and specifically from beast kings.


    Materialscking the aura of a king are uneptable.


    Given this, how could the price be cheap? Collecting materials from nine beast kings is costly enough to make one spit blood, not to mention the nine peak-grade spirit insects.Long Xuan felt his scalp tingle. It was incredibly expensive; he hadn''t even listed a few materials, and it was already so costly. By the time the Gu recipe waspleted, he might have to exhaust half of his little treasury. Long Xuan''s face looked more miserable than crying.


    Since his injuries were almost healed, Long Xuan decided not to stay in the tree any longer.


    He needed to return home to continue working on the Gu recipe in peace and quiet, without interruptions.


    Here, he had to be constantly on guard, which severely distracted him. This was not a suitable ce for research.


    Just as Long Xuan was about to descend from the tree, he suddenly saw a leopard climbing a nearby tree with prey in its mouth. His pupils contracted instantly.


    Whoever told him it was safe to climb a tree in danger, he promised not to beat them to death.


    Therefore, Long Xuan didn''t dare to move. He didn''t even dare to take a deep breath, fearing the leopard might notice him and see him as prey.


    This was a tree-climbing spirit beast. If it targeted him, he would have nowhere to run and might have to use another energy st.


    He dared not make a sound, as many spirit beasts have hearing dozens or even hundreds of times more acute than humans. He couldn''t afford to take the risk.


    Not until the leopard had eaten its fill andy down on the tree trunk to sleep did he feel relieved. Carefully, he climbed down from the tree and fled the area.


    Along the way, his Eye of Heavenly secret remained active.


    His Eye of Heavenly secret could spot spirit beasts from a great distance, allowing him to avoid danger in time. Unlike other rogue cultivators who might stumble into a spirit beast''s sensing range, he could avoid such peril.


    The Eye of Heavenly secret was a tremendous help,bined with his golden finger, allowing him to avoid more than ny percent of the dangers in the forest.


    But this also made him bolder. He was currently creating a Dragon Gu recipe that required nine peak-grade spirit insects. Collecting them all step by step would take an indefinite amount of time.


    Therefore, he had to take risks and try to hunt spirit beasts.


    In the forest, he was certain to find peak-grade spirit insects. His golden finger was practically a cheat in this world.


    However, finding the exact type of peak-grade spirit insect he needed was still a challenge.


    This world has many types of peak-grade spirit insects, and finding the specific kind he needed was not easy, even with his cheat.


    It took him a full month to find one.


    During this month, he encountered numerous spirit beasts carrying spirit insects, including several carrying peak-grade spirit insects.


    But none of these peak-grade spirit insects were of the kind he needed, and given the strength of the spirit beasts, he wasn''t sure he could defeat them. He dared not take risks and left without hesitation.


    His nature was such that his life was his top priority. No matter how great the treasure in front of him, he wouldn''t risk his life unless it was one hundred percent safe. He wouldn''t consider anything with even a one percent chance of danger.


    After searching for a month and just as he was about to give up, his efforts paid off. He discovered a spirit beast that perfectly met his criteria.


    His Eye of Heavenly secret brightened upon seeing the spirit beast, and Long Xuan quickly approached. Finding a peak-grade spirit insect after a month was no easy task.


    In the vision of his Eye of Heavenly secret, arge emerald green fish was sunbathing by the shore.


    The fish was as tall as a person, covered in emerald green scales. It had tworge, powerful pairs of fins that supported it onnd, a prominent underbite, a fierce expression, and an imposing presence.


    This was the fish species he was looking for, known as the Great Dragon Fish. Through repeated attempts, he found that the Dragon Gu recipe required the parasites of the Great Dragon Fish; no other fish would do. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have gone through so much trouble, taking a month to find the target.


    Moreover, there was a peak-grade spirit insect perched near the spirit core of this Great Dragon Fish. It was truly heaven''s blessing.


    Long Xuan was thrilled. As he approached the target, he moved cautiously, ensuring his footsteps made no noise to avoid scaring the fish back into the water.


    Once the Great Dragon Fish returned to the water, capturing it would be as difficult as catching a fish in the ocean.


    Finally, hiding behind arge tree to obscure the fish''s view, Long Xuan began to think about how to capture the Great Dragon Fish.


    This Great Dragon Fish was a peak first-rank spirit beast,parable to a peak Spirit Gathering master.


    With his Ten Absolute Body, Long Xuan could fight across ranks, giving him the strength to battle the Great Dragon Fish.


    However, his overly cautious nature took over. Although he had the strength to fight it, what if something went wrong?


    In equal rank situations, spirit beasts were stronger than Gu masters. How could he treat it like an ordinary peak Spirit Gathering Gu master? What if he couldn''t win, or the fish simply fled back into the water?


    Long Xuan had a thousand "what ifs" in his mind.


    In his view, there was no such thing as a one hundred percent certain battle. To date, all his opponents had thought they would win, taking every possible precaution, yet what was the result?


    Their graves were overgrown with grass, and some didn''t even have graves.


    Thus, Long Xuan didn''t n to recklessly charge in. The biggest difference between humans and beasts was intelligence, and he intended to use the most secure method to resolve the battle, taking no risks. Even with a ny percent sess rate, he wouldn''t take the risk.


    After thinking for a while, he realized he didn''t have much to use. The Origin Realm was out of the question, as it was a beast king with a higher realm than his.


    After much consideration, he finally ced arge jar of distilled wine on the ground, then hid in a concealed position in a tree.


    Spirit wine contained immense spiritual power and had the effect of a spiritual pill, making it highly attractive to spirit beasts.


    Especially this jar of spicy wine, which had the effect of permanently increasing strength. Its allure to spirit beasts was enormous.


    Moreover, this was the strongest of his four types of wine.


    Even though the Great Dragon Fish wasrge, if it drank this jar of wine, it wouldn''t stand a chance. Even the wine Gu Little white couldn''t handle the strength of distilled wine, let alone a spirit beast.


    If it drank the wine, it would certainly get drunk, and then the Great Dragon Fish would be at his mercy.


    Even if the fish restrained itself and didn''t get drunk, leading it away from the water would still count as a sess.


    Fish were best at fighting in water, so he needed to keep it away from the shore. Fighting ind would significantly reduce thebat effectiveness of a fish, giving him a much higher chance of victory, even in a direct confrontation.


    This would also prevent the fish from quickly escaping back into the sea if it lost, making it a win-win situation.


    Fearing the spirit wine alone might not attract the Great Dragon Fish, Long Xuan also ced honey and arge number of spiritual pills on the ground, including Gathering Spirit Pills, before hiding back in the tree.


    ........................................................................


    Read ahead on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 70: (2): The Beast Tide Erupts

    Expecting the enemy to be cautious, he had already learned from his enemies.


    To be honest, this trap was a bit childish, and anyone withmon sense wouldn''t fall for it.


    The surroundings had been empty, and suddenly there were treasures appearing, all concentrated in one ce. Who would believe that? Even a fool wouldn''t fall for such an obvious trap.


    However, it turned out that spirit beasts might actually believe it. Such a simple trap that even a seven-year-old wouldn''t fall for might just work on a spirit beast.


    Especially with fish-like spirit beasts. Despite not being blind, they would see a sharp hook in the water and still bite it, getting caught by humans. Isn¡¯t that strange?


    His trap was much more sophisticated than a fishing hook. It might not deceive people, but tricking a dumb fish would be easy.


    And things indeed happened just as Long Xuan had predicted.


    The big green dragon fish lying on the shore basking in the sun suddenly sniffed the air. Its eyes lit up, and it started moving towards the scent of the wine.


    Long Xuan was overjoyed. It really was a foolish fish. Being a fish and still daring to move ind¡ªif it doesn''t die, what will? Does eating make it stupid?The dragon fish quickly moved to the wine jar, sniffed it, and showed an intoxicated expression.


    Suddenly, it frowned fiercely, seemingly sensing something amiss. It cautiously looked around but didn''t look up.


    Seeing no one around, it rxed, thinking it was just overthinking, and began enjoying the delicious spirit wine, showing a deeply intoxicated expression.


    Despite itsrge size, its alcohol tolerance was poor. It didn''t take long before it was swaying and then copsed to the ground, snoring loudly.


    From the tree, Long Xuan could hear its deafening snores, its belly rising and falling with each breath.


    "Sess!"


    Long Xuan was thrilled. It really was a dumb fish, so easy to fool. With just a little trick, he captured it without bloodshed.


    Long Xuan slowly climbed down the tree, making sure not to make a sound. Even though the dragon fish was drunk, he remained cautious.


    He moved stealthily to the side of the dragon fish and then¡­


    ¡°Life-Destruction Palm!¡±


    ¡°Life-Destruction Palm!¡±


    ¡°Life-Destruction Palm!¡±


    ...


    And then, it was over.


    Long Xuan skinned and deboned the fish, enjoyed a nice meal of fish meat, and left with the remaining fish meat and the green spirit insect.


    With another rare spirit insect in hand, he was in a great mood, humming a little tune as he set off to find the third rare spirit insect.


    He waspletely hooked on finding rare spirit insects.


    The greedy side of him even considered staying here until he collected all nine rare spirit insects.


    However, just as this thought crossed his mind, he suddenly felt a slight tremor in the ground, as if arge group of something was running.


    His expression changed, and he quickly used his eye of Heavenly secret to look into the distance. What he saw was his acquaintance.


    Li Laodao and Little Medicine Boy were running frantically towards him, looking panicked, ncing back frequently.


    Long Xuan followed their gaze and saw a swarm of ck rats chasing them, arge mass of them.


    But these rats seemed a bit too big¡ªmany were as tall as a person! Calling these rats? They seemed to have turned into spirits!


    Although Long Xuan saw the rat swarm in advance, he didn''t choose to avoid them.


    The rats looked numerous, but they were only first-stage early-level spirit beasts, not enough to scare him. As the rat swarm approached, he unleashed a zing me Palm, engulfing the rat swarm in a sea of fire.


    A first-stage early-level spirit beast couldn''t withstand the zing mes Palm''s attack. Therge rat swarm could be terrifying, using their numbers to overwhelm even a peak Spirit Gathering stage Gu Master.


    They could even threaten Gu cultivators in the Marrow cleansing stage, and with more numbers, even Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators would avoid them.


    But sometimes, rat swarms weren''t scary, just like the ck armored insects he had wiped out before. Swarm creatures were scary in numbers, but individually, they were weak and easy to annihte with arge-scale attack.


    Long Xuan was one of the few Gu cultivators with an overpowering ultimate move, making him unafraid of such swarming creatures, whether insects or beasts.


    With just one zing me Palm, he incinerated the majority of the rat swarm, saving the two side characters in the process.


    "I saved you two again. You each owe me two lives now. Better think hard about how to repay me." Long Xuan joked.


    Li Laodao and Little Medicine Boy sat down, panting heavily, clearly exhausted, almost at their limits. If Long Xuan had been a bit slower, they would have been devoured by the rat swarm, even with the Little Stong Gu, it wouldn''t have saved them.


    After a while, Li Laodao caught his breath and thanked Long Xuan, "Thank you, young friend, for your help. I owe you a great debt."


    Little Medicine Boy also thanked him, "Thanks. What kind of Divine technique was that just now? I''ve never seen it before!"


    ¡°Usually, the range and power of attacks are inversely rted. Single-target spirit arts have high power, and area attacks have weaker power. Expanding the attack range usually sacrifices power.¡±


    ¡°But your spirit art has arge range and high power. It''s not an ordinary spirit technique.¡± Little Medicine Boy looked at Long Xuan with amazement.


    "Powerful, huh? Maybe it''s because of my Ten Absolute Body." Long Xuan replied casually.


    Li Laodao and Little Medicine Boy looked skeptical. They weren''t stupid. Every ability Long Xuan had shown was something they had never seen before.


    Especially that white energy ball that almost blew them up. They had never seen such a powerful spiritual technique, which was simply exaggerated.


    If it were just one or two unfamiliar abilities, they might think it was their ignorance. But if all of them were new, they had to suspect that these incredible techniques were created by this young man.


    Li Laodao and Little Medicine Boy exchanged shocked nces.


    Long Xuan didn''t want to discuss this further, so he changed the subject, "What about you? Why were you being chased by a swarm of rats? Did you provoke them?"


    ¡°These things are like those rabbits¡ªnumerous but not yielding good treasures. Provoking them is a thankless task.¡±


    Li Laodao shook his head and smiled bitterly, "I didn''t want to provoke them. A rat tide broke out. No, to be precise, it''s a beast tide now. The rat swarm is just one group among many."


    "And we only encountered a small part of the rat tide. We''re lucky. If it were arger swarm with flying rats, fire rats, or even a rat king, you wouldn''t have been able to save us. No matter how strong your technique is, you can''t handle a full-scale rat tide."


    ¡°Indeed!¡± Little Medicine Boy stood up, looking very serious. ¡°Those Gu Kings¡¯ predictions were urate. Now, the Great Ten Thousand Mountains have erupted in a beast tide, and it''s enormous. It will spread to human regions, and such arge-scale beast tide is rare in a thousand years.¡±


    ¡°The Great Ten Thousand Mountains are in chaos now. We must leave here as quickly as possible.¡±


    ¡°We were lucky to encounter a small rat swarm. If we run into arge one next time, we won''t be so lucky to escape.¡±


    ........................................................................


    Read ahead on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 71: (1): The Lei Guang That Killed His Brotherly Bond.

    Initially, Long Xuan wanted to continue searching for peak-grade spirit insects, but upon hearing that arge-scale beast tide had erupted in the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, he dared not linger any longer. He abandoned his n and teamed up with two others to return home.


    The journey back was smooth, and they did not encounter any more small beast tides. With Long Xuan''s Eye of Heaven, it was hard to stumble into a beast tide identally.


    Thus, the three of them returned safely to the familiar market town.


    Seeing the market town, the three felt a sense of finding home. They finally breathed a sigh of relief, and their tightly wound nerves rxedpletely.


    The three exchanged nces and smiled at each other.


    However, their smiles quickly faded.


    The beast tide in the Ten Thousand Great Mountains had already erupted, and they were not the only ones returning from the mountains. The market town entrance was crowded, with injured people everywhere, clearly all in need of rest and recovery.


    At this moment, everyone was blocked outside the market town by a strong man named Shi Jian. Not only were people not allowed to enter the town, but they were also not permitted to leave.


    Long Xuan quickly understood the situation from the surrounding rogue cultivators'' angry shouts.It was simply that the beast tide hade, and arge number of people were urgently needed.


    Everyone had a duty to resist the beast tide. The major ns and Gu cultivators were organizing rogue cultivators to fight the beast tide under the guise of righteousness.


    Having just escaped from the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, being forced to fight the beast tide again was too much for the rogue cultivators, who could not hide their displeasure.


    Yet, the rogue cultivators dared not voice their anger openly. Their weak strength meant they had no say, and they did not dare oppose the major ns'' Gu cultivators.


    These major ns'' Gu cultivators were acting under the banner of righteousness. If one dared to resist, they had ample reason to deal with you, even openly killing and seizing treasures without moral condemnation. Who would dare to stand out?


    Shi Jian, one of the seven guardians of this market town, was a peak-stage marrow-cleansing expert and among the top in strength among all peak-stage marrow-cleansing Gu cultivators. Who would provoke him?


    So, despite the murmurs among the crowd, no one dared to stand up against him.


    Finally, Long Xuan bravely raised his hand. Just as Shi Jian sneered, thinking he had found someone to punish, he heard Long Xuan say, "I am Elder Longo''s medicine boy, may I¡­"


    Before he could finish, Shi Jian interrupted, "He still owes me five million spirit stones. Do you think mentioning him will work?"


    Shi Jian looked at Long Xuan with amusement, "If you want me to give him face, you''re mistaken."


    "His face means nothing to me. I won''t give him any face. When the beast tide arrives, I''ll make sure you''re the first to charge," Shi Jian sneered.


    Long Xuan''s body stiffened. He knew it. He knew that outside, he must never mention Elder long''s name. Otherwise, it would only make things worse.


    Was Elder long in debt to everyone? Every random person seemed to be his creditor. Long Xuan was truly exasperated.


    However, he had prepared for this situation, so he wasn''t really invoking Elder long name for face. He already knew it was useless outside.


    "Senior, you''ve misunderstood! Elder long instructed me to go to the Ten Thousand Great Mountains to find a spirit herb. Now that I''ve found it, I urgently need to deliver it to him. I will return promptly and will not dy long," Long Xuan said carefully.


    Hearing this, Shi Jian gave him a suspicious look and said, "You can run, but you can''t hide. I doubt you''d dare flee. Go quickly and return. While you''re at it, ask when he will repay me the spirit stones!"


    "Of course! Of course! I will ry your words to him," Long Xuan said quickly and ran towards Great Stone Vige as fast as he could, not daring to linger.


    He had a reason for making up this story. It was his cleverness at work.


    Once home, Long Xuan immediately sent out his Fire Clone to join the main force in fighting the beast tide, while he hid safely at home.


    Beast tides were too dangerous. Whoever wanted to fight could do so, but he preferred stayingfortable at home.


    He closed and locked all doors and windows, sat back in his familiar spot, and started working on the Gu recipe.


    Initially, he was very worried about collecting the nine types of peak-grade spirit insects. But now, he was no longer worried.


    This beast tide was unprecedented. Not only would many Gu cultivators die, but spirit beasts would also die inrge numbers.


    This was his opportunity. With enough dead spirit beasts, arge amount of beast materials and spirit insects would inevitably enter the market.


    Peak-grade spirit insects, rare in ordinary times, could frequently appear during a beast tide.


    As long as he had enough funds, he could collect the remaining seven types of peak-grade spirit insects or beast king materials with kingly aura during this period.


    This motivated him to work hard toplete the Dragon Gu recipe before the beast tide ended.


    It was the perfect time to collect materials. Otherwise, it would be difficult once the beast tide was over.


    While others fought and risked their lives outside, Long Xuan stayed home working on the Gu recipe, safe and sound. He was indeed cunning.


    If those fighting on the front lines knew about this sneaky character in the rear, they would be furious.


    Just as Long Xuan predicted, the Gu recipe was extremely long andplicated, with many difficulties in its creation.


    The difficulty of creating it surpassed the Eye of Heavenly secret and Wine Gu. Bncing the powers of the nine types of peak-grade spirit insects was a major headache.


    Creating the Dragon Gu recipe was not a task that could be aplished in a year.


    So, Long Xuanfortably hid at home, and two months quickly passed.


    He stayed in his medicine garden, protected by the Ice Formation, hidden from everyone.


    At some point, he had set up a stone table and a stone chair under arge pavilion, providing shelter from the sun and rain.


    He sat in the pavilion, with paper and pen on the stone table, along with fine tea and a te of tea eggs, and a pot of flowers to refresh his mind.


    The tea eggs were a delicacy. The eggs, undoubtedly from Chicken bro, were thergest, roundest, and richest in spiritual energy, perfect for nourishment.


    The tea leaves used were from his tea garden, transnted from Di Xin''s numerous Grade Four tea trees. Grade Four tea leaves were considered luxurious.


    Soaking Chicken bro''s eggs with Grade Four tea leaves produced incredibly fragrant tea eggs, ten times better than the ones in his previous life. He was thoroughly addicted.


    He sat on the stone chair, working on the Gu recipe while eating tea eggs. asionally, when he choked, he drank some Grade Four spirit tea to wash it down. His life was extremely pleasant and satisfying.


    However, he had no idea what kind of life the Gu cultivators on the front lines were living.


    They were underfed, underdressed, and constantly risking their lives.


    The beast tide was unprecedented, with people dying in droves. The Gu cultivators in the Far west suffered great losses.


    Both the rogue cultivators and the major n forces suffered heavy casualties.


    Fortunately, other regions had sent arge number of strong support. Otherwise, the Far west alone could not withstand the beast tide.


    The beast tide erupted not only in the Far west but in all regions bordering the Ten Thousand Great Mountains. The scale of the beast tide in the Far west was considered the smallest.


    The Far west''s poor resources made it undesirable for spirit beasts, which was both fortunate and sad.


    Long Xuan suddenly put down his pen, stretchedfortably, grabbed his teacup, and drank it all, savoring the taste.


    The Dragon Gu recipe was extremelyplex. Even after two months, he hadpleted less than one-tenth.


    He was prepared for a long-term effort.


    The more defying a Gu recipe, the harder it was to create. If it were easy, he would doubt the strength of the Gu.


    Watching the spirit bees fly around in the medicine garden, he felt very good.


    The Grade Four t peach tree in the garden bloomed every ten years, bore fruit every ten years, and matured every ten years.


    The t peach tree was now in bloom, full of nectar. The spirit bees, energized, swarmed to the flowers.


    Almost every flower on the t peach tree had a spirit bee, each with its bottom half sticking out.


    ........................................................................


    Read ahead on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 71: (2): The Lei Guang That Killed His Brotherly Bond.

    With their entrance, the flowers swayed endlessly. It seemed that the bees were working hard, and it was uncertain if their efforts would damage the flowers, preventing them from bearing fruit.


    However, Long Xuan had searched for a long time without finding the little gluttonous bee he had honored as a potential queen.


    Not seeing this familiar figure, he frowned slightly and began frantically searching for it in the medicinal garden.


    After a long search, he finally spotted it in one of the hidden chambers of the hive using his slight X-ray ability, which allowed him to breathe a sigh of relief.


    Seeing the small figure asleep, Long Xuan became extremely excited.


    He wasn''t foolish enough to think that the little glutton was truly asleep.


    With the fourth-grade flowers blooming outside and its insatiable gluttonous nature, how could it possibly be sleeping?


    As long as the fragrance of the fourth-grade spiritual flowers reached the hive, its nose, more sensitive than a dog''s, would surely make it the first to rush out. No other bees in the hive couldpete with it.


    Now that it was indifferent to the fragrance of the fourth-grade spiritual flowers, there was only one exnation: its body was undergoing an unknown transformation.This unknown transformation could be good or bad, but Long Xuan leaned towards it being good.


    Because this bee had consumed honey made from the nectar of the ten-thousand-year-old iceberg snow lotus.


    Honey made from the nectar of such a high-quality spiritual flower would surely cause some effects.


    Looking at the progress above the little glutton''s head, indeed, there was a new progress bar showing 0%.


    "Once this progress reaches 100%, will this little glutton evolve into a queen bee?" Long Xuan thought excitedly.


    It''s no wonder he thought so, as he had long awaited this event.


    Only by blood-bonding with a queen bee could he freely consume the fourth-grade honey produced by this group of spiritual bees. Otherwise, attempting to take theirbor''s fruits would only lead to stings.


    At this moment, he ced high hopes on this little glutton, as his future honey consumption depended on it.


    Long Xuan stopped paying attention to it and began observing the swaggering chicken in the medicinal garden. The Chicken''s sharp gaze patrolled the garden like a security guard, acting as if it owned the ce, treating it as its territory and guarding it jealously.


    As for the original medicinal garden of Elder Long, it had long been abandoned by the rooster without mercy.


    The spiritual insects in that old garden were low-level and tasteless. It had endured it for a long time, preferring the fragrant spiritual insects of this garden.


    This garden was filled with high-grade spiritual herbs, producing extremely delicious spiritual insects. Compared to what it used to eat, those were nothing.


    Thus, Elder Long''s garden was once again despised by a chicken.


    Sinceing here, the chicken, like the spiritual bees, had also stayed and refused to leave.


    Additionally, after eating the high-grade spiritual insects, the chickenid eggs with more abundant spiritual energy, making them more delicious and nutritious. Long Xuan used these eggs to make tea eggs...


    After checking on the chicken, he finally stood up, gathered his things, and walked out of the formation.


    He had no choice; he wanted to stay quietly in the garden to cultivate Gu methods, but it was impossible.


    Although he had sent a fire clone to the front line, which would die if anything happened, he couldn''t let the clone roam freely. His research showed that the clone was stable as long as it stayed nearby. If left far away for too long, unforeseen issues might arise.


    He had to frequently assimte the clone''s memories to ensure safety, so he had to end his seclusion and hurry to the front line to assimte the clone''s memories.


    In the meantime, he would check if the memories contained materials for Gu recipe, and if so, he would collect them.


    Thus, this cautious individual finally left hisfortable home and reluctantly set off for the front line.


    Long Xuan was already aware of the front line''s situation. The challenge of dealing with the beast tidey in the numerous mortal viges that needed protection.


    Mortal viges had no ability to cope with the beast tide, and the Gu Cultivator Alliance had to take care of them because they relied on these viges for food. Ifrge-scale casualties urred among mortals, it would destabilize the foundation of a Gu cultivation family.


    But there were too many mortal viges. If Gu cultivators were dispersed to guard so many viges, their forces would be too scattered to defend against the beast tide. The oue would be that no ce could be defended.


    Therefore, guarding was the worst strategy. The battlefield had to be moved away from the mortal viges to minimize mortal losses.


    The method was simple: before the beast tide hit the viges or family residences, people were sent to divert the beast tide.


    The beast tide was divided into countless smaller groups. Small groups were annihted directly, whilerge groups were further divided and distracted, making it a prolonged battle.


    However, those assigned to divert therge beast tide had a perilous task, with a high probability of not returning.


    Such a mission was one of certain death, and naturally, no one wanted to undertake it. Everyone was selfish, and no one wanted to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.


    It was said that the candidates for these missions were chosen by drawing lots and forcibly imnted with poison Gu. They couldn''t return until theypleted their mission, or the poison Gu wouldn''t be removed.


    This method ensured that many Gu cultivators continued to sacrifice themselves, protecting the mortal world from the beast tide.


    Long Xuan felt fortunate that he hadn''t been sent. If a Gu was imnted in him, he would feel uneasy even if nothing happened.


    By traveling non-stop, he reached the front line in just three days, using a sense of connection to head towards his clone.


    In a certain valley.


    About a dozen Gu cultivators were fighting a fierce battle with over a hundred wolves, with nearly a hundred eagles asionally swooping down from the sky to harass them.


    It was less of a battle and more of a desperate defense, as these Gu cultivators were caught between the wolves and eagles, facing a two-pronged attack fromnd and air, with annihtion only a matter of time.


    This group of Gu cultivators was obviously elite, not ordinary wanderers, but a team of experts from various major ns. Despite the overwhelming odds, they managed to hold out for so long.


    However, the disparity in numbers was too great, and running was not an option with eagles in the sky. No matter how fast they were, they couldn''t outrun the eagles.


    At this point, running would only expose their backs to the eagles, leading to quicker deaths. It was a dead end for this team unless something unexpected happened.


    "Damn it! Can someone tell me where these eagles came from? How did they appear so suddenly? We''re in big trouble now!" Lei Yun shouted angrily, his face livid.


    They were all geniuses from various families, already at the peak of the Spirit Gathering stage at a young age.


    This was a team of prodigies, with members from all seven major families in the Far West.


    Such a team of geniuses wouldn''t be assigned to dangerous missions. Their families intended to use this beast tide to train them in realbat.


    So their mission was designed to be safe, but the appearance of the eagle swarm was baffling.


    Not only the eagles, but the origin of the wolf pack also left them puzzled.


    The situation developed too suddenly. First, they were surrounded by wolves, and then, out of nowhere, eagles flew in and joined the battle, catching them off guard.


    Many inexperienced prodigies were grabbed by the eagles, torn apart, and eaten alive, causing fear and panic among the rest.


    "I don''t know. I don''t know how these two swarms of spiritual beasts appeared, but I''ve already sent a distress signal to the family. We just need to hold on a bit longer for the family''s rescue." Another person shouted.


    "Hold on, my ass! By the time rescue arrives, we''ll have been eaten alive. There''s no way we can hold out that long!"


    "If anyone has a trump card, now''s the time to use it. Holding back will only lead to our deaths here!"


    "Trump card? Who has a trump card powerful enough to wipe out so many spiritual beasts at once?"


    The group was in chaos, but no solution emerged.


    Meanwhile, a young man in blue clothes hid behind a boulder in the distance, sneering.


    Run? My n is not something you can escape from so easily.


    Die here obediently!


    His eyes were filled with cruelty.


    Yes, this swarm of spiritual beasts was lured here by this young man.


    He was extremely fast and had stealth techniques, enough to lead the beast army to any location.


    In this world, a small number of people not only didn''t fight the beast tide but also targeted their own kind.


    This young man named Lei Guang, the top genius of the Lei n, was invincible in his realm. Instead of thinking about how tobat the beast tide and serve his n, he schemed against his own people.


    In his view, a Gu cultivator''s storage bag was worth more than any spiritual beast.


    The storage bags of these prodigies were incredibly valuable. Once the beasts killed them, they would abandon the storage bags on the ground, which Lei Guang could easily collect after the beasts left, making him rich overnight.


    This wealth could potentially allow him to refine two high-grade Gu insects or even more.


    This was his n: a cruel scheme to use spiritual beasts to quickly amass resources.


    For him, this beast tide was an opportunity for rapid rise.


    He had used simr methods countless times, killing many prodigies.


    This time, his n was thergest, involving two beast swarms to kill dozens of prodigies.


    After all, the background of these dozens of geniuses is terrifying, and if they die, it will inevitably shake the high levels of the major families, attracting investigations from powerful figures. How could he dare to continue his reckless actions?


    People who like to do bad things are often not stupid.


    He looked at a few Lei n geniuses in the crowd. Faced with their desperate struggle, he showed no sign of guilt or pity, instead, his expression grew more cruel.


    What does n matter on the path to bing a strong one? That genius named Lei Yun is his own brother, but so what?


    On the path to bing strong, family ties are a hindrance, the most boring thing. Even though his brother treated him well, he would not abandon this n.


    It¡¯s just bad luck that he happens to be in this team, so don¡¯t me his ruthless younger brother for being heartless, killing his brother is justifiable.


    Lei Guang''s lips curled into a wicked smile.


    Suddenly, he saw a young man in the distance rushing towards them. He quickly hid, and the next moment, his body turned the same color as the stone, as if merging with it.


    People passing by would probably not notice there was a person hiding here.


    As expected, the person rushing over was none other than Long Xuan, who had identally entered this valley.


    At this moment, Long Xuan''s eyes were fixed on the giant eagle king in the sky, his eyes gleaming with extreme greed.


    What a stroke of luck!


    His Gu formcked a peak-grade spirit insect rted to eagles, and he needed an eagle w with a king''s aura.


    This eagle king fit his requirements perfectly. Once he killed it, he could obtain two peak-grade materials.


    How could he let such a great opportunity slip by?


    So, as soon as he saw the eagle king from afar, his eyes lit up, and he hurried over.


    As for the two beast packs, he wasn¡¯t blind, he saw them clearly.


    In his view, the reason these dozens of people could hold off two beast packs for so long was not because they were strong, but because most of the beasts in these packs were below thete stage of the first level.


    As for the first-level peak spirit beasts, their numbers were about the same as those geniuses.


    If he could clear out the small fries with a big move, the remaining geniuses could handle the dozen first-level peak spirit beasts, including the eagle king.


    Since he could use zing me Palm to clear the rat tide and the ck armored insect swarm, clearing out lower-level wolf packs with zing me Palm should be no problem at all, totally reasonable.


    The logic is sound; small fries can indeed be cleared with a big move, but who actually has such a big move?


    Long Xuan did not realize that the people gathered here were the strongest geniuses of the seven major ns, none of whom had such a big move.


    Otherwise, why would the beast tide be such a headache for the ns, they could just use a big move to clear it easily, right?


    He probably hadn¡¯t realized just how terrifying his self-created spiritual techniques were in this world and what level they were at.


    Including his self-created cultivation method and the mutated spiritual power he researched, he had no clear understanding of their level or ce in this world.


    He truly did not know just how terrifying the things he had randomly tinkered with were in this world...


    ........................................................................


    Read ahead on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 72: (1): Levels of Techniques and Spiritual Arts

    Long Xuan covered his face and swiftly approached the battlefield. Once he was a certain distance from the eagle flock, he waved his palm in the air, mes swirling around his palm, creating a long trail of fire. After gathering his strength, he struck the sky with a powerful blow.


    "zing me Palm!"


    With a loud shout, a sea of fire spread instantly, engulfing the entire sky. The mes ignited the sky, forming a massive burning cloud.


    The entire eagle flock was enveloped in the sea of fire, and the air was filled with the screams of ck eagles.


    Below, everyone felt a sudden wave of heat, and the brightness of the mes made it difficult for them to keep their eyes open.


    They saw something falling from the sky like dumplings, somending among the crowd, some among the wolf pack, causing the ground to tremble.


    Everyone was stunned.


    Before they could react to what was happening, a huge wave of fire rose from the ground, swallowing the wolf pack in an instant, apanied by the howls of wolves.


    In just a moment, the entire ground was covered in a sea of fire, sorge that the wolves had nowhere to escape.At that moment, both the sky and the ground were filled with fire, the heatwave was overwhelming, and everyone was sweating. As soon as the sweat appeared, it was evaporated by the intense heat.


    Everyone was gasping for breath, as if they were suffocating.


    After hisst battle, Long Xuan had realized the shorings of this move. So, after improvements and rigorous practice, he could now perfectly control the attack range of his zing me Palm without injuring his teammates.


    But even so, the mes, despite not touching them, made them feel like they were being roasted.


    If the people on the ground felt like this, it was even worse for the wolves trapped in the sea of fire.


    As the screams gradually weakened, the ground was left with charred wolf corpses, emitting a burnt smell.


    Everyone stared in shock and disbelief at the scene before them.


    Do not think that spiritual beasts, covered in fur, are extremely afraid of fire and catch fire easily.


    It is not like that at all. Fireball techniques are among the most basic abilities, and anyone can release a fireball, but can it set a spiritual beast on fire? Far from it.


    Both Gu practitioners and spiritual beasts can attach spiritual power to their bodies, forming a spiritual power shield, called spiritual armor.


    Gu practitioners'' spiritual armor can effectively prevent others from casting Gu on them, and spiritual beasts'' spiritual armor can also block fire and other conventional damage.


    So ordinary mes arepletely ineffective against spiritual beasts; otherwise, this beast tide wouldn''t be so hard to deal with. Wouldn''t a fire attack wipe them all out?


    But this sea of fire waspletely different. Not only was it incrediblyrge, but it could easily burn through the spiritual armor of spiritual beasts.


    In the face of such power, the numerical advantage of spiritual beasts was useless. Unless the spiritual beasts were of a high enough grade, they would all die in a sea of beasts.


    Lei Yun swallowed heavily. Spiritual arts, body techniques, and techniques are divided into human, spiritual, earth, and heaven levels.


    This spiritual art must have reached the heaven level! Who is this formidable person?


    Heaven-level spiritual arts arepletely unheard of in this region. Who is this person? Could they be a genius from a great n from another region?


    Lei Yun looked at the masked man who had joined the battlefield with shock, unable to recover for a long time.


    Heaven-level spiritual arts have the power to destroy the world. Seeing it today was truly extraordinary, opening his eyes and filling him with awe.


    "Brother! Thank you!"


    Without further ado, he quickly rushed towards the eagle king that had fallen from the sky.


    Long Xuan, due to his low level, could only clear out spiritual beasts below thete stage of the first rank with his big move.


    He couldn''t burn through the spiritual armor of peak first-rank spiritual beasts and beast kings with his mes.


    So even though the ground was littered with beast corpses, there were still dozens of peak first-rank spiritual beasts alive.


    But this situation had greatly reduced the pressure on the geniuses.


    Not only had the pressure greatly reduced, but the number of geniuses now matched the number of spiritual beasts, giving them hope of victory.


    Everyone was filled with hope, smiling with relief, confident in the uing battle, and eager to fight.


    One by one, they charged at the remaining dozens of peak first-rank spiritual beasts with loud shouts.


    Lei Yun, being the captain of the team, had only one target: the most troublesome eagle king in the sky.


    Taking advantage of the rare opportunity of the eagle king falling to the ground, he immediately pounced on it, pinning it to the ground, rolling several times with the eagle.


    His legs tightly wrapped around the eagle king''s body, firmly mping its wings to prevent it from taking flight again.


    Once this thing took to the air, it would be impossible to fight, so Lei Yun would never allow it to fly again.


    Long Xuan''s target was also the eagle king. Upon arrival, he ran directly towards it.


    While Lei Yun controlled the eagle king''s body, Long Xuan disregarded the martial code and ruthlessly struck the eagle king''s head.


    "Life-destruction Palm! Life-destruction Palm! Life-destruction Palm..."


    Long Xuan''s palms moved swiftly, delivering countless strikes within a second.


    Only when the eagle king''s head droopedpletely did he stop his attack.


    Lei Yun was utterly shocked. The defensive power of a beast king is astounding; breaking its defense isn''t easy.


    What should have been a hard-fought, prolonged battle was easily resolved with a few palms?


    And the eagle king''s head showed no external injuries, yet it mysteriously died without a scratch. It was a bizarre death.


    Could this palm technique be another heaven-level spiritual art? Does he have a wholesale supply of heaven-level spiritual arts? Lei Yun thought, utterly shocked.


    He was about to speak but was stopped by Long Xuan''s outstretched palm: "No need to thank me or ask my name. I never leave my name when doing good deeds."


    Lei Yun''s open mouth froze, leaving him bewildered.


    Not leaving your name when doing good deeds is a traditional virtue, worthy of praise. But if you don''t leave your name, you don''t leave your name. What do you mean by taking the eagle king with you?


    The eagle king was clearly killed by the two of them together. Even if they were to divide the spoils, it should be split evenly.


    Everyone knows that the eagle king has a high drop rate and could produce peak-grade spiritual insects, and its entire body is worth a fortune.


    Is it really okay to put it in your storage bag so openly?


    Lei Yun wanted to speak but refrained in the end.


    Forget it! After all, he is my lifesaver. I won''t argue with him. Let''s consider it as repayment for saving my life!


    Could I really start a conflict with a mysterious person over this?


    Lei Yun thought helplessly.


    Seeing Long Xuan take the eagle king''s body and leave the battlefield without any intention of helping further, Lei Yun''s lips twitched. Is he just here to grab and go?


    He seriously doubted whether this person came to save them at all. This person¡¯s target was entirely the eagle king; they just happened to benefit from it.


    He was bewildered, but after a moment of confusion, he turned back to the battlefield to help his teammates deal with the remaining peak first-rank spiritual beasts.


    Although the mysterious person didn''t continue to help, Lei Yun believed that with theirbined strength, they could handle the remaining spiritual beasts, albeit at a significant cost.


    Meanwhile, Lei Guang, hiding behind a boulder, watched the scene with a pale face, his clenched fists trembling. Finally, he mmed his fist into the boulder.


    "Damn it! Meddlesome!"


    He red fiercely at Long Xuan''s departing figure, his face contorted with rage, his eyes filled with murderous intent.


    In the end, he got up and followed the person who ruined his ns...


    ........................................................................


    Read ahead on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 72: (2): Levels of Techniques and Spiritual Arts

    On the way to meet up with the Fire clone, Long Xuan unexpectedly picked up an excellent spirit insect, which was a pleasant surprise.


    Long Xuan couldn''t help but marvel at his good luck, smiling all the way.


    However, he did not rx his vignce. In this dangerous area, where a herd of beasts could rush in at any moment, how could he afford to let his guard down?


    From time to time, he used the Eye of Heavenly secret, to look into the distance and observe the position of the nearest beast herd to avoid them in time.


    However, the Eye of Heavenly secret''s ability consumed mental power, so he couldn''t keep it active continuously.


    As he passed by a giant tree, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.


    The tree was very tall, enough to conceal many things. He clearly saw some movement behind the tree.


    Human bodies are generally the same size, and judging by the width and height of the figure, it was highly likely to be a person, which made him narrow his eyes and be alert.


    "Who''s there? Come out! I already saw you!" Long Xuan shouted towards the back of the tree.Lei guang, who was hiding behind the tree, was stunned and looked bewildered. How on earth did this person discover him? The tree was huge, and he had hidden well.


    To be cautious, he used the Color-changing Gu to change his body color to blend with the tree trunk. Logically, it should have been impossible for Long Xuan to find him.


    This was really strange.


    Relying on his speed, he had overtaken Long Xuan early and set up an ambush ahead of his path, nning tounch a surprise attack for a fatal blow as he passed by.


    Who would have thought his disguise would be seen through so easily, making him very displeased and embarrassed.


    Since he had been discovered, there was no need to keep hiding. He could only step out from behind the tree.


    "Kid, you have good eyes. You¡¯re the first to see through my disguise. Not bad for a genius from the Great Region."


    "But I, Lei guang, have always loved killing geniuses and never feared their backgrounds."


    "You don¡¯t need to tell me your name or background. I don¡¯t want to know, and I¡¯m not interested. No matter how powerful your background is, you¡¯re going to die today!"


    Lei guang looked at Long Xuan with bloodthirsty eyes and said fiercely.


    Hearing this, Long Xuan fell into thought.


    From the words of the neer, he deduced a lot of information.


    Since this person inexplicably suspected he was a genius from the Great Region, it couldn''t be baseless. He must have seen Long Xuan''s earlier disy of zing me Palm.


    This meant that this person was nearby during the battle. Despite being at the battlefield, he didn¡¯t help, didn¡¯t save anyone, and instead hid for a long time without being noticed.


    Even though they were on the same side, there was no need for him to hide so thoroughly if he wasn''t going to help.


    His actions were so againstmon sense that Long Xuan had to suspect that the two beast herds were lured here by him.


    He felt that his guess was almost right. Otherwise, why would this person follow him and look at him with such hatred?


    If the situation was indeed as he guessed, then this matter definitely wouldn¡¯t end well today.


    With his wisdom, Long Xuan quickly deduced the situation to arge extent.


    Just as Long Xuan was contemting, Lei guang saw that he didn¡¯t respond immediately, so he stopped talking and charged directly. Lightning shed under his feet, and he appeared in front of Long Xuan in an instant.


    "So fast!" Long Xuan¡¯s expression changed slightly. Since the opponent was too close, it wasn¡¯t convenient for him to use zing me Palm; otherwise, he might harm himself. He could only use the Life-Destruction Palm to counterattack.


    A small green light appeared in his palm, and he struck towards Lei guang with both hands.


    However, Lei guang had just been hiding behind a boulder, clearly seeing the power of this palm technique.


    Even the defensively abnormal Beast King died silently under this palm technique, so how could he dare to take it head-on?


    Even though he was at the peak of Spirit Gathering, a level higher than Long Xuan, he didn¡¯t n to confront him head-on. He avoided Long Xuan''s attack and punched his chest with a fist shing with lightning.


    Long Xuan only felt lightning shing under this person''s feet, his speed extremely fast, easily dodging all his attacks. Caught off guard, Long Xuan took a punch to the chest.


    Long Xuan was shocked. This was a speed-type opponent, extremely good at speed, capable of dodging all his attacks while it was hard for him to avoid his. It made sense; a person who could lure a flock of eagles couldn''t be slow.


    His face darkened. Speed was his weakness at the moment.


    Although he had the Ten Absolute Body and the spiritual techniques he developed were extraordinarily powerful, it was useless if he couldn¡¯t hit the opponent.


    Instead, because of his slow speed, he kept taking punches. However, thanks to the presence of the Little Strong Gu, it was impossible for him to be seriously injured by just a few punches.


    But every time he was hit by the Thunder Fist, the electric current would paralyze his body, making him very ufortable.


    "Haha! You¡¯re too slow! My Lei n¡¯s peak-grade Gu insect, the Thunder sh Gu, grants me lightning-fast speed. Even the eagles can¡¯t catch up to me. How can you fight me?"


    "Although your spiritual techniques are powerful, only I can hit you, not the other way around. Today, you are destined to lose, destined to die by my hands!"


    Lei guang sneered, and his fist heavily struck Long Xuan¡¯s chest again. At the same time, the electric current from his fist surged into Long Xuan¡¯s body.


    However, seeing Long Xuan still lively as if his attack was just a massage, Lei guang¡¯s face darkened. He felt humiliated and his expression became increasingly grim.


    At this moment, he also realized the insufficiency of his attack power. He swore that next time he would refine an attack-type Gu insect for ambushing geniuses.


    Speed alone was useless if he couldn¡¯t break through the opponent¡¯s defenses.


    "Haha! Not bad for a genius from the Great Region. Your shell is really tough."


    "But even water can cut through stone. I want to see how many punches your shell can take."


    Lei guang roared, his fist covered with lightning, shing dazzling lightning, and crackling sounds. He attacked Long Xuan again.


    Long Xuan¡¯s expression became solemn. This opponent was different from the previous ones, much stronger than those random cultivators.


    Even Feng Wu was far less troublesome than this person. He already suspected that this person¡¯s background was not simple and would not be easy to deal with.


    This also quelled his impulse to use Little White. Logically, Little White¡¯s slow field could significantly restrict his speed, making it the perfect counter to this opponent.


    But in this critical moment, he was exceptionally calm. Neither side had revealed their external Gu yet. Whoever exposed their trump card first would be at a disadvantage.


    If he used Little White first, it would break the current bnce, prompting his opponent to use his external Gu as well.


    This opponent had likely done this kind of thing many times, indicating his wealth. Wealth meant he likely had more than one peak-grade Gu insect.


    Who knew how many Gu insects were in his insect bag? A genius from arge n definitely wouldn¡¯t have just one external Gu, that was certain.


    If he released Little White and forced his opponent to release several troublesome Gu insects, the situation could worsen.


    Little White might not be able to handle so many Gu insects, leading to an even worse crisis.


    Therefore, even if he had to endure passive beating, Long Xuan absolutely did not n to be the first to use external Gu.


    Unbeknownst to him, Lei guang was thinking the same. He didn¡¯t dare to use his external Gu because of his many apprehensions.


    The person in front of him was obviously a genius from a great region, and his trump cards and Gu insects were unknown. He hadn¡¯t exposed any Gu insects yet, making them a significant concern.


    A genius from a great region wouldn¡¯t have weak Gu insects or few of them.


    He feared that if he used his external Gu first, he would force this genius to use his as well.


    Who knew what abilities and strengths the external Gu from the outside territories had? The variables were too great.


    If using his external Gu caused the opponent to release stronger and more numerous Gu insects, he would be in trouble, potentially breaking his current advantage and putting himself in a passive situation, or even in danger.


    So he didn¡¯t dare to use the peak-grade Gu insects in his worm pouch. Instead, he mirrored the opponent¡¯s strategy, engaging in closebat.


    However, this situation was clearly unfavorable for Long Xuan. He used his intelligence to quickly find a way to break the stalemate.


    People with big imagination generally have high IQs, and he soon thought of a way to deal with it.


    He grabbed two healing pills and threw them into his mouth, swallowing one and hiding the other under his tongue for emergencies.


    If an urgent situation arose and he had no time to retrieve a healing pill from his storage pouch, the pill under his tongue would be his lifeline.


    After taking a breath, he ran wildly in one direction.


    Seeing his opponent almost injured by his attacks, Lei guang saw him instantly recover, feeling a surge of frustration.


    "Running? Where are you running? Even with a hundred healing pills, you¡¯re destined to die today!"


    "You can¡¯t escape my speed. I¡¯ll see who oust who first!"


    Lei Guang grabbed a spiritual pill from the storage bag and threw it into his mouth. The consumed spiritual power immediately returned slowly, and then lightning shed under his feet, and he quickly chased after Long Xuan.


    "You can''t do it after just fighting for a while? You still need to take drugs, are you a little weak? Is your body not okay?" Long Xuan turned around and mocked.


    "You are looking for death!" Lei Guang waspletely enraged by this sentence, his eyes were zing, and he rushed towards Long Xuan with anger.


    Long Xuan fought with him while retreating. It seemed that he was running randomly, but in fact he was deliberately leading the battlefield to a certain direction. After approaching a certain position, he suddenly roared without warning, and the sound was so loud that it scared Lei Guang.


    Meanwhile, in a distant area, the ears of the wolf king of a wolf pack suddenly twitched. Its fierce gaze immediately focused in a particr direction. After howling once, it led its pack of hundreds towards that direction at full speed.


    The hearing of spirit beasts is extraordinarily keen. Even though the wolf pack was far from the twobatants, Long Xuan¡¯s howl was enough for the wolf king to notice.


    Lei Guang had not yet reacted to what was happening and waspletely confused by Long Xuan¡¯s sudden howl.


    It wasn¡¯t long before a pack of hundreds of wolves stormed into the battlefield andunched a ferocious attack on both of them. Lei Guang¡¯s face turned pale as he finally understood the purpose of that howl.


    "Are you crazy? Bringing the wolves here, you won''t escape either! If you want to die, don''t drag me down with you!" Lei Guang cursed in rage.


    This was a pack of hundreds of wolves. No matter how much of a genius he was, he couldn''t single-handedly take on hundreds of wolves. In just a short moment, he was already in grave danger, getting hit by several wolf ws.


    At this moment, he finally experienced the taste of being besieged by spirit beasts, experiencing a taste of his own medicine.


    Seeing Lei Guang quickly sustain injuries under the wolves¡¯ attack, Long Xuan sneered coldly, just as he had anticipated.


    Through their brief encounter, he had already noticed that Thunder sh Gu was fast, but it was adept at straight-line movement, fast in speed but not in agility.


    In theplex battlefield environment requiring dodges from attacks from all directions, Thunder sh Gu¡¯s speed was useless.


    Where could he charge with his straight-line speed? Whichever way he rushed, he would run straight into the wolf pack.


    Without the advantage of straight-line speed andcking agility, Lei Guang couldn¡¯t avoid the wolves¡¯ multi-directional attacks and constantly got wounded, looking utterly miserable.


    Long Xuan¡¯s situation was entirely different. Not to mention his Little Strong Gu, which could withstand hits, he deftly handled the wolves'' attacks without getting touched.


    Every wolf lunging at him could be effortlessly dodged with minimal movement, not a single wolf managing to touch his clothes, forming a stark contrast with Lei Guang¡¯s dire situation.


    Moreover, while dodging the wolves, he asionally attacked Lei Guang.


    Lei Guang had to deal with both the wolves'' attacks and Long Xuan¡¯s, feeling immensely irritated.


    Despite being a genius, he was now overwhelmed, fending off attacks from all sides, including from Long Xuan, resulting in several wounds on his back.


    However, Lei Guang, being the strongest genius of the Lei family, managed to kill wolves amidst the chaos. His lightning-imbued fists killed a wolf with each strike, leaving a trail of wolf corpses.


    But with increasing injuries and no way to break free, being overwhelmed was just a matter of time, especially with a lurking wolf king.


    Lei Guang turned his hate-filled gaze towards Long Xuan, noticing that he was effortlessly dodging the wolves, not getting touched at all. Lei Guang felt an urge to vomit blood.


    "You forced me to this!"


    Lei Guang roared, smashing a white wolf¡¯s head, then quickly throwing all his Gu insects at Long Xuan.


    Seeing arge purple toad shing with lightning flying toward him, Long Xuan was startled and quickly ran.


    The purple toad was about to pursue but got ambushed from the side by the wolf king, which bit its neck and violently shook it.


    Meanwhile, the other Gu insects released by Lei Guang were intercepted by the wolves.


    The wolf pack attacked indiscriminately, biting any Gu insect they saw.


    Thus, Lei Guang''s Gu insects, not even touching Long Xuan, suffered heavy losses to the wolves.


    Lei Guang''s eyes turned red, feeling heartbroken. He knew how much resources and effort he had invested in cultivating those Gu insects.


    Especially seeing his prized Thunder Purple Gold Toad, a powerful Gu insect capable of releasing destructive lightning attacks, being mauled by the wolf king, he was devastated.


    "Whoa! This precious Gu insect died so tragically! Whose valuable Gu insect is this? Why didn¡¯t they take better care of it?"


    Even at this moment, Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but taunt, looking delighted at Lei Guang¡¯s misfortune, his expression infuriatingly smug.


    ........................................................................


    Read ahead on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 73: (1): The Rise of the Queen Bee

    Lei Guang red venomously at Long Xuan but did not retaliate. He finally calmed down.


    His situation was dire, facing a critical predicament. He could not afford to continue entangling with Long Xuan and needed to break through as quickly as possible, or he might die here today.


    With a fear of death, he ignored Long Xuan and dashed in a straight line with reckless abandon. The Thunder sh Gu excelled at straight-line speed. Any wolves in his path were either knocked away or clung onto him, tearing offrge chunks of flesh.


    This was the downside of running straight; he couldn''t avoid the wolves'' attacks, resulting in numerous fatal injuries. But the urgency of the situation left him with no other choice.


    He had to ignore the wolves'' attacks and charge in one direction, hoping to break out of the encirclement as quickly as possible.


    However, Long Xuan wouldn''t let him have his way. Whoever released their external Gu first was at a disadvantage. Lei Guang had done so and suffered for it. Now it was Long Xuan''s turn to use his trump card.


    While deftly avoiding attacks from all directions, Long Xuan opened his insect bag and pulled out little white. Upon seeing little white, his face darkened.


    little white was currently holding a jug of wine, guzzling it down like water. The precious jug of fine distilled liquor was being wasted by this little creature.


    Long Xuan looked pained. That wine was worth a fortune. How could it withstand such waste?This wine Gu only drank wine, nothing else. It wouldn''t grow without drinking his top-quality distilled wine. What household could sustain such extravagance?


    It''s often said that the cost of raising Gu far exceeds refining Gu, and Long Xuan truly felt this now.


    He had a premonition that his mining earnings would eventually be squandered by this little creature. It was just a matter of time.


    Long Xuan, with a dark expression, said, "Are you full yet? If you are, go stop that person. If he escapes, you can forget about drinking any more wine. I can''t afford to support a great god like you."


    Long Xuan pointed at Lei Guang, who was about to break through the encirclement.


    Little white looked at Lei Guang with a drunken gaze. Without any visible movement, a white light curtain spread from Little white, extending in a strip towards Lei Guang''s feet.


    Lei Guang suddenly felt immense resistance in the space around him, as if an invisible hand was hindering his every move. Every step required immense effort, significantly slowing him down.


    What made it worse was that only he was affected by the slowing field; the wolves'' speed remained unchanged.


    As the field continued to spread, epassing the wolf pack, the white snake didn''t just ignore them but actually sped them up.


    This was absurd.


    Lei Guang felt an urge to vomit blood, utterly copsing. How could he fight when only he was slowed down while the wolves were sped up?


    He was about to break through the encirclement when the wolves, now much faster, quickly overtook him, forcing him back to the center. His eyes filled with despair.


    With the wolves sped up, their attacks were now even deadlier. Many attacks that he could have dodged were now unavoidable, especially since he was slowed.


    The Wolf King, particrly, became a crazed beast with increased speed, itsbat power skyrocketing.


    After killing the Thunder Purple Gold Toad, the Wolf King, realizing its increased speed, attacked the heavily injured Lei Guang with renewed ferocity, testing its enhancedbat power.


    With the strengthened Wolf King in the fray, Lei Guang was under immense pressure, frequently getting scratched, leaving deep wounds.


    With only his Thunder sh Gu left, all other Gu were dead, and with his speed decreased, Lei Guang was defenseless against the Wolf King''s attacks.


    Soon, the Wolf King tore off his right leg, and without the ability to move, he was swiftly overwhelmed and torn apart by the wolf pack, dying a gruesome death.


    Long Xuan showed no mercy. "Those who kill shall be killed."


    Since Lei Guang enjoyed killing and plundering, he had to be prepared for retaliation.


    Long Xuan smirked coldly, grabbed Lei Guang''s storage bags and insect bag, and prepared to break out.


    The wolf pack, having killed Lei Guang, turned their attention to Long Xuan.


    However, Long Xuan, confident in his abilities, wasn''t afraid of them.


    Even if the situation became dire, he could use his two-hundred-year Spirit bomb, wiping out the Wolf King and its pack, no matter how many wolves there were.


    But the current situation didn''t warrant using the Spirit bomb, which cost two hundred years of lifespan. He wouldn''t use it unless absolutely necessary.


    Little white''s field expanded, enveloping the wolf pack.


    This time, the wolves were slowed down, and Long Xuan was sped up.


    With this advantage, Long Xuan easily broke through the encirclement, leaving the wolves far behind.


    The Wolf King, now frustrated, couldn''t keep up with the fluctuating speed and eventually gave up the chase.


    Beast tides were terrifying for most, almost certain death if surrounded by beasts.


    But for Long Xuan, entering a beast pack was like strolling through his backyard. He coulde and go as he pleased.


    Even a prodigy like Lei Guang was torn apart by beasts, while Long Xuan escaped unscathed.


    After distancing himself from the wolves, Long Xuan eagerly checked his spoils.


    Lei Guang had three storage bags at his waist, surely filled with treasures.


    As he opened them, Long Xuan''s eyes lit up.


    The bags were filled with treasures, piled high. Two werepletely full, a wealth beyond imagination.


    Long Xuan couldn''t help but marvel at how many people this devious guy had killed to amass such wealth. Killing indeed brought quick riches.


    He quickly inspected the contents of the three storage bags and insect bag, and a bright smile spread across his face.


    Goodness, it''s really a bountiful haul. He actually found materials from two Beast Kings inside, along with peak-grade spirit insects that parasitized the Beast Kings.


    One was a Deer King and the other a Ox King, which happened to be the necessary materials for refining the Dragon Gu.


    Deer antlers correspond to the dragon''s horns, and Ox ears correspond to the dragon''s ears. Now, he has gathered the eyes, ears, scales, horns, and ws for his Dragon Gu.


    He has already collected five-ninths of all the parts for the Dragon Gu and more than half of the nine portions of Beast King materials.


    And how long has it been since he started? He hasn''t even created the form for the Dragon Gu yet, and he has onlye up with less than 10% of the content.


    At first, he was worried about not finding the materials and considered abandoning the n to research the Dragon Gu form. Now, it seems his worries werepletely unnecessary.


    It can only be said that this beast tide came at just the right time. Any kind of beast material could potentially be collected during the beast tide.


    It is estimated that this Lei Guang collected the materials from the two Beast Kings by continuously ambushing and killing geniuses.


    Long Xuan was overjoyed.


    These were just the materials he needed. There were many other materials he didn''t need, some even more precious than the Beast King materials.


    In short, Lei Guang''s wealth was truly astonishing.


    Long Xuan was very satisfied.


    ........................................................................


    Read ahead on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 73: (2): The Rise of the Queen Bee

    As he was happily counting his spoils, Fire clone sensed his presence and finally arrived. Without a word, he threw a insect breeding bag to Long Xuan.


    Curious, Long Xuan took it and opened it. His eyes squinted, and he immediately burst into a smile.


    Good heavens, there was actually a camel corpse inside, another Beast King, with a peak-grade spirit insect parasitizing its spirit core.


    A dragon''s head resembling a camel''s! Now, the dragon''s head isplete, isn''t it?


    Six out of nine Beast King materials have been collected. Just three more to go. Double happiness, indeed double the happiness.


    "Good! Good! Well done!"


    Long Xuan couldn''t stop smiling, patting Fire clone on the shoulder, and simultaneously synchronizing their memories.


    By checking the memories, he finally understood where Fire clone got the camel king''s corpse from.


    In the battle between the Gu Cultivator Alliance and the beast tide, not only did the Gu Cultivator Alliance suffer heavy casualties, but arge number of spirit beasts also died, including many Beast Kings.Thus, the surviving Gu cultivators basically became wealthy, each reaping considerable rewards on the battlefield. Unused materials naturally had to be dealt with.


    So, every day,rge and small trade fairs were held in the camp, too many to count.


    Peak-grade spirit insects, which were rarely seen, frequently appeared at the trade fairs. Various rare beast materials were abundant, and many Gu cultivators made a fortune.


    This entire camel king beast material was acquired by Fire clone at a trade fair through bidding from arge n''s Gu cultivator.


    The price was not small either. With all the Gu cultivators in the camp wealthy, Fire clone spent twenty million spirit stones plus a bottle of Spirit Gathering Pills to get the entire camel king corpse and the peak-grade spirit insect sold with it.


    Of course, the trade waspleted in disguise, and just this transaction alone exhausted Fire clone''s spirit stones.


    As for Fire clone''s safety, Long Xuan, after checking his memory, was no longer worried.


    Long Qilin remembered past favors. Without Long Xuan''s help in that battle, Long Qilin would have been dead for sure.


    So, in this beast tide, Long Qilin took good care of Fire clone, preventing him from being used as cannon fodder by therge ns.


    With this, Long Xuan was more reassured to invest resources in Fire clone.


    He rummaged through his storage bag. He had only spent a small portion of the spirit stones from selling the fossil mine, and his wealth was still abundant, not to mention the mountain of spirit stones in Lei Guang''s storage bag.


    So, without hesitation, he waved his hand and allocated two hundred million spirit stones to Fire clone, along with many bottles of pills, including arge number of Spirit Gathering Pills.


    Various unused treasures were also divided, with a portion handed to Fire clone.


    "Trade! Trade as hard as you can! Trade to death!"


    In just two months, Yan''s clone collected a set of Beast King materials. Given a year, who knows how much more he could gather.


    Collecting the nine kinds of Beast King materials needed for Dragon Gu seemed promising. Very promising, indeed. Long Xuan spared no expense, pouring arge amount of resources into Fire clone, aiming for him to use all means to gather the remaining three kinds of Beast King materials.


    ...


    After meeting with Fire clone, Long Xuan immediately returned to his little home, not lingering for a moment longer.


    Such a great danger had just urred; who knows what might happen if he stayed longer? As the main character, there was some sort of aura that brought danger wherever he went. Only staying at home was the safest.


    As for dealing with the beast tide, that was entirely left to Fire clone, who would also collect the materials needed for Dragon Gu.


    Long Xuan himself had important matters to attend to. With Fire clone around, it was as if Long Xuan was contributing to the battle against the beast tide.


    After three days of travel back home, Long Xuan ran into his small pavilion in the medicine garden, brewed some tea, heated some tea eggs, and enjoyed the fragrant tea eggs. After tasting a bite, he sat on the stone chair, focused on his Gu recipes, asionally sipping his tea. If it got cold, he would switch to warm wine, fully enjoying himself.


    He once again entered a state of seclusion, but the life of seclusion didn''t feel boring to him.


    His storage bag was filled with fresh and delicious Beast King meat, and the vegetable garden was ripe, producing high-grade fruits and vegetables, far more delicious than in his previous life.


    Researching Gu recipes and enjoying gourmet food became his greatest pleasure, leading the life of a homebody with its own joys. Being a homebody with little interaction with the outside world didn''t necessarily mean a low happiness index.


    Long Xuan either researched Gu recipes or food every day, enjoying delicacies, and only went out every two months to meet with Fire clone.


    While synchronizing their memories, he also brought back the materials collected by Fire clone. Every trip yielded gains, and the materials needed for Dragon Gu were gradually being gathered.


    He repeated this simple and unpretentious lifestyle, and before he knew it, a year had passed.


    During this year, Long Xuan had a burst of inspiration, greatly shortening the Creation period. In just a year, he hadpleted 90% of the Dragon Gu recipe, and it was close to being finished.


    One day, he put down his pen and, after cing it on the stone table, took a sip of juice made from Grade Four spirit fruits.


    The juice made from Grade Four spirit fruits was not only delicious but also rich in various spiritual attributes. Drinking a sip made his whole body feelfortable. It would have been even better with some ice cubes.


    After a satisfying burp, Long Xuan strolled towards the beehive hanging on the cherry blossom tree.


    This was also the reason he suddenly got up. Observing the progress, he realized that the little glutton was not far from evolving into a queen bee, probably just a few days away.


    So he frequently got up to check, full of anticipation.


    With a nervous heart, Long Xuan slowly approached the beehive on the cherry blossom tree.


    As soon as he got close, he saw a huge round hole in the beehive, far exceeding the normal size of a spirit bee, as if something had suddenly squeezed out from the inside.


    His spirit stirred, and he immediately looked inside the beehive through the hole. Indeed, arge spirit bee was inside, happily enjoying honey.


    There was no doubt that the hole was made by this guy. No one else could have done it.


    Its body had grown sorge that the small bee hole could no longer amodate it, forcing it to squeeze out with brute force.


    But this squeezing caused trouble for the other spirit bees. Their homes were demolished, leaving them homeless overnight.


    Each spirit bee had its own private chamber, which served as their home and personal territory, within a maze-like beehive they all shared.


    Each spirit bee made honey for itself, hiding different vors in its private chamber to enjoy quietly at night.


    Some spirit bees even developed a collecting habit, gathering all kinds of honey and filling their small homes.


    The rarest Grade Four honey was hidden most securely, guarded against passing neighbors for fear of theft.


    Thus, each chamber in the beehive was crucial to the resident spirit bees, storing their treasured honey. Now, with their homes destroyed, wouldn''t the honey-loving bees go mad and attack the intruder?


    Long Xuan worriedly thought that this big guy might have incurred the wrath of the bees and could be beaten to death.


    But on closer inspection, he found this wasn''t the case.


    The big guy seemed to be distributingpensation. All the disced spirit bees were satisfied and left to expand the hive, preparing to rebuild their homes on the edges.


    Thepensation was an ice-blue substance, which the other spirit bees looked at with great desire.


    Many spirit bees even brought out their cherished Grade Four honey to exchange.


    The big guy kept shaking its head, refusing to trade.


    What was this substance? Its value surpassed Grade Four honey, Long Xuan wondered in astonishment.


    But it was certain that this substance was extremely beneficial to the spirit bees, irresistibly tempting.


    "Royal jelly!"


    Long Xuan suddenly eximed.


    There was only one exnation for this blue substance: royal jelly.


    Don''t equate royal jelly from the previous world with that of this world. The royal jelly here had numerous magical effects. Worker bee-produced royal jelly wasmon, but royal jelly from the bee Queen could evolve ordinary spirit bees, even causing transformations, making it irresistibly attractive to all spirit bees.


    Long Xuan''s breath quickened. Just from its size, he knew the little glutton had evolved into a bee Queen.


    The path to nurturing a bee Queen had finally seeded.


    He had waited so long for this day, craving honey for so long. Now that the bee Queen was finally born, he felt a wave of satisfaction.


    ted, Long Xuan eagerly reached into therge hole, pulled out the erged glutton, and bit his finger to establish a blood contract as quickly as possible.


    The little glutton, only knowing how to eat, didn''t resist and was quickly bound by the blood contract.


    Through the blood contract, Long Xuan soon understood its abilities.


    Without a doubt, the little glutton unexpectedly evolved into a new bee species after consuming honey made from the nectar of a ten thousand year old iceberg snow lotus honey. This new bee species is the first of its kind in this world.


    Previously, Long Xuan had never figured out what species they were and had always referred to this group collectively as spirit bees. But now, it no longer mattered what species they were before, and Long Xuan didn''t bother to investigate further.


    Because the little glutton had evolved into a new bee species, the ordinary spirit bees also experienced a dramatic increase in power after consuming its royal jelly, evolving into this new species.


    Long Xuan quickly gave this new bee species a brand-new name: ice bees. And he decided to name the little glutton Bingbing.[1]


    Through their blood contract, Long Xuan had a rough understanding of the ice bees'' abilities.


    In both his previous life and this one, bees had a fatal weakness that all Gu cultivators found intolerable. The bee''s stinger had barbs, and once it prated the enemy''s body, it couldn''t be pulled out.


    As a result, after a bee stings someone, the stinger remains in the enemy''s skin, along with part of the bee''s intestines, causing the bee to die soon after stinging. Ultimately, the enemy would suffer only minor injuries, while the bee would die, making it apletely meaningless suicidal attack.


    However, the ice bees he unintentionally created had evolved perfectly, without this fatal w.


    The ice bees'' stingers were ice needles, formed by condensed ice. They had no barbs and were smooth, making them easy to prate the enemy''s body.


    Furthermore, the ice needles were consumable and could be produced indefinitely. They could be shot in mid-air for long-range attacks. After an ice needle was fired, another would quickly grow at the ice bee''s tail, allowing for continuous regeneration,pletely avoiding the deadly drawback of other bees'' stingers.


    Additionally, the ice needles contained a potent toxin. Once an ice needle prated the body, it would defy logic by instantly melting, turning into liquid and rapidly being absorbed by the body.


    Long Xuan didn''t know exactly how terrifying the ice bee''s venom was, but it was clear that in this world, it was currently an incurable poison.


    A poison never before seen by anyone in the world, with no known antidote, could be considered incurable from a certain perspective.


    Long Xuan was very satisfied with the ice bees''bat capabilities. Although their individualbat ability couldn''tpare to peak-grade Gu insects, ice bees were social spirit insects and had strength in numbers.


    Led by the queen bee, tens of thousands of ice bees could create a rain of needles, covering the ground with a dense needle shower, attacking indiscriminately.


    Imagine who wouldn''t be troubled by such an attack method? Each ice needle was highly toxic, and being hit by even one would be unbearable.


    However, there was currently only one ice bee, far from reaching the scale of tens of thousands. Cultivating such arge number of ice bees would take an unknown amount of time and require him to continue expanding the nting of flower-type spiritual herbs.


    Long Xuan will not be able to see the terrifying scene of needles raining from the sky in the short term, and the ice bees will not be able to formbat power in a short period of time.


    For now, he could only ce the ice bee in the medicinal garden to nurture it for a long period. Once they reached a certain scale, he would make further arrangements.


    1. Bingbing (±ù±ù) trantes to ice ice. But I thought Bingbing sounded more appropriate and like a name rather than ''ice ice'' lol.


    ........................................................................


    Read ahead on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 74: (1): The Power of the Ice Formation

    However, collecting this honey was a must. Long Xuan looked at the bee queen, about the size of a fist, in his palm, and after a light cough, he kindly said, "BingBing, your rtives have been living in my medicine garden for so long; it''s time they pay taxes."


    "This medicine garden is mine. They''re staying in my garden, so shouldn''t they pay taxes?"


    "All the spiritual herbs here are painstakingly cultivated by me, and the pollen they collect is all mine. Since they''ve taken my things, shouldn''t they pay taxes?"


    "Their hive is protected by my Ice Formation, safe from predators. Living here is 100% safe, so shouldn''t they pay a protection tax?"


    "I''ve calcted carefully for you: scenery tax, safety tax, water tax, single tax, honey collection tax, ie tax, property tax, asset tax, protection tax, head tax, breathing tax, sunbathing tax, stable living tax,nd appreciation tax, farnd upation tax, environmental protection tax..."


    Long Xuan counted on his fingers and found that ten fingers weren''t enough, so he had to stop.


    "Okay! For now, that''s all I can think of. I''ll add more as I think of them."


    "All these taxesbined aren''t much. Each household only needs to hand over half of their honey every month."


    "Now, go collect taxes from each household for me. Anyone who dares to resist won''t get royal jelly in the future."Long Xuan excitedly pointed and gestured, suddenly wondering if he was being too harsh.


    Those spirit bees are all honey addicts; collecting their honey is like taking their lives. They might rebel.


    Hopefully, BingBing, just bing the bee queen, won''t be overthrown.


    He thought that to rapidly develop the number of ice bees and quickly formbat power, they must be left with enough food. The more food, the faster the reproduction rate.


    Moreover, he''s just one person with a limited appetite and can''t eat that much honey. Too much would be a waste.


    Considering these points, Long Xuan decided to reduce the tax rate to 20% and let BingBing handle the tax collection.


    BingBing seemed very interested in collecting honey from each household. She swallowed hard and eagerly set out to work.


    With the royal bee bloodline''s suppression and the allure of royal jelly, all the spirit bees obedientlyplied.


    There''s no such thing as a peasant uprising in the spirit beast world; Long Xuan was overthinking.


    But what he didn''t expect was that this little clever bee dared to defy his orders and collected twice the amount of honey, keeping the extra for herself.


    If Long Xuan knew what she did, he might be furious.


    After sessfully collecting the honey, Long Xuan was in a great mood. He immediately made a cup of honey water, added some crushed ice with the Ice me, and took a sip.


    The cool honey water made him feel refreshed, with the sweetness mixed with the floral fragrance, cold and delicious. It was beyond satisfying.


    Honey made from fourth-grade pollen was indeed delicious and did not disappoint Long Xuan. He showed a look of intoxication after drinking it.


    "This is life, a cup of honey water, living like a god!"


    "Indeed! There''s nowhere asfortable as home, nowhere as safe as home," Long Xuan eximed while holding his cup.


    However, just as he finished speaking, the Ice Formation suddenly shook violently, as if something was hitting it fiercely.


    Long Xuan was startled by this sudden change, interrupting his moment of joy.


    What''s going on? Just after saying staying home is safe, something dangerous happens. Could it be a meteor strike? Long Xuan was shocked.


    At this moment, the killing array of the Ice Formation seemed triggered, and ice-blue fireballs flew into the sky, striking far away.


    "Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."


    Long Xuan heard the whistling sound of fireballs passing by his ears, countless fireballs flying over his head, and in an instant, it seemed like the sky was raining fire, madly bombarding outside the formation.


    Soon, a series of explosions could be heard outside the formation, as if it were being bombarded by artillery, shaking the ground violently.


    "Is this firepower?" Long Xuan was stunned by this terrifying scene.


    Even though he set up the Ice Formation, he didn''t expect its firepower to be so strong. This was the first time activating the killing array and witnessing the formation''s power.


    Long Xuan immediately ran in the direction of the fireball attacks and, upon reaching the edge of the formation, saw a group of spirit beasts attacking his medicine garden. He finally understood what was happening.


    Despite the beast tide being intercepted by the Gu cultivation allied forces, it''s impossible to intercept 100%.


    Small groups of beasts asionally prate the defense line, reaching the human world.


    There were already reports of spirit beasts massacring viges.


    Apparently, this group of beasts was the fish that slipped through the frontline, prating deep into the interior, nning to raid Great Stone Vige.


    But Long Xuan''s medicine garden was in front of Great Stone Vige, right in the path of the spirit beast army.


    So naturally, his medicine garden faced a fierce attack from the spirit beast army, which seemed to want to destroy this stronghold.


    This was truly misfortune; even staying home wasn''t safe.


    Was he protecting Great Stone Vige by taking the hit?


    Long Xuan was a bit stunned, but despite his medicine garden being under a massive attack by the spirit beast army, he wasn''t worried.


    In this world, the power of Gu cultivators and formations are not equivalent.


    Even though he''s just a small Gu cultivator in the Spirit Gathering stage, the Ice Formation''s power far exceeds that of a Spirit Gathering stage Gu cultivator.


    If the attack power of the formation is equal to the level of the Gu cultivator himself, how could Master Jin dare to settle down in the wild, and how could Di Xin dare to settle down in the prairie?


    Formations with Spirit Gathering stage power wouldn''t provide them with such security.


    Long Xuan''s formation was inherited from Master Jin''s cave-protecting formation, and with the addition of the Ice Divine me as the treasure that supported the formation, its power increased several times. How could an ordinary group of beasts just attack it??


    Just looking at the firepower in the sky shows the formation''s immense power.


    "How can my Ice Formation be something you can break through at will? You are truly overestimating yourselves. You''re doomed!"


    Looking at the spirit beast army fiercely attacking the formation, Long Xuan showed a disdainful expression.


    The sky was raining fireballs, and the dense fireball rain fiercely bombarded the beast army, causing countless spirit beasts to scream.


    The ground was covered with unquenchable cold mes. Spirit beasts engulfed by the mes were either burned to death or turned into ice statues.


    Their thin spiritual armor was useless, like paper, easily burned through by the cold mes.


    The Divine Ice me''s power far surpasses Long Xuan''s zing me Palm. Being directly hit by the Ice me means certain death, whether you''re a peak first-tier spirit beast or even a beast king.


    This spirit beast army was truly unlucky to stumble into such a deadly formation, a disaster indeed...


    This beast army had about 500 members, a considerable number, with various types of spirit beasts, even flying ones, making it a motley crew.


    However, the Ice Formation''s firepower was too fierce for such a beast army to withstand.


    The dense fireballs struck the beast army''s center, continuously bombarding them. In no time, more than half of the spirit beast army was killed or injured, leaving them dazed.


    Even the flying spirit beasts couldn''t escape the fate, as the dense fireballs acted like anti-air missiles, sweeping the sky.


    The flying spirit beasts dodged one fireball after another, but eventually couldn''t avoid the tenth one.


    Hit by a fireball, they screamed, engulfed in blue mes, and fell heavily to the ground.


    ........................................................................


    Read ahead on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 74: (2): The Power of the Ice Formation

    If they were lucky, they''dnd directly on the back of another ground beast, causing both to be burned together. The scene was like a living hell, with fire everywhere in the sky and on the ground, leaving no safe ce to step. The fire on the ground burned continuously, making it scorching hot to walk on and filled with the anguished cries of the beasts.


    This beast army suffered heavy losses in just a single encounter, with countless beasts perishing in the sea of mes, creating a horrific sight.


    When the beast army realized they had entered a forbidden zone that could not be attacked, it was already toote to escape.


    The killing array''s attack range was vast and its firepower overwhelming. Even the remaining beasts that fled in panic were dying in droves. It would take a long time to escape the killing array''s attack range.


    In the end, the battlefield was strewn with corpses, and only a few dozen beasts managed to escape, while the rest of the army perished, resulting in a tragic oue.


    Once the beasts were wiped out, the fireballs finally stopped raining down, and the array slowly resumed its calm, returning to its previous tranquil state.


    If not for the remains of the beast corpses and the mes on the ground, it would be hard to imagine that such a fierce battle had just urred, and that this serene array possessed such terrifying destructive power.


    Long Xuan was stunned for a long time. The terrifying scene of fire raining down from the sky was too visually shocking, more spectacr than any special effects in movies, making him exim with excitement.


    After taking a deep breath, his eyes lit up with excitement as he rushed out of the array.There were 500 beast corpses outside, a treasure trove left on the ground, making him feel like he had struck it rich.


    It''s important to know that his Divine ice me was different from ordinary mes. Ordinary mes would burn the beastspletely, leaving nothing behind, and even the spirit insects parasitizing within would be burned to death.


    However, his ice me was different. Beings burned by the ice me would mostly turn them into ice sculptures, with their beast materials perfectly preserved.


    Additionally, the beast meat frozen by the ice me would remain fresh for a long time, which he could sell to Qian''s restaurant and make a tidy profit.


    With 500 beast corpses, even just selling the meat would make him a fortune.


    Long Xuan was overjoyed, calling his clones to fetch arge number of storage bags and then began collecting the treasures scattered on the ground.


    With 500 beast corpses of various sizes, it would take him a long time to collect them all, and he wasn''t sure if he had enough storage bags.


    When Long Xuan casually stuffed an elephant into a storage bag and saw the nearest ice sculptures, he couldn''t stop smiling.


    "Oh! Isn''t this the legendary beast king? How are you all doing?"


    Long Xuanughed heartily, and upon recognizing the beast king within the ice sculpture, his eyes sparkled with excitement.


    Wow, this tiger king turned out to be a Overlord Tiger.


    Overlord Tigers were known for their extraordinary defense, yet they couldn''t withstand the ice me''s damage and were instantly killed before they could showcase their abilities, dying an unjust death.


    Most importantly, after a year of effort, the me clone had almost collected all the peak-grade spirit insects and beast materials needed for the Dragon Gu recipe.


    All that was missing was a peak-grade spirit insect rted to tigers and a beast material from a tiger king.


    He only needed the tiger king''s paw toplete the dragon''s body for the Gu recipe.


    And lo and behold, just as he needed it, the tiger king''s beast material arrived on his doorstep.


    Not only did he get the perfect tiger paw, but there was also a peak-grade spirit insect in its spirit core.


    With these two peak-grade materials, all the difficult-to-collect materials for the Dragon Gu recipe were finallyplete.


    The remaining materials, although numerous, could be bought with spirit stones, so there was no need to worry.


    This meant that once he created the Dragon Gu recipe, he could start refining the Gu on the same day, achieving an astonishing efficiency.


    Initially, he was worried about how to collect so many peak-grade materials, thinking it might take ten years to gather them all.


    Unexpectedly, the materials were ready even before the Gu recipe was created, showing how unpredictable life can be.


    The elephant was quite heavy, and after putting it into the storage bag, he felt a bit tired, so as usual, he delegated the dirty and tiring work to his clones, letting them exercise while he supervised.


    After storing the tiger king''s ice sculpture in the storage bag, he smiled with satisfaction, feeling that today was full of pleasant surprises.


    However, as he walked back to the medicine garden, his gaze inadvertently returned to the ce he had just looked at.


    Unable to resist, he rubbed his eyes and looked again, his face suddenly changing.


    "Damn! Where are my spirit stones?"


    Long Xuan waspletely baffled, quickly running to the center of the array and anxiously feeling the empty air.


    This was the formation''s backup energy source, where a mountain of spirit stones should be powering the array, but now it was empty, not even a single spirit stone left.


    "Where are my spirit stones? My huge mountain of spirit stones!"


    Long Xuan was on the verge of copse, his previous smug expressionpletely gone.


    He had to face a harsh reality: people must believe in science and thew of conservation of energy.


    The more terrifying the formation''s attack power, the more energy it required to generate such an attack.


    The earlier scene of fire raining down from the sky was visually impressive but also consumed a lot of energy. The attack power and energy consumption were directly proportional.


    If his guess was correct, the formation''s reserve energy must have been exhausted during the earlier barrage.


    This was a tragedy, a case of joy turning into sorrow.


    Everything has its limits. If a formation is too powerful, it may not be a good thing.


    Although he effortlessly gained 500 beast materials, considering the formation''s energy consumption, he might not have profited much.


    The power was clearly excessive, leading to unnecessary waste.


    It was his first time using the array, and he was inexperienced, neglecting the fact that sometimes the formation shouldn''t be left to operate automatically.


    The formation''s energy came from three sources: the first was the spiritual power from the natural world. The array constantly absorbed the ambient spiritual power to maintain its daily consumption, ensuring it was always operational.


    The second source was the spiritual power reserve at the formation''s center, where vast amounts of spirit stones were stored. The higher the grade of the spirit stones, the better. If there were more advanced energy sources, it would be even better.


    If the ambient spiritual power couldn''t sustain the formation''s consumption, the formation would draw on the spirit stones'' spiritual power.


    The third source of energy came from the treasure at the formation''s core. This third source provided the highest energy level, determining the formation''s maximum attack power and its upper limit, offering the formation the greatest power.


    Activating the killing formation would inevitably increase energy consumption. The thin spiritual power in the air alone wouldn''t suffice, requiring the use of the spirit stones in the reserve.


    The earlier scene of fire raining down from the sky must have consumed a lot of energy, and it was natural for the spirit stones to be used up...


    ........................................................................


    Read ahead on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 75: (1): Dragon Gu is complete

    Long Xuan, helplessly, had to painfully replenish the spirit stones before returning to his small pavilion to continue researching the Gu recipe in peace. His progress on the Dragon Gu recipe was rapid, with only 10% left toplete.


    Since he had almost all the materials ready, he needed to speed up the progress on the Gu recipe andplete it as quickly as possible.


    Unconsciously, three months passed.


    During this period, the prolonged beast tide finally ended. Countless Gu cultivators were killed or injured in this battle, whether they were the numerous rogue cultivators or the major Gu cultivation ns, all suffered heavy losses.


    However, those who survived were tempered by the battle and acquired arge amount of rare materials, significantly increasing their strength.


    Thus, although the number of Gu cultivators in the Far west was greatly reduced, the number of experts increased.


    The Fire clone also returned intact from the battlefield, so Long Xuan no longer had to meet him every two months, saving time to research the Gu recipe.


    Efforts pay off, and finally, three monthster, Long Xuan seeded in his research on the Dragon Gu recipe.


    Looking at the form with a 100% progress disyed at the top, he couldn''t help but feel overjoyed.For some reason, seeing the number 100% always made him especially excited and ecstatic, no matter where this number appeared.


    He quickly wrote "¡ò written by Long xuan" in the lower right corner of the recipe title.


    After putting down his pen, he gave the form a heavy kiss and lovingly ced it in a wooden box, storing it in his storage bag.


    This wooden box contained all his research achievements. Whatever he created, he would ce it in this box, a treasure chest specifically for storing his knowledge results.


    He then began preparing for the task of refining the Dragon Gu, deciding to start today without dy.


    He had already prepared all the materials listed in the Gu form. Only a few newly added materials needed to be purchased from the market, which wouldn¡¯t take much time.


    Once the Fire Clone returned with the new materials, Long Xuan ced approximately 4,000 materials into arge cauldron.


    He carefully observed the refining progress. If no progress was shown, he would pour out all the materials, rearrange them, and put them back until the progress appeared.


    When the number 0.0% appeared in his sight, he smiled joyfully and returned to his cozy little pavilion.


    The refining process would take a considerable amount of time, so there was no need to rush. He decided to do something else to pass the time.


    Having suffered from ack of speed in several previous battles, he had nned multiple times to develop a speed-type ability.


    Now that he had time, he decided to create a body movement technique while waiting for the Gu to form.


    Body movement techniques are a type of physical art that does not require spiritual power to activate. Although their speed potential cannot match that of Gu insects, they serve as a useful transition until he bes a top-tier expert capable of researching space teleportation. Lower-level practitioners cannot achieve space teleportation, so relying on physical techniques was necessary.


    Following his usual rule, if he were to create something, it had to be unique and outstanding, superior to conventional body techniques.


    He aimed to integrate elements from his previous life to ensure his creation would be unparalleled in this world, making it distinct.


    If he discovered that the technique he painstakingly developed already existed in this world, it would feel like he had wasted his effort, akin to giarism.


    Thus, he might as well learn the existing techniques of this world to save time, avoiding the need to create something new.


    Only if the self-created technique was superior to those avable in this world would it be worth the time spent, making the endeavor necessary.


    Thinking about incorporating elements from his previous life, he immediately thought of the (Qinggong) lightness skill from martial arts novels.


    Of course, this world''s body movement techniques were not the same as lightness skills. Though both aimed for speed, they were fundamentally different.


    This world had no concept of lightness skills, not even the term.


    By aiming to create a lightness skill, Long Xuan was again treading an unconventional path. The technique he created would undoubtedly be unique in this world, differing significantly from traditional body techniques.


    Strong or not, his masterpiece would stand out distinctly in this world''s body movement techniques, diverging greatly in style.


    When he thought of lightness skills, the first that came to mind was the superior lightness skill "Cloud Ladder" from the Wudang sect.


    "Cloud Ladder" was impressive; it allowed one to step on their left foot with their right foot and vice versa, enabling ascension.


    In other words, by stepping on one''s own feet, one could fly, continuously stepping upward like climbing stairs, even piercing the atmosphere.


    Human flight is incredibly difficult. No existing body technique in this world enables flight.


    If his idea seeded, his self-created movement technique might be the only one in this world allowing flight, a miracle in this world.


    In this world, Gu cultivators could only fly using mounts. Achieving flight through one''s own abilities was extremely rare, seen only among a few Gu kings.


    Therefore, flight would provide a tremendous advantage.


    In facing strong enemies, he could escape whenever he wanted, with no one able to catch him, regardless of their speed.


    Having the unique ability to dominate the skies, he would always be in an advantageous position, attacking others without fear of retaliation.


    Mastering the power of flight early on would significantly enhance hisbat effectiveness.


    The more Long Xuan thought about it, the more his eyes lit up. He decided to research a body movement technique enabling him to step on his own feet to ascend.


    "I want to soar and stand shoulder to shoulder with the sun! Who can stop me?"


    Filled with determination, Long Xuan grabbed a piece of paper, ready to write passionately and vigorously.


    However, just as his pen was about to touch the paper, he paused.


    Furrowing his brows, he thought deeply, looking confused. Half a day passed without him writing a single word.


    Undoubtedly, he was stuck, unable to start.


    The emotions he had painstakingly gathered dissipated, and the passion that came quickly also vanished quickly. His initial enthusiasm was gone.


    Feeling like a bucket of cold water had been poured over him, he finally calmed down.


    Everyone has wild ideas and fantasies, but the key is how you n to realize your wild ideas. Anyone can think, but what good is it if you can only think and not act?


    At this moment, Long Xuan was in such a situation. His imagination was so vast that he was stuck there, looking utterly confused.


    The idea of lifting oneself off the ground by stepping on one''s own foot might seem simple, but anyone who has studied knows that forces work in pairs.


    The more force you apply to your right foot, the more downward force your right foot exerts back on you. Therefore, no matter how strong you are, even if you possess the god-like strength to lift a mountain, it''s impossible to lift yourself by stepping on your own foot.


    It''s like trying to lift yourself up by grabbing your left shoulder with your right hand¡ªno matter how strong you are, you can''t lift yourself.


    Long Xuan scratched his head, desperately trying to figure out how to create a technique where one foot steps on the other to ascend. He racked his brain, killing countless brain cells, almost burning out his brain''s CPU.


    The most direct way to achieve this idea is to remove the downward force.


    But how to remove the force became a new problem. He thought of Tai Chi from his previous life, which can neutralize force, but he only knew the basics of Tai Chi, so it seemed infeasible.


    He also thought of the lever principle, where a small downward force on one end could generate arge upward force on the other end, but he didn''t have such a long lever. Could a curved lever work? But there seemed to be no fulcrum.


    Long Xuan''s brain was about to explode.


    In desperation, he sent out numerous clones to use the origin realmto seek teachings from various masters. The martial arts development in this world far surpassed that of his previous life.


    What was theoretically impossible in his previous life might be possible in this world of flourishing martial arts. He could find a solution in this world.


    Perhaps the principles of some mystical arts in this world could realize his wild idea.


    He intended to borrow heavily from the principles of other mystical arts. As the saying goes, "The stones from other hills may serve to polish jade." Maybe the principles of some mystical art could be useful to him.


    ........................................................................


    Read ahead on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 75: (2): Dragon Gu is complete

    Finally, a monthter, Long Xuan looked at a book titled "Force Neutralization Art" on the table and smiled proudly.


    This "Force Neutralization Art" was a physical technique from the Long family, one of their strongest secret techniques.


    Elder Long had unintentionally left this book on the table, and it was stolen and learned by wood clone, who was guarding Elder Long''s herb garden.


    Oh! How could he be so careless? Truly too careless, haha...


    Long Xuan let out a proud, sinisterugh.


    This "Force Neutralization Art" was very powerful, and its theories could be applied to his self-created technique, which was of immense help to him.


    As the name implies, the "Force Neutralization Art" is naturally about neutralizing force. His technique of ascending by stepping on his own foot could only be achieved by neutralizing the force. Just when he was looking for a way to neutralize force, it came to him as if someone handed him a pillow when he was dozing off.


    Long Xuan quickly picked up the "Force Neutralization Art," gave it a heavy kiss, and eagerly started reading, bing utterly engrossed.


    The "Force Neutralization Art" is a defensive physical technique that neutralizes the force of an opponent''s attack on oneself.When practiced to a minor aplishment, it can neutralize thirty percent of the force; when mastered, it can neutralize one hundred percent of the force.


    What does neutralizing one hundred percent of the force mean? It means you would be immune to all physical attacks, no matter how powerful the opponent is¡ªthey couldn''t harm you at all.


    That''s truly astonishing and extraordinary!


    The Long n, known for their powerful bodies, truly deserved their reputation. They even managed to develop such an overpowered technique. Amazing!


    The fact that Elder Long dared to casually leave such a powerful technique lying around was truly careless.


    Long Xuanughed with joy in his heart.


    Although this is a defensive technique and not a body movement technique, different types of techniques can still be referenced and learned from each other.


    However, the "Force Neutralization Art" neutralizes external force from attacks, not the mutual force you create yourself. Simply copying it wouldn''t work; it needed significant modifications.


    But for Long Xuan, the hardest part was the beginning. The beginning is always the hardest. As long as he knew how to start, the rest would be easier.


    Just give him a hint, and he could figure out theplete technique.


    With this inspiration, Long Xuan''s writing flowed like a spring, and he quickly filled the paper with lines of text.


    As time passed, the lines of text increased, and the paper was soon filled. He changed to a new sheet and continued writing...


    A yearter, Long Xuan bound the scattered sheets into a book, an unnamed new book, and ced it on his stone table.


    Looking at this unnamed new book, Long Xuan''s breathing quickened, and he was extremely excited.


    At this moment, he felt truly aplished, thinking he was extraordinary for creating such an amazing technique. He believed he was a great man in this world, and his achievements in body movement techniques were unprecedented and unparalleled, enough to be recorded in the history of this world.


    How impressive was his self-created movement technique?


    First, his technique could neutralize mutual force, allowing him to ascend infinitely by stepping on one foot with the other.


    Moreover, the most crucial aspect of a body technique is speed. How fast could his speed be?


    Long Xuan could neutralize his own weight, making himself as light as a feather. Could his speed not be fast?


    He could also neutralize the resistance that hindered his speed, such as air friction. Could his speed not be fast?


    Never underestimate the impact of air resistance on speed.


    When you walk slowly, air resistance doesn''t have much effect. But when your speed reaches its peak, you''ll understand how terrifying air resistance can be.


    The friction between a falling meteorite and the air can create mes. The friction between a rocket and the atmosphere can melt its metal shell.


    And this is just the speed of a rocket. In this world, many beings are far faster than rockets.


    Not to mention the massive air resistance at such speeds, the friction alone could incinerate you.


    Moreover, this world''s space is not only filled with air but also various attributes of spiritual energy, creating even more resistance.


    Long Xuan''s technique could not only ignore air friction but also transform the neutralized force into forward propulsion, further increasing his speed.


    Under multipleyers of eleration, how fast could he go?


    Long Xuan didn''t know and didn''t dare to imagine.


    He hadn''t yet practiced body refinement techniques, and his insufficient strength would directly affect his speed.


    So, how fast he could go in the future was beyond Long Xuan''s estimation, but he always felt he might catch fire every time he thought about it.


    He set five levels for his body technique.


    The First Realm: Leaping on Eaves and Walking on Walls


    The body bes so light that one can swiftly dart around eaves and steep cliffs.


    The Second Realm: Skimming Over Water


    The body bes light enough to walk on water, like a dragonfly skimming the surface.


    The Third Realm: Flying Over Grass


    The body bes light enough to sprint across the tips of grass without bending a single de.


    The Fourth Realm: Leaving No Trace on Snow


    The body bes light enough to run on snow without leaving a single trace.


    The Fifth Realm: Lifting Heavy as Light


    One can lift arge, water-filled jar and run on the surface of water with it.


    This is the true essence of lightness skills. It not only makes oneself light but also lighter than external objects, and one can withstand tremendous pressure with ease.


    When one''s body movement reaches this level, it signifies that it has reached perfection. In the world of Gu, a formidable figure who can run on ake while carrying arge jar will emerge.


    Reaching the Fifth Realm is extremely difficult, and very few in the world can achieve it.


    The body movement technique created by Long Xuan is incredibly challenging, with stringent requirements forprehension. Not everyone can master it.


    Thus, a new body technique concept for lightness skills was sessfully created by Long Xuan.


    The lightness skills seen in martial arts will shine brightly in this world, stirring up storms and astonishing countless people.


    Now that the body technique isplete, it is time to give it a grand and impressive name.


    Long Xuan frowned and pondered for a moment. "How about calling it ''Ascend to Heaven''? Somehow this name feels strange, like something is off."


    After thinking it over, Long Xuan decided to name it ''Treading the Stars''. The name is grand enough, as it implies treading on the stars themselves.


    He wrote the two characters ''Treading the Stars'' on the nk cover of a book, and finally wrote below it: ¡ò Authored by Long Xuan.


    Thus, another world-renowned masterpiece by Long Xuan waspleted.


    He lightly blew on the ink, satisfied, and ced it into a small box.


    Next, he needed to urge his clones to seize the time for cultivation. He would supervise them.


    With five clones training simultaneously, returning the results of their training, he could enjoy five times the speed of cultivation. He believed it wouldn''t be long before he could master ''Treading the Stars''.


    By then, he would possess top-notch speed, and speed would no longer be his weakness but his strength.


    No one in the same realm would be able to match his speed. He had confidence in the body technique he created.


    ''Treading the Stars'' could undoubtedly rank among the top body movements techniques of the current age, with few that couldpare.


    In other ces, he couldn''t say for sure, but in the Far West, his ''Treading the Stars'' would deserve the title of the number one body movement technique.


    Once ''Treading the Stars'' reached perfection, his personal safety would greatly improve. He could attack or retreat at will, and no one in the same realm could hope to catch up with him.


    Without realizing it, a year had passed. Long Xuan couldn''t help but marvel at how quickly time flew by. He didn''t expect that creating his own body technique would take so long, but it also showed theplexity of ''Treading the Stars''.


    Suddenly, he remembered that he hadn''t checked the progress of refining the Dragon Gu for a long time. rmed, he rushed to therge cauldron.


    He had been so absorbed in studying ''Treading the Stars'' that he lost track of time and forgot about the Dragon Gu. He wondered if his clone had been keeping an eye on it.


    It seemed the Dragon Gu was not simple either. The refining process was genuinely long, and now it had already been a year.


    When he reached the cauldron, he saw that the progress bar above it showed 100%. This meant the Dragon Gu wasplete.


    He was overjoyed. It seemed he arrived just in time, not toote.


    The Dragon Gu must have beenpleted not long ago; otherwise, it would have already escaped from the cauldron.


    He was thrilled. With a swift motion, he lifted the cauldron lid, and a small green dragon appeared before his eyes.


    The little dragon was curled up in the center of the cauldron, sound asleep, looking rather adorable.


    The Dragon Gu didn''t just resemble a dragon; it looked exactly like the Azure Dragon from his previous life, entirely green.


    It had antlers like a deer, a head like a camel, eyes like a rabbit, a neck like a snake, a belly like a m, scales like a fish, ws like an eagle, palms like a tiger, and ears like an ox.


    Every part resembled a different animal, a living Eastern Dragon.


    The only difference was its size.


    The Azure Dragon was immenselyrge, but the one in the cauldron was a miniature version, shrunk countless times.


    After all, it was an insect, and insects are small. Its size was understandable.


    Looking at the small creature no thicker than an arm, he pondered.


    "Can this be ridden? It was supposed to be a majestic mount, but it''s so tiny. Can it be ridden? Will I end up riding it, or it riding me?" Long Xuan fell into deep thought.


    "Do I have to raise another sleeping ancestor? It seems to sleep as much as Little White, except it has four more legs."


    With a nervous heart, Long Xuan bit his finger and dripped his blood onto its forehead while it slept, establishing a blood contract. Instantly, he knew its abilities.


    His eyes grew brighter.


    He couldn''t deny it. Each Gu insect he created was exceptional. He had refined another peak-grade Gu insect with a special domain.


    This domain was no ordinary one; it was called the Teleportation Domain.


    From the name alone, it was clear that within the domain, it could instantly appear at any position.


    The key word was teleportation. Teleportation has no speed; it simply appears directly, making it impossible to guard against.


    Aside from the Dragon Gu''s basic abilities and physical strength, this teleportation ability alone was enough to rank it among the top-tier Gu insects.


    In martial arts, speed is invincible. If one''s speed reaches the extreme, one bes the best.


    Nothing could be faster than teleportation. It didn''t need any other abilities; with this alone, it could be invincible.


    If he had a Dragon Gu during the hunt in the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, would that fragile Gu dare act recklessly in front of him? The Dragon Gu could instantly kill it.


    The Dragon Gu''s ability was a natural counter to those fragile peak-grade Gu insects.


    Long Xuan was extremely satisfied with the teleportation ability, but soon he felt frustrated.


    He had just created a body movement technique that was supposed to be the fastest in the world, and now a Gu insect faster than him appeared. Was this a deliberate blow?


    But thinking about it, the Dragon Gu''s teleportation range was only within its domain. The domain could move slowly but couldn''t teleport with the Dragon Gu, so it couldn''t match ''Treading the Stars'' for long-distance travel. This thoughtforted Long Xuan.


    "Seeing you''re all green, I''ll name you ''Little Green.'' I hope you''ll grow big enough to be ridden someday."


    Long Xuan was still fixated on the idea of having a mount. He wondered howrge the Dragon Gu could grow. Could it reach the size of a real dragon?


    He lifted the curled-up Dragon Gu from the cauldron, holding it in his arms, gently stroking its green scales and small dragon horns, unable to put it down.


    Thus, Long Xuan''s third peak-grade Gu insect was sessfully created. Including the Little Strong Gu, he now had four Gu insects.


    With three Peak-grade Gu insects in hand, plus the Little Strong Gu, Long Xuan was confident that he could fear no one of the same level in this region. Even the top talent of any major n wouldn''t pose a threat to him.


    If he encountered a Gu cultivator far above his level, he could always use ''Treading the Stars'' to escape.


    The speed of ''Treading the Stars'' was exaggeratedly fast, and since it allowed flying, even Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators might not be able to catch him.


    After this retreat, Long Xuan''s strength had greatly increased. Hisbat power had undergone a tremendous transformation, multiplying several times.


    Now he could finally leave the novice vige and venture boldly outside, ready to explore and take risks.


    With his current trump cards, there were few dangers that could put him in jeopardy.


    ........................................................................


    Read ahead on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 76: (1): The Imagination of the Little Medicine Boy

    At this moment, he truly felt he could be considered proficient. During his seclusion, his five clones had pushed his cultivation to the peak of the Spirit Gathering stage.


    Long Xuan didn¡¯t even know when he had broken through. He had done so without any awareness; one day he woke up and suddenly found himself inexplicably at the peak of the Spirit Gathering stage in Gu cultivation, which gave him quite a scare.


    He could only say that the feeling of being overpowered was just too exhrating. Always being overpowered always felt great.


    When he was at thete Spirit Gathering stage, he could easily fight across levels. Now, at the peak of the Spirit Gathering stage, he had no rivals among his peers.


    As a result, Long Xuan became much bolder, feeling he had the strength to go out and seek opportunities. He thought he could venture out someday and also finish excavating the Empress¡¯s tomb. He waspletely inted at this point.


    Today was a double celebration. In high spirits, Long Xuan decided to make some honey-roasted meat to celebrate.


    So, he walked to the beehive, patted it, and lightly shouted, "Time to collect taxes! Time to collect taxes!"


    Long Xuan smiled. Being a rent collector felt truly great.


    Things went exactly as he expected. Royal jelly had unimaginable benefits for the spirit bees. As expected, all the spirit bees that ate royal jelly evolved into a stronger species, which Long Xuan named Ice Bees.At this point, the number of Ice Bees had grown to over a hundred, and their size had increased as well. They were now entirely ice-blue, and their stingers had all been reced with ice needles that could be fired infinitely, greatly enhancing theirbat power.


    The original hive could no longer amodate their size, so they were building a new hive on another cherry blossom tree, which was muchrger and enough to allow the Ice Bees toe and go.


    Meanwhile, the honey produced by this bee species was even tastier, with higher spiritual energy quality and more nourishing.


    However, the Ice Bees were still two sizes smaller than BingBing. Even though they belonged to the same species, they had evolved by drinking BingBing''s royal jelly. So, even after evolving into the same species, there was still a bloodline suppression.


    Now, Bing Bing was undoubtedly the queen of the bee swarm, second only to Long Xuan and above all the bees.


    It''s worth mentioning that BingBing was still a virgin. Long Xuan finally understood that this bee species could reproduce without a queen, mating freely among themselves.


    After all, this was a different world, and it was normal for things to be different from the previous world. Themon knowledge from the previous world couldn''t be applied here.


    The variety of insects in this world was far greater than in the previous one, with all kinds of strange insects breaking your knowledge andmon sense.


    Many insects didn''t exist in the previous world, such as the invisible void insects, energy form dark insects, and formless hidden insects.


    For an entomologist, this ce was a treasure trove, a paradise, with so many interesting things and many that broke their worldview.


    A bee species reproducing through both male and female wouldn''t surprise them.


    However, BingBing''s future seemed bleak; she would be an old maid. After all, she was muchrger than her peers, and who would want to take a giant home? But Bing Bing only cared about eating, so she might not be interested in such matters.


    After collecting the taxes, Long Xuan made a feast of honey-roasted meat and had a great meal.


    He still had plenty of Beast King meat, and with the Divine Ice me for refrigeration, he didn¡¯t have to worry about it spoiling.


    As Long Xuan was about to contemte his next n, Li Laodao came to visit, interrupting his thoughts.


    His great Ice Formation wasn''t as powerful as Di Xin¡¯s medicinal garden, which could bepletely hidden and unnoticed in the middle of the prairie.


    His medicinal garden was near the market, and many people could find it. He didn¡¯t intend to hide it either.


    As a peak Spirit Gathering Gu cultivator, having his own medicinal garden was perfectly normal. Even Elder Long knew about his medicinal garden and didn¡¯t say anything.


    So, it wasn''t surprising that Li Laodao could find him.


    After putting away themunication talisman, Long Xuan walked out of the Ice Formation and saw Li Laodao standing there, stroking his beard.


    "To survive such a massive beast tide, your life is truly fortunate," Long Xuan said after ncing at him.


    "Haha! With your Little Strong Gu by my side, how could this old man die so easily?"


    "You saved my life twice, and I haven''t thanked you yet. This time, I unintentionally found a great opportunity, so I came to repay your lifesaving grace."


    Thinking of this, Li Laodao became excited, his face showing a joyful smile. From his expression alone, one might think he had really found something good.


    Long Xuan was curious and asked tentatively, "What kind of opportunity could make you so happy? Another ancient tomb?"


    "How could it be?" Li Laodao quickly shook his head. "Ancient tombs aren''t something you encounter just like that. This time, I unintentionally found the cave mansion of an ancient senior."


    "You know, people in this world are very secretive. Few are willing to take disciples, and when they reach their end, they die in their cave mansions with no one to collect their bodies. Naturally, all their treasures remain intact in the cave mansion."


    "The senior in that cave mansion must have been nearing the end of his life, forced to undergo a life-or-death breakthrough, and ultimately failed and died in the cave mansion."


    "Compared to underground ancient tombs, a rogue cultivator''s cave mansion is much safer. The dangers onlye from various formations."


    "This time, I asked Di Xin for help. She is a famous formation master, and no formation can trouble her."


    "So, you can rest assured. We are absolutely 100% safe and reliable!" Elder Li patted his chest and guaranteed.


    "100% Absolutely safe?"


    "Reliable?"


    Long Xuan raised an eyebrow. Why did this sentence sound so familiar, as if he had heard it more than once?


    How many times had this old man said this to him?


    Long Xuan''s expression became strange. He looked at him with a meaningful gaze and said slowly, "If I remember correctly, you said this to mest time, and the time before that as well."


    "Uh!" Li Laodao''s face turned red, showing a look of embarrassment. He hurriedly exined, "Last time was an ident! The time before that was also an ident!"


    "Rest assured! This time there will absolutely be no idents. If there are any idents, I''ll bring my head to you!" Li Laodao said confidently.


    Only he knew how terrifying Di Xin''s expertise in formations was. It could be said that there was no formation in this region that she couldn''t break.


    No matter how dangerous the protective formation of that cave dwelling was, it wouldn''t pose the slightest danger to her.


    He was absolutely confident in Di Xin''s ability to break formations. With her there, there was no way any danger could arise within the cave dwelling.


    The only danger coulde from within the group, but for this treasure hunt, he had only invited friends he trustedpletely. He believed in his judgment of character and was certain there would be no internal conflict.


    Therefore, he was very confident in this trip, believing it to bepletely safe, one hundred percent.


    "Is that formation monster Di Xin participating? That makes it much more reliable."


    Long Xuan frowned and thought for a moment. Not only was Li Laodao confident in her formation skills, but he also recognized Di Xin''s mastery of formations. If she were to break the formations, going to an ancient tomb might be risky, but going to a rogue cultivator''s cave dwelling would be no problem at all.


    At this moment, what concerned him was Li Laodao''s luck. After thest two incidents, he felt that Li Laodao was gued with bad luck and that nothing good ever happened when he went out.


    Theoretically, if something was one hundred percent safe, if he were involved, it would be one hundred percent unsafe, with unexpected incidents likely to ur.


    He was considering whether to send a clone or to go himself, given that Li Laodao was so unlucky.


    Sending a clone had the advantage of keeping the main bodypletely safe, but it also had its drawbacks. The clone was much weaker than the main body and didn''t have an external Gu.


    Some dangers that the main body could withstand might be fatal to the clone, which could result in losing a clone.


    Now that he had reached the peak of Spirit Gathering, losing a clone was not an option.


    The most crucial issue was that the clone didn''t have the Golden Finger and might miss treasures due to not seeing the progress, potentially overlooking valuable items that appeared ordinary.


    After much thought, Long Xuan decided to take a middle course, sending both his clone and his main body.


    When they reached the cave entrance, he would use a stealth technique to let the clone take his ce and enter. Once everyone had left the cave, the main body would enter again to sweep the area with the Golden Finger.


    If the clone encountered any unexpected danger, he could bring the other four clones in to rescue it, significantly increasing the safety of the clone.


    This n was perfect, achieving multiple goals.


    Long Xuan''s eyes brightened, and he finally made up his mind, "Alright! This time I''ll trust you again! I hope there won''t be any more idents."


    "Don''t worry, this time it will be absolutely safe. Thest few times were just bad luck. Can I always be unlucky? It''s about time for my luck to turn around!"


    "Let''s meet at the usual ce tomorrow! We won''t leave without seeing each other!"


    Li Laodao patted Long Xuan''s shoulder heavily and finally turned to leave.


    Once Li Laodao left, Long Xuan immediately went back to pack his things, preparing for the trip, taking what was necessary and leaving behind what wasn''t.


    It was best to prepare several storage bags, to avoid not having enough space for treasures.


    His home was well-stocked, so a day''s preparation time was more than enough.


    Finally, he packed several bags of honey-roasted meat and put them in his storage bag, nning to heat them up and eat them on the road.


    Traveling in the wild, eating and sleeping poorly, he needed to bring plenty of good food. He didn''t want to be chewing on hard bread for a month.


    ........................................................................


    Read ahead on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 76: (2): The Imagination of the Little Medicine Boy

    A dayter, Long Xuan arrived as agreed at the same inn fromst time, in the same private room on the second floor. He pushed the door open and went in.


    As soon as he entered, he saw many old acquaintances. Li Laodao, Di Xin, and Little Medicine Boy were all there.


    The only unfamiliar face was a sturdy man he had never seen before.


    Long Xuan instinctively became wary of him. He knew and trusted everyone else in the room.


    This man was the only unknown, and Long Xuan didn''t know his character orbat style, presenting too many variables.


    As if sensing Long Xuan''s gaze, Li Laodao smiled and introduced, "Don''t worry, this person''s character ispletely trustworthy. His name is Li Dashan, but you can call him Dashan. He is a well-known good man from our Li vige, often helping his neighbors."


    "Kindness is repaid with kindness. It was because he often umted good deeds that he identally saw the corpse of a Gu cultivator and embarked on the path of cultivation."


    Hearing this, Long Xuan''s face rxed, but his inner vignce towards this man did not lessen.


    It wasn''t that he suspected anything specific about this person, but he preferred to be cautious. Meeting strangers always warranted some caution; being careful never hurt.Since there were familiar faces in the room, it was time to greet them. Long Xuan ignored the Little Medicine Boy and waved to the beautiful woman in the room.


    "Didn''t expect Sister Xin to be here. With your talent, you must have already reached the Marrow Cleansing stage by now," Long Xuan said with a smile.


    Di Xin pursed her lips andughed lightly, "Don''t tease me. I''m the least talented here, how could I have broken through to the Marrow Cleansing stage so quickly?"


    "But you, with your Ten Absolute Body, have cultivated so fast. You''re already at the peak of Spirit Gathering at such a young age."


    "In my opinion, you should be the first to break through to the Marrow Cleansing stage."


    Long Xuan''s expression froze. He hadn''t expected her to easily see through his cultivation level. He had intended to hide his strength and y the pig to eat the tiger, but now that she had exposed him, it was clear he couldn''t hide it anymore.


    Hearing that he had broken through to the peak of Spirit Gathering, everyone''s expressions changed slightly.


    Hearing that he had the Ten Absolute Body, known for its slow cultivation speed, Li Dashan''s expression became indescribable, his gaze deep, as if pondering something.


    Li Laodao had the biggest reaction, his expression turning bitter, his heart full of bitterness. He had only reached the peak of Spirit Gathering at his age, and now a junior had easily caught up to him, and this junior was recognized as having the slowest cultivation speed in the Gu world, the Ten Absolute Body.


    This was a significant blow to him, making him feel very depressed. He felt as if he had lived his life in vain.


    Having been caught off guard by Di Xin, Long Xuan quickly considered whether he should expose her hidden cultivation level as well.


    What he had said earlier was not just casual talk. Di Xin''s progress was suspiciously fast, far beyond what a mortal should achieve in a hundred years. She was likely already at the Marrow cleansing stage.


    The excessive part was that she had used a little trick, hiding her true cultivation level and only showing the aura of the peak of Spirit Gathering in front of everyone, pretending to be weak and cute.


    In other words, she was the only one among them at the Marrow Cleansing stage, making her the strongest in the team and disrupting the team''s bnce.


    Once she harbors any ulterior motives, it bes a very troublesome matter.


    If Li Laodao knew she was already a Cultivator at the Marrow Cleansing stage, he would never have invited her.


    When there is a significant power disparity between the two parties, it can no longer be considered a fair and equal transaction. The cooperation would be too unpredictable and fraught with danger.


    This woman is also an unpredictable factor. At this moment, Long Xuan had to be wary of her and take precautions.


    Even though he was familiar with her, he still needed to be on guard. What if she, relying on her highest realm, decided to act arbitrarily? No one can be fully trusted in the face of interests.


    However, after thinking it over, Long Xuan decided to back down and felt it was best not to expose her secrets.


    What if he angered her and she targeted his herb garden? If she plundered his herb garden, how would he survive?


    Don''t doubt it; she absolutely has the ability to do so. She is renowned for her formation-breaking skills, known far and wide as a master of formations.


    He only knew the basics of formations for now. Although his Ice formation was strong, he wasn''t confident enough to fend off this "hacker''s" invasion.


    He was also fortunate that Di Xin had a rule against stealing from rogue cultivators. Otherwise, his conspicuous herb garden might have been visited by this formation master long ago.


    Most importantly, Long Xuan seriously suspected that this Di Xin was the girl of destiny, and anyone who provoked her would be unlucky.


    Defying the heavens with the Ten Absolute Body was one thing, but doing so with a mortal body was even harder.


    Di Xin was exactly this kind of fierce person. She had a mortal body without the qualification for Gu cultivation and not even any attributes.


    Everyone could imagine how difficult it was to cultivate with a mortal body. The fact that she could be a Gu cultivator was an absolute miracle. Cultivating with mortal abilities was practically defying the heavens. No one knew how she managed to achieve it.


    Long Xuan was already surprised that she could be a Gu cultivator. He never expected her cultivation speed to be so fast, reaching the Marrow Cleansing stage at such a young age. Who knew how she did it? It was simply iprehensible and baffling.


    Although Di Xin was a mortal, she was a rare genius of extraordinary talent, seldom seen throughout history.


    Long Xuan often wondered if she might actually be the protagonist of this world, and if he had somehow ended up in a female-oriented world.


    In any case, this woman was ferocious and should never be provoked.


    "Is it just us now?" Long Xuan turned to Li Laodao and asked.


    He hoped that this was everyone. The more people there were, the more people he had to guard against, which was exhausting.


    "It''s just us. Let''s set off now. If there''s anything left unsaid, we can talk on the way," Elder Li said, taking the lead and pushing the door open. The other familiar faces nodded to each other and followed him out.


    Once they left the marketce, they gathered their spiritual power in their legs and sped off, starting topete in speed.


    The little medicine boy, with his remarkable imagination, often practiced self-harm body training using the self-healing ability of the Little Strong Gu, making his physical strength far superior to that of ordinary people, leading the way.


    Li Dashan was second, and Li Laodao was third.


    As for Long Xuan, hegged behind, not interested inpeting. If he used his full power, who could catch up with him? They wouldn''t even catch his dust.


    But now was not the time to stand out. He kept a low profile. Bullying a few rogue cultivators wasn''t meaningful. If he went full speed, it would be like bullying.


    However, what surprised Long Xuan was that Di Xin, this Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivator, didn''t rush ahead. Instead, she too stayed back, evengging half a body length behind him, pretending to be slower.


    While otherspeted for the fastest, these two werepeting for the slowest. It was apetition for thest ce.


    Long Xuan''s face darkened. This big Marrow Cleansing stage Gu master had the nerve tog behind and pretend to be weak. Did she have no shame? Didn''t her conscience hurt?


    Helpless, he had to speed up, letting her take thest position.


    He had never seen such a shameless person.


    Finally, after running for half a day, the oldest, Li Laodao, couldn''t hold on and stopped, leaning against a tree and vomiting out everything he ate.


    The group had to stop and end this marathon.


    "Are you alright?" Li Dashan walked over, patting his back.


    Li Laodao shook his head, looking forlorn. "I''m fine. I''m just old. My lungs and stomach have problems. I can''t keep up with you young folks anymore."


    Li Laodao smiled bitterly. This was the decline of physical functions. Even the Little Strong Gu couldn''t help, and life span was one of the few things that could kill the Little Strong Gu.


    "If you had a Spirit Gathering Pill to break through, would your lifespan be extended and your condition improve?" Long Xuan walked over and asked.


    He had a Spirit Gathering Pill. For the sake of their rtionship, if Li Laodao offered something eptable, he didn''t mind helping. At worst, he could take more treasures from the cave mansion, and it wouldn''t be a loss.


    Li Laodao shook his head and sighed. "If I were younger, I could try breaking through with the Spirit Gathering Pill."


    "But I''m too old now. All my bodily functions have severely declined, and my realm isn''t even perfect. Even with the Spirit Gathering Pill, the hope of breaking through is slim."


    "If I had the Spirit Gathering Pill, I would give it to my grandson. There''s no point wasting it on these old bones of mine."


    The little medicine boy looked at him withplex emotions, frowning, wanting to speak but hesitating, his face full of entanglement.


    He actually wanted to say, "Your imagination isn''t wild enough. The Litter Strong Gu hasn''t been fully developed."


    What if your lungs don''t work anymore? You can rece them with someone else''s. While others can''t transnt organs, but people with Litter Strong Gu may not die if they rece their organs.


    He couldpletely remove his aging organs and rece them with young ones, thus solving his aging body issue. With a young body, breaking through would be easier.


    Not only organs but also others'' spiritual seas could be transnted. The rare Seven-Orifice Exquisite Heart could be transnted, as could the legendary legendary double pupils...


    With the Litter Strong Gu''s powerful undying ability, he could piece himself into a monster. Although he wasn''t sure if it was possible to merge powerful organs, he was confident in merging ordinary ones.


    If it worked, recing all parts with rare and powerful organs would create a terrifying monster with unparalleledbat power.


    But he couldn''t say this idea, as it implied killing many people, which he couldn''t do.


    However, the hearts of spirit beasts were far stronger than humans'', and some other races'' body parts were hundreds of times stronger. He had no problem piecing those together.


    He even considered whatbination would be the strongest,plementing each other to maximize the original effect.


    His only worry was if he would still be considered human after such modifications. This filled him with fear and indecision about developing such forbidden techniques.


    A path to powery before him, filled with endless temptation, but he didn''t dare to take it, filled with fear and unease, hesitant to take that step.


    He had nightmares of bing a monster because of this terrifying forbidden method.


    Ultimately, he decided not to tell Li Laodao about this idea because he didn''t want to create a monster.


    ...


    Li Laodao''s old age wasn''t causing any immediate issues, but the journey would be slower because of him.


    After confirming his condition wasn''t critical, everyone rested and ate some dry food to replenish their energy.


    Long Xuan took out the honey-roasted meat he had prepared, heated it with his Fiery Palm, and started enjoying it. The rich aroma of the meat spread instantly.


    The others looked at their dry food, then at his honey-roasted meat, and suddenly lost their appetite for their own food.


    While others brought simple dry food for long trips, he brought delicious food, including Beast King meat. It seemed like he was on a vacation pic.


    How could they eat now? They looked at their tasteless dry food and gave Long Xuan a resentful look.


    "Honey-roasted meat? It''s my first time seeing this. Is it good?" Di Xin asked softly, ncing at him.


    "It''s a human delicacy, indescribably delicious. Honey-roasted meat is the best way to eat it. It''s a perfect match. Want some?" Long Xuan smiled and offered the meat to her.


    Unexpectedly, Di Xin rudely grabbed it and took a big bite.


    Long Xuan was stunned. He was just being polite and didn''t expect her to actually eat it. Weren''t women in this world supposed to be conservative and not ept food from unfamiliar men?


    How could she do this without any shame? Where was her modesty?


    ........................................................................


    Read ahead on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 77: (1): The Bet with the Little Medicine Boy

    "Long Xuan." At this moment, the little medicine boy approached with a serious expression. Just as Long Xuan thought he was also going to ask for some of his barbecue, the boy leaned in and whispered, "Do you have any defective Spirit Gathering Pills?"


    The little medicine boy looked at him earnestly. Through crazily consuming defective pills, he had already reached the peak of the Spirit Gathering stage, just one step away from the Marrow Cleansing Stage.


    However, due to the current scarcity of spiritual energy in the world, all Gu cultivators could only rely on the power of pills to break through. He had no choice but to start preparing for the Spirit Gathering Pills.


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan gave him a surprised look. He wasn''t stupid; he had already guessed that the little medicine boy nned to use the poison immunity of the Little Strong Gu to exploit the medicinal power of defective pills for a breakthrough.


    One had to admit, the boy''s idea was indeed ingenious and unique. It was a pretty good concept, almost as clever as Long Xuan himself.


    Using the Little Strong Gu to consume defective pills was definitely a good idea. However, the medicinal power of defective pills was far inferior to that ofplete pills.


    Even if the little medicine boy wanted to exploit the power of defective Spirit Gathering Pills, the chances of sessfully breaking through were extremely slim.


    So Long Xuan leaned in closer and whispered, "I must say, my sess rate in pill refining has always been 100%. Where do you expect me to get defective pills for you? You''re making it hard for me."


    The little medicine boy twitched his mouth and looked at him speechlessly.Someone having a 100% sess rate in pill refining? Would he die if he didn''t brag? He had seen boastful people before, but this was the first time he had seen someone boasting to this extent. Was boasting tax-free in their vige?


    It was like cows flying in the sky and him blowing hot air on the ground; the bragging was just too much.


    Of course, the little medicine boy couldn''t believe such a thing and just assumed Long Xuan was boasting.


    "Alright! Just pretend I didn''t say anything. When you bought my alchemy furnace, I already guessed you were an alchemist. And you just mentioned the Spirit Gathering Pill to Li Laodao, so I had reason to suspect you have some."


    "How about this, let''s make a bet. You give me three Spirit Gathering Pills, and I''ll give you my share of the treasure from this expedition."


    "None of us know what''s in that cave mansion right now. If my share of the treasure is worth more than the three Spirit Gathering Pills, then you profit."


    "If my share of the treasure is worth less than the three Spirit Gathering Pills, then I profit."


    "Afterward, none of us can hold a grudge. Do you dare to bet?" the little medicine boy whispered to Long Xuan.


    Long Xuan stroked his chin and gave him another surprised look. He was genuinely impressed by the little medicine boy at this moment.


    This little medicine boy was indeed not just ordinarily smart. Not only could he observe from details that Long Xuan had Spirit Gathering Pills, but he also learned to use resources without spending anything himself.


    However, Long Xuan was indeed a bit interested in this bet.


    What was in that cave mansion waspletely unknown to them. It could be very rich or very poor, and after splitting it into five parts, no one knew how much they would get.


    Moreover, Li Laodao had discovered the cave mansion, and by the rules, he would take half of the treasures inside, and the most valuable item would also go to him.


    As a result, the treasures left for the others would be even less, making it hard to say who would profit in the end.


    But three Spirit Gathering Pills meant nothing to Long Xuan, whose pill refining sess rate was 100%. He wouldn''t mind losing them, so he was willing to ept the bet.


    "Alright! I''ll bet with you, but no one can go back on their word afterward."


    Long Xuan quietly took out three Spirit Gathering Pills and handed them to the little medicine boy.


    The little medicine boy was overjoyed and nced around to ensure no one noticed before discreetly putting the pills into his storage bag.


    At the same time, he gave Long Xuan a deep look, with aplicated expression in his eyes.


    Through several observations, he could tell that Long Xuan was very suspicious by nature, extremely cautious in everything he did, and left no loose ends.


    Yet, he actually handed over the Spirit Gathering Pills first without fear of being deceived.


    Such a person would never trust anyone easily. His actions could only mean one thing: he was absolutely confident in winning the bet, so he didn''t fear being cheated.


    The little medicine boy''s pupils contracted, and he became wary. He concluded that Long Xuan must have some powerful cards up his sleeve, and likely more than one, making him someone not to be provoked.


    After resting well, the five of them set off again. However, they slowed their pace to amodate Li Laodao.


    The location Li Laodao mentioned was quite far, taking them more than twenty days to reach under his guidance, meaning a round trip would take two months.


    Long Xuan could only hope there were good things inside; otherwise, spending so much time wouldn''t be worth it. Wouldn''t sleeping at home be better?


    The cave mansion''s location, ording to Li Laodao, was in an underground world ofva terrain. There wasva everywhere, with asional sparks flying out and emitting scorching heat. Even the rocks were ck.


    Li Laodao smiled and said, "Hehe! It was a coincidence. Last time during the beast tide, I was chased by a spirit beast and identally discovered this ce. None of you would probably know where the cave mansion is."


    The little medicine boy nodded and spected, "This cave mansion is near the market, yet it hasn''t been discovered for so many years. It must be very well hidden."


    "Lava is a ce humans dare not tread, so the cave mansion should be hidden in theva, right? I can''t think of a more concealed ce."


    "Oh?" Li Laodao gave him a surprised look and smiled, "You''re smart. Although you''re right, it''s not entirely urate."


    "To be precise, the cave mansion is on a rock wall across theva sea, with stone pirs forming a path winding towards the shore."


    "But all the stone pirs are hidden by an illusion formation, making them invisible. If I hadn''t fallen into theva while being chased by the spirit beast and found myself unscathed, I wouldn''t have discovered this cave mansion."


    "The stone gate of the cave mansion is also hidden by an illusion formation. Last time, I found all the stone pirs and the stone gate by throwing stones."


    "However, considering that the cave mansion''s owner could set up such a sophisticated illusion formation, the killing formation inside must also be powerful."


    "So, I didn''t dare to go deeper and retreated to find somepanions. Although it means sharing some treasures, it would be much safer."


    "But the stone pirs are not in a straight line, and there are no reference points on theva surface. I''ve already forgotten their positions, so we''ll need to find them again."


    At this moment, Li Dashan said, "Isn''t it just throwing stones to find the way? It won''t take much time. I''ll find the way."


    Di Xin nced at him and said, "Don''t be impulsive. It''s not as simple as you think."


    "This ce seems like an ancient array. Haven''t you considered why the cave mansion''s owner would make the stone path winding instead of a straight line?"


    "The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. For convenience, he should make the path home straight. Why make it soplicated, making things difficult for himself?"


    "This..." Upon hearing this, Li Laodao was stunned.


    ........................................................................


    Read ahead on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 77: (2): The Bet with the Little Medicine Boy

    Indeed, why would the master of the cave mansion make the path home so winding instead of a straight line? It would only inconvenience himself and waste his time.


    At first, he didn''t think much about this question and instinctively thought it would be more concealed. But upon further reflection, this approach seems unnecessary, akin to taking off one''s pants to fart.


    When he identallynded on the first stone pir, he tested all the stone paths with trial and error. How could this be hidden? It wouldn''t stop anyone; it would only trouble himself. He might even forget the path someday and fall off.


    It would be better to make a straight line.


    Di Xin said solemnly, "This is an ancient formation. You just made a mistake. In theva, there isn''t a single connected curved stone pir but a field of stone pirs. The number of pirs could be countless."


    "And among these many stone pirs, only a very few are correct. These pirs connect to form a path."


    "The remaining stone pirs are all wrong. If a stone is thrown onto them, nothing will happen, but if a person steps on them, it will trigger a mechanism causing the pirs to sink or pose other dangers."


    "Your luck is truly remarkable, managing to perfectly avoid all the wrong options and finding the correct path with just one life. How did you do it?" Di Xin looked at him with a peculiar gaze.


    Upon hearing this, Li Laodao''s mouth fell open, and he broke out in a cold sweat, thoroughly terrified and filled with lingering fear.How did he do it? He didn''t even know himself. He just felt incredibly lucky. It was so dangerous, yet he survived, which even surprised him.


    Long Xuan looked at him with astonished eyes, equally shocked.


    What kind of luck is this? In a field of stone pirs, with only one correct path, the odds of passing are unimaginably low. How did he manage to survive?


    Could this Old Li Laodao be a child of fortune? Is this going to be a tale of an old man bing an immortal?


    Long Xuan''s heart was greatly shaken, and he looked at him differently.


    "So, can I fly over?"


    Long Xuan thought he could step on his right foot and fly over, but he wasn''t sure if it would work.


    Di Xin nced at him again with a peculiar look. Fly over? Does he think he''s some sort of aerial acrobat? If he tries to fly over, he might as well aim for the sky!


    "If you don''t want to be sucked into theva, go ahead and fly."


    "Toe here, you must follow the rules of the cave mansion master. Climbing ropes, jumping over, riding spirit beasts... none of that will work."


    "The cave mansion master has already considered all the options you could think of. How could he leave such an obvious loophole?" Di Xin said, rolling her eyes at Long Xuan.


    "Alright, let''s pretend I didn''t say anything." Long Xuan smiled awkwardly.


    He was just talking casually; he wouldn''t be so reckless. Even if he tried to fly over, he would test it with his me avatar first to ensure safety.


    "In that case, Li Laodao found the stone door of the cave mansionst time purely due to incredible luck. Now that he has forgotten the route, does that mean we have no other options?" Li Dashan frowned and asked.


    "There is a way: have a line of people try the path one by one. When one person dies, the next one steps up. We can quickly find the correct path this way," Di Xin said calmly.


    Long Xuan was shocked. Isn''t this like the Squid Game from his previous life? But they only have five people in their group, which isn''t enough. Even if he goesst, it will still be his turn eventually.


    "Li Laodao, you have good luck. You go first!" Long Xuan said to the child of fortune.


    "I... no, no, no!" Li Laodao shook his head vigorously like a rattle drum, stuttering in fear.


    "You go first. I''ve used up all my luckst time, even borrowed some. This time, I''m sure to step wrong."


    "No, you are the child of fortune. You go first. Respecting the elderly is my tradition."


    "No, no, no! You go first..."


    "At a time like this, you still have the leisure to joke around." Di Xin rolled his eyes at them and said, "Actually, there''s another way. I can try to break the formation directly."


    "But I don''t know if it will work. We can give it a try first. If it doesn''t work, you two will have to step up and test the path."


    Long Xuan nodded and said, "Then please go ahead. I''ll be right back. I need to use the bathroom. You start without me."


    Di Xin scoffed, "Your Excellency always have a lot of business. Go quickly and don''t fall into theva. If I open the cave mansion and you''re not back, we won''t wait for you."


    "No need to wait for me. Just hold my share of the treasure," Long Xuan said as he ran off.


    Turning left and right, Long Xuan ran to a very hidden corner. After ensuring no one was following him and confirming with his celestial eye that there were no tracking bugs, he released his me avatar.


    He didn''t really need to go to the bathroom. ording to his n, he was going to switch ces with his clone at the cave entrance.


    No one could guarantee 100% safety inside the cave mansion. Anything could happen.


    Moreover, he didn''t trust Li Dashan and Di Xin. They were not to be underestimated.


    He felt it was unsafe for him to enter the cave mansion, so he decided to have his fire clone go in instead, while he hid outside.


    In case of any unforeseen events, the clone would die instead of him.


    After releasing his Fire clone, Long Xuan also released his water and earth clones. His wood clone was tending the spiritual herbs in Elder Long''s medicine garden, and his metal clone was at home watching over his own herb garden. With the fire clone gone, he only had two clones left to use.


    He didn''t expect there to be a magma area near the market. This was the terrain he had been searching for a long time.


    Over the years, he had been sending his clone to various harsh environments to collect different types of supreme water bears. Now, he had almost collected them all, except for those adapted to extreme heat in magma areas.


    Now that he had found the magma environment, he took the opportunity to collect thest type of peak-grade water bear.


    After this, he could start refining the water bear Gu, which he had long anticipated. He couldn''t wait to finish this trip and start refining the Gu immediately.

 Chapter 78: (1): Dividing the Treasures

    Di Xin''s expertise in formations is indeed high; everyone underestimated this formation master''s ability to break through formations. When the fake Long Xuan arrived, he discovered that Di Xin had already dismantled the formation. On the surface of theva, numerous stone pirs had emerged, densely packed, leading to a stone gate on the distant rock wall.


    Unsurprisingly, this stone gate was the entrance to the cave mansion that Li Laodao had mentioned.


    At this time, everyone was already walking towards the stone gate under Di Xin''s lead and had covered half the distance.


    Hearing themotion behind them, they turned to see Long Xuan returning. They immediately looked disappointed.


    He actually caught up and returned so quickly¡ªhow did he manage that, does he have a straight path?


    "Sorry to keep you all waiting. I hope I''m not toote!" Long Xuan greeted them with a useless remark and then followed them.


    Since the formation had already been dismantled, there was no need to worry about triggering any traps. He walked straight through.


    "Did you break the ancient formation so quickly? How did you do it?"


    As soon as Long Xuan caught up with them, he impatiently asked.He hadn¡¯t gone to the restroom at all, so his return was very fast. Di Xin dismantling the formation in such a short time left him in awe.


    Just from the surface, this ancient formation didn''t seem easy to break.


    Di Xin raised a token in front of Long Xuan, showing a somewhat proud expression, "This ancient formation isn''t easy to break; I just forged a fake formation key."


    "The master of this cave mansion went to great lengths to set up this dangerous formation, considering all possibilities, but he overlooked that some people in this world can forge formation keys."


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan suddenly understood. A formation key is like a remote control for the formation. With it, one can control the entire formation without needing to dismantle itboriously.


    He never expected passing through this dangerous formation to be so simple. He thought this would be a significant hurdle.


    Li Laodao also looked surprised and asked, "Since you have the formation key, does that mean the dangers inside the cave mansion won¡¯t pose any threat to us?"


    "Exactly!" Di Xin nodded, "It''s fortunate you didn''t open that stone gate recklessly. Your caution was correct."


    "If you hadn''t resisted the temptation and opened that stone gate rashly, you would''ve been greeted by a waterfall ofva, drenching you like a soaked chicken."


    Upon hearing this, Li Laodao shivered involuntarily. Just thinking about being scalded byva gave him chills.


    He had relied on the undying ability of his Little Strong Gu as a backup, but there was a 50% chance he would¡¯ve opened the stone gate.


    In the end, he decided not to open it by drawing lots, and his extraordinary luck saved his life once again.


    Thinking about it now, it was like walking through the gates of hell. No matter how strong the Little Strong Gu is, it couldn''t survive bathing inva.


    At that moment, he would have been incinerated into ashes by theva. Even with eight Little Strong Gu, they wouldn''t have saved him.


    He had to be thankful he sought out Di Xin; otherwise, he would have faced certain death regardless of who he teamed up with.


    While chatting, they had already reached the stone gate. Without a doubt in her fake formation key skills, Di Xin pushed open the stone gate and walked in first without hesitation.


    Long Xuan followed closely behind her, as if she could bring him a sense of security.


    The journey was unexpectedly smooth, without any incidents. They walked straight to the cave master''s dwelling without encountering any danger, making the ease of their journey seem unbelievable to everyone.


    At least one battle should''ve urred before obtaining the treasures, right? However, there was none. They directly reached the treasure-dividing stage. Why did so many of theme when just Di Xin was enough?


    At the deepest part of the passage was a secret chamber with a stone gate locked by a password, seemingly the cave master¡¯s treasury.


    In the center of the secret chamber sat a skeleton in ck clothing, in a meditative posture, on a grass mat with a storage bag hanging from its waist.


    Seeing the storage bag, everyone''s eyes lit up.


    "It seems this senior failed to break through during his life-and-death retreat," the little medicine boy remarked after a nce.


    He forcibly averted his gaze, understanding that whatever was in that storage bag was not meant for him.


    Li Laodao first looked at the stone gate with the password lock. As the initiator of this treasure hunt and the discoverer of the cave mansion, by right, the most valuable item in the cave mansion should belong to him.


    But now, everyone could see that the cave master¡¯s most valuable possession must be in that password-locked treasury.


    There was no need to think twice; if it were just junk inside, why lock it with a password? It would be redundant.


    So, there must be peak-grade treasures behind that door, evident to all.


    Following his gaze, everyone else also looked at the stone gate.


    Li Dashan first spoke to Di Xin, "The most valuable treasure must be behind that stone gate. How about we open it first?"


    "By right, the most valuable treasure belongs to Li Laodao, but I''m curious about what''s inside. How about opening it for us all to see?"


    Everyone else looked at Di Xin, their eyes full of anticipation for what was behind the door.


    Di Xin rolled her eyes at them and said helplessly, "Can¡¯t you see? The password is a mechanism, not a formation. My formation key can¡¯t open that door."


    "Unless someone knows the password, I can¡¯t do anything about this door."


    "Don''t even think about forcing it open. If this door could be broken by force, there wouldn''t be a password mechanism."


    "If you mess around, you¡¯ll trigger mechanisms, not formations."


    "Mechanisms are beyond my expertise; they¡¯re my knowledge blind spot. I have no solutions."


    "I don''t know what will happen if you tamper with the door, but it won''t be good."


    "Lava might suddenly flood the entire cave, killing us all."


    Her words were like a bucket of cold water, sshing on everyone¡¯s heads, waking them up instantly.


    ........................................................................


    Read extra chapters on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 78: (2): Dividing the Treasures

    Upon hearing this, wouldn¡¯t it mean that the door cannot be opened and whatever is inside is destined to be beyond their reach?


    Li Laodao finally became anxious. He was the vested beneficiary of the town¡¯s treasure, and if the door couldn''t be opened, he would be the one to lose out. The town¡¯s treasure was right in front of him, but he couldn''t take it with him. How could he be content with that? How could he not be anxious? However, the cave master had died many years ago, so where could they find the secret now?


    As long as the cave master wasn¡¯t foolish, it wouldn¡¯t be possible for him to put the password in the secret chamber. In other words, no matter what, they wouldn¡¯t be able to get the password unless the cave master came back to life.


    "Is there no other way? How about we try a few more times? I was luckyst time and almost got in with just one life."


    "Maybe this time, I''ll be incredibly lucky and identally guess the password!"


    Di Xin nced at him with a look of disbelief. Did he think he could identally guess the password? Was he delusional?


    "If you were the master of this cave, would you give others unlimited attempts to enter the password?" Di Xin asked rhetorically.


    Upon hearing this, Li Laodao paused and finally calmed down. No need to think about it¡ªdefinitely not. No normal person would do that.


    There would definitely be a limit to the number of attempts to input the password¡ªmaybe three tries, or perhaps just one.If the password was entered incorrectly consecutively, it might trigger mechanisms and cause unknown dangers.


    He grew frustrated. A treasure mountain was right in front of him, but he couldn''t touch it. This was indeed an exasperating situation.


    At this moment, Long Xuan had already approached the password mechanism and examined it closely. Wow, there were twenty gears, each with ten numbers from one to ten.


    Anyone who has studied mathematics would understand how many permutations this could have. It was an astronomical number. How could you possibly guess it? Go ahead and guess one for me!


    Still thinking you could identally guess it? Ridiculous! He must have had a math or P.E. teacher who taught him!


    Even if he had extraordinary luck, he wouldn¡¯t be able to guess it.


    Long Xuan had already made up his mind. If Li Laodao dared to try and guess, he would immediately turn and run. He had no intention of apanying him in the afterlife.


    "Forget it! Forget it! Since this treasure is beyond our reach, we shouldn''t force it. Safety above all," Li Dashan stood up and advised.


    No matter how valuable the treasure behind the stone door was, it would ultimately belong to Li Laodao and have nothing to do with him.


    Given this, he certainly didn¡¯t want to risk his life. So, he naturally suggested not opening the stone door, as he wasn''t the vested beneficiary.


    Surely, everyone felt the same way¡ªit¡¯s human nature. Wouldn¡¯t Long Xuan also run if it came to that?


    Li Laodao scanned everyone¡¯s faces and finally sighed. He knew it was too selfish to risk everyone¡¯s lives.


    If he really did that, others would definitely stop him, and he might even incite public outrage.


    But how could he be content with just giving up? Li Dashan could speak so casually, but if the town¡¯s treasure belonged to him, would he give up so easily?


    Fine, if they don¡¯t want it, he¡¯ll just sell the treasure trove. It would still fetch a high price.


    Recalling the auction a few years ago where someone sold a treasure map, his heart began to race, dispelling his earlier despondency.


    If someone could sell a treasure location for a fortune, he could certainly do the same.


    Why not auction off this treasure location himself? The final price would definitely not be low, and he could still make a fortune. It was better than getting nothing.


    Long Xuan¡¯s actions had thoroughly inspired him, making him stop fretting. His unwillingness instantly vanished, and his mood brightened.


    "Sigh! I was determined to open this stone door, but I must consider myrades'' safety. Otherwise, I would be selfish. So, I can only sacrifice myself for the greater good and decide not to open this door."


    "What can I do? I am kind-hearted, after all¡­ sigh..."


    Li Laodao sighed, looking like a saint, leaving everyone dumbfounded.


    Was his face-changing speed that fast? Did he decide so quickly not to open it? What exactly made him decide so quickly?


    Everyone was puzzled, casting suspicious looks at him. Was he really that easygoing? Was it a trick? Everyone thought so.


    "Hey! What¡¯s with those expressions? Are you doubting me? In this whole town, who doesn¡¯t know that Old Li Laodao always keeps his word? If I say I won¡¯t open it, I won¡¯t. If I do, I¡¯m a dog!"


    "I remembered the cave master left a storage bag outside. It must be filled with treasures. I won¡¯t leave empty-handed. Since I have gains already, let¡¯s call it a day and not open the door!"


    Li Laodao spoke grandly. Anyone who didn¡¯t know him might think he was generous and indifferent to treasures.


    Upon hearing this, the suspicion on everyone''s faces lessened, and they shifted their focus to the storage bag on the skeleton¡¯s waist, their eyes burning with excitement.


    They all subconsciously forgot about the previous matter, focusing entirely on the storage bag, their eyes filled with anticipation.


    This storage bag concerned everyone¡¯s interests. What they could gain from this trip depended on it.


    The thrilling and exciting treasure distribution was about to begin. How could they not be excited?


    "This person must have been proficient in formations. There must be formation-rted books in the storage bag. How about all formation books go to me?" Di Xin was the first to speak.


    However, Long Xuan also wanted the formation books. His meticulous formation techniques were just beginning to be researched, and he urgently needed more formation knowledge.


    The cave master¡¯s formation skills were clearly impressive, and Long Xuan didn¡¯t want to miss such a legacy.


    So, Long Xuan said, "The storage bag might contain cultivation methods, spirit techniques, physical techniques, and Gu recipes. I suggest we make copies of all knowledge so everyone can benefit the most."


    Although he didn¡¯t mention formation books, his suggestion included them. It was a well-calcted move.


    Di Xin red at him.


    No sooner had he finished speaking than Little Medicine Boy raised his hand first and shouted, "I agree! I fully support it!"


    Of course, he would agree first. ording to the agreement, all the treasures he was entitled to belonged to Long Xuan.


    But if everyone made copies of all the knowledge, Long Xuan wouldn¡¯t need two identical copies, so there was no need to fight over his manuscript. This way, he wouldn¡¯t leave empty-handed.


    Little Medicine Boy''s prompt support led the others to agree as well. After all, this benefitted everyone, maximizing their gains. They had no reason to disagree.


    Seeing everyone agree, Di Xin eventually didn''t object.


    Considering she could sell the formation books she got from others, there was no reason for her to monopolize the formation knowledge here.


    Seeing his n seed, Long Xuan immediately said to Li Laodao, "Since everyone agrees, let¡¯s start distributing the treasures. Li Laodao, will you do it, or should I?"


    "Of course, I will. I initiated the mission," he immediately rushed to the skeleton, rubbing his hands and grinning, finally pulling the storage bag off the skeleton¡¯s waist.


    Without checking the contents, he directly poured all the treasures out in front of everyone.


    Suddenly, a dazzling array of treasures piled up on the ground. Various treasures formed a mountain, with many of them glowing, blinding everyone.


    There were pills, books, spirit swords, clothing, various materials... Most of all, there were spirit stones, taking up half of the treasures, with many being mid-grade spirit stones and even some high-grade ones.


    Upon seeing the storage bag¡¯s contents, Little Medicine Boy¡¯s heart sank. It turned out to be the storage bag of a Gu King. This was a huge loss.


    How could a rogue cultivator in this area be a Gu King? Rogue cultivators had no inheritances and couldn''t obtain the methods to be a Gu King. He was utterly confused.


    The storage bag was extremely valuable, containing many treasures. Everyone was dazzled.


    But among all the treasures, the most valuable were undoubtedly the books.


    In this world, the most valuable thing was knowledge. All kinds of knowledge were highly treasured and never shared. In this world, knowledge was priceless.


    Everyone''s breathing became rapid, and their eyes revealed intense greed.


    "This senior was a Gu King! His cultivation method must be enough to cultivate to the level of a Gu King! We¡¯ve hit the jackpot. None of us need to worry about advanced cultivation methods anymore!"


    Upon seeing the cultivation methods on the ground, Li Laodao¡¯s eyes turned red, nearly crying with joy.


    This was a Gu King¡¯s cultivation method, sufficient to support cultivation to the Soul projection stage.


    For rogue cultivators, the hardest part was theck of inheritance. In this world, all knowledge was highly guarded and never shared.


    Being a rogue cultivator in this world is incredibly difficult. You can''t learn anything and have to figure out everything on your own, making growth exceedingly challenging for rogue cultivators.


    Reaching the Spiritual Sea stage is already a tough task, and achieving the Gu King level would astonish everyone.


    It''s not just a matter of resource scarcity; it''s entirely due to theck of inheritance. Without the techniques to cultivate to the Spiritual Sea stage, how could you even dream of breaking through to it?


    Every sect keeps their techniques highly confidential, bing the biggest obstacle to rogue cultivators'' growth.


    However, now that a Gu King''s techniques are right in front of him, the biggest issue for rogue cultivators is solved. How could he not be excited, not be thrilled? He was so excited he nearly went crazy.


    Not only him, but everyone was also ecstatic, almost delirious, feeling like a road to bing a Gu King was right before them.


    The path of Gu cultivation would be smooth from now on, and the mere thought made them breathe heavily, unable to control their emotions.


    Only the little medicine boy looked despondent, deeply regretting his previous decisions. But when he remembered the agreement they just made about everyone copying the knowledge, he realized he had the chance to learn the Gu King''s techniques. He would no longer have to worry about cultivation methods.


    Having aplete Gu King inheritance meant he had the possibility of cultivating to the Gu King level¡ªthis was a tremendous opportunity.


    His gains from this trip were definitely not small, and thinking this, he didn''t know whether to cry orugh.


    Li Laodao looked at the pile of treasures before him with heated eyes and excitedly said, "Alright! ording to the rules, as the discoverer of this cave, I should take half of the treasures and also have the priority to choose the most valuable ones. The remaining treasures will be evenly distributed among the rest."


    "If no one has any objections, I''ll start distributing the treasures."


    Li Laodao scanned the faces of the few people. Seeing no one objected, he began distributing the treasures on the ground.


    He wasn''t stupid; wealth stirs people''s hearts. There were too many examples of teammates turning against each other over significant interests.


    In this world, it''smon for teams to kill each other over a treasure. How could he not be cautious?


    Therefore, he carefully selected people with absolutely trustworthy reputations for this treasure hunt. He chose only those with impable reputations, excluding anyone with even slightly questionable conduct.


    He believed in his judgment and trusted that the people he chose would not cause any problems.


    Indeed, as he expected, no one disappointed him. Not a single person caused any trouble, making him smile with satisfaction.


    Long Xuan didn''t know he had been given a good guy card by Li Laodao. He was selected as an honest person from the market. If he knew Li Laodao''s thoughts, he wouldn''t know whether tough or cry.


    The term "good guy" in this world is not necessarily apliment; he didn''t want to bebeled as a "good guy."


    The treasures on the ground were too many. How long would it take for Li Laodao to finish distributing them?


    Long Xuan immediately took out paper and pen he always carried and began copying the various knowledge inheritances on the ground.


    For someone frequently immersed in creation, paper and pen in the storage bag were essential.


    Seeing his actions, everyone else finally reacted, showing excitement as they rushed over to start copying the books on the ground.


    However, they soon realized a problem: who would carry a pile of paper and pen when going out? For sketching?


    Even those who kept a diary would only need one nk book. Who would bring a pile of paper?


    So, the rogue cultivators either had no paper or not enough to copy so many books. Some didn''t even have a pen.


    When they saw Long Xuan ce a thick stack of paper on the ground, everyone was stunned andpletely baffled.


    "Why do you carry so much paper! Is it for wiping?" the little medicine boy eximed.


    "Uh? Don''t you guys carry paper and pen when you go out? Such inadequate preparation."


    Long Xuan finally noticed his teammates'' situation, looking at them in surprise as if they were the abnormal ones.


    Everyone''s face darkened.


    What a weirdo!


    Di Xin poked Long Xuan''s shoulder with her slender finger and shamelessly said, "Lend me some paper and pen, I''ll return it to youter."


    The only expert in the team, at the marrow cleansing stage, had spoken. How could Long Xuan refuse? If she decided to take all the books by force because she had no paper, it would be disastrous.


    So Long Xuan was eager to lend her paper.


    "Don''t say ''lend,'' it''s too formal. I''ll just give it to you. These are just mundane items, not valuable. Use as much as you need."


    Long Xuan generously gave her a stack of paper and a pen.


    Seeing the others looking at him expectantly, Long Xuan reluctantly treated everyone the same, distributing some paper to them as well to avoid being used of prioritizing romance over friendship.


    Paper and pen are mundane items, costing at most a spirit stone. Long Xuan didn''t mind giving them away to earn some goodwill.


    Thus, the group sat on the ground, frantically copying books, and the scene fell silent.


    Only Long Xuan took out a table and chair from his storage bag and satfortably while copying.


    For someone frequently engaged in creating forms, tables and chairs were essential. It was reasonable for him to take out tables and chairs, right?


    However, what seemed reasonable to him appeared strange to others. Who would carry tables and chairs when going out? Was he here to study?


    Long Xuan''s actions once again made everyone speechless and bewildered.


    They couldn''t help but wonder if he had also brought a bed. Was there anything he wouldn''t bring? Where did this great lorde from?


    Inside the storage bag were delicacies like honey-roasted meat and other treats. Was he here for a vacation? What couldn''t his storage bag hold?


    Everyone was speechless and thoroughly stunned by Long Xuan. When they saw him take out tea and fruit and ce them on the table, they couldn''t hold back their expressions anymore.


    Forcibly turning their heads away, they no longer looked at this weirdo and finally began copying the techniques in peace. But the aroma in the air and the sounds of eating made it hard for them to concentrate...


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 79: (1): The Weird Little Medicine Boy

    After taking a sip of tea, Long Xuan began transcribing a technique called the "Nine Deaths Divine Art." This is a powerful body-refining technique sufficient toplete the body refinement up-to the Soul Projection Stage.


    The supernatural ability of this technique lies in breaking through after reaching the brink of death. Each time the practitioner is close to death, their physical body undergoes a qualitative leap. Hence, it is called the Nine Deaths Divine Art.


    In ancient times, the number nine symbolized a virtual number, indicating multiple instances rather than the literal number nine. The more times one faces death, the better.


    This technique is extremely dangerous. Practitioners must constantly seek death, repeatedly experiencing life-and-death situations, breaking through after survival, challenging their limits, and continuously surpassing themselves.


    However, while nearing death can continuously strengthen the supernatural ability, one mistake can lead to true death. Who dares to approach death even once? Nheless, the more dangerous the technique, the more powerful it bes, with the price paid often corrting with the reward.


    It is precisely because this technique is exceedingly dangerous that it is also immensely powerful. Once mastered, it grants extraordinarybat power.


    The "Nine Deaths Divine Art" is evidently not an ordinary technique, suggesting an extraordinary origin. It might have been a renowned technique from a certain period, possibly one of the top body-refining techniques in the entire Gu world and should not be underestimated.


    Since Long Xuan already had the "Ten Absolutes Scripture" for his cultivation technique, he did notpete with others but chose this unremarked body-refining technique.


    Long Xuan cherished his life and was extremely timid. Given his fear of death, he naturally had no interest in such a life-threatening Divine ability.The only reason he immediately transcribed this technique was that he had long nned to create his body-refining technique after refining the Water Bear Gu.


    Creating a body-refining technique requires referencing many powerful techniques. With all the formation books taken by Di Xin, he could only transcribe the "Nine Lives Divine Skill" first.


    Time passed by quietly, with the cave falling into silence, save for the scratching sound of pen on paper.


    Everyone transcribed books with full concentration, forgetting the passage of time, forgetting to eat or drink, only wanting to transcribe the Gu King''s cultivation techniques as quickly as possible, as if fearing any dy.


    Unbeknownst to them, three days had passed, with the rogue cultivators transcribing for three whole days in the cave.


    In these three days, they used countless sheets of paper and broke many pens. Nheless, the results were gratifying, with each person binding a good number of new books, reaping substantial gains.


    Each person''s face was beaming with smiles, cherishing the techniques in their hands.


    However, even though his Gu-cultivated body had hand speeds much faster than normal people in his previous life, it waspletely impossible to copy all the books here in three days.


    They only transcribed the inheritance they most needed.


    Long Xuan had also finished transcribing the formation books he wanted.


    In these three days, Li Laodao had long divided the treasures, with no one having any objections, and everyone stored their share of the treasures in their storage bags.


    The only share of treasures belonging to the little medicine boy was taken by Long Xuan into his storage bag in a brazen manner.


    However, the little medicine boy had alreadye to terms with it. Knowledge inheritance is the most valuable thing. He had obtained the techniques he wanted and had three Spirit Gathering Pills. He had a high chance of breaking through the Marrow Cleansing Stage upon returning.


    With such huge gains from this trip, what more could he be dissatisfied with?


    "Haha! There are too many books here. Who knows when we¡¯ll finish transcribing them."


    "Staying here forever isn''t an option. Why don¡¯t we go back first, share the books, and transcribe them slowly?" Li Laodao proposed at this moment.


    Long Xuan finally put down his pen, stretched his sore neck, stood up, and stretchedzily, saying, "That makes sense. Why not leave the original manuscripts with Li Laodao? Whoever has time can go to his ce to transcribe them."


    Li Dashan agreed, "That works. I trust Old Li''s character. Everyone knows where Li Vige is. Whoever wants to transcribe can find him there. I¡¯ll also be at Li Vige, so you can visit me anytime."


    Li Laodaoughed heartily, "Haha! You are all wee to my home anytime. I will treat you well. We won¡¯t leave until we are drunk."


    Everyone had transcribed what they wanted. The remaining books were of little importance, so they didn¡¯t need to rush to transcribe them. Thus, everyone agreed to the proposal.


    In fact, they had long wanted to leave. Sitting on the ground transcribing techniques had left their legs numb. They had no desks or chairs, making it extremely ufortable to transcribe in such an environment.


    Unlike Long Xuan, who even brought a desk and chair when traveling. He wouldn¡¯t feel ufortable even if he sat for a month. He wasfortable, but others suffered.


    As the rogue cultivators packed their things and left the cave, the ce fell silent again.


    After an unknown amount of time, footsteps echoed in the passage again. Even light footsteps sounded heavy in the quiet cave.


    The sudden footsteps broke the silence of the secret room again.


    Just as the previous group left, another unexpected visitor arrived.


    Since the previous group walked together, it was unlikely that one would return suddenly. Who could this person be?


    Unsurprisingly, this person was Long Xuan. The fake Long Xuan had left with the group, and the real Long Xuan finally arrived.


    The real Long Xuan had been lingering nearby for a long time, collecting heat-resistant water bear insects and observing the situation in the cave.


    Using the Eye of Heavenly secret to see that everyone had left, he immediately entered.


    He had no time to obtain the memory of the Fire Clone, so he didn''t know what had happened in the cave or what was inside.


    He sneaked in this time to see if there was a chance to pick up any valuable leftovers. What if everyone missed some important treasure? Or what if everyone overlooked a valuable treasure?


    In theory, such assumptions are entirely possible.


    Thinking of this, Long Xuan decided toe in and take a look.


    The luminous pearls embedded in the cave walls had been taken by the others, leaving the cave in darkness.


    Long Xuan used a tiny amount of spiritual power to activate the zing me Palm, condensing arge fireball in his palm, illuminating the cave brightly.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 79: (2): The Weird Little Medicine Boy

    Long Xuan couldn''t help but marvel at how thorough those people were. They even took the floor tiles, dug out the wall carvings, and took away the mat the skeleton was sitting on. Where did these weirdose from? How could he possibly find anything of value here?


    The cave mansion looked as if it had been ransacked, with everything valuable and not-so-valuable being taken away. They were afraid of missing any treasures due to theirck of knowledge.


    Even the bones left by the cave master were taken, being mistaken for treasures. They must have gone mad.


    If Fire clone were here, he would have told him that it was Little Medicine Boy''s doing.


    Everyone knew that Little Medicine Boy loved selling junk and collecting it as well. To him, everything in the cave was a treasure.


    As a result, his shriveled storage bag was filled with junk, even with a pile of ragged clothes and shoes left by the cave master. He nearly tore up the ground too.


    Everyone distanced themselves from him, saying that they didn''t know him, as if they were afraid of being embarrassed by being familiar with him.


    With this weirdo around, how could Long Xuan find any good items? He was overthinking; he couldn''t even catch a feather.


    Looking at the scene that resembled a bombing site, Long Xuan waspletely stunned.What happened here? Was there a fight over unequal distribution of treasures? Fire Clone wasn¡¯t dead yet, was he?


    Although the ce had been ransacked and dug up thoroughly, the chances of finding any leftover treasures were practically zero.


    But Long Xuan was unwilling to give up. Since he was already here, he had to take a look. What if there was a hidden treasure?


    Determined, Long Xuan moved forward. The secret room was bare except for a prominentrge stone door.


    Long Xuan was surprised. The floor tiles were gone, but the door remained. Did those guys suddenly be Buddhists?


    Curious, he approached the stone door and immediately noticed the twenty gears on it, forming an extremelyplexbination lock.


    The progress on the lock showed [10%].


    It wasn¡¯t hard to understand that it meant the lock was only 10% solved, with 90% remaining.


    This implied that only two of the twenty gears had their correct numbers set.


    Long Xuan immediately turned the first gear, and when it reached seven, the progress changed to [15%].


    He realized he had guessed right and continued with the second gear.


    Soon, when the number was set to two, the progress changed to [20%].


    He understood that he had luckily guessed another one correctly.


    Repeating this process, it took him less than a minute to guess all the numbers correctly, and the progress reached [100%].


    When the final gear was correctly set, a click was heard, as if a mechanism was triggered. The stone door began to shake violently before slowly opening under Long Xuan''s watchful gaze.


    Shortly after, another secret room appeared before him, and a massive, fiery red-scarlet ancient tree came into view.


    The tree bore unusually shaped red fruits, with dragon-like patterns that seemed carved into them, though how they formed was a mystery.


    Long Xuan had to admire nature''s craftsmanship. The world was indeed full of wonders.


    The tree¡¯s fruits were unique, and so were its leaves, which were also fiery red and asionally emitted mes.


    What was even more bizarre was that the tree grew in a magma pool, drawing sustenance from it.


    Other nts drank water, but this one drank magma. What kind of fierce tree was this?


    Which tree isn¡¯t afraid of fire? The natural rule is that fire ovees wood, yet this tree defied the rules and broke the norms of the world. It was truly a rarity.


    Long Xuan finally understood why the cave master built his mansion in such a deste ce.


    It was all because of this tree. The tree thrived on magma and couldn¡¯t be easily relocated. The cave master had to settle here to take care of it, even if it meant inconvenience.


    A tree that the cave master deemed worth such effort could not be simple.


    A tree that dared to drink magma was certainly extraordinary.


    Even without much thought, it was clear this must be a divine tree of immense value, a priceless treasure.


    Its emergence could likely incite battles among various forces. The cave master wouldn¡¯t have invested heavily in such borate formations here if the tree¡¯s value was trivial.


    Long Xuan''s eyes lit up with excitement.


    His decision toe here on a whim was correct. He had indeed stumbled upon a great treasure. The value of this tree might surpass that of the ten thousand year old iceberg snow lotus by a hundredfold.


    The cave master had been dead for countless years, making this tree very old.


    Long Xuan immediately used his golden finger ability to inspect the tree.


    However, upon seeing therge symbol above the tree, he waspletely shocked.


    The progress disyed above the ancient tree was [¡Þ], leaving Long Xuan''s mouth agape.


    Anyone who studied mathematics knew what this symbol meant¡ªinfinitive, representing infinity.


    This tree could grant eternal life!


    Long Xuan took a deep breath,pletely unsettled. He had indeed found a treasure this time.


    He couldn¡¯t help but marvel at the fact that there was a treasure they had overlooked. How blind were they? Long Xuan thought with some smugness.


    Following his usual routine to avoid danger, Long Xuan summoned his water clone to explore first.


    After a while, even after the water clone touched the tree with no issues, Long Xuan felt assured enough to approach the fiery red ancient tree.


    Meanwhile, he frantically searched his mind for any information on this tree.


    He had assigned his clones a lot of study tasks, giving them loads of homework. As a young man, studying was essential, and he supervised their learning, checking their progress monthly.


    Thus, Long Xuan¡¯s mind held a lot of knowledge gained through his clones diligent studies. Perhaps one of them hade across information about this tree in a book.


    Before long, Long Xuan found the relevant information. Fire clone had read about this tree in a book.


    This tree is called the Fire Dragon Fruit Tree, named for the dragon-encircled fruits. Consuming the fire dragon fruits could enhance fire resistance, making it a legendary earth-grade spirit herb.


    Notably, due to the sparse spiritual energy in this world, fifth to tenth-grade spirit herbs didn¡¯t grow.


    However, earth-grade and heaven-grade spirit herbs were exceptions.


    Born from thews of nature, earth-grade and heaven-grade spirit herbs contained properties of the world¡¯s rules, unaffected by the environment.


    Thus, while fifth to tenth-grade spirit herbs had gone extinct in this world, some earth-grade and heaven-grade spirit herbs still existed.


    As for the elixirs that could be made from earth-grade and heaven-grade spirit herbs?


    Everyone knew that researching elixir recipes consumed a vast amount of spirit herbs for experimentation.


    Looking at Elder Long, it was clear¡ªjust supplementing Pill recipes already wasted countless materials, let alone creating new ones.


    Earth-grade and heaven-grade spirit herbs were extremely rare. Who could use such scarce materials to experiment with Pill recipes?


    Therefore, no one knew the recipes for earth-grade and heaven-grade spirit herbs.


    Of course, it wasn¡¯t absolute; perhaps someone knew but wouldn¡¯t share.


    Even without known recipes, earth-grade spirit herbs contained the world''s rules, yielding miraculous effects even when eaten raw.


    Thus, earth-grade spirit herbs were immensely valuable, triggering fiercepetition among any forces once discovered.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 80: (1): The Mysterious Gu King

    Long Xuan was so excited that he rubbed his hands together and circled around the fire dragon fruit tree, but he felt at a loss about how to proceed.


    Low-grade spiritual soil can grow first to fourth-grade spiritual herbs.


    Medium-grade spiritual soil can grow fifth to eighth-grade spiritual herbs.


    High-grade spiritual soil can grow ninth-grade spiritual herbs, tenth-grade spiritual herbs, eleventh-grade earth-level spiritual herbs, and twelfth-grade heaven-level spiritual herbs.


    This is the conventional wisdom of this world.


    However, the prerequisite is that the spiritual herb has no stringent special requirements. For example, this fire dragon fruit tree, which lives in magma, must have a magma environment; no matter how high the quality of the spiritual soil is, it is useless.


    So, he couldn''t transnt this fire dragon fruit tree to his own medicine garden. Otherwise, why would the cave master have undertaken such a massive project here? If it were easy to transnt, it wouldn''t have stayed here.


    Long Xuan fell into deep thought. Seeing the treasure but being unable to take it away was something he couldn''t ept.


    Leaving it here was definitely not an option. At least five people knew about this ce now, and it might not remain hidden for long. Leaving the fire dragon fruit tree here was no longer safe.But how to take it away became a colossal problem.


    Long Xuan pondered for a long time. If he had to transnt the fire dragon fruit tree, his medicine garden was not a magma ce. Could he rece the magma with the ice me?


    This idea was undoubtedly very risky because ice me was not magma and was cold.


    If he transnted the fire dragon fruit tree into an area with cold fire, the chances of it dying were far greater than the chances of it surviving.


    But Long Xuan, after much deliberation, ultimately gritted his teeth and decided to do it anyway.


    He admitted he was selfish. He would rather risk destroying the fire dragon fruit tree than leave it for someone else.


    If nobody could have it, that was still better than him not getting it.


    So he took out tools from his storage bag, ready to transnt the fire dragon fruit tree.


    Unbeknownst to him, while he was transnting the spiritual herb, a few people who had already left the area were in trouble.


    And it was significant trouble. The so-called 100% safety that Li Laodao had promised was once again a joke.


    At this moment, in a forest, besides Li Dashan who was still standing, everyone else was painfully lying on the ground, their expressions extremely twisted.


    "You actually nted a Gu in us. When did you do it?"


    The fake Long Xuan, yed by Fire clone, was stunned, showing a look of disbelief.


    He had followed the main body''s instructions, always keeping a close eye on Li Dashan, watching him very carefully.


    Under the Eye of Heaven''s Secret, he shouldn''t have had a chance to nt a Gu.


    "Li Dashan! You dare to act against us, why? I have not treated you badly! Are you so greedy for mere treasures that you''ve lost your conscience? Where is the Li Dashan from Li Family Vige who loved to help others?"


    Li Laodao roared in anger, his face twisted with rage, losing all semnce of reason.


    To him, the person who could least betray him here was Li Dashan. Li Dashan was his fellow viger, known in the vige as a great phnthropist. Anyone could y dirty tricks, but not him. He trusted his judgment of people.


    But the reality of what happened hit him hard and made him utterly copse.


    Di Xin frowned tightly, her face pale. Everyone had been very cordial during the distribution of the treasures, with no problems, which made her let her guard down.


    Unexpectedly, on the way back, when everyone''s vignce was low, this venomous snake gave them all a fatal blow.


    The method of nting Gu was so sinister that even she didn''t know when she was poisoned.


    This caused her, a grand expert at the Marrow cleansing stage, to fall into such a trap, making her extremely angry and pale.


    Only the little medicine boy sat quietly, knowing that with the Little Strong Gu, he could hold on for a while longer.


    Li Dashan looked at Li Laodao with a guilty expression.


    He didn''t want to betray them, but he had no choice. This was beyond his control.


    He touched the ring on his finger, and suddenly an old phantom floated out.


    Seeing this, Long Xuan was stunned and genuinely shocked.


    It was the legendary Golden Finger Grandpa. Wow, another Child of Destiny!


    The old phantom scanned the crowd with a smile, saying, "Didn''t expect this, did you? My method of nting Gu is not something you juniors can detect."


    "You little brat who always peeked at me, no matter how vignt you were, it was useless. I''ve never failed in nting Gu, no matter how cautious you are."


    The old phantom then looked at Long Xuan with a yful smile.


    Long Xuan''s face turned pale. He still didn''t know how he had been poisoned.


    "It''s the Ghost Soul Gu! You nted the Ghost Soul Gu in us!"


    Di Xin, with her vast knowledge, sensed the soul-pain and immediately targeted the Ghost Soul Gu.


    But she wasn''t 100% sure and was trying to trick him into confirming it.


    Only by knowing what Gu they were poisoned with could they find a way to break it.


    "Hey? This little girl is smart, able to see that I nted the Ghost Soul Gu. Not bad!"


    The old phantom looked at her with surprised eyes.


    "That''s right! I nted the famous Ghost Soul Gu in you. The soul has visible and invisible forms. The Ghost Soul Gu is an invisible soul form Gu that can parasitize a person''s soul and feed on it."


    "My Ghost Soul Gu is invisible to the naked eye. No matter how cautious you are, you can''t guard against its sneak attack."


    Hearing this, Di Xin sighed in relief. She had tricked the truth out of him. Knowing it was the Ghost Soul Gu made things easier.


    Long Xuan finally realized why he had fallen for it. Even with the Eye of Heaven''s Secret constantly watching, he still fell for it.


    His clone could only replicate the Eye of Heaven''s Secret''s abilities, not his golden finger. So it was understandable that he got poisoned.


    If he could see the progress, even if he couldn''t see the Ghost Soul Gu, he could see its progress and wouldn''t have been caught off guard.


    "Master! You promised me to spare Li Laodao''s life!" Li Dashan said, looking at the phantom above the ring.


    "Don''t worry! I want a perfect body. He''s old and ugly, not up to my standards."


    The old phantom nced at Li Laodao with disdain and then looked away.


    Hearing this, Long Xuan finally understood the situation.


    Li Laodao''s judgment of people wasn''t wrong. Li Dashan had no intention of backstabbing everyone.


    But his ring contained an unpredictable variable. The Ghost Soul Gu was nted by this variable, and even if Li Dashan disagreed, it wouldn''t matter.


    Because this mysterious golden finger grandpa urgently needed to find a body.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 80: (2): The Mysterious Gu King

    A mysterious, powerful figure who seeks to be reborn through the process of body snatching must undoubtedly be a Gu cultivator in the Soul projection stage. In their previous life, they must have been a formidable presence, though the reason for their fall is unknown, leading them to inhabit a ring.


    By a twist of fate, this ring was found by Li Dashan, setting him on the path of Gu cultivation.


    This was likely the opportunity that Li Laodao mentioned that Li Dashan encountered.


    However, it is doubtful he knew that Li Dashan had an old grandpa''s golden finger, otherwise, he wouldn''t have considered this variable.


    Despite his meticulous nning, he still overlooked this, and his luck remains as bad as ever. Following him never leads to any good.


    Since this mysterious figure suddenly acted, there must be a target among these people. Who could it be? Li Laodao is old, ugly, and riddled with diseases, definitely not a candidate.


    Di Xin is a woman and a mere mortal without cultivation talent, so she was definitely not considered.


    Li Dashan is the least likely. If he met the requirements, he would have been taken over long ago, not waiting until now.


    That leaves only one person, the young medicine boy.Long Xuan looked at the young medicine boy with sympathy. The boy was on the verge of breaking through the Marrow cleansing stage at such a young age, indicating decent talent and good looks, making him a reasonable target, truly a pity.


    However, just as Long Xuan thought this, he noticed the aged, ghostly figure looking at him, and his heart skipped a beat, his expression stiffening.


    Could it be? An unpleasant suspicion arose in his mind, making himpletely uneasy.


    "Hey! I have the Ten Absolute Bodies and am the slowest cultivator in the world, If you take over my body, it''ll bepletely wasted," Long Xuan hastily shouted.


    "Hehe! It is precisely because you are the Ten Absolute body that I came out. The Ten Absolute body could not possibly have your current cultivation speed, already at the peak of Spirit Gathering at such a young age."


    "I see your spiritual power flows steadily; you must have found a cultivation method for the Ten Absolute body without a doubt."


    "Since your Ten Absolute body can be cultivated, it is undoubtedly the best choice for the world''s most unique body, and I happen to share the same Five Elements attribute as you."


    "You don''t need to hand over the cultivation method. Even if you did, I wouldn''t believe you. I will personally extract it from your memory."


    The aged ghostly figure let out a sinisterugh and flew towards Long Xuan.


    Long Xuan was startled and tried to flee, but due to the Ghost Soul Gu wreaking havoc in his soul, his actions were restricted, allowing the aged ghostly figure to easily catch up and enter his body.


    Thus, a battle for body snatching began within Long Xuan.


    The others showed worried expressions, unsure if the mysterious figure would spare them after a sessful takeover.


    Only Di Xin sneered, her eyes filled with a yful smile.


    He was courting death, going through all that trouble to snatch a mere clone. If he seeded, that would be a miracle.


    Each Gu King only has one chance to snatch a body, and their lifespan doesn''t extend. If he fails, his soul will be devoured as nourishment by the opponent.


    Under the rules, even if he is a Gu King''s soul, he will die. It is a pitiful death.


    Di Xin watched gleefully, ready to enjoy the show.


    The aged ghostly figure had no idea he had the wrong person. The one who left was the real person, but the one who returned was a fake. He snatched the wrong body, leading to his utter misfortune.


    Amid Di Xin''s mocking gaze, a desperate howl soon came from within Long Xuan.


    "Ah... What is this thing? What exactly did I take over? Damn it! Damn it! It''s really damned..."


    "I clearly devoured his soul, so why is my soul dissipating? Why? Why is this happening? Ah..."


    "What? This is actually a damned clone! You tricked me! To think I, the ck Heaven Ancestor, would end up with my soul torn apart. I hate! I hate this!"


    "No..."


    Long Xuan''s body continued to emit desperate howls, the sound gradually diminishing until it disappeared altogether, leaving everyone bewildered.


    Long Xuan, who blended into their group, turned out to be an Clone. This was too much, miraculously causing the death of a Gu King. It was too dramatic, even more so than any script.


    A Spirit Gathering stage killing a Gu King was an achievement Long Xuan could boast about for a lifetime.


    Everyone exchanged looks, their expressions twitching, secretly sighing at the pitiful death of the Gu King, enough to make peopleugh.


    "What a miserable death! Such a dignified Gu King actually died in such a way. What a strange thing in the world! This bad guy really wants to kill people without paying for it!" Di Xin sneered sarcastically.


    "Li Dashan! Hurry and bring the antidote!" Li Laodao shouted at Li Dashan.


    "Oh!" Snapping out of it, Li Dashan quickly took out the antidote from his storage bag and ran to detoxify everyone.


    Long Xuan shook his head. Although this might have happened under duress, since it already happened, he should have gone all the way, taking advantage of everyone''s incapacitation to eliminate them all or simply run away.


    If it were him, he would have chosen one of the two. Since he already offended them, he wouldn''t risk his life.


    Long Xuan took a ck pill, threw it into his mouth, and began refining the medicinal power within.


    He wasn''t worried about any tricks in the pill from Li Dashan. Everyone had lost their ability to resist, bingmbs to the ughter. There was no need for further trickery.


    Long Xuan sat cross-legged, rapidly refining the pill''s power. The pill seemed to contain a toxin harmless to humans but deadly to the Ghost Soul Gu.


    The Ghost Soul Gu parasitizing his soul didn''tst long under this toxin and soon died.


    Ironically, this incident turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Long Xuan. The Gu King''s soulpletely dissipated after failing to take over his body, and he absorbed the scattered soul, greatly enhancing his own.


    "Li Laodao, didn''t you say this trip was 100% safe? Exin to me! Is this what you call reliable?"


    Long Xuan immediately questioned Li Laodao after detoxifying.


    Li Laodao''s face turned awkward and red. He remembered saying he would offer his head if there was any danger. What now?


    Li Laodaoughed dryly, "An ident! An ident! These are all idents! idents are everywhere!"


    "Besides, you didn''t die this time, did you? If you didn''t die, it doesn''t count as danger, just a minor episode."


    "I guarantee this kind of minor episode will only happen once. Thetter part of our journey will absolutely be free of any idents. I guarantee it!"


    However, just as he finished speaking, he saw four red-d figures rushing towards them with undisguised killing intent and sinister smiles.


    Li Laodao''s smile froze, feeling like he was being pped in the face repeatedly. He hadn''t expected such a quick turn of bad luck.


    "Damn it! It''s Feng Siing for revenge, run! Those four are all in the Marrow cleansing initial stage, unbeatable!"


    With that, Li Laodao turned and ran.


    The young medicine boy was also startled upon seeing the four. He knew the deep-seated enmity between his group and Feng Si.


    With his brothers all dead by their hands, this grudge was irreconcble. Falling into their hands would mean a fate worse than death.


    Long Xuan cursed, wondering if Li Laodao had a cursed mouth. He must be the child of fortune, he''ll definitely escape.


    Long Xuan also ran, knowing there was no fighting those four Marrow cleansing stage cultivators.


    His real body was cunning, smart enough to stay hidden, knowing this group was dangerous.


    Fortunately, he didn''t join, or he would have died in the previous encounter. Even with many trump cards, they would be useless against a Gu King''s soul. He realized paranoia had its benefits.


    Di Xin and Li Dashan took a moment to react, then quickly ran in different directions to avoid being captured together.


    Li Dashan, with his grandpa''s golden finger, took out a white boat from his storage bag. The boat''s speed wasparable to that of Marrow Cleansing stage experts, giving him a good chance of escaping.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 81: (1): Creating a Unique Body Refining Technique

    "Split up and chase! Don''t let any of them escape!" Feng Si shouted, sneering as he pursued Long Xuan.


    The others each chose a target and chased after them quickly. However, there were only four of them against Long Xuan''s group of five, so one person would inevitably slip through the cracks.


    Thest person nced at both Di Xin and Li Laodao and ultimately decided to chase the fastest one first, thinking the slowest one wouldn''t get far and could be dealt withter. Thus, he pursued Di Xin.


    Seeing this, Long Xuan couldn''t help but marvel at Li Laodao''s luck. If the pursuer had chosen him first, he would be doomed. But instead, But he chose to chase Di Xin first. DI Xin was a master of the Marrow Cleansing Stage who was pretending to be a pig and eating a tiger. If he chased her first, he would forget about resolving the battle in a short time and might end up capsizing in the gutter.


    This choice would prevent the pursuer from having any chance to deal with Li Laodao in the short term.


    However, Long Xuan had to focus on himself for now. Looking at the murderous face behind him, he felt a shiver of fear. "Is this grudge really that deep? So what if a brother and a cousin died? Is it worth it?"


    Long Xuan increased his speed, using his treading The Stars technique for the first time in this world. He moved like a shooting star, even outpacing Feng Si, a master at the Marrow cleansing Stage.


    "How is this possible? How can he run so fast?" Feng Si was astonished. A cultivator at the Spirit Gathering Stage was outrunning a Marrow Cleansing Stage master, which was unimaginable to him.


    But Feng Si wasn''t worried. He preferred to be cautious and had set many traps along their return path. Though the traps might not be very powerful, they were enough to slow them down. If he hadn''t seen them standing still for a long time, he would have continued toy in ambush.However, when he saw Long Xuan running on the tips of grass like he was flying, he couldn''t believe his eyes. "Running on grass tips? Are you kidding me? How did he do that?"


    Long Xuan smirked inwardly. With the Eye of Heaven''s Secret, the traps ahead were child''s y to him. But his face changed when he saw Feng Si take out something familiar.


    Feng Si smiled mischievously. If Long Xuan thought he could escape so easily, he was gravely mistaken. Feng Si had prepared for this. He took out a dreaded Weakening Gu from his worm bag, capable of restricting both the cultivator''s and Gu insects abilities. Knowing Long Xuan had a Gu insect that could slow down enemies, Feng Si had spent all his resources creating the Weakening Gu specifically to counter such abilities.


    Under the Weakening Gu''s power, all Gu''s abilities would be significantly weakened, and their domainspressed. Though creating the Weakening Gu drained his resources, it was worth it for revenge. Without facing a peer, it was more than enough to deal with a Spirit Gathering Stage cultivator.


    When Feng Si took out the Weakening Gu, Long Xuan''s speed began to decrease rapidly, and the distance between them quickly shrank. Feng Si''s sneer grew as he saw Long Xuan fumbling with his insect bag, likely trying to use the slowing Gu . But to his surprise, the gu didn''t appear.


    Suddenly, Feng Si noticed a small green dragon on his Weakening Gu''s back, biting its neck. His eyes widened in disbelief. "What is this? When did it get there?" he shouted, quickly reinforcing his spiritual armor, consuming more of his energy to enhance his defenses against this mysterious creature.


    Enraged and desperate, Feng Si struck at the green dragon with all his might, only for it to vanish before his hand could hit. The creature had already teleported back into Long Xuan''s insect bag,pletely evading Feng Si''s attacks.


    Long Xuan closed his bag, looking back disdainfully. "Taking out such a fragile thing, don''t you know Dragon Gu is known as the nemesis of fragile creatures? Why chase me only to lose another precious Gu insect?"


    Without the Weakening Gu''s restriction, Long Xuan''s speed surged, leaving Feng Si far behind. A Marrow cleansing Stage master failing to catch up to a Spirit Gathering Stage cultivator was absurd. "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Feng Si roared, madly attacking the grass and trees around him in frustration.


    After a while, he stopped his rampage, panting heavily. He looked in Long Xuan''s direction onest time before reluctantly turning back. Though he had lost Long Xuan, he vowed not to let any of hispanions escape.


    Soon, he regrouped with one of his red-dpanions. "Did you kill that person in the most brutal way?" Feng Si asked coldly.


    The man looked embarrassed, "Something unexpected happened. That person got an extraordinary inheritance, obtaining a magical boat I couldn''t catch up with."


    "So... You lost them!" Feng Si''s eyes widened in fury. "What? You, a marrow cleansing Stage master, let a Spirit Gathering Stage cultivator escape? What were you doing?"


    On the other side, the little medicine boy looked back from time to time at the man in red who was always hanging behind him, his expression full of tension.


    From time to time on the way, he encountered traps set by them in advance, but he relied on the undying ability of Little Strong Gu and forced his way through.


    Ever since he got the Little Strong Gu, he has been training his body like crazy,pletely ignoring the cost of excessive training that would leave hidden injuries to the body. His training results have improved rapidly, and in terms of physical strength, he has surpassed ordinary people by far.


    However, relying solely on physical strength to escape from a Gu cultivator in the Marrow cleansing stage was clearly unrealistic.


    After all, the speed of a Gu cultivatores not only from body refinement but also from spiritual power.


    The young medicine boy was a whole major realm lower than his opponent, and it was a miracle he hadn¡¯t been caught yet.


    At this point, the man in red was going crazy. How could this little bald head run so fast? He, a Marrow cleansing stage Gu cultivator, couldn¡¯t catch him, making his face grow increasingly ugly.


    Despite his failure to catch up, he refused to give up.


    For a Marrow cleansing stage Gu cultivator to be unable to catch a Spirit Gathering stage Gu cultivator was too humiliating. Returning like this would invite ridicule from hispanions, and he couldn¡¯t bear such shame.


    So he gritted his teeth, determined to catch and kill the damned bald head, even if it meant breaking his legs.


    Even though he couldn¡¯t catch up, he refused to give up, always trailing behind, which gave the young medicine boy a headache. Such a persistent opponent was truly troublesome.


    "No, I can¡¯t keep wasting time with him. His spiritual power is more abundant than mine, and he has teammates who could join the chase at any moment."


    "I can¡¯t dy any longer. The longer this drags on, the worse it will be for me. I need to lose him as quickly as possible, or I¡¯m in danger today."


    The young medicine boy¡¯s expression became resolute as if he had made a significant decision and was about to use one of his trump cards.


    He prided himself on his ingenuity. Since acquiring the Little Strong Gu, he had been crazily exploring its abilities, developing many practical techniques, including one life-saving skill.


    In this world, there is a miraculous escape technique called the Blood Escape Technique, which consumes blood to teleport a significant distance instantly. It¡¯s considered a top-tier escape technique.


    But this technique is forbidden because it is dangerous.


    Losing 20% of one¡¯s blood volume can be dangerous, and using the Blood Escape Technique once consumes just over 20%.


    Using this forbidden technique could mean escaping but potentially not surviving afterward.


    But with the Little Strong Gu, it¡¯s different. Using the Blood Escape Technique poses no danger at all.


    Others might die after using the Blood Escape Technique once, but he could use it four or five times in a row, putting a significant distance between himself and his pursuer with minimal bacsh.


    The Little Strong Gu paired with the Blood Escape Technique is a perfect match.


    He had hesitated earlier about how many times to use the Blood Escape Technique in session.


    Using it once wouldn¡¯t be enough since his pursuer was a whole major realm higher. Once wouldn¡¯t be sufficient to escape the chase.


    Ultimately, he gritted his teeth, decided to use the Blood Escape Technique three times in session to disappearpletely from sight and escape the pursuit.


    In the next moment, his face lost all color, turning ashen, and he disappeared into thin air, vanishing as if he had evaporated.


    The man in red was stunned and stopped in his tracks. What had just happened? How did the person disappear into thin air? Was this some kind of magic trick?


    He was utterly confused.


    Soon after, Feng Si and the others arrived, eagerly asking, "Where is he? Did you kill him?"


    The man in red looked embarrassed; he had no idea where the person had gone.


    Seeing his expression, Feng Si¡¯s eyes widened in disbelief, and he shouted in frustration, "Don¡¯t tell me you lost him too!"


    "You¡¯re in the Marrow cleansing stage! Your opponent is only in the Spirit Gathering stage, and you lost him? What were you doing? Are you useless?"


    The man in red, angered by the scolding, shouted back, "What could I do? He used the Blood Escape Technique seven or eight times and disappeared without a trace. How could I chase him? You go and try!"


    "Seven or eight times?" Another man in red twitched at the thought, knowing the person had the Little Strong Gu. He believed the story.


    "Calm down, there¡¯s still one more. The records show she¡¯s terrified of cockroaches, so she can¡¯t have the Little Stong Gu and can¡¯t use the Blood Escape Technique to escape my brother¡¯s pursuit."


    "Maybe my brother has already caught her and is enjoying her body. If we hurry, we might catch the action." The man in red smirked evilly.


    So the three of them headed in another direction. Before long, they found a headless corpse in the same clothes as theirs.


    The three were shocked.


    What was this? Not only did they fail to catch thest one, but they also lost one of their own lives. They couldn¡¯t believe it.


    A Marrow Cleansing stage cultivator losing to a Spirit Gathering stage was absurd enough, but to be counter-killed? Was this a joke?


    Feng Si waspletely devastated.


    Not only did he bring four Marrow Cleansing stage helpers as a precaution, but they also failed to kill anyone and lost one of their own and a prized Gu. He couldn¡¯t understand it.


    "Argh!"


    Feng Si spat blood in frustration.


    It was futile; this group was full of lucky people. Who could they catch? Going against a group of protagonists was courting death.


    ...


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 81: (2): Creating a Unique Body Refining Technique

    "Hmph! Compete with me? Do you not know why flowers are so red?"


    "You really thought I was just pretending to be a pig to eat the tiger?"


    In the distance, Di Xin waved the storage bag she had seized, looking pleased as if she was delighted with her sess in fooling them this time.


    What Long Xuan and his group didn¡¯t know was that she was heading back to the cave they had just left. Why was she returning?


    Di Xin¡¯s eyes gleamed with excitement and pride.


    Many might not know that mechanisms and formations go hand in hand, and ancient tombs alwaysbined the two. How could she not understand mechanisms?


    iming ignorance of mechanisms in the cave was entirely a ruse. Women¡¯s words can deceive, and she could lie without batting an eye.


    By pretending not to understand mechanisms in front of everyone, she could return alone to enjoy the treasures herself. She was indeed cunning.


    However, no matter how cunning she was, she couldn¡¯t outsmart Long Xuan. Her little schemes were destined to fail.When she finally returned to the cave and saw the stone door with thebination lock wide open and the interior empty, she couldn¡¯t help but rub her eyes, her smile freezing in disbelief.


    "Who did this!!!"


    "Who the hell did this?! How dare they provoke me! They''ve stolen from me! Such audacity, whose hands are so fast?"


    "Let me catch this shameless thief!"


    A woman''s deafening scream echoed throughout the cave, reverberating for a long time...


    Meanwhile, Long Xuan had safely returned to his residence without encountering any danger. Who among them could be more cunning than him? Upon returning home, he immediately transnted the fire dragon fruit tree to the center of his medicinal garden, filled with high-grade spiritual soil. After picking all the fire dragon fruits, he covered the area around the tree with cold fire.


    After that, he left it to nature, letting fate decide its survival. If it could live, it would; if not, it was its fate. He was already content with the fruits he had harvested.


    The medicinal effects of the fire dragon fruit were limited; one couldn''t continuously consume them for unlimited benefits. Therefore, whether the tree lived or died didn''t matter to him. Even if it died, he wouldn''t feel regret.


    Surviving would be a bonus, but he wouldn''t dare to sell the fruits. They would just be eaten as regr fruits.


    After transnting the fire dragon fruit tree, he began preparing to refine the water bear Gu. He had collected all the necessary materials during this adventure.


    The materials required to refine the water bear Gu were various types of water bears, which was very simple. It took him no time to figure out the refining method since it only required one type of material.


    But don''t think that the simplicity of the process made the Gu weak. Although the water bear Gu was not suited forbat, its practical value was unparalleled among his collection of Gu.


    Look at the Little Strong Gu, which the little medicine boy had developed significantly.


    The water bear Gu was much more formidable than the Little Strong Gu, with a much higher potential. Long Xuan was confident in this.


    How could he not be confident? You have to know that his water bear Gu recipe uses more than 4,000 kinds of ingredients, all of which are peak-grade spiritual insects. There are more than 4,000 peak-grade spiritual insects in total, a Gu recipe full of peak-grade spiritual insects.


    With so many peak-grade spiritual insects, the water bear Gu couldn''t possibly be ordinary.


    Long Xuan took out severalbeled jars from the storage room. Though thebels had names, the jars were all empty.


    Without a doubt, the jars contained various types of water bears.


    Excitedly, he opened each jar, pouring all the water bears into arge jar. From a distance, it looked like he was pouring air.


    After putting over four thousand peak--grade water bears into the jar, he added half a bottle of red liquid.


    Using themon starvation method to make them devour each other wouldn''t work for refining water bear Gu.


    Water bears can survive for 30 years without eating or drinking. Starving them wouldn''t be effective. Special methods were needed.


    There are many ways to make spiritual insects kill each other: rituals, smoke, poison...


    Long Xuan used a liquid called "Rage Liquid," which made spiritual insects go berserk and attack their kind.


    This method was suitable for aquatic spiritual insects, avoiding the risk of drowning. Water bears, being nearly immortal, were perfect for this method.


    After pouring the Rage Liquid into therge jar, he sealed it and shook it vigorously before setting it down.


    When the progress indicator on the jar showed 0%, he stopped, satisfied, and left.


    He had no idea how long it would take for the Gu to form, so he would just wait.


    During the wait, he wouldn''t just sit idly by. He nned to start a new project: creating his own body-refinement technique.


    Gu cultivators didn''t have to learn body-refinement techniques, but without them, they would be weaker than other Gu cultivators.


    In battle, physical strength was crucial. If an enemy used a fast Gu to attack, insufficient physical explosiveness would make evasion difficult.


    This weakness was too fatal to ignore.


    For Long Xuan, learning body-refinement techniques was essential, even if it slowed his progress.


    It''s apulsory course; neglecting it means death.


    With the nearly immortal water bear Gu soon to bepleted, he didn''t have to worry about the dangers of body refinement.


    So, the creation of a body-refinement technique was now on his agenda, progressing alongside the water bear Gu.


    Excitedly, he sat in the pavilion, taking out a body-refinement manual called "Nine Deaths Divine Art" that he had copied in his cave, and began to read with great interest.


    He had already secretly learned many body-refinement techniques from the Qian family''s treasure trove, giving him a solid foundation for creating his own technique.


    However,pared to those techniques, this "Nine Deaths Divine Art" was far superior, making them seem insignificant.


    If he was to borrow from a technique, it had to be the best.


    The arrival of "Nine Deaths Divine Art" was timely. It contained advanced knowledge that was highly instructive, potentially enhancing his technique by a significant margin.


    The essence of "Nine Deaths Divine Art" was understanding the principle of "not destroying, not standing," growing stronger through near-death experiences.


    Long Xuan quickly grasped the core concept and felt inspired.


    Three dayster, he put away "Nine Deaths Divine Art" and prepared to draft his new technique.


    In any world, the more dangerous a technique, the more powerful it is. This is a naturalw.


    Since the danger level corrtes with power, he focused on making the technique as dangerous as possible.


    The more dangerous, the better. Ideally, it should be so lethal that only he, with the water bear Gu, could survive it.


    With this thought, he drafted:


    Level 1: Lava Refinement


    Level 2: Cold Qi Tempering


    Level 3: Heavenly Fire Forging


    Level 4: Thunder Tribtion Reinforcement


    ...


    Anyone who saw his n would be terrified.


    Was he crazy? This was suicide!


    Jumping intova for refinement? That was beyond human capability, more like a superman feat.


    Using heavenly fire for refinement was even more absurd. Did he know what heavenly fire was?


    Even if it existed, getting close to it would turn you to ash.


    Alchemy masters with the highest fire resistance rarely survived heavenly fire; using it for body refinement was lunacy.


    And using thunder tribtion for refinement? Thunder tribtion is a lethal challenge for high-level cultivators, with a 90% mortality rate. Others would avoid it, but he nned to use it?


    This was insane.


    But Long Xuan believed in the feasibility of his method. Despite its extreme nature, he hoped the water bear Gu could withstand it.


    He was slightly unsure about the Gu''s ability to endure these dangers.


    A single thunder tribtion might turn him to ash. Could the water bear Gu survive even in such a state?


    But he didn''t worry much. The body-refinement would be done by his clone, not his main body. If the clone seeded, he would benefit from its results. If it failed, it wouldn''t affect him.


    Fire Clone: Thanks a lot.


    Long Xuan had cleverly shifted all risks to his clone, reaping the benefits himself. Truly cunning.


    "Alright! The technique is set. Let''s see who dares to practice it. Whoever tries will die."


    After finishing the draft, he mmed the pen on the table, exuding arrogance.


    He was confident that only the water bear Gu could survive such a dangerous technique.


    How powerful would a technique be if it could only be practiced by him?


    On this day, the initial draft of a technique that would shock the world waspleted. This heaven-defying martial arts that will inflict great harm to all and shock the entire Gu world in the future will gradually reveal its prowess from this day on.


    ...


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 82: (1): The Water Bear Gu

    Two months had passed quickly. With the "Nine Death Divine Arts" as a reference, he had be adept at pushing himself to the brink. As a result, he progressed smoothly in the early stages of the new technique, writing with speed and precision.


    In just two months, he had already advanced the technique by 1%, a remarkably swift progress. To put this into perspective, when he originally created the "Ten Absolute Scripture," it took him half a year to reach even 1% progress. Compared to that, the speed with which he was developing the new technique was extraordinary.


    However, on this particr day, he finally paused, encountering his first major writer''s block. Simr to when he was creating the "Ten Absolute Sutra," he was stuck on designing the divine abilities of the technique. Among the three essential elements of a technique, designing the divine abilities was the most challenging. Once again, he found himself at a loss, unable to figure out how to design the divine abilities for his new technique, nearly driving him to despair.


    Although the "Nine Death Divine Arts" had an existing divine ability for rebirth, it was ipatible with his new technique. With the Peak-grade Water Bear Gu, it was difficult to reach a near-death state, making the rebirth ability somewhat useless. Moreover, he didn''t favor this type of self-destructive divine ability as it didn''t suit his personality.


    The rebirth ability is a passive growth type, excelling in its high growth potential but not enhancing immediatebat power. He preferred powerful divine abilities that could significantly boostbat strength in battle, which the rebirth ability did not provide.


    Yet, the rebirth ability was among the most powerful divine abilities he had learned. If he didn''t use it, what other divine ability could he employ? He held even lower regard for the divine abilities in the trash techniques of the Qian n treasure vault.


    He found himself in endless turmoil, racking his brain, holding his pen aloft but unable to write.


    ...


    At this moment, back in the cave, after Di Xin left, a group of uninvited guests entered. Led by Li Laodao, he brought a group of Gu cultivators from the Qian nmerce Association, smiling as they entered. However, upon seeing the wide-open stone door and the empty interior, he was stunned."Li Laodao, are you here to amuse us? Where are the treasures you spoke of? You need to give us an exnation!"


    Qian Duoduo''s angry voice echoed in the cave, indicating he had somehow reached the marrow-cleansing stage. Qian Jinjin, beside him, frowned deeply, clearly displeased.


    The ce seemed to have been thoroughly looted, with even the decorations, wall carvings, and floor tiles removed. Now, apart from dirt and rocks, the cave was empty. Even the ground had been dug up. How could there possibly be any treasure left?


    Whoever could find treasure here would truly be extraordinary. Even the usuallyposed Qian Jinjin was left gaping in disbelief at the scene, her mouth forming an ''O'' in shock.


    This was true madness; she had never seen such thorough looting in her life.


    Looking at Li Laodao with an expression of extreme astonishment, Qian Jinjin asked, "Did you do all this? Even the bones left by the cave master were taken by you?"


    All the Gu cultivators of the Qian n turned their gaze to Li Laodao, their expressions strange and their eyes filled with meaning.


    "No, no, it wasn''t me! It really wasn''t! I just took some decorations and lighting items for my home."


    "It was that little medicine boy. I would never do such a lowly thing. Even if I were starving, I wouldn''t take someone''s remains."


    Li Laodao waved his hands frantically, feeling utterly embarrassed. He regretted bringing that person along and vowed never to do so again.


    "Don''t worry about who did it. You deceived us intoing all this way."


    "We mobilized so many people, wasting one to two months for a round trip. Even the youngdy canceled manymitments toe here. And now you tell us there''s nothing here? Are you ying with us?"


    Qian Duoduo grabbed Li Laodao by the cor in a rage.


    Li Laodao was equally baffled, not understanding how this had happened. He remembered the stone door being tightly shut when he left. How could it be...


    It must have been her! Di Xin must have done this. Pretending not to understand the mechanism, she had returned after everyone left and opened the lock, taking the treasures for herself. What a cunning n!


    We were all fooled by this scheming woman.


    Li Laodao''s face turned livid, his mustache bristling in anger. He felt his guess was almost certainly correct. Only this master thief could have such lock-picking skills. This time, he was truly tricked by this girl and vowed to settle the score with her.


    Seeing his expression, Qian Jinjin realized there was no treasure to be found. Her face darkened.


    She had wasted a month''s time traveling here, a month she could have spent doing something valuable.


    Waving her hand weakly, she sighed, "Alright, it seems I''m out of luck. Take him away and make him cover our travel expenses..."


    ...


    Long Xuan waspletely unaware of the changes in the cave or the trouble he had inadvertently caused Li Laodao. At this moment, he wasughing heartily with a book in his hands.


    "Heh, how could this Elder Long be so careless? Such a powerful technique left lying around, and I managed to see through it. Truly careless!"


    Long Xuan couldn''t help but be excited. The "Inverse Dragon Technique" was the Long n''s treasured body refinement technique, the foremost in the Far west,plementing the Long n''s "Yellow Emperor''s Dragon Technique."


    The "Yellow Emperor''s Dragon Technique" had a divine ability to increase dragon strength, but you must know that the force exerted is mutual. If your muscles and bones are not sturdy enough, even if you can exert the dragon''s strength, your muscles and bones would shatter first.


    So, to harness the divine ability of the "Yellow Emperor''s Dragon Technique," one must practice the "Inverse Dragon Technique" to strengthen the body.


    The "Inverse Dragon Technique" involved refining the muscles in the firstyer, bones in the second, skin in the third, blood in the fourth, organs in the fifth, and lungs in the sixth...


    In short, the thick book detailed refining every part of the body, and by the secondyer, one could perfectly exert the divine ability of the "Yellow Emperor''s Dragon Technique."


    The profundity of the "Inverse Dragon Technique" was no less than the "Nine Death Divine Arts," providing significant insights for Long Xuan, especially in the divine abilities section, which gave him a sudden epiphany, finally oveing his writer''s block.


    The divine ability of the "Inverse Dragon Technique" was an external dharma manifestation, a difficult concept to exin briefly, but it could be illustrated.


    In ancient times, there were divine beasts, dragons, and other powerful beings with destructive power far exceeding humans. Techniques with this divine ability could create the illusion of such beings, projecting their aura.


    When a Gu cultivator used this divine ability, a powerful being''s dharma image would appear in the sky, exuding a terrifying aura.


    This ability could temporarily grant the cultivator a portion of the being''s strength, dramatically boostingbat power.


    This was precisely the type of powerful divine ability Long Xuan was searching for. He was extremely pleased with it, not only for its power but also for its impressive visual effect.


    Imagine a massive dragon''s dharma image appearing behind him in battle, its overwhelming presence and terrifying dragon aura. Wouldn''t that frighten his opponents?


    It would immediately weaken the opponent''s morale and boost his own.


    Although he was very satisfied with this divine ability, he wasn''t about to copy it outright. giarism was uneptable. He intended to improve it.


    Like when he borrowed from the divine ability of the "Sun and Moon Heart Sutra," he nned to enhance the foundation, making it surpass the original.


    For instance, if the "Inverse Dragon Technique" could manifest one external dharma form, why settle for just one? He would strive to create multiple dharma forms, one for each level, showcasing his greed.


    Additionally, instead of refining each part of the body separately at each level as the "Inverse Dragon Technique" did, he would refine everything at each level, then enhance themyer byyer, demonstrating his greed.


    Since he had already outlined the n, he couldn''t revert to the original idea of enhancing a single body part per level.


    Now, Long Xuan was brimming with inspiration for the new technique, his creativity flowing endlessly, far from the frustrated state he had been in just moments ago.


    It can only say that the "Inverse Dragon Technique" technique came at the perfect time, alleviating Long Xuan''s urgent needs. Elder Long is truly a great person!


    With inspiration for the divine power technique, Long Xuan¡¯s long-idle pen resumed its movement. The sound of rustling soon filled the pavilion, uninterrupted.


    The time spent on cultivating techniques is always lengthy, especially since Long Xuan is challenging the top-tier techniques of this world. His ideas are innovative and unconventional, making the creation process undoubtedly more challenging.


    He envisioned a path that no one had ever taken before, where everything was unknown and needed to be explored by himself, with no prior experience to draw upon. Refining the body with Lava and the heavenly thunder tribtion is something only he coulde up with.


    If he seeded, the power of such a technique would be unimaginably terrifying, enough to make everyone tremble with fear.


    Imagine, if even celestial fire and tribtion couldn¡¯t kill a person, what means in the world could? Just the basic abilities are so frightening, not to mention Long Xuan¡¯s n to develop multiple external dharma. Facing such a formidable opponent would be a nightmare for anyone.


    In the years spent cultivating, there were times of torrential rain, raging winds, heavy snowfall, and scorching sun outside the pavilion. However, with the pavilion shielding him from the elements, Long Xuan remained undisturbed. The changing environment outside not only failed to distract him but also inspired him and allowed him to rx.


    For example, he loved listening to the sound of rain. The pattering rain outside always washed away his fatigue, making him fall asleep to its rhythm.


    However, he was asionally disturbed by unexpected intrusions. Birds would sometimes fly into the pavilion to seek shelter from the rain, chirping incessantly. More outrageously, they even built a nest in the pavilion and never left.


    He would lose track of time while cultivating techniques, and when he looked up, he would find chicks in the nest.


    Not only did birds like to fly in, but Chicken bro also asionally came in, seeking shade or shelter from the rain.


    As time passed, more and more spirit bees evolved into ice bees and asionally flew in, interrupting his thoughts.


    Thus, two years quietly passed by.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 82: (2): The Water Bear Gu

    During these two years, the water bear Gu had formed. It was adorable, chubby, and inside Long Xuan¡¯s body. He named it Baby Water Bear. Thus, Long Xuan¡¯s fourth extraordinary Gu wasplete.


    With two internal Gu and two external Gu, it was bnced. With four peak-grade Gu, he feared no one and dared anyone to provoke him.


    With this number of peak-grade Gu, he could confidently say that even the geniuses of the great ns in the far west couldn¡¯tpare to him. They might have one or two peak-grade Gu, but having four was extremely unlikely.


    This meant that even if he encountered those geniuses, he wouldn¡¯t be afraid.


    At the same time, the earth-grade fire dragon fruit tree he transnted also mutated.


    It could be due to the superior spirit soil or the divine ice me¡¯s influence, or abination of both. Regardless, it mutated.


    Half of it remained a fire tree, bearing fire fruits, while the other half turned into an ice tree, bearing ice fruits.


    A perfectly normal tree was turned into an ice-fire dual heaven by Long Xuan.


    This was a huge surprise for him. Although he had prepared for the transnt to fail and didn¡¯t care if the fire dragon fruit tree survived, he was thrilled when it unexpectedly lived. This earth-grade spiritual herb was enough to be the treasure of his herb garden.Saying he didn¡¯t care was just an act. Who could stay indifferent in front of an earth-grade spiritual herb?


    Moreover, the fire dragon fruit from the mutated tree was useful to him and yed a significant role.


    If the previous fire dragon fruit enhanced fire resistance when eaten, the ice fruit now would likely enhance cold resistance.


    This was a perfect coincidence. His newly created technique required refining the body with magma and cold. Even with the water bear Gu, the risk of death was high.


    But now, with the fire dragon fruit enhancing fire resistance and the ice dragon fruit enhancing cold resistance, his fire clone''s survival rate during the first two levels of the technique significantly increased.


    Although he couldn¡¯t guarantee sess in thetter two levels, the first two levels had a high chance of being sessfully cultivated with the help of these miraculous fruits. Their arrival was truly timely.


    Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but marvel at his good luck, as if everything was scripted, and whatever he needed came to him.


    His confidence in cultivating this unique technique soared.


    He officially named this technique "Purgatory True Demon Technique," a very imposing name.


    If spiritual energy is the power run through cultivation techniques, then refining techniques involves circting qi and blood and using physical strength flexibly.


    In this world, qi and blood are not just blood but a form of physical energy gained through cultivation.


    Each technique produces different qi and blood, varying in strength.


    The "Inverse Dragon technique" produced True Dragon Qi and Blood.


    Thus, Long Xuan changed a word, naming the qi and blood produced by the "Purgatory True Demon Technique" as True Demonic Qi and Blood.


    The three elements of a technique include how to circte qi and blood, which is the first element of refining techniques. The other two elements are the same as those in cultivation techniques.


    Currently, Long Xuan hadpleted the first and second elements of the refining technique, and the external dharma image had also been sessfully researched.


    With the "inverse Dragon technique" avable, he could directly borrow from it, saving him much effort. Therefore, the progress of researching divine powers was rapid, and he aplished great sess within two years.


    The progress of the "Purgatory True Demon Technique" had reached 12.5%.


    He hadpleted the first level, "Magma Swimming Chapter," and immediately handed it to his Fire clone to practice. The magma was in that cave, so it could go there directly.


    He had already eaten most of the fire dragon fruits with dragon patterns on their skins due to his greed. The taste was decent but a bit hot, making him slightly ufortable.


    However, as he consumed more fire dragon fruits, this difort gradually disappeared.


    Because the more fire dragon fruits he ate, the stronger his fire resistance became. He had lost count of how many fire dragon fruits he had eaten. Now, fire dragon fruits were of no use to him due to his resistance.


    The clones didn¡¯t need to eat the fire dragon fruits either. Just watching was enough, as all the attributes and abilities of the main body would be copied to the clones. Eating would be a waste.


    With the fire dragon fruit¡¯s me buff and the water bear Gu¡¯s immortal ability, Long Xuan believed there was no issue with practicing the first level of the "Purgatory True Demon Technique," at most, just a bit painful.


    So, after imparting the newly created "Purgatory True Demon Technique" to the fire clone, he let it swim in the magma near the cave.


    The other clones didn¡¯t go along. The fire clone practiced me spiritual energy and had the highest survival chance in magma. It was best not to waste the other clones.


    To be safe, he gave it a bunch of healing pills before departure to ensure there were no mishaps.


    As for his main body, he stayedfortably at home. He wasn¡¯t going to endure such pain.


    Swimming in magma would undoubtedly be excruciatingly painful, so it was better to let the clone handle it.


    Meanwhile, his main body had important tasks to do and no time for such errands.


    The first two elements of the body refining method werepleted. What about the third element?


    The third essential element of the body refinement technique is to design aplementary physical ability for it. Otherwise, no matter how powerful the body refinement technique is, the practitioner will only be a brute with raw strength, without any skills to harm the enemy, and won''t know how to utilize that brute strength.


    Having strength but not knowing how to use it is no different from a street brawler. Even if one has great strength, they will be a live target in a fight.


    Therefore, a body refinement technique must have aplementary physical skill. Long Xuan decided to create theplementary physical technique in one go.


    After sending away the Fire Clone, Long Xuan sat back in the pavilion, started to think deeply, and began to create theplementary physical technique.


    His mind exploded with inspiration, and many marvelous ideas flooded his mind, making him indecisive and unsure which to choose.


    He couldn''t help butment that having too many ideas isn''t good either. His excessive creativity led to a choice paralysis, which was a painful condition.


    In the end, he used the process of elimination.


    Since it''s aplementary physical technique, it must perfectly align with the body refinement technique and fully exploit its strengths.


    What are the strengths of the "Purgatory True Demonic Technique"?


    It''s not the life-threatening cultivation process or the terrifying divine abilities.


    The true feature of the "Purgatory True Demonic Technique" is its undying quality.


    The "Purgatory True Demonic Technique" is entirely integrated with the Water Bear Gu. To practice this technique, one must first refine the Water Bear Gu.


    Without the Water Bear Gu, the "Purgatory True Demonic Technique" cannot be practiced; whoever tries will die.


    Moreover, when Long Xuan created the "Purgatory True Demonic Technique," he borrowed heavily from the "Nine Deaths Divine Arts," so the characteristic of this technique is undying, coupled with continuous life-threatening risks.


    After enduringva, cold, heavenly fire, and thunder tribtions, he could survive in these environments, making him practically an immortal.


    Therefore, practicing the "Purgatory True Demonic Technique" is equivalent to cultivating an immortal body. Undying is the greatest characteristic of this technique.


    To design aplementary physical technique for this technique, it should fully utilize this undying characteristic.


    This narrowed down the range of options significantly, eliminating many ideas, and Long Xuan had fewer choices, avoiding choice paralysis.


    What abilities can best exploit the undying characteristic andplement the undying ability?


    These are various forbidden techniques that, once used, would result in death. These forbidden techniques are powerful bute at the cost of one''s life.


    These forbidden techniques gain immense attack power by sacrificing life, serving as desperate moves to take down formidable foes.


    But if an immortal uses these forbidden techniques, they can bear the side effects without dying, enjoying the immense power of the forbidden techniques without the cost of life.


    Such a person would be terrifying beyond words.


    If someone could continually use forbidden techniques, that would be horrifying. Who could withstand it? Such a person would be excessively powerful, significantly surpassing the norm.


    So, Long Xuan began to push his limits again. Inspired, he started writing and drawing, and before long, he had written a terrifying outline for forbidden techniques, even naming them in a short time.


    On the outline, he wrote the big characters "Gate of Life and Death."


    Gate of Life and Death: closing the gate means life, opening the gate means death. Life and death are just a thought apart. The Gate of Life and Death has eight forms, eight gates.


    His outline read:


    Gate of Life and Death, First Gate: Profound Gate


    At the cost of burning blood, gain immense power for a short time.


    Gate of Life and Death, Second Gate: Martial Gate


    At the cost of burning qi and blood, gain immense power for a short time.


    Gate of Life and Death, Third Gate: Spirit Gate


    At the cost of burning spiritual power, gain immense power for a short time.


    Gate of Life and Death, Fourth Gate: Divine Gate


    At the cost of burning mental power, gain immense power for a short time.


    Gate of Life and Death, Fifth Gate: Star Gate


    At the cost of burning life force, gain immense power for a short time.


    Gate of Life and Death, Sixth Gate: Heavenly Gate


    At the cost of burning lifespan, gain immense power for a short time.


    Gate of Life and Death, Seventh Gate: Dragon Gate


    At the cost of burning potential and talent, gain immense power for a short time.


    Gate of Life and Death, Eighth Gate: Ghost Gate


    At the cost of burning soul power, gain immense power for a short time.


    Opening all eight gates would bring about earth-shattering destruction.


    This was the terrifying forbidden technique he had researched, a technique dangerous to the extreme, one that could scare people to death.


    Opening one gate would already allow for massive ughter. Opening all eight gates would grant unimaginable power.


    One must gasp in shock at how terrifying this is.


    Since the body has to bear forces far beyond its realm, each gate opened inflicts severe damage on the body. The more gates opened, the more severe the damage. Opening all eight gates would inevitably lead to death; only those who practice the "Purgatory True Demonic Technique" and have a blood contract with the Water Bear Gu could have a slim chance of survival.


    Of course, wanting to survive means not opening all gates. For example, the Heavenly Gate, which burns lifespan to gain power, can only be opened halfway or even less, otherwise, not even the Water Bear Gu could keep one alive without lifespan.


    Therefore, even Long Xuan could only use half the power of the "Gate of Life and Death," lest he dies, and the cost would be immense. Burning soul power, life force, and potential is not something that can be easily restored.


    Even with the undying power of the Water Bear Gu, restoring the soul and potential would be extremely difficult.


    This was no longer just a physical technique but a living forbidden technique, a terrifying forbidden technique.


    Long Xuan suddenly realized that he had gone off track; this thing was no longer rted to a physical technique, with only the first two gates considered physical techniques.


    But it didn''t matter, as he was alreadymitted. There was no turning back.


    Anyway, there was no limit on the number ofplementary physical techniques. He could create another pure physical technique next time.


    Long Xuan was in a state of extreme excitement, his eyes red with enthusiasm, and the sound of his pen scratching on the paper soon filled the air.


    Time flew by, and another year passed. During this year, with the hard work of the Fire Clone, Long Xuan''s physical strength increased rapidly.


    He sat still and improved his physical strength, bing so strong he could punch a bull to death.


    A person who was alwayszy and never practiced progressed rapidly, making him arguably the first of his kind in history.


    Meanwhile, under the efforts of other clones, Long Xuan unknowingly approached the marrow-cleansing stage, needing to prepare for its breakthrough.


    He realized after a long time that he was about to break through to the marrow-cleansing stage. He had to admit that his clones were incredibly effective; he improved his cultivation by simply eating and drinking, making cultivation almost too easy for him.


    During this year, Long Xuan worked tirelessly and finallypleted the "Gate of Life and Death."


    The "Gate of Life and Death" and the "Spirit Bomb" had different paths but reached the same goal, based on the same principle. The "Gate of Life and Death" could also gather energy from the eight gates into an energy ball to attack enemies with significant power.


    Thebination of the eight energies would produce a qualitative change, a leap, far exceeding the sum of eight individual powers.


    He named this qualitative transformed energy Ghost God Power.


    If the energy level of spiritual power is one, the energy level of lifespan power is two, then the energy level of Ghost God Power is three.


    The power of lifespan is ten times that of spiritual power, and the power of Ghost God Power is a hundred times that of spiritual power, even far exceeding a hundred times.


    Furthermore, based on the paper''s concept, Ghost God Power could integrate with a external dharma. In battle, he could infuse Ghost God Power into the Dragon God dharma image, making it charge at opponents, dealing devastating attacks. Even those a major realm higher would fall.


    Opening all eight gates was akin to killing gods and Buddhas, annihting ghosts, and anyone who stood in his way would die.


    Long Xuan''s eyes gleamed with excitement to the extreme.


    Being able to research such a level of forbidden technique, he felt his life was not in vain.


    Since the "Spirit Bomb" and the "Gate of Life and Death" had simrities, they could validate each other.


    Therefore, Long Xuan''s research on the "Gate of Life and Death" progressed quickly, without any bottlenecks, and hepleted it within a year.


    However, Long Xuan always wondered who in the future could force him to use the "Gate of Life and Death," or even unleash the final form. Given his extremely cautious nature, it would take a very long time, perhaps never in his life, to use this move.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 83: (1): The Bustling Great Stone Village

    However, the only thing that made him dissatisfied was that he had yet to seed in cultivating his divine abilities. He couldn''t understand why¡ªdespite all his efforts, he was unable to condense the Dharma body outside his physical form. He had tried every method, with both himself and his five clones practicing simultaneously, but there had been no progress. To this day, the progress in cultivating divine abilities remained at zero.


    This left him extremely anxious, almost to the point of pulling his hair out in frustration.


    A cultivation technique without divine abilities is iplete, and as a perfectionist, how could he resign himself to giving up? There must be something wrong, something he was unaware of.


    Long Xuan furrowed his brows once again, deep in thought.


    It couldn¡¯t be that the cultivation technique was wed. If the technique were wrong, he wouldn''t have been able to reach the limit of the first level. Since there was no issue with the cultivation technique, the problem must lie within himself. Long Xuan''s frown deepened further.


    But where exactly had he gone wrong? The technique clearly stated to use blood essence in this specific manner, and then in that manner, and finally, it would be achieved.


    He had followed the technique''s requirements perfectly, with every step executed wlessly. There hadn''t been a single mistake, so how could he have failed? Where exactly was the problem? His anxiety was reaching a boiling point.


    "Wait a minute!"


    Suddenly, Long Xuan had a sh of inspiration. The Dharma body outside one''s physical form involves condensing the shadow of a powerful being¡ªcould it be that a certain item from this being is needed as a medium? Otherwise, how could the form be created out of thin air? Using spiritual power alone wouldn¡¯t capture its essence, so how could one transfer the power of that being?But that didn¡¯t make sense either. The divine beasts and dragons had been extinct in the Gu World for tens of thousands of years, so where would one find so many mediums?


    Then how did the Long n solve this problem? How exactly did they manage to condense this cursed External Dharma image outside their physical form? Long Xuan was starting to feel hopeless.


    Even if there were plenty of mediums rted to divine beasts in this world, why wouldn¡¯t the Long n write this restriction into the cultivation technique?


    It didn¡¯t make sense. If it were to prevent theft, there was no need to safeguard just this one aspect. He couldn''t figure it out no matter how hard he thought.


    In the end, Long Xuan decided to take a walk to find some inspiration. If he didn''t solve this problem, he wouldn''t be able to do anythingfortably.


    Great Stone Vige wasrge, with stone houses everywhere. The roads were filled with the yful sounds of children chasing and roughhousing with each other.


    Elderly people and women wore smiles on their faces, while chickens, ducks, geese, and dogs ran around freely. It was a warm and peaceful scene, full of rural charm.


    As soon as Long Xuan arrived here, his mood lightened considerably, and the frustration he had felt earlier dissipated.


    Although he was born in Great Stone Vige, he didn¡¯t interact much with the vigers and could even be described as distant.


    As an immortal being, he felt it was unwise to form too many ties with mortals. Gu practitioners and mortals belonged to different worlds and had little inmon.


    Mortals lived short lives, and if he were to be too entangled with them, he would inevitably experience frequent separations due to death, which could eventually leave him with inner demons.


    Thus, both the original host and Long Xuan chose to iste themselves from the mortal world.


    As a result, Long Xuan found many vigers'' faces unfamiliar and couldn''t even call them by name. Many mortal vigers didn¡¯t recognize him either and were observing him with curious eyes.


    Today seemed to be a special day for Great Stone Vige, as it was quite lively. Many people wore smiles and were gathering in one direction.


    Driven by curiosity, Long Xuan followed the crowd to arge open area in the vige center, where a stone tform stood. On top of it were two Gu practitioners from the Long n, both with arrogant expressions.


    Listening to the vigers'' conversations, Long Xuan quickly understood the situation.


    Today was the day the Long n was recruiting menial workers, which exined the bustling atmosphere in the vige. He had arrived just in time.


    Don¡¯t underestimate the importance of bing a menial worker for a Gu practitioner. For an ordinary mortal, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a Gu practitioner and change their fate, so how could they not be excited?


    From the original host''s memories, Long Xuan learned that the Long n came to Great Stone Vige every three years to recruit menial workers and impart some basic Gu cultivation knowledge, giving these workers a chance to be Gu practitioners.


    Don¡¯t get it wrong¡ªthe Long n wasn¡¯t being generous, nor did theyckbat power.


    The Gu practitionermunity simply didn¡¯t engage in production activities. No matter what they did, they needed arge number of mortals forbor.


    For example, could a Gu practitioner chop wood, light fires, and cook? They had to recruit mortals to take care of their daily needs.


    But some tasks were beyond the capabilities of ordinary mortals, such as chopping down spirit trees, which required great strength. A mortal couldn''t possibly chop through a spirit tree.


    Or taking care of an elder¡¯s insect chamber, where the Gu insects were so ferocious that a regr mortal entering the chamber would just be food for the insects, unable to handle the job without somebat skills.


    So, the Long n needed a group of mortals with potential as Gu practitioners to handle various high-difficulty tasks.


    And it wasn¡¯t just the Long n¡ªalmost all Gu practitioner families operated this way. Every Gu practitioner¡¯s cultivation time was precious, so all non-cultivation tasks were delegated to these mortals with Gu potential.


    Of course, the unique and core techniques of this world would never be shared with outsiders. The major Gu practitioner families would only teach the most basic andmon techniques to these mortals with Gu potential.


    The core skills would never be passed on to these outsiders, no matter how talented they were.


    Even if a mortal had extraordinary potential and was destined to be a Gu King with proper training, the major families would never fully impart their knowledge.


    Remember, the power structure in this region was based on family ns, not sects.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 83: (2): The Bustling Great Stone Village

    The major ns only pass on their heritage to members of the same n and surname. Outsiders without blood ties arepletely excluded, no matter how talented they may be.


    It is precisely because of this deeply ingrained tendency to treasure one''s own possessions that many ordinary people have nowhere to turn, leading to a situation where over 95% of the Gu cultivators in this world are independent rogue cultivators.


    However, even if they won¡¯t be taught the core secrets, it¡¯s enough to make themoners from various viges flock to them, eagerlypeting for any kind of work.


    The original owner had once excitedly participated in one of these menial job selection events, only to return dejectedly.


    He was the first to be eliminated; as soon as he went up, he was sent back down because he had the Ten Absolute bodies...


    At this moment, Long Xuan was quite interested in this menial job selection event of the Long n.


    He was considering whether to send a clone to infiltrate the Long family, use the Origin realm to copy the Long n''s library, and obtain all their secret knowledge.


    Perhaps the key to condensing his external Dharma image was hidden in the Long n''s library. If he sent a clone to infiltrate the Long family, he might actually solve the problem of his inability to condense the Dharma image.


    The more Long Xuan thought about it, the more feasible this n seemed, and it was worth a try. Perhaps the opportunity for him to cultivate the Dharma image divine powery here.Long Xuan''s face lit up with joy, and the gloom of many days was swept away.


    He looked around and found a corner where no one was watching. Then, he released a water clone and ordered it to participate in the Long n''s menial job selection event, to infiltrate the Long family and carry out an undercover mission.


    The water clone happily went up, seemingly enjoying the thrill of being a spy. However, he went up quickly and came back just as fast, looking dejectedly at the original body.


    Long Xuan was stunned. How did he get eliminated so quickly? This wasn¡¯t how the script was supposed to go. He was the protagonist, so ording to the plot, he should have definitely been selected for the menial job. Why weren¡¯t they ying by the rules?


    A bewildered Long Xuan quickly checked the water clone¡¯s memories and soon wore an awkward expression, finally understanding what had happened.


    When the water clone went up, the Long n''s Gu cultivators saw that he had the Ten Absolute Body and immediately dismissed him, not even assigning him the job of cleaning toilets.


    Long Xuan was dumbfounded. What had his Ten Absolute Body done to deserve this? How could even dogs despise him, to the point where he wasn¡¯t even fit to clean toilets?


    Apparently, thest time the original owner participated in the menial job selection event, he was also thrown out for this reason.


    The Gu cultivators of the Long n responsible for the selection happened to be the same group, and Long Xuan¡¯s familiar face was exposed as soon as he went up, so he was immediately driven away, losing face again.


    Long Xuan sighed bitterly and, with no other choice, left this ce that had caused him so much grief.


    He was not going to give up on this n; no matter what, he had to get a clone into the Long family.


    It wasn¡¯t just about finding the secret to condensing the Dharma image; he was genuinely interested in the various inheritances of the Long n.


    Whether it was the <em>Yellow Emperor''s Dragon Technique</em>, the <em>Inverse Dragon Technique</em>, the <em>Force neutralization art</em>, or the Long Qilin¡¯s Ascending Dragon Gu and Earth Gu, or even the Evil Dragon Emperor Eye of the Elder Long.


    He found the inheritance of thisrge n to be incredibly powerful, offering him much to learn from.


    The profundity of this Gu cultivator family¡¯s unique inheritance didn¡¯t seem like it came from a small ce; it must have a significant secret and a great background.


    Thus, he was very interested in thisrge n and nned to send a spy to package up all their unique secret techniques.


    Then, after learning everything, he would quietly leave. He couldn¡¯t help but praise himself for being so clever. How could he be so smart?


    However, since the menial job selection event didn¡¯t work, he would have to find another way.


    Long Xuan quickly came up with an idea and walked directly toward where the Elder Long was.


    Yes, he nned to seek a way in through the Elder Long.


    Over the years, the form for the Hundred Flowers Pill, which was almost killing the Elder Long, had finally been sessfully repaired by him. It hadn¡¯t been easy, and it made him smile for three days straight.


    Although the Elder Long''s Hundred Flowers Pill form was finally repaired, the materials used were obviously different from Long Xuan¡¯s, making its efficacy slightly weaker.


    Perhaps due to his lightened mood, the knot in his heart was lifted, and he soon broke through, bing a Gu cultivator in the Spiritual Sea stage, one of the few experts in the region.


    In addition to his special status as an alchemist, after advancing to the Spiritual Sea stage, he had the potential to be a third-rank alchemist. It should be noted that there wasn¡¯t a single third-rank alchemist in the entire Far West region.


    When that time came, his status would soar, and his future would be bright.


    So Long Xuan had a premonition that the day he would leave Great Stone Vige was not far off.


    As a Spiritual Sea stage alchemist, he would no longer stay in a small vige ofmoners. That would be a waste of his talent. The head of the Long n would definitely send other Long n Gu cultivators to rece him.


    So Long Xuan wanted to hold onto this future potential Gu cultivator, have his clone leave Great Stone Vige with him, and follow him to the Long family, continue taking care of the medicine garden, and then secretly learn everything before finding an opportunity to leave.


    But it was uncertain whether Elder Long would remember past favors or if he still needed menial workers.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 84: (1): Long Xuans Background

    Long Xuan walked to the medicinal garden, instructed his clone to harvest all the mature spiritual herbs, and then hung the storage bag filled with herbs on wood clone. He then drained the clone''s spiritual energy, reducing his cultivation level to the initial stage of Spirit Gathering.


    He had always used this method to conceal his cultivation level. In his view, no method of hiding one''s cultivation was truly safe unless it involved genuinely lowering it. Only then could he be absolutely secure.


    Long Xuan was very confident in his disguise, believing that even the Gu King wouldn¡¯t be able to detect that he was hiding his cultivation. With this in mind, he sent wood clone towards the broken straw hut where Elder Long resided.


    Wood clone knocked on the door. After a voice inside called out to enter, wood clone, feeling nervous, pushed the door open and walked in.


    "Elder Long, I¡¯ve brought you the herbs!"


    Elder Long, still half-lying on a chair, nced at him sideways andughed, "Alright, stop hiding your cultivation level. Your disguise may fool others, but it won''t fool me."


    Long Xuan''s expression froze instantly. He waspletely stunned. Wasn¡¯t it supposed to be undetectable even by the Gu King? How could he have seen through it so quickly? Did he have some kind of cheat?


    What the hell! He''s got a cheat!


    Elder Long looked him up and down with great interest and marveled, "The clone created by the ''Sun and Moon Heart Sutra'' is indeed wless. Most people really can¡¯t see any ws.""Ever since the ''Sun and Moon Heart Sutra'' was brought out from the ancient tomb, it has spread everywhere, and many people have learned it, but most of them encountered problems."


    "Many people, after just condensing their clone, were killed on the spot by their own clone, which then took their ce, with outsiders beingpletely unable to detect the switch."


    "I had no interest in such a deadly cultivation method, but your clone seems to be quite stable. I wonder how you manage it."


    Elder Long scrutinized him carefully but wasn¡¯t overly curious. In his view, even if it could be stabilized, it was only temporary.


    What he didn¡¯t know was that Long Xuan hadn¡¯t practiced the ''Sun and Moon Heart Sutra'' at all. Although his ''Ten Absolute Scripture'' borrowed a lot from that method, he added many of his own innovations. Even the number and attributes of clones had changed, with the original text having been altered beyond recognition.


    With the help of his cheat, the method he created was already perfect, with no loopholes, having eliminated the pitfalls of the ''Sun and Moon Heart Sutra'' to the greatest extent.


    As long as he didn¡¯t let the clones roam freely, there would be no problems whatsoever.


    It was precisely because of this that Long Xuan dared to use the method boldly. Otherwise, with his cautious nature, he would have long locked all his clones in cages, forcing them to cultivate there continuously. That was something he would definitely do.


    After examining Long Xuan a few more times, Elder Long continued, "I really didn¡¯t expect that the ''Sun and Moon Heart Sutra'' could bepatible with the Ten Absolute Bodies! I never imagined that the Ten Absolute Bodies could cultivate the ''Sun and Moon Heart Sutra''¡ªthis truly surprises me!"


    Long Xuan realized that Elder Long had misunderstood. After seeing that this was an clone, and given its high simrity to those created by the ''Sun and Moon Heart Sutra,'' he naturally assumed that Long Xuan had cultivated the ''Sun and Moon Heart Sutra'' and mistakenly thought it was a method suitable for the Ten Absolute Bodies.


    However, Long Xuan wasn¡¯t going to correct him.


    For a minor cultivator to create a top-tier methodpatible with the Ten Absolute Bodies would be considered utterly miraculous, and no one would believe it. Elder Long¡¯s misunderstanding was only logical.


    Looking into Long Xuan¡¯s eyes, Elder Long continued, "If you were the same as before, I wouldn¡¯t bother with you."


    "But now that your Ten Absolute Bodies has a suitable cultivation method, it means you¡¯ve be an extraordinary talent, worthy of being cultivated intensively by the Long n."


    "I cherish talent. From now on, follow me. I will teach you everything and help you be a powerful figure."


    "You have a good talent for alchemy, so let¡¯s start with that. I¡¯m currently preparing to refine a third-grade spiritual pill, and you can assist me as my alchemy assistant. You¡¯re permitted to observe closely."


    "This is the famous Purple Demon me form of the Long n. Gather the materials and refine it as quickly as possible."


    Elder Long tossed a form to Long Xuan, not caring whether he agreed, and forcibly made him his alchemy assistant.


    Long Xuan was stunned again. He hade here precisely to request this, but Elder Long had the same idea. What a coincidence!


    The n to ce a mole within the Long n had gone surprisingly smoothly,pleted without any effort, so smoothly that it felt a bit unbelievable to Long Xuan.


    He took the Purple Demon me form, feeling speechless. He already had this form; what was the point of this?


    But he quickly became rmed. This form was one of the Long n¡¯s most secret treasures, yet it was being handed over to him so openly? How was that possible?


    Long Xuan¡¯s expression changed slightly, and he hurriedly said, "Elder Long, you must have made a mistake. This is the Long n¡¯s exclusive secret method. I¡¯m not qualified to learn it."


    Elder Long looked at him and smiled meaningfully, "Do you know that before the Long n settled in this vige, there were no people with the surname Long here?"


    Hearing this, Long Xuan was shocked, showing disbelief. Could it be that he really had the bloodline of the Long n? Was he the illegitimate child of some powerful Long n Gu cultivator left outside? Did he actually have strong backing? Could it be such a coincidence?


    No wonder Elder Long didn¡¯t choose anyone else to tend to his medicinal garden, but specifically chose him.


    No wonder he was given such a high sry. He hadn¡¯t thought about it much before, but now it made sense¡ªwhy would Elder Long share the harvest with him?


    The sry Elder Long gave him was that after handing over the required amount of spiritual herbs, any extra would belong to him. It seemed like an incentive, but in years of great harvests, his sry was absurdly high.


    Mortalbor was the cheapest, with a single spiritual stone being considered generous. Why would Elder Long share the harvest with him? Could it be that he really had a strong background?


    But then again, if he truly had the Long n¡¯s bloodline, why would the Long n ignore him? This didn¡¯t quite make sense, leaving Long Xuan confused.


    "Could it be that I really have a strong background?" Long Xuan immediately asked in surprise.


    "There''s no need to doubt it," Elder Long smiled as he looked at him. "You do have a strong background, but it¡¯s not just a coincidence. To be precise, all the mortals with the surname Long in this area have a strong background."


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 84: (2): Long Xuans Background

    Knowing that his mind was filled with confusion, Elder Long didn¡¯t beat around the bush and continued to exin, ¡°It¡¯smon for the Gu practitioners of the Long n to have rtions with vige women while stationed in various viges, and the outflow of bloodlines is inevitable.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be fooled by the fact that few offspring are born. However, as these offspring continue to multiply and thrive, spreading across countless generations, the Long n¡¯s bloodline can be found everywhere.¡±


    ¡°The resources of the Long n are limited, and we cannot support so many people, so the n established a rule a long time ago.¡±


    ¡°That rule is that any offspring with mixed blood withmoners are not allowed to be brought back to the Long n, and they are not allowed to be assisted, not even by the ancestors of the Long n.¡±


    ¡°Unless the child shows significant potential in cultivation and can be brought back to the family for nurturing, no one is allowed to open this door.¡±


    ¡°If this rule wasn¡¯t in ce, the Long n would be in chaos. Who knows how many descendants those people have outside, and if we were to bring them all back, the consequences would be unimaginable.¡±


    Hearing this, Long Xuan waspletely shocked. Are these Gu practitioners of the Long n animals? Spreading their seed everywhere and then not caring about it afterward¡ªthis is utterly irresponsible.


    ¡°So, does this mean that I¡¯ve now met the criteria to be brought back to the Long n and can meet my rtives?¡± Long Xuan asked eagerly.


    Elder Long looked at him with a smile and said, ¡°You don¡¯t have any rtives left. The only one who has any blood connection with you is Long Lie, who is your grandfather¡¯s brother, so you should call him Uncle.¡±¡°That branch of the family has practically wiped themselves out, leaving only the two of you. I only gave you the lucrative position of caretaker in the medicinal garden because of him.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t me him for never taking care of you. It¡¯s the Long n¡¯s rule¡ªimmortals and mortals are eternally separated. Mixed-blood nsmen withmoners are not to be cared for unless they can show enough value to be brought into the family for focused cultivation.¡±


    Hearing this, Long Xuan was stunned. So it¡¯s him? That drunkard? Could this possibly be a top-tier rtive?


    Recalling the scene when he first met Long Lie and his behavior, Long Xuan frowned slightly. Is this person reliable? He felt deeply skeptical.


    He realized he probably wouldn¡¯t be able to rely on this top-tier rtive for anything, and might even get dragged down by him.


    Does this mean that, aside from Elder Long looking out for him, he has no real backing in the Long n? Long Xuan felt mentally exhausted after having his hopes up for so long.


    However, the upgraded Elder Long is a potential Gu practitioner with the potential to be a third-rank alchemist. Now that Long Xuan had been promoted from a servant to his apprentice, he could think of ways to shorten the time it would take for Elder Long to be a third-rank alchemist.


    Once Elder Long is promoted to the only third-rank alchemist in the Far West, as his disciple, Long Xuan could then walk around with pride, fearing no one.


    This could be considered the tuition fee for secretly learning so much from him, and it would also repay the favor of Elder Long¡¯s special care.


    Advancing from a second-rank alchemist to a third-rank alchemist is simple yet difficult.


    Without the inheritance of a third-rank alchemist, a second-rank alchemist could work themselves to death and still never be a third-rank alchemist. And acquiring the inheritance of a third-rank alchemist is not easy.


    If there is a third-rank alchemist inheritance, then it only requires pouring resources into trial and error, and sooner orter, one would be a third-rank alchemist.


    Coincidentally, trial and error is what Long Xuan is best at, and the Long n doesn¡¯tck the inheritance of a third-rank alchemist. Shortening the time it takes for Elder Long to be a third-rank alchemist is not too difficult for him.


    The faster Elder Long bes a third-rank alchemist, the better. With a third-rank alchemist as his backing, Long Xuan would have a much easier life in the Long n, making it easier to secretly learn what he wants without fear of being bullied. This would save him from the trouble of having to pretend to be powerful and deal with confrontations, which would be quite bothersome.


    But ns can¡¯t keep up with changes. His original intention was to sneak into the Long n as a servant and secretly learn.


    But now he¡¯s been informed that he has the bloodline of the Long n, so he is now considered a legitimate Gu practitioner of the Long n. He can openly and legitimately learn whatever he wants without taking any risks.


    Once he¡¯s learned all the Long n¡¯s inheritance, he could quietly leave. After all, he has too many secrets, and the Peak-grade Gu insects he possesses aren¡¯t convenient to reveal. Joining a faction woulde with too many concerns.


    He still preferred being a carefree, independent cultivator, free and unrestrained.


    After a brief moment of deep thought, Long Xuan made up his mind.


    Over the next six months, Long Xuan gloriously became Elder Long¡¯s little medicinal apprentice, responsible for assisting him during alchemy.


    After the Purple Demon me was refined, he had to pretend to be a novice every day, acting like he didn¡¯t understand anything, while learning alchemy from Elder Long.


    He had already secretly learned all of Elder Long¡¯s alchemy techniques, so there was no need to learn them again.


    Pretending every day was exhausting, so he decided to act as a prodigious alchemy genius, hoping to quickly rid himself of this life.


    However, Long Xuan¡¯s actions excited Elder Long to no end. Who would have thought that his casual actions would lead to finding a once-in-a-millennium alchemy prodigy? Truly, the heavens were smiling upon him! Elder Long was overjoyed.


    Elder Long know that the reason he wanted to take Long Xuan as his medicinal apprentice wasn¡¯t because of his alchemy potential or the fact that he had the valuable Ten Absolute Bodies Physique, but entirely because Long Xuan had cultivated the ¡°Sun and Moon Heart Sutra.¡±


    Cultivating the ¡°Sun and Moon Heart Sutra¡± would allow one to have multiple clones. By taking someone who cultivates this technique as a medicinal apprentice, Elder Long could use one person as multiple apprentices.


    Only needing to pay one person¡¯s wages while having the equivalent of many apprentices¡ªwhere else could he find such a deal? It was too cost-effective, and that¡¯s why he was determined to take Long Xuan as his medicinal apprentice, even if Long Xuan disagreed. Such a good apprentice was rare, and the opportunity wouldn¡¯te again.


    If Long Xuan knew this was his n, he would have coughed up blood in frustration¡ªhis sincere feelings had been misced.


    Elder Long was utterly heartless!


    As a result, the pretending-to-be-an-alchemy-genius Long Xuan was promoted once again by Elder Long, moving from medicinal apprentice to registered disciple, advancing at a remarkable speed.


    Six monthster, loud, wildughter echoed from the shabby hut.


    ¡°Hahaha¡­ It¡¯s done! It¡¯s done! Finally, it¡¯s done!¡±


    ¡°Who would have thought that I, Long Ao, truly am a genius! I actually advanced to a third-rank alchemist in just half a year!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m now the only third-rank alchemist in the Far West. Let¡¯s see who dares toe and demand their debt! Hahaha¡­¡±


    Hearing this, Long Xuan was speechless. What did refining a third-rank elixir have to do with him? Look at how excited he was¡ªdid he have no self-awareness?


    After bing a third-rank alchemist, the first thing he thought of was not being afraid of debt collectors anymore. That¡¯s all he amounted to.


    ¡°Long Xuan, what temperature did you control the me at just now? Quickly, tell your master!¡±


    After his excitement subsided, Elder Long looked at Long Xuan expectantly and asked.


    Hearing this, Long Xuan showed a troubled expression. How was he supposed to answer that?


    In this world, the temperature of the me is described as high, medium, or low; orrge, medium, or small mes.


    The amount of spiritual herbs used is described as a small amount, medium amount, orrge amount, or as an appropriate amount.


    But what exactly counts as a medium amount? What exactly is medium me?


    There¡¯s no fixed standard¡ªeveryone has their own standard.


    This world doesn¡¯t have precise units of measurement for time, force, or speed either.


    In Long Xuan¡¯s Pill recipe, the quantities were all marked in grams, and the me control was marked in degrees Celsius.


    He aimed for precision in every detail. Even a slight deviation could lead to failure.


    It was this meticulousness,bined with the assistance of his special abilities, that allowed Long Xuan to achieve a 100% sess rate in elixir refinement.


    But in this world, there are no units like grams, degrees Celsius, seconds, or newtons.


    Alchemists in this world cannot achieve 100% uracy in any value, which is one reason for their high failure rates.


    But now a problem has arisen. If Long Xuan told Elder Long that he had used a specific temperature in degrees Celsius, Elder Long wouldn¡¯t understand. Long Xuan himself didn¡¯t know how to exin it to him.


    He couldn¡¯t very well spend a month teaching him modern mathematics and physics, could he? Then who would be the master, and who''s the disciple here?


    It seems Elder Long also noticed his dilemma, so he put away his smile, looked at him seriously, and said, "Let''s try again. I''ll manage the main me, and you control the temperature. This time, I''ll use my soul force to sense your temperature."


    Long Xuan nodded; this was the only way.


    So, half an hourter, another batch of third-grade spiritual pills was sessfully produced. Elder Long once again burst into joyousughter, "Hahaha... Old Long, you are a true genius! I managed to refine another batch of third-grade spiritual pills. Just ask, who else can match this sess rate?"


    "Long Xuan! This time, I''ll credit you. From now on, you are my personal disciple!"


    Goodness! Long Xuan upgraded once again, from a registered disciple to a personal disciple¡ªa promotion speed that can only be described as godlike.


    Now, he''s just one step away from bing the final and most cherished disciple.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 85: (1): Long Ziyan

    A monthter, the day finally arrived when Elder Long was to step down from his position. His sessor was a beautiful Gu cultivator from the Long n. Long Xuan also prepared to depart for the Long family estate along with Elder Long.


    Originally, Long Xuan had nned to send one of his clones instead of going himself, but ns changed quickly. It turned out that Elder Long''s Evil Dragon Emperor Eye could see through his clone.


    As a result, Long Xuan had to change his n and decided to go in person for the time being. He figured it wouldn''t be toote to send his clone once it was perfected to the point where the Evil Dragon Emperor Eye couldn''t detect it.


    However, with a Rank-3 alchemist as his backer, Long Xuan didn''t expect to encounter any danger on this trip.


    One shouldn''t underestimate the status of a Rank-3 alchemist within a family. Elder Long¡¯s current standing in the Long family was just below that of the Long n¡¯s ancestor, almost on par with the head of the family.


    Even if the current family head were to break through to the Gu King level, they would still need to rely on this Rank-3 alchemist. As the personal disciple of such an alchemist, Long Xuan could walk freely within the Long n without fear, as no one would dare provoke him.


    Since this journey would take some time, Long Xuan entrusted his medicine garden to wood clone to manage.


    Elder Long¡¯s medicine garden was left to the new female Gu cultivator from the Long n, allowing Long Xuan¡¯s wood clone to be freed up. Given his status as the personal disciple of a Rank-3 alchemist, Long Xuan wasn''t worried that the new Gu cultivator would target his medicine garden, so he could leave with peace of mind.


    ...The only reason the Long family managed to govern Great Stone Vige was its proximity; it was only two days'' travel at full speed between the two locations.


    Two dayster...


    Long Xuan stared at the barren mountain, his mouth slightly agape in surprise.


    On the way, he had seen other mountains, either filled with medicine gardens or teeming with cattle and sheep. Some even had fish ponds with various spirit fish. Everywhere he looked was a sight to behold, all of which were the property of the Long n. It seemed that the Long n head managed the entire family estate quite well.


    So why was Elder Long''s ce so different? The mountain was barren, as if stripped of its clothes, standing out starkly against the surrounding peaks. It was like a crane among chickens, simply too eye-catching.


    Could this be the legendary "Little Poor Peak"? Long Xuan was utterly shocked.


    Aren''t alchemists supposed to be filthy rich? How did things turn out so differently for Elder Long?


    "Master, you wouldn¡¯t happen to be the poverty alleviation target in your vige, would you?" Long Xuan muttered, staring at the deste mountain before him.


    Elder Long looked slightly embarrassed, his old face flushing a bit.


    "I¡¯ve been away for too long, and the mountain has been neglected. I ended up selling everything on the mountain."


    "Plus, there were too many debt collectors, so I let them take whatever they wanted. But I never thought they would be so excessive, pulling out even the weeds and draining the fish pond dry. Is that something people would do?"


    Elder Long''s face was filled with helplessness.


    Long Xuan''s heart sank. He suddenly wondered if bing Elder Long¡¯s disciple was a mistake, if he had been too hasty in his decision. What if those hordes of debt collectors found out that Elder Long had a personal disciple? Wouldn''t theye running to him for repayment? The more he thought about it, the more his scalp tingled, and he felt utterly unsettled.


    This ce was a pit¡ªa huge pit. He had truly jumped into a fiery pit. From now on, he had better never mention being Elder Long¡¯s disciple when out in the world.


    But it might already be toote. As soon as Elder Long arrived here, he had bragged incessantly about bing a Rank-3 alchemist and taking on a once-in-a-millennium alchemy prodigy as a disciple, announcing it to the world with a voice as loud as possible. He wanted everyone to know.


    Now, all the people with the surname Long here likely knew that Elder Long had a disciple named Long Xuan. He was famous now!


    Long Xuan waspletely numb.


    "Since I am one of the few alchemists in the Long family, I¡¯ve been assigned arge territory. Now, all of thisnd is yours to manage," Elder Long said.


    "Don¡¯t you have a lot of clones? Send them to nt spirit herbs as quickly as possible. Also, refill the fish pond with water and add some fish fry."


    "As a Rank-3 alchemy master, I can¡¯t have a barren home, can I? It would be a joke to others."


    Hearing this, Long Xuan was stunned. Let his clones do the work? Something about that didn''t feel right.


    Long Xuan extended his hand to Elder Long, who looked puzzled. Long Xuan reminded him, "The money for fish fry and herb seeds¡ªyou¡¯re not expecting your disciple to pay out of his own pocket, are you?"


    Elder Long¡¯s expression turned bitter. Asking him for money? His pockets were even cleaner than his face. How could he dare ask for money? He was broke!


    After refining a few Rank-3 spirit pills, he was really out of money, unable to even scrape together half a spirit stone. He had even been freeloading meals from his disciple recently.


    But if he borrowed money from his disciple or asked him to pay first, even with his thick skin, Elder Long found it hard to say out loud. So he could onlyugh dryly and say, "Master is a bit tight on money recently."


    "How about this? You nt as much as you can, as long as thend isn''t left empty. Even if it''s just first-grade spirit herbs, that¡¯s fine."


    "When the spirit herbs mature, they¡¯ll be all yours. For me, it¡¯s more profitable to casually refine a few Rank-3 spirit pills. I don''t even care about small money anymore."


    ...


    Meanwhile, in the Long n¡¯s council hall...


    The current n head, Long Wanli, sat at the head of the conference table. Ten elders, each exuding a Spiritual Sea stage aura, sat symmetrically on either side of the oval-shaped table.


    Each person was d in a ck robe, with dragons embroidered on them¡ªa traditional attire of the Long n.


    The dragon was the symbol of the Long n, its totem. The dragons embroidered on their clothing reflected their status within the family.


    Stewards had three-wed divine dragons, hall masters had four-wed divine dragons, while the n head and the venerable elders present at the meeting had five-wed divine dragons. The seldom-seen ancestors who rarely participate had twin dragons embroidered on their robes.


    Ordinary disciples had no dragons on their robes or only embroidered broken dragons. No one could overstep these boundaries, or they would face severe punishment ording to family rules.


    Those who made outstanding contributions to the family could even have dragon tattoos. The Long n¡¯s rules were strict, and its ceremonies were numerous.


    Once all the elders had arrived, n Head Long Wanli nced around the room before finally speaking: "Since our n obtained the right to mine one-seventh of the fossilized ore vein, our revenues have increased daily, and the family¡¯s total ie has reached new heights year after year."


    "But we still face the problem of uneven distribution. No one can say whether a given area is rich in minerals or poor, and the underground tunnels are asplex as a maze. When two families happen to mine close to each other, conflicts arise."


    "Recently, our n has frequently shed with the Feng n, and many miners have died in the process. If these conflicts continue, both sides will lose too many people, and mining will no longer be profitable."


    "The purpose of this meeting today is to discuss this issue. Do any of you have good suggestions?"


    The n head''s words made all the elders'' expressions turn serious, and the atmosphere in the meeting grew heavy.


    The first elder, whose status was second only to the n head, stroked his beard and spoke first: "You must understand, there is no good solution to this problem."


    "With Feng Qingyang¡¯s temperament, even if nothing is wrong, he¡¯ll find something to cause trouble. Even if wee up with the perfect solution, so what? Even if we concede, it won¡¯t prevent conflicts from arising."


    Hearing this, the other elders all nodded in agreement, clearly well aware of Feng Qingyang''s personality.


    The second elder then chimed in: "Though there¡¯s no perfect solution, we can¡¯t just leave the issue unresolved."


    "In the past, almost all disputes were settled through duels, where the losing side would concede."


    "I suggest we use the same method to resolve this matter."


    Long Wanli responded immediately: "I¡¯ve considered that approach, but there''s no guarantee of winning in a fight. Duels are risky, and idents can happen. If we lose a genius because of this, it would be a huge loss."


    At this point, the third elder chuckled and said, "I heard that Long Ao recently took on a prodigy with the Ten Absolute Bodies. With such a physique, he¡¯s invincible among those of the same level and highly likely to defeat those above his level. Sending him would guarantee victory."


    The tenth elder, who seemed out of the loop, was surprised upon hearing this. He said in astonishment, "But isn¡¯t the Ten Absolute Bodies unable to cultivate? Did the world change after I came out of seclusion?"


    The fourth elder, a female Gu cultivator, smiled and exined, "You may not know, but after the emergence of the Yaoguang Ancient Tomb, the cultivation technique she practiced spread everywhere."


    "Coincidentally, her ''Sun and Moon Heart Sutra'' can perfectly match with the Ten Absolute Bodies. You must know that the clone cultivated from the ''Sun and Moon Heart Sutra'' can cultivate on behalf of the main body, perfectly solving the drawbacks of the Ten Absolute Bodies."


    "So this Ten Absolute Bodies has now be a peerless genius capable of cultivation, already qualified to enter the Long family for training. Otherwise, how could we agree to let Long Ao bring him into the family?"


    Hearing this, the tenth elder was even more shocked. The idea that an clone could cultivate on behalf of the main body made his eyes burn with desire, but the fourth elder quickly poured cold water on him.


    The fourth elder, seemingly seeing through his thoughts, hurriedly warned, "I advise you not to get any ideas about that technique. It''s already spread everywhere and can be learned by anyone."


    "But without exception, everyone who has learned it has encountered problems. They''ve either been killed by their clone or reced by it and are now mingling among the masses. This technique has been ssified as a forbidden art by all ns and races, and it''s prohibited for anyone to study it."


    "The owner of that tomb was a lunatic. She seemed intent on spreading her technique far and wide, letting everyone learn the world''s top cultivation technique. It''s absolute madness!"


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 85: (2): Long Ziyan

    Upon hearing this, the tenth n elders finally calmed down, but still unwillingly couldn''t help but ask, "Then why did nothing happen to the young man with the Ten Absolute Body after he cultivated it?"


    The Fifth Elder replied, "ording to Long Ao, that young man seems to have altered the text. He modified the technique to the point where it¡¯s unrecognizable, coincidentally solving part of the problem with it."


    "Remember, it only solved part of the problem. It may be stable in the early stages, butter on, who knows? Long Ao doesn''t believe he can solve an issue that even Empress Yaoguang couldn''t."


    "I assume you don''t have the guts to learn a technique recklessly altered by a mere boy, do you?"


    The Fifth Elder nced at him and continued, "He''s special in our n, so we can grant him the privilege to learn forbidden techniques. Even if, in the end, he''s reced by his own clone, it won''t matter."


    "Because the clone¡¯s memory, personality, and habits are exactly the same as the original, it doesn¡¯t make a difference if they swap ces. We have no need to monitor him."


    "Having him participate in a martial arts tournament is a guaranteed win."


    Patriarch Long Wanli nodded and said, "Indeed, his match is secure, but his current cultivation level is still too low. To maximize benefits, let him grow for a while first."


    "In the initial conflicts, let Long Qilin and Long Ziyan handle it. They are our n''s most talented prodigies, and at least for the first two rounds, they have a high chance of winning."All the elders nodded in agreement. The Sixth Elder smiled and said, "I have full confidence in Long Ziyan. She¡¯s a nine-grade bloodline genius, a rarity in a millennium. Once she unleashes her Divine Dragon form, those little ones from the Feng n will be utterly defeated! If they knew we had both a nine-grade bloodline and a Ten Absolute Bodies, they would surely regret epting the challenge."


    "Hahaha..." The conference room echoed with the heartyughter of the elders.


    "By the way! I heard that Long Ao has be a third-grade alchemist. Is this true? If so, it would be a great fortune for our n, pushing our n¡¯s destiny to the next level."


    The Sixth Elder looked excited, his voice trembling with enthusiasm.


    Long Wanli smiled and nodded, equally excited, "It''s true. Our n has indeed produced a third-grade alchemist, and he¡¯s the only one in the Far West. It¡¯s truly something to celebrate."


    "Our n possesses the treasured third-grade ck Dragon Pill recipe. Once he sessfully refines it, every one of you here will have the opportunity to break through to the level of a Gu King!"


    As soon as he said this, all the elders'' eyes turned red with excitement, losing their previousposure as their breathing quickened.


    The Tenth elder who waste to the meeting just learned about this. Because he was not mentally prepared, he was extremely excited. He mmed the table three times and shouted loudly: "That''s fantastic! Truly, heaven favors our n!"


    "Now he is our n''s most precious asset. We must protect him well. Who knows what crazy things that red-eyed Feng Qingyang might do once he finds out about this."


    "I suggest we immediately seal this information and order the entire n not to disclose it. Anyone who vites this rule will be executed!" The Tenth elder revealed a ruthless expression.


    Long Wanli showed a troubled expression, sighed, and said helplessly, "It''s toote! Don¡¯t you know his personality? That big mouth of his bs about everything. As soon as he broke through to a third-grade alchemist, he bragged about it everywhere. Now, the whole world knows..."


    The conference room suddenly fell into a deep silence, so quiet that you could hear a pin drop...


    ...


    At this time, outside the conference hall.


    "You¡¯re saying only those with a Long n bloodline of fifth-grade or higher can condense an dharma image, and your bloodline purity, as the second genius of your n, is only sixth-grade? Yet that Long Ziyan actually reached ninth-grade? You, the second best, have beenpletely outssed by the first?"


    Long Xuan stared wide-eyed at Long Qilin, looking shocked.


    Aftering down from Elder Long¡¯s little peak, he started searching everywhere for medicinal nts and identally ran into Long Qilin, so he immediately ran over to strike up a conversation.


    The ¡°Inverse Dragon Art¡± is the highest secret of the Long n, so he didn¡¯t dare to probe Elder Long about it, lest he reveal that he had already learned it.


    But Long Qilin was different¡ªhe was very naive, and it was easy to extract secrets from him.


    Long Xuan feigned curiosity and easily coaxed the method for condensing an external dharma out of him.


    Long Qilin proudly imed to be a descendant of dragons, with dragon blood running through his veins. The higher the purity of the bloodline, the stronger thebat power. When the bloodline reaches a certain level, it gains some dragon-like characteristics, allowing one to condense a Divine Dragon Form.


    If the bloodline purity is too low, the body won¡¯t resemble a dragon at all, making it impossible to condense a Divine Dragon Form.


    And the more times the long bloodline is mixed with mortal blood, the lower its purity. Long Xuan¡¯s bloodline had been mixed with mortal blood countless times; if his bloodline could even reach the first grade, it would be impressive. If he could condense a Divine Dragon Form, it would be nothing short of miraculous.


    Long Xuan suddenly understood. No wonder the technique always emphasized "blood, blood, blood." It turns out this "blood" refers to essence blood from a fifth-grade or higher bloodline, not ordinary blood. He had misunderstood.


    Long Xuan¡¯s eyes lit up as everything became clear in his mind.


    Now that he had identified the root of the problem, solving it became much easier. Since the inability to condense an dharma was due to insufficient bloodline purity, he would modify the text to allow the use of essence blood from outsiders to achieve the same result. The problem would then be resolved.


    Long Xuan immediately eyed Long Qilin with a predatory gaze but quickly shook his head. No, this person¡¯s bloodline purity is far too low; why would he want such trash? He showed a look of disdain.


    Of course, the higher the bloodline purity, the better the dharma¡¯s power¡ªthis was beyond doubt. Otherwise, why would Long Qilin be overshadowed by Long Ziyan, a female Gu cultivator who could easily defeat him?


    Since Long Qilin¡¯s essence blood was worthless, Long Xuan could only set his sights on that genius named Long Ziyan.


    Long Xuan¡¯s eyes darted around, and he casually asked, "Wouldn¡¯t it be great if this dharma image could be formed using someone else¡¯s essence blood? You could trade some treasure for Long Ziyan¡¯s essence blood, and then your Divine Dragon form wouldn¡¯t be any weaker than hers."


    It seemed as if Long Xuan was giving Long Qilin a suggestion, but in reality, he was asking for himself.


    He wanted to know if essence blood could be traded, and if so, at what price, so he could n ordingly.


    Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, Long Qilin was startled and hurriedly waved his hand, eximing, "What are you thinking! How could essence blood be traded? If you dared to ask her for essence blood, she would beat you to death!"


    "Do you even know what essence blood is? Essence blood isn¡¯t ordinary blood; it¡¯s the essence of a person¡¯s body and extremely rare. Only heart blood and virgin yin blood contain a small amount of essence blood."


    "Losing heart blood would severely weaken a person, while losing virgin yin blood is less critical but would slow down the cultivation speed for certain techniques."


    "But neither type of blood can be traded. If you dared to ask her for it, believe me, you¡¯d die a miserable death!"


    Hearing this, Long Xuan¡¯s neck shrank in fear, and cold sweat broke out. He felt a wave of relief. Luckily, he had asked that extra question; otherwise, if he had gone to Long Ziyan to trade for essence blood, it would have been disastrous. The consequences would have been unimaginable.


    So, it seems this woman must be avoided at all costs; the matter of condensing an dharma image will have to be reconsidered.


    Long Qilin suddenly put his arm around Long Xuan¡¯s shoulder, leaned in, and said with a smile, "Let¡¯s not talk about this anymore. It¡¯s your first time at the Long n, so you must be unfamiliar with many ces, right? Come on, I¡¯ll be your guide and show you around so you can experience the customs of the Long n."


    With that, Long Qilin enthusiastically pulled Long Xuan along, leaving him no choice.


    Although Long Xuan had initially intended to gather secrets and then leave, he couldn¡¯t resist Long Qilin¡¯s enthusiasm and was forced to follow him.


    Over the next few hours, Long Qilin led Long Xuan on a tour of the various areas of the n. With Long Qilin as his guide, Long Xuan had unrestricted ess to every ce, even secret locations.


    Long Xuan first visited the Hall of Teachings, where n members study techniques and skills under the guidance of instructors, helping them avoid many pitfalls.


    Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but feel envious. As a rogue cultivator, he had no one to guide him and often had to figure things out on his own. He might not even realize when he took a wrong turn, and a single mistake could cost him a lifetime of regret.


    After the Hall of Teachings, Long Xuan was taken to the Library Tower. Upon arriving there, Long Xuan was overjoyed, his eyes gleaming. However, Long Qilin found it boring, so after a brief stay, he forcibly dragged Long Xuan away.


    Next, they visited the Martial Arts Hall, where many people were sparring, with arge crowd watching. It was very noisy.


    After the Martial Arts Hall came the Gu Battle Arena, where a group of people were engaging in Gu battles. In these battles, the Gu cultivators themselves do not participate; instead, they send their external Gu to duel.


    There were one-on-one duels as well as group battles. The show-offs even took on groups single-handedly. It was a lively ce, with people shouting and cheering.


    Long Xuan was then taken to the Long family¡¯s school, where a group of young children, both girls and boys, were being taught reading and writing, as well as the basic knowledge of this world.


    Long Xuan grew even more envious. Who knows what would have happened to him if he hadn¡¯t developed a clone; he wouldn¡¯t understand even the most basic knowledge, like his geographic location in this world. Let alone the seemingly unimportant but crucial historical details.


    Soon after, Long Xuan was taken to the Hall of Missions, where the family posts various tasks. Individuals could also offer rewards and post tasks here. The task that Elder Long took in guarding Great Stone Vige was issued from here.


    In the Long family, only those who contribute significantly to the family can receive various resources; otherwise, it would be pointless to raise so many idle people. No one can enjoy a free meal in the Long family.


    Long Xuan continued to follow Long Qilin, visiting numerous ces that broadened his horizons. After half a day, they finally stopped at thest destination.


    This final stop was at the very center of the Long family''s grounds. There was a Treasure Pavilion here, where most of the Long family''s treasures were stored. Upon reaching this ce, Long Xuan''s eyes gleamed even brighter.


    He quickly rushed inside and began inspecting the treasures at the fastest speed, hoping to find something he needed.


    For the convenience of the Long family members, all the treasures were listed on inventory sheets posted on the walls inside the pavilion, making them easy to see. At this moment, the walls were crowded with people gathered around each treasure list.


    Everyone had an excited look, with greed in their eyes, pointing at the various treasures on the walls and quietly discussing them with theirpanions.


    As arge and powerful family, the Long n indeed had a wealth of good things. There were too many things that Long Xuan needed, like the seeds of rare fourth-grade spiritual herbs, which were not easy to collect.


    Upon entering, Long Xuan found it impossible to move his feet. His greedy eyes darted around, eventually stopping on one particr treasure list. When he saw what was written there, he couldn¡¯t take his eyes off it.


    The list read: "Blood of the Golden Crow, obtained from the Ancient Yaoguang Tomb, 50 million contribution points."


    Seeing these words, Long Xuan''s breathing became rapid. He needed this more than anything¡ªthe Blood of the Golden Crow was perfect for condensing a Golden Crow Dharma Image!


    Since obtaining Long Ziyan''s blood was too difficult, this Golden Crow blood was absolutely the next best option for him.


    This was blood directly from a divine beast, and its effectiveness in condensing an external Dharma body could not possibly be inferior to the ninth-grade human blood.


    It¡¯s important to note that the powers of his "Purgatory True Demonic Technique" differ from the "Inverse Dragon Art." The "Inverse Dragon Art" can only condense a dragon''s Dharma Image based on the purity of the bloodline.


    However, his "Purgatory True Demonic Technique" allows him to condense an external Dharma image for each level he cultivates. The more levels he masters, the more Dharma image he can create.


    Now that he knows that condensing a Dharma image is rted to the blood of powerful creatures, the blood of various divine beasts is something he must obtain, even if it means paying a high price.


    It¡¯s important to remember that divine beasts in this world have been extinct for countless millennia. The remaining divine beast blood is finite¡ªeach use depletes the supply permanently, and now it''s almost nonexistent.


    This bottle of Golden Crow blood could very well be the only one left in this world. He had to get it at any cost, even if it meant taking some risks. Long Xuan clenched his fists.


    Noticing that all the treasures here could only be exchanged with the Long family''s unique contribution points, he immediately turned to Long Qilin and impatiently asked, "How can I earn contribution points?"


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 86: (1): Beginning the Creation of a Low-Grade Gu Recipe

    Long Qilin smiled and said, "There are many ways to earn contribution points. The mission hall you just visited is one such method. As long as youplete one of the tasks there, you will earn the contribution points corresponding to that task."


    "Half of those tasks are issued by the n, while the other half are posted by individuals. Some tasks offer a lot of contribution points and are highly sought after, while others are stingy with points and have been sitting there for years without anyone taking them."


    "If you''re thinking of taking on a task, it''s best to consult me first to avoid getting a bad deal or ending up with a task where the effort doesn''t match the reward."


    "In addition to doing tasks to earn contribution points, you can also participate in the Martial Hall''s Hidden Dragon Ranking. The family periodically awards contribution points based on your rank, with higher-ranked talents earning more points."


    "You can also go to the Gu Battle Arena topete in the Gu King Ranking. Just like the Hidden Dragon Ranking, the higher your rank, the more contribution points you earn."


    "All the major rankings are good ces to earn contribution points, but the top spot is almost always dominated by that Long Ziyan!" Long Qilin sighed, clearly feeling the frustration of being second for a millennium.


    "There are also periodic tasks, such as familypetitions, various tournaments, and even wars, all of which are great opportunities to earnrge amounts of contribution points."


    Long Qilin quickly exined the methods of earning contribution points to Long Xuan.


    Long Xuan frowned gradually. Taking various tasks at the mission hall wasn''t worth mentioning¡ªgrinding tasks would waste too much time.How long would it take him to earn 50 million contribution points? By the time he had enough, the Blood of the Golden Crow might have already been exchanged by someone else.


    He also didn''t want to participate in the various rankings. If he sent little white and Xiao Qing to the Gu Battle Arena, they would surely take first and second ce in the Spirit Gathering Stage rankings.


    But that would expose all his trump cards! How could he do something so foolish? He didn''t want everyone to know that he had two peak-grade Gu insects!


    Moreover, even if he did manage to take first ce in many rankings, the 50 million contribution points he needed would still be a distant goal.


    Although he didn''t know exactly what 50 million contribution points meant within the Long family, the fact that the Blood of the Golden Crow had been there for so long without anyone exchanging it was enough to show how vast the amount of 50 million contribution points truly was.


    If he proceeded step by step, no matter how hard he tried, it would take him a long time to umte 50 million contribution points.


    Long Xuan grew thoroughly frustrated. He didn''t want to wait. Every extra day he waited was another day the Blood of the Golden Crow could be exchanged by someone else.


    So, he asked again, "Is there any way to earn 50 million contribution points all at once?"


    Long Qilin opened his mouth, stunned. He thought to himself, "Is he crazy? Earning 50 million contribution points instantly¡ªwhat a dream! Why not just give them to him directly?"


    What kind of task could be worth 50 million contribution points? If there was such a good task, he would have taken it himself. Even if you sacrificed yourself for the family, you wouldn''te close to earning 50 million contribution points.


    A 50 million contribution point task¡ªhe really dares to dream, and it''s amazing that he can even think of it.


    Wait a minute? There might actually be a task worth 50 million contribution points. Long Qilin suddenly paused, as if something had juste to mind.


    He had a sudden sh of inspiration, thinking of a task that could instantly earn 50 million contribution points. But that task was not something a normal person couldplete. He couldn¡¯t possibly do it, and it was pointless to mention it.


    However, he was just making conversation, so he casually mentioned this task.


    "If you''re asking about a task that can instantly earn 50 million contribution points, there is indeed one in the Long family. Moreover, it''s a long-term task, a permanent one that has been included in the family rules."


    Long Qilin revealed a mysterious smile. Seeing Long Xuan¡¯s eager expression, he didn¡¯t keep him in suspense and exined directly, "This permanent task is to design an exclusive Gu recipe for the family. Depending on the value of the recipe, the family will award anywhere from 100 contribution points to 100 million contribution points."


    "The exact value of the Gu recipe is determined by a collective vote of all the elders, so no one can cheat."


    "But don¡¯t think that earning contribution points from this task is easy. Creating a Gu recipe can be either very easy or very difficult."


    "I won''t even mention the difficulty of creating a peak-grade Gu recipe¡ªalmost no one can do it, only non-humans might manage."


    "But creating a low-grade Gu recipe is something anyone can do. A low-grade Gu recipe can be made with just a handful of materials. Even with just two materials, it¡¯s possible to create a Gu by sheer luck."


    "Even if you''re unlucky, as long as you experiment enough times, you¡¯ll eventually stumble upon a Gu recipe."


    "That¡¯s why the trend of creating Gu recipes is so popr among the Long family. Every month, the family receives dozens of submissions."


    "But the term ''exclusive Gu recipe'' doesn¡¯t just mean unique; it has to be powerful and unique. Trash recipes won¡¯t bebeled as exclusive Gu recipes."


    "Most submissions are for Gu recipes made from single-digit or double-digit materials. Theirbat power is too weak and practically useless, with no value for a blood contract."


    "So, most of those who submit such recipes are given a token reward of 100 contribution points and the recipes are stored away, never to be used by the family. Those who rely on luck to create a Gu recipe are lucky to break even, but most end up losing a lot."


    "So don¡¯t even think about using this method to earn contribution points. There¡¯s no such thing as a free lunch. Those who dream of getting rich by creating Gu recipes end up losing everything. You mustn¡¯t follow that path."


    Long Qilin kindly reminded Long Xuan as he looked into his eyes.


    However, when he saw the terrifying brightness in Long Xuan''s eyes, he couldn''t help but frown.


    Long Xuan quickly realized this and pretended to be frustrated, saying with disappointment, "There''s actually a requirement for the strength of the Gu recipe. This is too difficult; I can''t do it."


    Although Long Xuan showed a very disappointed expression, he was secretly delighted, his heart pounding.


    He had already understood that, to put it simply, if the Gu recipe you create is weak, you lose. If the Gu recipe you create is strong, then you can be wealthy.


    Isn''t it just creating a slightly stronger unique Gu recipe for the family? This is something he could easily do.


    He didn''t dare submit a peak-grade Gu recipe, but submitting a low-grade Gu recipe really didn''t require much caution.


    After all, anyone could create a low-tier Gu form, and the Long family received dozens of newly created low-grade Gu recipe every month.


    Creating a low-grade Gu recipe in this world isn''t considered a noteworthy event. If he happened toe up with a powerful low-grade Gu recipe, people would just praise him for his good luck.


    Creating a peak-grade Gu form was very difficult for Long Xuan, but creating a low-grade Gu form? That was almost too easy for him; it was as simple as using his hands.


    This contribution value to him was like getting something for free, and not just once but an unlimited amount. Whenever he had time, he coulde back and reap the benefits.


    Before, he had no experience and didn''t understand anything, wasting a long time crafting Gu recipe.


    But now, things were different. His theoretical knowledge was extremely rich, and he had more experience in creating Gu recipe than anyone else.


    If he were to create a peak-grade Gu form, it might take him over a year.


    But to create a low-grade Gu form, it would only take a few materials, maybe dozens of materials at most. In half a month''s time, at most, it could be done, and if he were lucky, he could produce a low-grade Gu form in a day.


    This contribution value to him was like a gift from the heavens, a great opportunity, like a pie falling from the sky, big enough to kill someone.


    If he wanted, he could clear out this entire treasure trove.


    However, although creating a low-grade Gu recipe wasn''t a big deal, a low-grade Gu recipe was still too weak, so it''s hard to say whether it could earn millions in contributions.


    So Long Xuan had to ask again, "Since the contribution value is rted to the strength of the Gu recipe, why do those people still enjoy researching Gu recipe that use fewer materials? Aren''t they just waiting to lose?"


    "Unless Gu recipe with fewer materials also have a great potential, otherwise, no one would do it."


    Long Qilin unexpectedly nced at him and praised, "You¡¯re quite smart. You guessed correctly. Even researching a low-grade Gu recipe can have the chance to earn millions in contribution points. Sometimes, the value of an peak-grade Gu recipe in the eyes of the family¡¯s top members is less than that of a low-grade Gu recipe."


    "This is no exaggeration. The value of a Gu recipe is not only measured by its strength but also by its cost-effectiveness."


    "If the cost is too high and the failure rate is too exaggerated, the value of the excellent Gu recipe is greatly reduced. Such an peak-grade Gu recipe, with a crafting cost that could bankrupt the family, is not favored by the family. Giving it a million contribution points would already be generous."


    "Even if this peak-grade Gu is crafted, only an individual benefits, and it doesn¡¯t significantly improve the overall strength of the family."


    "So what if the peak-grade Gu worm is strong? Can its owner take on ten opponents at once? Even if they can take on ten, can they take on a hundred? A thousand?"


    "If something happens to this person, all the massive resources invested by the family would be wasted, like chickens flying away and eggs being smashed."


    "The family currently has fewer than a hundred experts in the Qi Marrow Cleansing stage, but there are ten thousand Gu cultivators in the Spirit Gathering stage. Most of them are very poor, unable to refine powerful Gu, and their strength is weak, offering little help to the family."


    "But what if the family has a cheap and powerful Gu recipe that everyone can use? Such a Gu could rapidly arm the entire family, with everyone having one, and the overall strength of the family would instantly rise to a new level."


    "So you must remember, for an individual, the best is definitely an peak-grade Gu recipe. But for a family, considering the overall interests of the family, the most helpful thing is not an peak-grade Gu form."


    "A family always needs a highly cost-effective Gu recipe that can be rapidly promoted and poprized throughout the n, with everyone owning one."


    "This long-term task¡¯s contribution points are also judged mainly based on cost-effectiveness."


    "That¡¯s why those who submit Gu forms prefer to research low-cost Gu forms. The quantity of materials and the strength of the Gu form are generally corrted, but it¡¯s not an absolute rule."


    "If you can research a highly cost-effective low-grade Gu form, with just a few dozen spirit stones as the cost, but stronger than most Gu species in this world, and can be quickly poprized throughout the n, with everyone owning one."


    "Then a billion contribution points would be guaranteed, with no disputes."


    Hearing this, Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but twitch his mouth. A Gu insect refined with just a few dozen spirit stones that is stronger than most Gu species in this world? Are they daydreaming in broad daylight? What are those top members even thinking! How could that be possible?


    Of course, he also understood that Long Qilin might have used exaggerated rhetoric. It might not need to be that exaggerated, perhaps just being the strongest among low-grade Gu forms, with a low cost, would be enough to earn tens of millions of contribution points.


    For him, this was absolutely doable. Isn¡¯t it just about challenging the limits of cost-effectiveness? To be honest, it¡¯s far easier than creating an peak-grade Gu recipe.


    Whichever material is the cheapest, just pick that one. How hard could it be? It¡¯s too easy, as long as you have hands to do it.


    ...


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 86: (2): Beginning the Creation of a Low-Grade Gu Recipe

    Shortly after, Long Xuan returned to the Little Poor Peak and walked into a hastily constructed shabby wooden hut. Once inside, he immediately began the project of creating his own low-grade Gu recipe.


    Elder Long needed to refine arge quantity of third-grade spiritual pills to pay off his debts, so he had to use one of Long Xuan¡¯s clones to assist him. He found a ce to retreat into seclusion and began refining pills.


    Heaven knows how much debt he owed, but it was certain that he wouldn''t being out anytime soon.


    Therefore, the vast Little Poor Peak was left entirely at Long Xuan''s disposal.


    Once he calmed down, he opened his bottomless imagination, ready to unleash another brainstorm.


    Isn¡¯t this just a challenge to maximize cost-effectiveness? Simple, give him the time it takes to burn one stick of incense.


    Long Xuan was brimming with confidence, exuding an air of arrogance.


    He first thought that if he wanted to challenge the highest cost-effectiveness, then the materials must be cheap. And the cheapest materials for spiritual insects were undoubtedly those unpopr spiritual insects, which could be bought inrge quantities for just a single spiritual stone.


    Many spiritual insects were never used for refining Gu. The reason they were raised was entirely because they were used as food.It¡¯s well known that many insect species have diets consisting of various bugs, such as mantises, toads, and spiders...


    Raising this type of Gu insect often required preparing arge number of spiritual insects, and those unpopr and inexpensive ones were undoubtedly the best choice.


    These spiritual insects might seem like low-grade insects, but they should actually be categorized separately, as inferior-grade insects.


    Inferior-grade insects were cheap; a single spiritual stone could perhaps buy dozens of them. Some inferior-grade insects had never been used to refine Gu before, but today, Long Xuan was determined to break the boundaries of what his predecessors dared not imagine, and achieve what they could not.


    While others used these spiritual insects as food for Gu insects, he was going to use them to refine Gu, and not just any Gu, but powerful ones that would set a new record for cost-effectiveness.


    One dayter, a few small creatures appeared in Long Xuan''s courtyard.


    A few small ck insects were seen pushing little balls, rolling them back and forth across the field. Under their push, the balls grewrger andrger.


    Long Xuan watched with great interest, fully engaged.


    Yes, the extremely unpopr spiritual insect that Long Xuan chose, which no one used to refine Gu, was none other than the dung beetle.


    The Long family¡¯s estate had a spiritual beast farm where the output of spiritual beast dung was immense, attracting many dung beetles, which he could easily collect.


    So when he saw this group of little creatures, Long Xuan was instantly inspired.


    Dung beetles are fascinating creatures; they enjoy ying with dung, and they love eating dung.


    You heard right; the little balls they were currently pushing around the field were indeed dung, stinking to high heaven, yet they were thoroughly enjoying it.


    But don¡¯t look down on their peculiar hobby; they are the artists of the insect world. The dung they roll is very round, almost like a piece of art.


    They even have a sort ofpetition among themselves, seeing who can roll the biggest, roundest dung ball, with the winner earning the right to mate with a female dung beetle.


    Thus, in the world of dung beetles, the culture ofpetition is strong, even leading to jealousy and fights over the dung balls.


    With such a peculiar hobby, it¡¯s no wonder that humans keep their distance from them.


    Who would dare to use such creatures to refine Gu? They stink, and their tastes are extreme, even liking to eat dung. Anyone who refined Gu with them would have to dig dung all day, bing a dung worker.


    No Gu cultivator could bear such a loss of face.


    So while other unpopr insect species might have been attempted for Gu refining, no one had ever used dung beetles for this purpose. Throughout history, no Gu insect of the dung beetle type has ever been created.


    This shows how much Gu cultivators disliked dung beetles, even though the spiritual beast dung produced in suchrge quantities that it could drown a person, leaving dung beetles everywhere. They were thus honorably captured by Gu cultivators to feed their Gu insects.


    Only Long Xuan could see their potential and thoroughly explore it.


    Every insect species has its unique qualities, and dung beetles are no exception.


    Do not underestimate these dung workers; they are quite capable.


    A dung beetle can push an object 1,141 times its own body weight. In terms of weight-to-strength ratio, this insect ranks among the top in the insect world.


    This strength is truly astonishing. Long Xuan''s first thought was to figure out how to erge dung beetles without destroying the ratio of their weight to strength.


    It¡¯s easy to erge dung beetles¡ªjust adding the gigantifying genes of some other creature might do the trick. But erging them while maintaining the ratio of weight to strength is difficult.


    Once he solved this problem, what kind of monster would he create?


    Long Xuan couldn¡¯t imagine it; it would definitely be terrifying¡ªsuch a creature would have the strength to move mountains, even pushing them like a dung ball.


    Conjuring up the image of such a fearsome creature in his mind, Long Xuan was very excited and full of motivation. He immediately took out paper and pen and began trying to write down what he thought were the correct materials.


    Up until now, the Gu recipes he created were no longer based on guesswork; they were all logical.


    Since his goal was to proportionally erge the weight and strength of dung beetles, he began experimenting withbining the gigantifying genes of various other creatures, not just limited to insects.


    But not just any gigantifying genes would do. The key was to ensure that the ratio of weight to strength remained unchanged, which was a strict requirement he set for the Gu recipes.


    At the same time, he had to find a way to change the dung beetle''s diet. It absolutely could not continue eating dung. He had to find a way to make it eat soil instead, to push soil balls.


    Otherwise, who would be willing to form a blood pact with a Gu insect that loves eating dung? The very thought would make people sick, and forget about quickly spreading it or promoting it throughout the n.


    Moreover, eating soil is great¡ªsoil is cheap, it''s free, you can eat as much as you want, it¡¯s perfectly aligned with the concept of cost-effectiveness.


    Long Xuan thought unscrupulously...


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 87: (1): In-Depth Development of Gu Insect Abilities

    However, Long Xuan had only sat for a short while before returning to the medicine garden in Great Stone Vige with a darkened face, apanied by the dung beetle. Even with his Treading on Stars technique, he still wasted half a day on this journey.


    There was no helping it; the ce where Elder Long resided was nothing but a barren pit¡ªbare and devoid of any formations.


    As a result, nearby Long n Gu cultivators could sense what he was doing with their soul power and could even see his actions with the Evil Dragon Emperor¡¯s Eye.


    It was no different from bathing in public¡ªhe felt as though he was being stripped naked and watched by everyone.


    Especially after it was revealed that Elder Long had be a third-rank alchemist, strong souls would asionally sweep over him, pausing on him for a moment, openly watching what he was doing without any restraint, as if staring at him without blinking.


    Some creditors even directly approached in the flesh to disturb him. Without any formation barriers, they had free rein on Elder Long''s territory, walking around as if in an uninhabitednd.


    Long Xuan was utterly numb to this.


    How could this be tolerated?


    If he were to work on a Gu recipe here, it would bepletely exposed! His golden finger was his biggest secret¡ªhow could he dare to stay in such a ce any longer?So, with a dark face, he fled that very night.


    Returning to his medicine garden, he finally feltpletely safe and let out a long breath.


    It was much quieter here, and nowhere was as safe as home.


    Sitting back in the small pavilion he was familiar with, Long Xuan suddenly felt like a buff had been applied to him; inspiration surged instantly.


    Thus, ten dayster, a low-grade Gu form with only a hundred types of materials was born, and Long Xuan was ecstatic.


    He then spent less than half a day gathering all the materials and immediately threw them into therge cauldron. After repeatedly adding and removing them, and observing the progress, Long Xuan quickly figured out that the sess rate of this Gu recipe was 12%.


    A 12% sess rate was quite good; very few Gu recipes had a sess rate below one in ten.


    Sess rate is one of the standards for cost-effectiveness.


    After marking the 12% sess rate on the Gu recipe, Long Xuan calmly waited.


    It was just a low-grade Gu insect, so it wouldn¡¯t take long to form, unlike the peak-grade Gu insects that take over half a year.


    There were many Gu recipes with even fewer materials¡ªfive dung beetles could form a Gu insect, with a shockingly low cost.


    But cost-effectiveness doesn¡¯t mean the cheaper, the better. It needs to be strong as well; if the thing you refine is weak inbat power, what use is it no matter how cheap it is?


    The Gu insects refined from five dung beetles were simply too weak, not presentable at all. If thebat power isn¡¯t strong despite the low cost, that¡¯s not cost-effective.


    Long Xuan not only wanted it to be cheap but also to have astonishingbat power. If itsbat power could surpass more than half of the Gu insects in this world, that would be ideal. Although it was difficult, one should always have dreams¡ªwhat if theye true?


    Long Xuan loved to challenge limits and decided to push himself to the maximum. He wanted to see if he could refine a Gu insect that surpassed most in this world using inexpensive materials.


    After repeated research, Long Xuan concluded that a hundred types of materials were the optimal solution. Although the cost was slightly higher, it maintained strength and affordability for everyone, making it the best cost-effective option.


    He also named his newly created low-grade Gu form¡ª*<em>Earth Master</em>*.


    The Earth Master¡¯s cost was extremely low¡ªless than ten spirit stones for a hundred portions of materials. With a sess rate slightly over one in ten, the total cost was at most a hundred spirit stones, ensuring that everyone could afford it.


    With such a low-cost Gu insect, what kind ofbat power would it have? Long Xuan was eagerly anticipating it.


    Three dayster, when the progress on therge cauldron reached 100%, Long Xuan, who had been waiting for a long time, rushed over immediately. He quickly opened the lid of the cauldron and excitedly looked inside.


    He saw arge, earth-brown creature crawling out. Its forelimbs lightly tapped forward, breaking through the cauldron, and then it crawled out grandly, ncing at Long Xuan before continuing forward.


    Long Xuan¡¯s face turned dark on the spot¡ªthose were expensive materials! Thatrge cauldron was costly!


    But looking at the massive creature before him, he didn¡¯t dare approach. This thing was just too big¡ªtaller than a human. He was afraid that approaching it rashly might result in broken bones.


    It was important to know that this was just its juvenile size¡ªwhat would it grow to when it reached adulthood? Heaven knows how gigantic it would be in the future¡ªperhaps it might truly possess the power to shake mountains.


    Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but mourn for the future of the Long family. If this thing were promoted throughout the n, with each person owning one, wouldn¡¯t the Long family¡¯snd be eaten up? Wouldn¡¯t the Long family¡¯s territory turn into a basin?


    But just as he was thinking these evil thoughts, he saw this huge creature running into his medicine garden, taking a big bite of the pristine soil, and digging out a huge pit in the ground.


    Long Xuan was shocked on the spot.


    ¡°Damn! That¡¯s peak-grade spirit soil! You can¡¯t eat that¡ªstop it right now!¡±


    Long Xuan nearly went crazy. He rushed over in a panic, risking his life to form a blood pact with it¡ªhe couldn¡¯t let it continue to wreak havoc, or his medicine garden would be eaten clean by this guy.


    He finally managed to stuff this giant creature into his storage bag and found an empty space without valuable items to release it and begin testing itsbat abilities.


    Long Xuan quickly figured out its abilities. Since he changed the Earth Master¡¯s diet to eating soil, it enjoyed pushing dirt balls.


    It seemed to have been starved because it evolved a natural storage space in its mouth, where it could store dirt balls¡ªabout dozens of them¡ªso it wouldn¡¯t have to worry about food and drink when traveling.


    But what use is this ability in a world full of soil? Long Xuan wondered.


    It seemed to have some use, like storing cannonballs to throw at enemies since there¡¯s no time to shape dirt into balls during battle.


    This was its ability¡ªa storage-bag-like auxiliary ability, an ordinary ability.


    But this was to be expected. After all, it was a low-grade Gu insect¡ªhaving a heaven-defying ability was impossible. A storage ability was already pretty good; what more could you want from a low-grade Gu insect?


    But Long Xuan was still disappointed¡ªit didn¡¯t meet his expectations. So, he had to use his astonishing creativity to try to deeply develop this unremarkable ability.


    But what¡¯s there to develop with a storage ability? Could it store opponents in its storage bag?


    Wait¡­ this ability actually seemed decent¡ªit could be a good method to trap opponent¡¯s Gu insects. If it could even trap peak-grade


    Gu insects, it would be a heaven-defying ability.


    Long Xuan¡¯s eyes brightened as he thought this method might indeed be feasible and worth researching.


    He then thought about the dung beetle¡¯s greatest advantage¡ªits strength. It would be best to leverage this strength, having it harden dirt balls and throw them at enemies.


    This creature could carry dozens ofrge dirt balls with it¡ªenough to give the enemy a hard time, right? Its strength was ridiculously exaggerated; getting hit by one of its dirt balls would be no joke¡ªbeing smashed to death wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration.


    It¡¯s important to know that the balls pushed by dung beetles are farrger than their bodies. Now, being refined into a muchrger Gu insect, who knows how many meters in diameter those dirt balls could be.


    If there were thousands of Earth Master simultaneously throwing dirt balls at the enemy, imaginerge dirt balls as big as meteors raining down from the sky. How terrifying would the damage be?


    Once the Earth Master¡¯s numbers formed a scale and underwent strict training, they would be like artillery units, capable of carpet-bombing the enemy with no room to escape.


    So, the Earth Master¡¯s potential in warfare was enormous. If it were spread throughout a n, its impact would be significant¡ªperfect for group battles.


    *<em>English Trantion:</em>*


    Long Xuan continued to let his mind wander. Strength is not only useful for throwing attacks but should also excel in closebat, right? Moreover, the dung beetle already has a pair ofrge des, even though these des are not sharp and have forgotten to be honed.


    But if anyone were to be struck by the big de of the Earth Master, who could withstand that immense force? Wouldn''t they have broken bones within minutes? Long Xuan''s eyes lit up again.


    Thinking about it this way, the Earth Master¡¯sbat power is actually quite decent. Of course, it is far fromparable to peak-grade Gu insects, but it¡¯s good enough for lower-tier skirmishes. What more can you develop with a low-grade Gu insect? It¡¯s already at its limit.


    But it''s still not enough. Can the current level of the Earth Master surpass most of the Gu insects in this world? It doesn¡¯t seem sufficient, does it?


    Long Xuan frowned and pondered for a long time, feeling that the current level of the Earth Master¡¯sbat power was stillcking and needed to be developed to the extreme.


    The Earth Master is strong only in terms of strength, but its other shorings are too severe, almost fatal weaknesses.


    For instance, itsrge body is too clumsy, itcks agility, and it¡¯s not fast. In battle, it¡¯s just a moving target. What¡¯s the use of great strength if it can¡¯t hit anyone? And the issues of speed and agility seem impossible to solve, after all, its size is there, and the speed attribute is naturally affected as a result. How can naturalws be easily changed?


    Since speed iscking, we can only go all-in on defense. If someone hits me a hundred times and I don¡¯t die, but I only need to hit them once, this should be the most suitablebat route for the Earth Master. A sh of brilliance crossed Long Xuan¡¯s eyes.


    In fact, the Earth Master¡¯s defense is not weak, as it is covered with a thick shell. However, this level of defense is far from enough to withstand the attacks of most Gu insects.


    This requires Long Xuan to use his creativity and find ways to further enhance its defense.


    So, three dayster, a dung beetle covered in metal armor appeared.


    Long Xuan patted the iron tes on the Earth Master, smiling with satisfaction.


    Equipping a Gu insect with armor¡ªhow did he even think of that?


    Who would have thought that it was possible to create battle armor for a Gu insect? It¡¯s simply a genius idea, the idea of a madman.


    You must know that insects are generally small in size, and smallness is amon trait of all insects. It¡¯s a characteristic of this type of creature, so how could such a tiny thing be wrapped in heavy metal? Does that even make sense?


    Therefore, researching battle armor for insects is not a reliable idea. As a result, this kind of creativity has never appeared in this world.


    However, Long Xuan''s Earth Master is unexpectedly well-suited for a specially made spiritual weapon armor. On one hand, it isrge enough, with sturdy limbs, providing ample surface area to engrave patterns.


    On the other hand, the Earth Master¡¯s strength is astonishing, allowing it to carry a battle armor weighing countless tons without reducing its speed attribute.


    Due to the integration of giant genes, the Earth Master is one of the few Gu insects that can wear spiritual weapon armor. By borrowing external power to enhance itsbat capabilities, the Earth Master''s upper limit will undoubtedly rise to a higher level.


    If it had a full set of spiritual weapons, where all the attributes of the spiritual weapons stack together,bined with therge surface area of the Earth Master, allowing for more engravings, very few forces could break through its defense.


    Even more exaggerated, you could fix an array base onto a group of Earth Masters, forming a movingrge formation. At that time, the Earth Master would be a war fortress, with immense strategic significance.


    Who wouldn¡¯t have a headache facing a walking mountain-guarding formation?


    With extreme defensebined with extreme strength, Long Xuan couldn¡¯t even imagine how terrifying this monster would be.


    Of course, equipping it with a full set of top-grade spiritual weapons would be too expensive,pletelycking in cost-effectiveness. Long Xuan¡¯s task is to focus on value for money, on achieving the ultimate cost-effectiveness.


    Most people can¡¯t afford spiritual weapons, so he definitely can¡¯t use them. He can only use iron tools, the kind that mortals use, like farm tools.


    Undoubtedly, the iron tools used by mortals are very cheap. Of course, the hardness cannotpare to spiritual weapons.


    But if the hardness is not enough, then increase the thickness. Since the Earth Master has enough strength, let it fight while wearing thick iron armor.


    Even if it can¡¯tpare to a peak-grade spiritual weapon set, it can still greatly enhance the Earth Master¡¯sbat power, making it extremely cost-effective.


    As for the stronger peak-grade spiritual weapon set and the moving mountain-guarding formation, that will have to be developed by wealthy Gu cultivators. He is simply catering to both the low-end and high-end markets.


    Long Xuan nodded with satisfaction, feeling that this time he had really pushed it to the limit.


    The current level of the Earth Master could at least take down half of the Gu insects in this world. And this is a very conservative estimate, a rather humble statement from Long Xuan.


    Although the Earth Master is still far from being a peak-grade Gu insect, Long Xuan believes there aren¡¯t many Gu insects with a higher cost-effectiveness ratio than the Earth Master. After all, his Earth Master can rely on external tools to cheat.


    In terms of cost-effectiveness alone, Long Xuan is confident that his Earth Master can definitely rank at the top of this world.


    He decided to use this creation as his final submission.


    Long Xuan showed a satisfied smile. After stretching his sore neck, he continued to write and supplement his Gu recipe.


    The ideas he came up with must be recorded in the Gu recipe to raise its upper limit and indirectly increase its value. Otherwise, the old-timers with less creativity might not use it.


    For example, the artillery regiment tactics¡ªthis is a deep science. It''s not just about gathering together and firing randomly. How to cover the target seamlessly with artillery shells is very difficult. If he wasn''t a transmigrator, he wouldn''t believe that anyone could understand artillery techniques.


    Lastly, there¡¯s the evolution path of the Gu insect, which he almost forgot to include, but hurriedly added.


    Due to time constraints, he has only discovered two evolution paths for the Earth Master so far.


    ---


    ........................................................................


    Read extra chapters on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 88: (1): Meeting the Ancestor of the Long Clan

    As Long Qilin saw his Earth Master pushing a giant dung ball towards him, his face instantly darkened. He urgently shouted, "What are you doing? I told you to move soil, not this thing! Hurry up and get rid of it!"


    The Earth Master was taken aback by the scolding and obediently tossed the dung ball away.


    The massive dung ball flew in a perfect arc through the air and, with a loud st,nded squarely on the roof of a house, creating arge hole. The ball then crashed heavily into the house and finally exploded. Yellow stuff flew out of the windows, sttering everywhere, with a foul stench quickly spreading all around.


    Long Qilin...


    Long Xuan...


    Everyone who witnessed this scene was dumbfounded.


    "Who did this?! Who in the world did this?!"


    A furious voice quickly rang out from inside the house, and soon after, a figure whose face couldn''t be seen clearly stormed out, brandishing a knife.


    "Long Qilin! I''m going to kill you!""It¡¯s a misunderstanding! This is all a misunderstanding! Calm down!"


    Long Qilin''s expression changed drastically as he turned and ran, with the person wielding the knife chasing after him furiously...


    That day, the entire Long n was in chaos. Simr incidents kept happening in various ces.


    Many people who had mastered <em>Gu</em>on this day thought that the Earth Master had stopped eating dirt and started eating feces, leading to countless jokes. The entire Long n was covered in dung, and the stench was overwhelming.


    The Long n was thrown into turmoil that day...


    And sure enough, Long Xuan, the culprit behind it all, was summoned by the family elders for questioning the next day.


    In an ancient pavilion, Long Xuan sat quietly, facing an elderly man with a stern expression. The old man wore ck clothes embroidered with two dragons. His hair was graying, his face was wrinkled, and despite his age, he exuded an air of authority.


    Long Xuan sat upright, for the person sitting opposite him was a <em>Gu King</em>, the only <em>Gu King</em>of the Long n. He never expected that the one summoning him would be the Ancestor of the Long n.


    The Ancestor of the Long n scrutinized him with his clouded eyes for a few moments before finally speaking: "No wonder Long Ao saw you as a genius. Your initial soul power is the most extraordinary I¡¯ve ever seen, andprehension will be your strong suit."


    "The Earth Master you developed is quite impressive, breaking the Long n¡¯s record that has stood for millennia in terms of cost-effectiveness. It will benefit the Long n for generations, and for that, you should be rewarded with 100 million contribution points."


    With that, the Ancestor of the Long n tossed a golden token, engraved with a divine dragon, toward Long Xuan.


    Long Xuan was overjoyed and quickly caught the token with both hands. In addition to the dragon pattern, the token bore the words "100 million contribution points."


    He had done some research on the Long n¡¯s contribution tokens and knew that they were a type of spiritual artifact. The contribution value on the token would change based on the number of transactions, and the holder couldn¡¯t arbitrarily change the numbers because the Long n kept backups of every token. Even if one had the skills to forge it, it would be easily discovered.


    This was far more convenient than carrying arge number of spirit stones, and Long Xuan really liked this method of transaction, even though it was limited to within the Long n.


    At this moment, the Ancestor of the Long n continued, "You possess the rare <em>Ten Absolute Body</em>, which makes you a prodigy and warrants special attention from the family. The family has high hopes for you."


    "In any n, geniuses enjoy privileges. They receive superior treatment and a resource preference. From now on, most of the n¡¯s secret techniques will be unconditionally avable to you. You only need to report what you wish to learn."


    "However, the cultivation resources won¡¯t be provided for free. You must earn them with your own efforts. This has always been the rule of the Long n."


    "I don¡¯t understand much about the <em>Ten Absolute Body</em>, so I can¡¯t give you much guidance. Here are three books for you to study. If there¡¯s anything you don¡¯t understand, ask Long Ao. There¡¯s no inheritance for the <em>Ten Absolute Body</em>in this world, so you¡¯ll have to create your own path by drawing on other techniques."


    After speaking, the Ancestor of the Long n tossed three books to Long Xuan.


    Long Xuan, feeling excited, quickly caught the three books the Ancestor of the Long n had thrown at him. Since they came from a <em>Gu King</em>, they were bound to be extraordinary and contain powerful legacies.


    However, when Long Xuan saw the titles of the three books, his heart sank.


    They were <em>Inverse Dragon Technique</em>, <em>Yellow Emperor''s Dragon Technique</em>, and <em>Force Neutralization Art</em>. These were things he had already secretly learned from Elder Long.


    The Ancestor of the Long n, unaware that his so-called gifts were of no use to Long Xuan, continued, "All those who make significant contributions to the family are awarded with the <em>Dragon Tattoo</em>and are forever recorded in the family¡¯s genealogy."


    "In the Long n, receiving the <em>Dragon Tattoo</em>is the highest honor, one that all n members aspire to. However, few achieve it. Those who bear the <em>Dragon Tattoo</em>are envied even by distant rtives."


    "Your <em>Earth Master</em>Gu recipe is enough to benefit the family for generations and bring incalcble benefits, which warrants the highest honor from the family."


    "Your <em>Dragon Tattoo</em>won¡¯t be an ordinary one given for small contributions. It will be the highest level <em>Hidden Dragon Tattoo</em>."


    "The <em>Hidden Dragon Tattoo</em>can only be obtained by making contributions that benefit the family for generations. Even I am not qualified to bear such a tattoo. You are the first to receive this honor in a thousand years."


    "The <em>Hidden Dragon Tattoo</em>will be made with the highest-grade materials. The tattoo won¡¯t be visible under normal circumstances. It will only appear during intense physical exertion or when you¡¯re bleeding in battle, and it will also have a stimting effect on yourbat power."


    "Sit tight now. The tattoo will be done by the family¡¯s best tattoo artist, Granny Long."


    As soon as the Ancestor of the Long n finished speaking, an old woman walked in from outside, holding a long, thick silver needle.


    Long Xuan was startled. He was really going to get a tattoo?


    Whether or not to get a tattoo didn¡¯t really matter. In this world, tattoos were considered a mark of honor and a cultural aspect of each n. It wasn¡¯t something done randomly. Those with tattoos were not met with prejudice but rather with envy and admiration.


    The key issue was that it would hurt. That needle was so thick and long. How could it not hurt? And the area covered by the <em>Dragon Tattoo</em>would berge, which was what Long Xuan was most concerned about.


    He had been too hasty. If he had known, he would have let his fire clone handle this, so he wouldn¡¯t have to endure this pain himself.


    "Alright, tattoo it on my right arm."


    Long Xuan obediently sat down and took off his shirt. He certainly wouldn¡¯t oppose it. Even if he wasn¡¯t too keen on getting a tattoo, he wouldn¡¯t openly challenge the n¡¯s rules. At worst, if the tattoo didn¡¯t look good, he could have it removedter.

 Chapter 88: (2): Meeting the Ancestor of the Long Clan

    Half a dayter, Long Xuan emerged from the attic, now with a dragon on his right arm. The dragon coiled around his arm, its head extending across his chest¡ªa formidable and imposing dragon.


    However, this dragon is usually invisible, only appearing when he engages in battle and sweats profusely.


    The tattoo is ck in color, but if his body is injured and bleeds, the tattoo turns red, making it look even more terrifying and slightly enhancing hisbat power.


    This is a mystical tattoo technique. Initially, Long Xuan wasn¡¯t particrly interested in tattoos and even considered removing it when he had the time. But now, he had grown fond of the tattoo and decided there was no harm in keeping it.


    With a massive fortune of 100 million contribution points, Long Xuan left the attic and immediately rushed to the Long n¡¯s Treasure Pavilion, where he exchanged that bottle of Golden Crow''s Blood as quickly as possible.


    He also exchanged many items he needed from the Treasure Pavilion, and in just one day, his 100 million contribution points drastically shrank. It wasn¡¯t until he had spent all but 20 million that he finally stopped, somewhat reluctantly.


    The treasure he was most satisfied with was the space ring. The space ring is a spiritual tool with far more storage capacity than a storage pouch, and it is much smaller in size. It can be worn on the finger or discreetly as a ne around the neck, making it very convenient to carry.


    From now on, he no longer needed to carry aroundrge, unsightly pouches on his waist when he went out. However, while the space ring is excellent, it is also expensive, and very few people can afford it. Most people in this world use storage pouches to store items.


    The space ring on Long Xuan''s hand was valued at 10 million contribution points in the Long n¡ªa price that could kill. What it would cost in the outside world is unknown.But it would undoubtedly be even more expensive. Unless you are extremely wealthy, there¡¯s no need to buy a space ring.


    Otherwise, you might discover a grim fact: the total value of everything stored in the space ring is less than the cost of the ring itself, which would be quite sad.


    Of course, all of Long Xuan''s transactions were conducted in the Treasure Pavilion¡¯s VIP room, in secret. In the Long n, VIPs with more than 10 million contribution points are eligible to trade in the VIP room, with a dedicated steward overseeing the process.


    This rule was naturally established to prevent murders for treasures and infighting among the n, and it is a reasonable regtion.


    So, almost no one knew who had taken the Golden Crow''s Blood, which theoretically made Long Xuan very safe.


    Not only was no one aware that he had taken the Golden Crow''s Blood, but only the n''s high-ranking members knew that he had created the Earth Master Gu recipe. Otherwise, Long Qilin wouldn¡¯t have shown off in front of him.


    Long Xuan preferred to keep a low profile and was unlikely to publicize this matter. The n, out of its desire to protect a genius, naturally wouldn¡¯t make it public either.


    So, Long Xuan¡¯s life remained peaceful, allowing him to continue living hisfortable, farming-style life in some quiet corner.


    With three books in hand, Long Xuan thought for a moment before deciding to head to the shabby hut where Elder Long resided.


    He felt it was necessary to inform Elder Long about this matter, so that in the future, when he used the divine dragon Form or some of the Long n¡¯s unique abilities, he would have a reasonable exnation and wouldn¡¯t have to be as cautious as before, like when he carefully probed Long Qilin for a method to condense the Dharma image.


    Additionally, although he had previously learned many things from Elder Long through eavesdropping, whether it was techniques or spiritual arts, he had always relied on self-study and figured things out on his own. To this day, there were still many things he didn¡¯t understand.


    Therefore, he also nned to use the words of the Long n''s ancestor as amand to ask about all the things he hadn¡¯t understood before, all at once.


    Since he had already called him Master, there was no way he would do so in vain, right? He had spent this time working for Elder Long, yet he hadn¡¯t learned anything¡ªhow could that be eptable? This time, he was determined to give him some trouble.


    With this mindset, Long Xuan eagerly sought out Elder Long, his mind already filled with a list of questions.


    However, when he expressed his intentions, before he could even ask the first question, Elder Long said, ¡°I don¡¯t have time. Go ask your senior sister,¡± and then mmed the door shut, returning to his seclusion to refine pills. Long Xuan was left standing there, stunned.


    Senior sister? He actually had a senior sister? Howe he didn¡¯t know about this? All these years, he had never seen any female Gu cultivatore to Great Stone Vige to seek out Elder Long.


    And who exactly was this senior sister? He didn¡¯t even know her name, let alone what she looked like.


    Where was he supposed to find her?


    Elder Long hadn¡¯t exined anything clearly, and seeing his impatient expression, Long Xuan didn¡¯t want to disturb him further.


    Helpless, Long Xuan could only use his Eye Of Heavenly secret to quickly locate Long Qilin, nning to ask him for help.


    Under the Eye Of Heavenly secret¡¯s scan, Long Xuan quickly spotted Long Qilin in a distant location in the back mountain, where he was watching the Earth Master push a ball of dirt, observing with great interest. It was hard to understand why Earth Master pushing a dirt ball would be so fascinating¡ªwas it really that interesting?


    Moreover, there were quite a few others who shared his hobby. Many people had brought their own Earth Master to that spot to y the ball-pushing game and even heldpetitions to see who could push the biggest and roundest ball.


    Arge crowd had gathered to watch, all seemingly engrossed, thoroughly enjoying the spectacle. These people really had too much free time.


    How childish and boring.


    Although he couldn¡¯t understand their behavior, Long Xuan had no choice but to head towards Long Qilin''s location to ask about his mysterious senior sister.


    He quickly reached the back mountain and saw that Long Qilin was still there, watching the Earth Master push dirt balls with great interest, evenmenting on each Earth Master.


    Long Xuan was speechless. He patted Long Qilin on the shoulder and, puzzled, asked, "Is this really interesting? What¡¯s so fascinating about a bunch of dung beetles pushing dirt balls?"


    He hadpletely forgotten how he had been equally interested in watching dung beetles push balls when researching the Earth Master Gu recipe.


    Hearing the familiar voice behind him, Long Qilin finally shifted his gaze and looked back at Long Xuan, saying, "You probably don¡¯t know, but the n is about to hold a newpetition, and the rewards are especially generous."


    "Thepetition is all about the Earth Master. There''s the Strongman Gold Cup, where the Earth Masterpete in various strength-based events, with the winner determined by points."


    "There¡¯s also the Dirt Ball Pushing Contest, where the Earth Masterpete to see who can push the biggest and roundest dirt ball."


    "And there''s the Earth Master Tug-of-War, a team event where each side sends ten Earth Master topete in a tug-of-war, without any involvement from the Gu cultivators. Thispetition is also quite interesting."


    "My Earth Master was among the first batch to emerge, so their maturity is definitely higher than all the others. Once they participate in thesepetitions, they¡¯ll have a huge advantage. How could I not take this seriously?"


    "I''m currently putting my Earth Master through rigorous training, aiming to win all three events. Thebined prize for winning all threepetitions is eight million contribution points, which is more than enough to entice me. How could I not take it seriously?"


    Long Qilin spoke with a very serious expression.


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan was stunned. The Long n was actually going to hold so manypetitions rted to the Earth Master. What was going on?


    From his observations over the past few months, Long Xuan had noticed that the Long n had a unique trait¡ªthey held a lot ofpetitions.


    There were spiritual herb nting contests to see who could grow the best herbs.


    There were spirit beast breeding contests to see who could raise the fattest beasts.


    There were Gu battles, fish farming contests, fishing contests, arena battles, brain-teaserpetitions, physical training contests, beauty contests¡­


    There were so many contests that it was hard to keep track. If you could think of it, they probably had it. Every few days, there was a newpetition, leaving little time for rest. The Long n¡¯s entertainment life was truly abundant.


    And now, they were adding three morepetitions. He was really baffled¡ªwhy did the Long ne up with so manypetitions, and it seemed like every winner received a substantial reward in contribution points.


    ¡°Can you tell me what the point is of the n holding these threepetitions?¡± Long Xuan couldn¡¯t contain his curiosity and asked.


    Long Qilin turned to look at him again and said, ¡°Of course, it¡¯s very meaningful. This shows that the n is preparing to officially promote the Earth Master throughout the entire n.¡±


    ¡°How do you get all the n members to start refining the Earth Master? Holding apetition with high rewards is undoubtedly the best way. The impressive rewards are enough to encourage arge number of n members to refine the Earth Master.¡±


    ¡°The nunching threepetitions in a row with such high rewards clearly indicates that they want to poprize the Earth Master among the entire n as quickly as possible.¡±


    Hearing this from Long Qilin, Long Xuan immediately felt that thesepetitions were indeed very meaningful.


    If suchpetitions were held every year with generous rewards, it would be enough to force those unwilling to practice Earth Master to start doing so.


    For example, the female Gu cultivators, who are selective about the Gu they refine, preferring the cute and beautiful ones. Earth Master, which likes to dig in filth, would never be favored by these female Gu cultivators.


    As for whether Long Xuan himself would participate in thispetition, he felt that just joining in the fun would be enough. He had no intention ofpeting for first ce¡ªthat would be too high-profile.

 Chapter 89: (1): First Encounter with the Eldest Senior Sister

    At this moment, Long Xuan finally remembered the important matter and asked again, "I came here this time to ask you about something."


    "Elder Long told me that if I have any questions, I should ask my Senior Sister. You should know who she is, right? Come to think of it, I''ve never seen this Senior Sister visit Elder Long, so I have no idea who she is."


    "You have a Senior Sister? How is that possible? Elder Long hasn''t taken on any disciples before you, especially not a female disciple. For a family alchemist to take on a disciple is a big deal, how could I not know about it?"


    "The family has tried more than once to ce disciples under his tutge, hoping he would train more alchemists for the family."


    "However, he has always beenzy and dislikes taking on disciples, rejecting all of them with the excuse that teaching disciples would lead to the master''s demise from hunger. To this day, you''re his only disciple."


    Long Qilin widened his eyes and showed a puzzled expression. Suddenly, he patted his head and, with a look of sudden realization, finally said, "I get it. He indeed didn''t take on a disciple, but he has a daughter. Calling her your Senior Sister wouldn''t be wrong!"


    "His rtionship with his daughter is extremely strained, so it''s normal that you''ve never seen her visit him. Right now, she''s the closed-door disciple of the Old Ancestor, the family''s top genius."


    Long Qilin suddenly bumped Long Xuan''s shoulder with his own, winking and grinning mischievously, "You''ve got some luck, bing the junior disciple of Long Ziyan. She''s the most beautiful woman in the n and a celebrated figure who won the beauty contest in the Long n. She''s the pride of our n."


    "Her talent is something our n hasn''t seen in a thousand years. With her guidance, you''ll definitely be more than fine."Long Qilin looked at him with envy, "Tsk, tsk... The most beautiful woman in the n! Guiding you every day, spending time with you from morning till night, a lone man and a single woman, amidst flowers under the moonlight, feelings are bound to develop over time."


    "What kind of lousy idea is Elder Longing up with, telling you to ask your Senior Sister if you don''t understand something? Isn''t this basically inviting a wolf into the house? There are definitely going to be some good stories to watch in the future."


    Long Xuan''s face turned dark. What kind of nonsense is this? It sounds as if he has ulterior motives towards his master''s daughter. Is he that kind of person? This is practically an insult to his character. Even a rabbit doesn¡¯t eat the grass near its burrow!


    "Alright! Stop joking around! Master took me in out of kindness. How could I possiblyy a hand on his daughter? Would I still be human if I did? Just tell me where she is. It''s not right that I''ve be her junior disciple but don''t even know who my Senior Sister is."


    Long Qilin finally stopped teasing and said seriously, "She¡¯s usually in the silkworm room. There¡¯s only one ce in the family estate where they raise silkworms, so it¡¯s easy to find. As for which one she is, just look for the most beautiful one. The most beautiful one must be her!"


    "Got it! You can continue ying with the dirt here. I''m off to find my Senior Sister."


    Long Xuan, cing beauty above friendship, immediately left Long Qilin after finding out where his Senior Sister was.


    Since there was only one silkworm room in the Long family estate, it wasn¡¯t difficult to find under the Eye of the Heavens.


    Long Xuan only had to nce around to spot his target and headed straight for the silkworm room. Before long, he finally saw his Senior Sister standing at the entrance, dressed in a purple gown.


    Why could he recognize her as Long Ziyan at a nce? Naturally, it was because she was the most beautiful one here, outshining the second most beautiful by a long margin. She stood out like a crane among chickens, making her easy to spot.


    Long Ziyan, true to her name, had a deep love for the color purple. Her beautiful purple gownplemented her breathtaking beauty.


    But her demeanor was cold, as pure as ice, with eyes that seemed to contain frost, making people afraid to look directly at her. One could only admire her from afar, but not approach.


    Long Xuan, too, was intimidated by this cold aura and didn¡¯t dare approach her immediately.


    She stood at the entrance because two people were quarreling there, arguing intensely, and had already be quite heated.


    "Long Yan! Don¡¯t you understand the rule of firste, first served? Long Bao saw this Dragon Silk first. If you want it, get in line!"


    A fat man, round like a ball, pointed at a handsome young man and shouted angrily.


    "Get in line, my ass! Look at how fat you are! You¡¯ve be so round, making one piece of clothing for you would be like making five for someone else. There might not even be enough Dragon Silk for you, so how would there be any left for me?"


    "If you¡¯re so fat, why don¡¯t you wear armor? The fabric you save could protect five people. Show some humility and maximize the n''s benefits, so fewer people in the family die. You can''t be too selfish!"


    "I''m telling you, there''s no way I''m getting in line. I refuse to wear heavy armor, and it takes time for the Dragon Silkworm to spin silk. The tomb-raiding day is just seven days away, I don''t have time to wait!"


    "Either the highest bidder wins, or we split it evenly. You choose!" Long Yan waved his hand imperiously.


    Hearing this, Long Bao¡¯s face turned red with anger. Every fat person hates being called fat, and Long Yan had repeatedly struck a nerve, breaking hisposure entirely!


    "You¡¯re the one who''s fat like a ball!"


    Long Bao, enraged and humiliated, suddenly grew evenrger and charged at Long Yan with a raised fist.


    "The Dragon Force Gu that enhances physical strength, huh? Showing off your skills in front of an expert? I¡¯m very familiar with all the unique Gu insects of the Long family!"


    "Let¡¯s see whose strength is greater!"


    Long Yan sneered and, with a disdainful smile, released a huge Earth Master, which swung its massive des at Long Bao.


    Seeing that Long Yan was using an Earth Master, Long Bao¡¯s face changed drastically.


    This creature was now infamous in the Long family, a Gu that had recently be extremely popr and widely known.


    He had heard about this Gu so muchtely that his ears had grown calluses. How could he not understand its terrifying power?


    This creature''s brute strength is simply not something a human can contend with. Anyone who goes head-to-head with it is just courting death.


    Even though his Dragon Force Gu was formidable, it couldn¡¯t hope topete with this monster in terms of raw power.


    Moreover, Long Bao was a Gu cultivator who believed that physical strength was paramount, rejecting the use of external Gu insect forbat. No matter how powerful an external Gu might be, he refused to refine one.


    In this situation, this closebat monster was simply his worst nightmare.


    Seeing this massive creature rushing toward him, Long Bao turned pale and immediately dodged, not daring to face it head-on.


    "You coward! If you¡¯re a man, face me in a one-on-one fight. What kind of man brings in help? If you¡¯re a real man, let¡¯s have a man-to-man duel!"


    Long Bao¡¯s face turned blue with anger as he dodged the Earth Master¡¯s attacks, pounding his fists against its body.


    However, the Earth Master was armored in thick iron, making his punches feel like scratching an itch for it, while his fists hurt from hitting the iron tes.


    He waspletely overwhelmed. How could he fight like this? He finally realized the severe consequences of specializing too much and swore to refine an Earth Master himself when he got back. Not doing so would put him at a serious disadvantage.


    If he had an Earth Master today, he could easily hold off this giant creature and pin Long Yan to the ground, avoiding such a passive situation.


    Faced with Long Bao¡¯s insults, Long Yan waspletely indifferent. Watching his Earth Master dominate, his smile grew wider, and he couldn¡¯t help but sigh at how useful this creature was.


    "Provoking me won¡¯t work. External Gu is also a part of a Gu cultivator¡¯s strength, so how could it be considered dishonorable?"


    "You have to defeat it before you qualify to fight me; otherwise, you''re not worthy of me personally stepping in!" Long Yan said with a light smile.


    "You..." Long Bao was furious.


    By now, a crowd had gathered to watch themotion, but none of the Long n¡¯s Gu cultivators stepped in to break it up. Instead, they stirred the pot, with some cheering and others loudly offering advice, each one more excited than thest, eager to see the fight escte.


    Long Xuan was speechless, marveling at the ferocity of the Long n''s customs.


    He had already figured out why the two had shed. The Long n was about to organize another tomb-raiding expedition, most likely to the Empress Yaoguang''s tomb, which had yet to be breached.


    The tomb was perilous, requiring defensive treasures for protection, and these were mostly spirit artifacts, including metal armor crafted by weapon refiners.


    However, every advantage has its drawback. In most cases, the denser the metal, the harder it is, but denser metal also means it¡¯s heavier.


    So, although wearing armor-type spirit artifacts provided high defense, the downside was the increased weight, which greatly limits a Gu practitioner''s speed.


    It''s widely epted that in martial arts, speed trumps all, and that speed attributes are more important than defense attributes.


    That''s why you rarely see anyone in the world of immortal cultivation fighting while wearing heavy armor.

 Chapter 87: (2): In-Depth Development of Gu Insect Abilities

    Previously, when the Earth Master ate the spiritual soil, there were faint signs of it evolving. However, because Long Xuan stopped it in time, the amount wasn¡¯t enough, so the evolution failed.


    But Long Xuan was able to conclude that every time the Earth Master consumes a kind of spiritual soil, it will evolve once, although the exact changes after evolution are unknown.


    The second evolution route naturally involves eating feces.


    Long Xuan found that his attempt to change the dung beetle''s preference for eating feces had failed. Well, not exactly failed; it¡¯s just that the dung beetle had developed a habit of eating soil, but that didn¡¯t mean it hadpletely stopped eating feces.


    Now, it eats soil when it encounters soil and eats feces when it encounters feces.


    As a result, when it ate Brother Chicken¡¯s feces, it actually showed signs of evolution. However, since Brother Chicken didn¡¯t produce much, the transformation failed.


    So Long Xuan quickly concluded that the dung beetle would undergo evolution when it consumed the feces of spirit beasts, though the required quantity might be significant.


    The strength of the dung beetle after transformation might even be rted to the species of the spirit beast that produced the feces. The feces of divine beasts could be the best option.


    Feces are plentiful in the forest, making this a very cost-effective method that meets the criteria for high value at a low cost.After these two idents, Long Xuan quickly figured out the two evolution routes for the dung beetle.


    He couldn¡¯t be sure which route was stronger.


    However, he guessed that the route involving spirit soil might be stronger, because divine beast feces are not avable in this world, whereas the cost of spirit soil is higher.


    But there are also disadvantages. The further along the route, the more difficult it bes to evolve.


    With more evolutions, the dung beetle''s requirement for spirit soil would certainly increase, eventually needing peak-quality spirit soil, or even the legendary Heavenly Soil, which is extremely hard to find.


    Choosing which evolution route to take is entirely up to personal choice.


    After writing down the two evolution routes of the dung beetle, Long Xuan folded the paper and quickly set off towards the Long family.


    With his speed, it took him less than half a day to arrive. Upon reaching the Long family, he immediately went to the mission hall and secretly ced the bug-raising pouch, containing the dung beetle and the Gu recipe, into the submission box. Then he returned to wait in peace.


    ¡­


    Ten dayster.


    Long Xuan wasfortably lying in bed, sleeping inte, when the overly enthusiastic Long Qilin pulled him out of bed.


    This wasn¡¯t the first time Long Qilin had disturbed his good sleep.


    He was already numb to it. To be honest, it was strange. Long Qilin was a Gu cultivator in the marrow-cleansing stage, while he was a Gu cultivator in the spirit-gathering stage. They didn¡¯t belong to the same world, so how could they get along?


    But Long Qilin justtched onto him, and since there was no formation blocking the entrance to the little Poor Peak, he coulde and go as he pleased, treating the ce as his home. Long Xuan had no choice; there was nothing he could do about it.


    However, there were some benefits. Previously, his irregr sleep schedule from often workingte on Gu recipes was corrected by being frequently woken up to have breakfast at the Long family¡¯s cafeteria.


    Breakfast was always timely, and to be honest, the Long family¡¯s cafeteria did serve a great breakfast, worth getting up early for.


    As they walked toward the cafeteria, Long Xuan yawned repeatedly and helplessly asked, "What is it this time? I''m not going to the Gu arena. My Gu insects are too weak to show off."


    Long Qilin, walking alongside him, turned his head and smiled mysteriously, saying, "It¡¯s precisely because you don¡¯t have good Gu insects that I came to find you."


    "I¡¯ve got good news for you. Our Long family has developed an incredible secret Gu recipe, strong enough to be our n''s signature. The family intends to promote it throughout the n."


    "It''s the talk of the n. Many Long family Gu cultivators are rushing to exchange for the new Gu recipe. It¡¯s already bing a trend."


    Long Qilin suddenly leaned in close to Long Xuan¡¯s ear, excitedly saying, "Take my advice: exchange for it before the contribution cost increases."


    "Trust my judgment, the Long family¡¯s new secret Gu recipe is incredibly strong, far beyond your imagination. With it, your strength will skyrocket, and then you canpete in the Gu arena!"


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan¡¯s eyes lit up, and he quickly woke up. His sleepy eyes instantly cleared.


    The first thing that came to his mind was the dung beetle Gu recipe he had submitted to the family not long ago. He figured that the new secret Gu recipe Long Qilin mentioned was most likely his own dung beetle.


    To be honest, after submitting the Gu recipe and the dung beetle to the family ten days ago, there had been no feedback, as if they had vanished without a trace.


    Impatiently, he had to use his Eye of Heavenly farsight ability to observe the situation and discovered that all the family elders were excitedly conducting various tests on the dung beetle.


    Evaluating the value of a Gu insect naturally requires various tests, which he could understand.


    But those old guys were so slow with their work. They had to test its strength, speed, defense, bite force, even its appetite, and had to pit it against all sorts of other Gu bugs in battle.


    In short, they tested everything. What could have been done in an hour took them several days, and his contribution points still hadn¡¯t been credited. He was truly fed up.


    What kind of efficiency was this? He was getting impatient.


    Today, he finally heard some news. Since the matter had spread so widely within the n, it seemed the feedback was good, and the family was considering promoting it n-wide.


    As long as the Gu recipe met the criteria for n-wide promotion, the contribution points awarded wouldn¡¯t be low.


    Long Xuan grew excited and decided to listen to what others thought about the dung beetle. So, he feigned surprise and said in shock, "What? The Long family actually came out with a new secret Gu recipe?"


    "Who on earth developed this Gu recipe? It¡¯s so cost-effective that it¡¯s going to be promoted n-wide. That¡¯s amazing! This person must be a genius, with unparalleled talent, truly deserving of the title ¡®monster.¡¯"


    "Quick, tell me just how strong this new Gu species is?" Long Xuan shamelessly praised himself before asking.


    Long Qilin, satisfied with Long Xuan¡¯s shocked expression, enthusiastically replied, "Strong? The new secret Gu recipe is beyond strong!"


    "The new Gu species is called the Earth Master. Let me tell you, even as a juvenile, the Earth Master is half a head taller than a person. Who knows how big it¡¯ll be when it matures!"


    "Remember, small size is amon trait among insects. Most bugs are tiny. When have I ever seen such a big Gu insect? Such arge Gu is something I¡¯ve never encountered before."


    "A giant like that would be a war beast on the battlefield, a killing machine. Just moving its feet could crush arge number of enemies. When something gets that big, it¡¯s hard for it to be weak."


    "And who on earth came up with the idea of giving this giant a suit of heavy iron armor?"


    "Isn¡¯t that cheating? Which Gu goes into battle covered in metal? How are other Gu insects supposed to fight it?"


    "And yet, this thing¡¯s strength is extraordinary. It can wear extremely thick metal into battle, and even if the metal weighs thirty times its body weight, it doesn¡¯t affect it at all."


    "No High-grade Gu could break through such thick metal, but its ws can smash a high-grade Gu into pulp. Isn¡¯t that outrageous? It¡¯s just unfair!"


    "The best part is that it¡¯s cheap, really cheap. It¡¯s cheap to feed, and even the evolution process is surprisingly affordable, practically free. It¡¯s a favorite among the poor. I strongly rmend you also refine one of these Gu insects; it¡¯s too good to pass up!"


    "Now the Earth Master has be a must-have for Long family Gu cultivators, and it¡¯ll soon be a standard. Everyone will have one. You¡¯ll miss out if you don¡¯t refine one."


    Long Qilin, full of excitement, rambled on, wildly praising the dung beetle''sbat power with animated gestures.


    The more he praised it, the morefortable Long Xuan felt. Hearing that the dung beetle was bing a standard, his smile widened. He knew that once a Gu bug reached this level, the reward contribution points wouldn¡¯t be less than ten million.


    "Are you sure the dung beetle will be standard? Even someone as wealthy as you, a genius, would refine such a low-grade Gu insect?" Long Xuan suddenly interrupted and asked.


    "Of course!" Long Qilin smiled. "I now have eight Gu slots. No matter how rich I am, I can¡¯t refine eight peak-grade Gu bugs. I still need many low-quality Gu bugs to fill in."


    "Although the Earth Master is a low-grade Gu bug, its strength and defense are worth considering. Just the sheer size is intimidating and can boost morale. It¡¯s perfect for the front line."


    "So, I must refine a Earth Master. I¡¯ve already done so, and today I called you out to show you my big treasure."


    "It¡¯s currently collecting soil balls to fill its storage space. I¡¯ll call it over to show you something amazing."


    Long Qilin, eager to show off, blew a whistle, and a Earth Master about the height of a person came running over, pushing a ball at high speed.


    Many people along the way watched, pointing at it, but why were they all covering their noses?


    Long Xuan''s expression changed drastically as he suddenly realized something. The ball couldn¡¯t possibly be¡­


    His eyes widened in shock and fear.


    Oh no! Although the Earth master''s eating habits were modified to consume soil, it still eats dung if it encounters it. Now it eats soil when it meets soil and dung when it meets dung.


    He then remembered that he had forgotten to include this detail in the Gu form. This was a disaster! Something big was going to happen!


    As the dung ball, taller than a person, approached, the stench was already overwhelming. Long Xuan¡¯s face turned pale with fear, and he turned and ran.


    At this point, the two of them were not far from the dining hall. The foul odor quickly spread through the doors and windows into the dining hall, even into the mouths of those eating.


    ¡°Wow¡­¡±


    ¡°Ugh¡­¡±


    As expected, the dining hall was filled with the sounds of vomiting. The Gu cultivators of the Long family, who were eating there, all vomited and dry-heaved. The dining hall was immediately thrown into chaos with continuous cursing and shouting.


    ........................................................................


    Read extra chapters on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 89: (2): First Encounter with the Eldest Senior Sister

    Of course, armor that is both highly defensive and lightweight does exist, but it is extremely rare. Even if you do have such armor, your movements would still be restricted. After putting on armor, actions like bending over or rolling would be difficult, so even this kind of light armor is not favored by Gu cultivators.


    However, silkworm clothes canpletely solve these two problems. Silk clothe is light and soft, with no thickness at all. Not only does it not restrict movement, but its weight is practically negligible for a Gu cultivator.


    High-level silk clothe''s defense is definitely not inferior to that of metal armor, and wearing it has no negative effects. This is practically a blessing for Gu cultivators and is beloved by all of them.


    Naturally, such a good itemes at a high price, at least ten times that of spiritual armor.


    Moreover, it is difficult to find in any market because it is in such high demand. Whether it¡¯s silkworm silk or silk cloths, they are snatched up the moment they appear anywhere.


    Speaking of silkworm silk, it¡¯s impossible not to mention another category of Gu insects in this world¡ªthe production-type Gu insects.


    Most production-type Gu insects have nobat power, but they can continuously produce resources for their owner, making the owner extremely wealthy. Owning a production-type Gu insect is like having a money-printing machine.


    For example, some Gu insects can produce spirit stones, some can produce wine, some can produce sugar, and others can produce healing leaves.


    In short, once you form a blood contract with a production-type Gu insect, you will gain a continuous stream of resources and open up a new financial avenue. By selling the resources produced by the Gu insect, you can easily be rich.The value of the resources produced by production-type Gu insects varies, but if you encounter one that produces the most valuable resources, it is not an exaggeration to say that it can provide wealth equivalent to refining ten peak-grade Gu insects.


    If youe across a heaven-defying production-type Gu insect, even a pig could be raised to the sky.


    Without a doubt, the Dragon Silkworm Gu in Long Ziyan''s hands is a production-type Gu insect.


    The Dragon Silkworm Gu has nobat ability, but it can continuously produce expensive Dragon Silkworm Silk, allowing its owner to be wealthy by selling the silk.


    The silk clothes made from Dragon Silkworm Silk is famously strong in defense, as light as air, warm in winter, cool in summer, impervious to weapons, and resistant to water and fire¡ªa first ss treasure with an outrageous price.


    Long Ziyan has truly found a goose thatys golden eggs.


    Long Xuan figured that she must have made a fortune selling Dragon Silkworm Silk and is undoubtedly very wealthy¡ªa little richdy.


    Judging by the price of Dragon Silkworm Silk, Long Xuan was certain that Long Ziyan must possess peak-grade Gu insects, possibly more than one, otherwise, her wealth would be unjustified.


    Long Xuan was tempted; the Dragon Silkworm Robe was indeed a treasure, and he coveted it as well.


    Even though he already had the Water Bear Gu for protection, wearing a Dragon Silkworm Robe wouldn¡¯t conflict with it. After all, who would refuse something that increases defense? Double protection would be even better.


    At this moment, he even thought about creating a production-type Gu of his own, focusing on silkworm-type Gu insects. He wanted to research how to create the world''s strongest silk clothes. Profit was secondary; safety was the priority.


    But to research the world''s best silk clothe, he would first need to understand how the Dragon Silkworm Gu was refined and study the refining methods of production-type Gu insects.


    The Long n¡¯s ancestor said that most of the family¡¯s secret techniques would be unconditionally open to him, so the Dragon Silkworm Gu refining method should be among them, right?


    However, just as Long Xuan was lost in thought, someone patted him on the shoulder.


    "Brother, I see you''re at the peak of the Spirit Gathering stage, not far from breaking through to the Marrow Cleansing stage. I assume you''re preparing to join the tomb-raiding event in seven days to search for the Spirit Surge Grass, right?"


    A stranger¡¯s voice came from behind Long Xuan.


    Spirit Surge Grass? Long Xuan focused his attention on this term.


    His clones were studious and loved to learn, so his main body was also quite knowledgeable. He knew very well what Spirit Surge Grass was.


    Spirit Surge Grass is a spiritual herb that has been extinct for countless years, and its pill recipes are unknown.


    But even eating Spirit Surge Grass directly can increase the sess rate of breaking through the Marrow Cleansing stage by 20%. This alone is enough to drive Peak Spirit Gathering Gu cultivators mad.


    There¡¯s such a treasure in the ancient tomb? Long Xuan was shocked.


    You should know that a finished Spirit Gathering Pill only has a 10% breakthrough rate, yet Spirit Surge Grass has a 20% sess rate even without being refined into a pill. Its medicinal effect is terrifying. Imagine how potent it would be if refined into a spiritual pill?


    Spirit Surge Grass has been extinct for a long time, and it¡¯s hard to find pill recipes for it, but that¡¯s not a problem for him.


    He excels in creation and is proficient in pharmacology. It¡¯s no exaggeration to say that his speed in creating pill recipes is much faster than in creating Gu forms.


    After all, researching Gu forms relies half on luck, while researching pill recipes depends on pharmacology, not requiring random guesses.


    It¡¯s about time he started preparing for his breakthrough to the Marrow Cleansing stage. The bottleneck of the Ten Absolute Body is as solid as a rock, and ordinary breakthrough pills are ineffective. Only a new pill recipe created with Spirit Surge Grass as the main ingredient might work.


    This Spirit Surge Grass came at the right time; Long Xuan was ecstatic.


    He turned to look at the person. The man had a in appearance but a cunning expression, holding a thick stack of maps. It wasn¡¯t hard to guess that his purpose in patting Long Xuan¡¯s shoulder was likely to sell him ancient tomb maps.


    It was clear that this person knew a lot about the ancient tomb.


    So Long Xuan asked, "As far as I know, that ancient tomb has been raided several times by various ns, right? Is there still a significant amount of Spirit Surge Grass left?"


    Long Tian immediately knew this person was a novice,pletely unaware of the tomb¡¯s situation, and hadn¡¯t even nned to join the tomb raid. But that was fine; the less he knew, the easier it would be to persuade him to buy his tomb map.


    So Long Tian became more enthusiastic and exined with a smile, "Not only is there still Spirit Surge Grass in the tomb, but the number is also quiterge."


    "You may not know, but a spiritual herb in the tomb''s medicine garden turned into a spirit and transformed into a damned rabbit."


    At this point, Long Tian suddenly showed a gnashing expression, his eyes burning with anger, clearly holding a deep grudge against this rabbit.


    "You wouldn''t believe it, but that rabbit became obsessed with alchemy of all things. After finding alchemy books in the tomb¡¯s burial area, it becamepletely hooked on alchemy."


    "And it¡¯s addicted, to the point where it¡¯s terrible at it but still obsessed!"


    "This is just great. The Empress''s grand medicine garden, full of countless precious spiritual herbs, including many that have long since gone extinct, was all ruined by it! It used them all for alchemy!"


    "The entire medicine garden is now in ruins because of that rabbit. Only the Spirit Surge Grass, which was the least valuable herb in the garden, was spared because the rabbit considered it a weed."


    "The seeds of Spirit Surge Grass were spread by animals, carried everywhere by the rabbit¡¯s fur, and now it haspletely taken over the entire garden."


    "If the Spirit Surge Grass, a herb of this level, is considered a weed, you can imagine how precious the other herbs in the garden were!"


    "What a waste! If I catch that rabbit, I¡¯ll skin it alive and make soup out of it."


    Long Tian pounded his chest in anguish, each time recalling this event making him feel like vomiting blood, driving him mad with rage, deeply resenting that rabbit.


    "Forget it, let¡¯s not talk about that damned rabbit anymore. It makes my liver hurt. Although the Spirit Surge Grass has spread everywhere, most of it in safe areas has been picked clean during previous tomb raids. Only the medicine garden still has arge quantity remaining."


    "The medicine garden in the tomb is the main source of Spirit Surge Grass. Want me to tell you where the garden is?"


    Long Tian waved the map in front of Long Xuan, showing a cunning gleam in his eyes.


    He figured that after all his exnations, this person was likely to take the bait.


    Curious about where the Spirit Surge Grass grows? Then hurry up and buy his map.


    Long Xuan instinctively nced at the map in his hand, noticing that it was folded, showing less than a quarter of the full area.


    This small area had the locations of burial pits, alchemy rooms, crafting rooms, insect chambers, study rooms...


    No wonder it was the Empress¡¯s tomb¡ªit was extraordinarilyrge, with too many chambers. Without a map, one could easily get lost inside and struggle to find the medicine garden.


    But he had already gleaned a lot of information from Long Tian¡¯s words. Despite several tomb raids, there was still arge quantity of Spirit Surge Grass in the tomb¡¯s medicine garden.


    This suggests that the area is extremely dangerous, so much so that no one has been able to enter.


    Otherwise, if even one person entered, the spiritual herbs in the medicine garden would have long been plucked clean.


    Especially that rabbit¡ªit would have been found, skinned, and gutted by someone, meeting a very tragic end.


    In this way, whether or not he should risk venturing into the medicine garden required careful consideration.


    But if he didn''t take the risk to collect the Spirit Surge Grass, it would be very difficult for him to break through the Marrow Cleansing stage. Who knows how long he would be stuck at this stage?


    And as for those Spirit Surge Grasses that were taken out years ago, they were probably consumed a long time ago, right? After all, spiritual herbs are most effective when fresh, and when ites to breakthroughs, who would dare to let them lose potency?


    Even if there were some left, the quantity surely wouldn''t be much, and with his special physique, one or two Spirit Surge Grasses definitely wouldn''t be enough.


    In this way, Long Xuan waspletely torn.


    "Forget about the map. After all, I''m just a minor Gu practitioner at the Spirit-Gathering stage. Any Gu practitioner at the Marrow Cleansing stage could kill me and steal my treasures. Even if I were lucky enough to find the Spirit Surge Grass, I wouldn''t be able to keep it."


    Long Xuan looked up at him and said, his words entirely intended to probe, to see who else would be going along.


    If there were a Gu King involved, then even if there were an Pill of Eternal Life in the tomb, he would definitely not go. He wouldn''t risk it, even if it meant waiting another ten years.


    Sure enough, hearing that Long Xuan didn''t want his ancient tomb map, Long Tian immediately became anxious and hurriedly said, "You really don''t understand anything!"


    "When the ancient tomb was first discovered, you''re right¡ªGu Kings and Spiritual Sea stage Gu practitioners went in droves. But in the end, many Spiritual Sea stage practitioners died, and even two Gu Kings perished, mostly due to infighting."


    "A Gu King is the highest-level force in each family; having one is already impressive. If one dies, it would severely damage the vitality of their family, and they might even fall from grace, bing a minor n."


    "So, if a Gu King perishes, no matter how many treasures you bring out of the tomb, it won''t be worth the loss."


    "Forget about the Gu Kings¡ªeven if arge number of Spiritual Sea and Marrow Cleansing stage Gu practitioners die, the treasures from the tomb would hardlypensate for the losses. For each family, it''s a losing deal."


    "So, long ago, the families made a mutual agreement to forbid any Gu practitioners above the Marrow Cleansing stage from entering the tomb. Even lone practitioners are not allowed¡ªonly Spirit-Gathering stage Gu practitioners can enter."


    "There are plenty of Spirit-Gathering stage Gu practitioners. Even if many die, the families won''t care. As long as something is brought out from the tomb, the n benefits."


    "So your concerns arepletely unnecessary. Right now, you''re at the peak of the Spirit-Gathering stage, the highest level in the tomb. You''re actually the safest one; it''s the others who are in danger."


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan''s confidence was greatly boosted. If his cultivation level was the highest among the group, then he really needed to think this over carefully.


    His strength had greatly increased, and it was certain that no one at the same level could pose a threat to him.


    So, the dangers in the tomb from others could essentially be ignored. He only needed to be cautious of the dangers within the tomb itself.


    As for what dangersy in the medicine garden, he would only know by being there in person. If things truly became impossible, he could always choose not to enter the garden. What if his golden finger could neutralize the dangers of the garden? It''s all possible.


    After all, his Heavenly Eye was incredibly adept at breaking formations, and the tomb''s mechanisms would appear as progress bars in his vision, allowing him to know in advance where the traps were and to avoid them in time.


    In the tomb, he was indeed far safer than others. His various abilities made him practically born for tomb raiding.


    After careful consideration, he realized that he could indeed make the trip. Long Xuan''s eyes twinkled as he made up his mind.


    "Alright then! How much for your map? Give me a copy!"


    Seeing that he had exined so much, Long Xuan decided to buy his map. Although the information on the map might not be entirely urate, it was better than nothing.


    Seeing Long Xuan finally intending to buy the map, Long Tian sighed in relief and, holding back his joy, said, "I don''t want spirit stones. In the Long n, all transactions are done using contribution points. With contribution points, you can buy anything here."


    "My ancient tomb map is veryprehensive; it cost many lives to obtain. I need one thousand contribution points, no bargaining."


    Long Xuan, helpless, could only take out his contribution token. With a thought, a thousand contribution points transferred out of his token and into Long Tian''s, making the numbers on Long Tian''s contribution token jump up by a thousand, bringing a smile to his face.


    At the same time, the number on Long Xuan''s contribution token dropped by a thousand, reducing his bnce from twenty million to over neen million points, breaking the whole number.


    Money is always worrisome when it¡¯s no longer a round number, and once it''s broken, it tends to disappear quickly.

 Chapter 90: (1): Brainstorming the next Peak-grade Gu

    After finally selling the map, Long Tian no longer paid attention to Long Xuan and turned around to find the next buyer.


    Long Xuan picked up the map and looked at it. He discovered that it only showed the tomb passages and various chambers. However, the dangers associated with each location were described vaguely, indicating that the map''s creator only had a limited understanding.


    He located the position of the herb garden and then checked the location of the sleeping chamber.


    The sleeping chamber is where the Empress¡¯s coffin is ced. Without a doubt, the most valuable treasure in the tomb must be in the sleeping chamber.


    But this location is also undoubtedly the most dangerous in the tomb, a ce where entering is almost certain death. It seemed that the two Gu Kings perished here, and the most valuable treasure in the tomb has not yet been taken.


    Long Xuan wondered if a lowly Gu cultivator in the Spirit Gathering stage like him could possibly take the tomb¡¯s treasure, something even the Gu Kings couldn''t do.


    Even if he managed to obtain it, it would likely be difficult to bring out.


    Judging from what Long Tian said, it wasn¡¯t hard to deduce that anything taken from the tomb must be handed over to the n. There was no way it could belong entirely to an individual; at best, he might get a small portion of it.


    Even if he did have a way to obtain the tomb¡¯s treasure, he would likely have to find some means to hide it, using his wits to outsmart the higher-ups.But such matters could be dealt withter; for now, it was uncertain whether he could even obtain the treasure. It was too early to think about such things now.


    However, since he had already decided to join the group in entering the tomb, he needed to be fully prepared.


    For example, the Dragon Silkworm Robe¡ªtime was tight, with only seven days until the tomb raid. He didn¡¯t have time to study the world''s best silk garment, so he could only buy an ordinary Dragon Silkworm Robe for the time being.


    He hurriedly looked at Long Ziyan and realized that the previous conflict had ended while he was talking with Long Tian.


    From the discussions around him, it seemed that Long Yan had won and bought half of Long Ziyan¡¯s dragon silk.


    Long Bao, on the other hand, walked away with the other half, his face livid. However, the remaining dragon silk was enough to make a full set for someone else, but for him, it could only cover his navel.


    This left him deeply dissatisfied, and he red venomously at Long Yan¡¯s departing figure, his eyes filled with fierce intent.


    With no face left to stay, he left in disgrace.


    "Has the transaction ended?" Long Xuan frowned slightly. Although Long Ziyan no longer had any dragon silk, he still decided to try his luck.


    Even if she had sold out, she must have kept a Dragon Silk Robe for herself, so she at least had one in her possession.


    Braving the icy atmosphere, Long Xuan mustered his courage and walked over, raising his hand to greet her, "Senior Sister, I¡¯m Elder Long Ao¡¯s new disciple, Long Xuan. I would also like a Dragon Silk Robe. Do you happen to have any left?"


    Upon hearing this, Long Ziyan stopped in her tracks, her expression unperturbed, indicating she already knew she had a new junior disciple.


    ¡°You¡¯re a step toote. I no longer have any stock,¡± Long Ziyan finally spoke, her words few.


    Long Xuan had expected this and didn¡¯t show any disappointment. He probed further, ¡°I know, I was wondering if Senior Sister has one for yourself¡ªdon¡¯t get me wrong, I mean one you haven¡¯t worn yet. If you do, I can offer a higher price.¡±


    Long Ziyan frowned slightly but quickly rxed.


    If it was for her own use, she indeed had one; it was just a matter of whether she was willing to part with it.


    Long Xuan''s identity as her junior disciple granted him significant leeway; otherwise, she wouldn¡¯t have even considered the request.


    ¡°I do have some dragon silk for my own use, but it¡¯s different from what was sold earlier. The dragon silk that was just sold was first-grade.¡±


    ¡°But my dragon silk recently underwent a transformation, evolving into a spiritual Gu, capable of producing second-grade dragon silk, which can withstand all attacks from a Spirit Gathering stage Gu cultivator.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t have much second-grade dragon silk, just enough for my own use.¡±


    Long Ziyan showed a hint of reluctance.


    ¡°Forget it! Since you¡¯re preparing to enter the tomb, and it¡¯s dangerous in there, you need this second-grade dragon silk more than I do. I¡¯ll let you have it.¡±


    With that, Long Ziyan took out arge roll of white silk from her storage bag. Long Xuan''s eyes immediately lit up with joy.


    It was second-grade dragon silk, strong enough to withstand all Spirit Gathering stage attacks.


    Wearing a second-grade Dragon Silk Robe in the tomb would make him nearly invincible. Combined with the protection of the Water Bear Gu, no one could break through his defenses.


    Long Xuan rubbed his hands excitedly. This senior sister was too generous; he was overjoyed!


    But just as he was about to reach out and take the dragon silk, his hand suddenly froze mid-air.


    He suddenly realized that this was just dragon silk¡ªa semi-finished product, not a finished Dragon Silk Robe.


    He didn¡¯t know how to sew. His Clones never learned women¡¯s needlework.


    So he could only rub his hands together, looking embarrassed as he thickened his face and asked, ¡°I don¡¯t know how to sew. Could Senior Sister help me make it? I¡¯m willing to pay a high crafting fee and won¡¯t let you work for nothing.¡±


    As soon as he said this, Long Ziyan hadn¡¯t responded yet, but the people around them erupted.


    ¡°What? He actually wants the most beautiful woman in the n to sew him a garment? How thick-skinned can he be!¡±


    ¡°Such audacity! To ask Senior Sister Ziyan to make clothes for him, does he have a death wish?¡±


    ¡°How dare he! Asking Long Ziyan to make him a garment, where does he get the nerve?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t agree¡­¡±


    The crowd was filled with outrage, their eyes burning with fury.


    Long Xuan was stunned. Asking a seller to process the material into a finished product was a reasonable and normal request, right? He hadn¡¯t expected such a big reaction from the crowd. Was it really that outrageous?


    If this was considered rude, then how could young girls making a living by sewing survive? Should female tailors refuse to make men''s clothing orders?


    His thinking wasn''t wrong; after all, few men knew needlework, so clothes mostly had to be made by women.


    But he overlooked one issue: if the woman was ugly, then making men¡¯s clothing would be fine; no one would care, even if she made a thousand garments.


    But if the woman was beautiful, that was different. A beautiful woman making clothes for a man would incite jealousy from other men.


    This was precisely the situation.


    If Long Ziyan were ugly, these beasts wouldn¡¯t say a word, and they would probably have left long ago.


    ¡°Come in!¡±


    Long Ziyan nced at Long Xuan before turning to walk inside.


    Long Xuan was overjoyed, knowing he had seeded. He ignored the howling animals behind him and stepped inside.


    As he entered the courtyard, a woman identical to Long Ziyan approached with a measuring tape, getting close to take his measurements.


    Long Xuan, an expert in using clones, quickly recognized that this was one of Long Ziyan¡¯s clones. It seemed this avatar would be the one making the garment, not Long Ziyan herself.


    He began to observe the clone with curious eyes, his interest piqued.


    Being skilled in clones, he was naturally curious about others¡¯ clones. He wanted to see what differences there were between her clone and his own and whose was stronger.


    With his expert eye, he quickly noticed many differences between this clone and his own.


    First, the simrity: this clone was also a corporeal avatar, meaning it had a physical form, which indicated it had a certainbat capability, not much weaker than the original body.


    But the method of controlling the clone was entirely different from his.


    Long Ziyan controlled her clone by splitting her soul, using a multitasking technique. In other words, she controlled two bodies simultaneously.


    Both bodies were her, with no separate consciousness, fully synchronized in memory and thought.


    The biggest advantage of controlling an clone this way was safety. Since the clone had no independent consciousness, there was no risk of rebellion, and Long Ziyan would never face the threat of her clone taking over.

 Chapter 90: (2): Brainstorming the next Peak-grade Gu

    Every advantagees with a disadvantage.


    The downside is that multitasking is extremely exhausting. If the two bodies are too far apart, signal issues will inevitably ur, making it impossible to synchronize memories over long distances.


    In other words, this kind of clone must not stray too far from the original body, which is undoubtedly a significant limitation.


    Additionally, the ability to assist the original body in cultivation and return the cultivation results is an extraordinary feature that Long Ziyan¡¯s clone certainly does not possess.


    Moreover, multitasking is already difficult. It¡¯s impossible for her to control five tasks simultaneously. Therefore, having one external clone is already her limit; controlling more would be extremely difficult.


    Comparing the functionalities in all aspects, Long Xuan still feels that his own clone is more advanced. No, it should be said it is aplete victory.


    After taking his measurements, Long Ziyan¡¯s clone walked over to a wooden machine and began weaving silk from the silkworm threads.


    The textile machinery in this world is definitely different from those in his previous life. After a quick nce, Long Xuan found that the various textile machines from his previous life were still more advanced, with much faster work efficiency.


    Unfortunately, the ability to transmigrate doesn''t make one omnipotent. He really doesn¡¯t know how to make these things; he wasn¡¯t idly researching such useless things in his previous life, so after transmigrating, he lost an opportunity to show off."Dragon Silkworm Robe isn''t something that can be made in a short time. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me."


    Long Ziyan sat quietly at a stone table, holding an ancient book in her hand.


    Long Xuan casually nced at the book she was reading and found it was written in anothernguage that he couldn''t understand, so he looked away.


    He hesitated for a moment, but finally summoned the courage to ask, "I¡¯d like to ask about the method of refining the Dragon Silkworm Gu. Of course, if it''s not within the scope of inquiry, then just pretend I didn''t say anything."


    He had carefully considered asking for the recipe of the Dragon Silkworm Gu. Although it didn¡¯t seem like something that could be easily taught, the elder had said that he was a key training target of the family, and most of the secrets not passed down could be learned unconditionally.


    He wasn''t sure if this included the Dragon Silkworm Gu recipe, but there was no harm in trying¡ªat worst, he¡¯d just be refused.


    As soon as he finished speaking, a piece of parchment with the Gu recipe flew in front of him. The words "Dragon Silkworm Gu Recipe" were prominently written on it.


    Long Xuan was stunned. Is this for real? Things went too smoothly, making it hard for him to believe. Can he really learn all the Long n''s inheritance without paying any price? Is this the special treatment for a genius in the Lobg family?


    "Dragon Silkworm silk has always been in high demand in the Dragon n. I''m not worried aboutpetition; it''s just that the sess rate of refining the Dragon Silkworm Gu is only one in three thousand. So, I''m the only one in the n who has sessfully refined one."


    "If you want to refine the Dragon Silkworm Gu, be prepared for thousands of failures. Also, consider if you have enough wealth to sustain the massive initial investment. I won¡¯t provide you with any resources for refining Gu."


    "As for a second-Grade Dragon Silkworm Robe, I¡¯ll give you an internal price¡ªjust one million contribution points!"


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan didn¡¯t hesitate to take out his contribution token. With a scan of his mind, he quickly paid one million contribution points, causing his contribution bnce to shrink once more.


    After that, neither of them spoke. Long Ziyan was clearly not talkative and continued reading quietly.


    Long Xuan, sitting across from her, didn¡¯t disturb her again and quietly studied the Dragon Silkworm Gu recipe.


    Of course, he had no intention of refining any Dragon Silkworm Gu. He already had the Dragon Silkworm Robe, and even if it were to be damaged one day, he could always ask his senior sister to make another one. There was no need to refine a Dragon Silkworm Gu himself.


    What he really wanted was to surpass the current limits. By studying the Dragon Silkworm Gu, he intended to create a simr, but far superior, Gu recipe.


    The silk produced by the Dragon Silkworm Gu is good, but it¡¯s far from the best in the world. Among all silkworm-type Gu worms, the Dragon Silkworm Gu''s silk doesn¡¯t even rank at the top.


    So, Long Xuan wasn¡¯t impressed. He wanted to create his own¡ªhe wanted to create the world''s strongest silk. Among all silkworm-type Gu worms, his silk Gu would be the best¡­


    The Gu recipe didn¡¯t contain many ingredients, just about a thousand, making it a high-grade recipe. Long Xuan quickly finished reading it.


    Although there weren¡¯t many words, understanding it was the hard part. Grasping the principles of the Dragon Silkworm Gu¡¯s creation and figuring out the pattern of the recipe would undoubtedly be challenging and time-consuming.


    After who knows how long, he finally had a vague inspiration.


    He wasn¡¯t after a silk Gu with powerfulbat abilities. What he wanted was unique silk¡ªhe wanted to research the world¡¯s strongest silk and create the world''s best silkworm robe to further enhance his survival capabilities.


    However, Long Xuan¡¯s thought process was clearly different from normal people. After seeing the silkworm robes of this world, he noticed that the robes were just normal clothes, leaving the hands and head exposed. Aren¡¯t these the weak spots? Once inbat with an enemy, these unprotected areas be fatal weaknesses.


    He was notorious for being afraid of death, so the first thing that came to his mind was this issue.


    Two weak spots on the upper body, and even worse for the lower body¡ªmost people in this world make only the robe, not the pants, because the lower body doesn¡¯t have vital points and doesn¡¯t require extra defense.


    Even if someone wealthy did make a pair of pants, they would leave the soles of the feet exposed, which is another weakness that opponents could exploit.


    His first thought was whether he could seal off the openings at the bottom of the silkworm pants, but then it seemed to resemble something else, making him feel something wasn¡¯t right.


    Who in this world would think of such a strange problem? Isn¡¯t it normal for clothes to leave the hands and head exposed? Whose clothes aren¡¯t like that? Probably only someone as peculiar as Long Xuan would think this way.


    His thinking has always been different from others, and the first issue he thought of was how to seal the openings in the silkworm robe.


    He immediately dismissed the idea of gloves and socks, as Gu worms could crawl in through the seams. Instead, he thought about making it one-piece.


    But the real challenge was figuring out how to protect the head.


    Completely sealing it off was impossible¡ªit would obstruct breathing, vision, and hearing.


    If he left an opening, the eyes wouldn¡¯t be protected, bing another weakness.


    This gave Long Xuan a headache. How could he protect his eyes with silkworm silk? Achieving 100% coverage of the body was truly a global challenge.


    However, this problem didn¡¯t ultimately stump him. With his amazing creativity, he came up with the idea of breaking the conventional form of silkworm silk, and wondered, what if the silk spun by the silkworms wasn¡¯t in a material form but in an energy form?


    That¡¯s right¡ªLong Xuan was once again nning to defy the conventional wisdom of this world.


    Could there be such a thing as energy-based silkworm silk in this world? A silk robe made from energy-based silk would be invisible to the naked eye, and could even merge with the skin, simr to the soul armor in novels¡ªa non-material form that still provides super high defense.


    If energy-based silkworm silk truly existed in this world, then it could definitely protect the eyes.


    Once the soul armor merges with the skin, the earholes, nostrils, and eyes would no longer be weaknesses. He could achieve full coverage, with no weak spots.


    Moreover, the conventional silkworm robes of this world mainly defend against physical attacks, but his energy-based silkworm robe would be unconventional.


    Not only could it defend against physical attacks, but it would also protect against soul attacks, mental force attacks, sonic attacks, curse attacks, high-temperature attacks...


    Long Xuan''s eyes grew brighter, and his heart more excited. He thought this idea might actually work.


    If this idea could truly be realized, it would be an unprecedented innovation, setting a new historical milestone.


    This would be a groundbreaking invention that would shock the world and leave a significant mark in history books.


    Long Xuan took a deep breath.


    However, to truly achieve this concept, it would require an immense amount of time and effort to craft such a Gu recipe.


    Once the capabilities of the Gu recipe are defined, the difficulty of creation will skyrocket. It¡¯s impossible to predict how long it would take to develop such a Gu recipe. At least within the next two years, he shouldn''t expect sess¡ªjust the thought made Long Xuan feel an impending headache.


    Shortly after this idea formed in his mind, Long Ziyan''s clone finallypleted the custom-made Dragon Silkworm Robe.


    Long Xuan received the robe, expressed his gratitude, and then left without dy.


    Seven days passed in a sh. All the Spirit Gathering stage Gu masters who were preparing to participate in the tomb-raiding operation had gathered at a ce called the Training Ground, which was arge open space with a paved floor tiles all over the ground.


    At this moment, about a hundred people had gathered here, but a full fifty percent of them were at the peak of the Spirit Gathering stage, eager to break through.


    Spirit Gathering stage Gu cultivators were not worth much in the Long family. These hundred people were just a small fraction of the Long family''s Gu cultivators, and even fewerpared to those who participated in previous tomb-raiding operations.


    After all, after the previous tomb raids, most of the valuable items in the tomb had already been taken, and the few remaining treasures were apanied by great risks. Otherwise, they would have been taken long ago.


    Even if someone were lucky enough to find a treasure, seventy percent of it had to be handed over to the family. Coupled with the now well-known dangers of the tomb, even fewer people were willing to participate.


    However, participation in this tomb-raiding operation was entirely voluntary; the n would not force anyone to go.


    Long Xuan arrived just in time. Although tomb raiding was never apletely safe task, he was determined to participate with his main body.


    Because his main body had a "golden finger" that could locate formation bases and break formations, and see hidden mechanisms. With the assistance of this golden finger, he could avoid ny percent of the dangers in the tomb.


    His clone did not have the golden finger to bypass various formations and traps, so it was very likely to be lost in the ancient tomb. Therefore, Long Xuan was notfortable handing this task over to his clone.


    Moreover, without the assistance of the golden finger, the clone might miss out on seemingly insignificant treasures.


    Not everything could be left to the clone; his main body needed to go out and stretch his muscles from time to time. If he always stayed at home, it would indeed bepletely safe, but if his main body never participated in any battles, how would he develop abat mindset for the future?


    "Adversity leads to survival;fort leads to death!"


    This belief was also the reason that drove Long Xuan to personally participate in the tomb raiding.


    As he walked into the Long family''s training ground, he saw the exceptionally conspicuous Long Bao in the crowd. His massive frame stood out like a crane among chickens. Naturally, Long Yan, with whom he had a dispute the other day, was also among them.


    However, at this moment, Long Yan was wearing the treasured Dragon Silkworm Robe, with a confident expression. It was clear that this Dragon Silkworm Robe had given him a great sense of security and filled him with confidence for this journey.


    Long Xuan then shifted his gaze elsewhere, and when he saw a particr figure, his eyes stopped, and he revealed a look of surprise.


    He unexpectedly saw another familiar face¡ªhis senior sister Long Ziyan. It seemed that she was deliberately concealing her identity, standing there with a veil covering her face. However, her unique temperament was too distinctive, and he recognized her at a nce.


    Long Ziyan was a Gu cultivator at the Marrow Cleansing stage, so wasn¡¯t she prohibited from participating in this mission? Wait, no, that was the aura of someone at the peak of the Spirit Gathering stage¡ªthis was her clone. She actually intended to send her clone to participate in this mission.


    But this kind of operation was definitely not allowed. No wonder she was hiding her identity.


    Long Xuan was shocked. He knew that Long Ziyan only had one second-grade Dragon Silkworm Robe, and she had already given it to him. Wouldn''t that make her participation in this mission even more dangerous? The favor from a beauty is indeed the hardest to repay. He made a mental note of this debt and hoped that nothing bad would happen to Long Ziyan in the tomb.


    Just as Long Xuan was lost in thought, arge hand suddenly pped heavily on his shoulder, startling him.


    "What are you doing here? Are you looking to die?" Long Qilin''srge face moved close, ring at him as he spoke.


    Long Xuan patted his chest, trying to calm his racing heart, and red back at him. "Couldn''t you have approached from the front? Don''t worry, we''ve been in a team before, so you know my character. Do you think I would take a risk if I wasn''t absolutely confident?"


    Long Qilin was taken aback and then remembered how cautious Long Xuan was, even giving several additional strikes when killing a spirit beast, so he was fully convinced of Long Xuan''s careful nature.


    "I''m confident in your character, but many dangers happen suddenly. If the heavens decide to take you, no amount of caution will help."


    "Since you''re determined to go, I won''t try to stop you. Just remember to stick close to your senior sister. Her true cultivation level is in the Marrow Cleansing stage, and herbat power is capable of instantly killing anyone in the tomb. With her there, you should be safe."


    "Since you''re already going, could you do me a small favor? In the Empress''s Herb Garden, there''s some mid-grade spiritual soil. If it''s convenient, could you dig some up for me?"


    "There are currently two transformation paths for Earth Master. I believe the path of consuming spiritual soil is the stronger one."


    "Of course, if it''s too dangerous, then forget it. Safety is the priority. I won''t force you."


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan stared nkly at him. He suspected that this was what Long Qilin really wanted to say, and everything before was just a lead-up.


    Otherwise, why would a Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivatore here when he couldn''t participate in the mission? His cultivation level doesn''t allow him to join the task.


    "Alright, if it''s just a small task, I''ll bring some spiritual soil back for you. But I''m not making any promises, so don''t get your hopes up."


    "Of course, be careful. Remember, you all will be tomb raiding at night. The Seven Great ns will join forces and act together, and you only have half a day. Once dawn breaks, you must leave. If you''re slow, it will be very difficult to get out."


    "The Array Formation in that ancient tomb is special. It can harness the sun''s energy to unleash limitless power. During the day, the danger level of the tomb is more than thirty times higher than at night."


    "Once the sun rises, those who haven''t managed to get out of the tomb are almost certainly doomed. This conclusion was drawn from the blood-soaked experiences of the previous five tomb-raiding missions."


    Long Xuan nodded, taking Long Qilin''s words to heart.


    He had no desire to find out what happens in the tomb during the day, nor did he want to know. He just intended to listen, follow orders, and get out in time.


    Since Long Qilin was a Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivator and couldn''t participate in the mission, he didn''t stay long. After giving a few more reminders about the details of the ancient tomb, he finally left.

 Chapter 91: (1): Goodbye Long Lie

    Long Xuan stood there, lost in thought. There was actually a terrifying formation inside the tomb that amplified the power of sunlight thirtyfold during the day. This truly broadened his horizons. Sunlight is indeed a form of energy¡ªcould it be that the people of this world already knew how to harness sr power?


    The fact that someone could incorporate sr energy into a formation was truly an ingenious idea. Who would have thought that someone had already beaten him to such a brilliant concept? He wondered if anyone wouldpete with him inbining formations with wind energy, gravitational potential energy, hydropower, geothermal energy, or even nuclear energy.


    Just as Long Xuan was deep in thought, arge hand suddenly pped heavily on his shoulder again.


    Long Xuan was startled once more, his heart almost leaping out of his chest. This time, he was so engrossed in his thoughts that he was nearly scared out of his wits.


    Soon, arge face leaned in from behind, ring at him, "Finally found you, kid! Are you looking to die? How dare you take on such a dangerous task? Do you have a death wish?"


    Long Xuan turned his head to look at the face¡ªit was yet another familiar figure, his long-lost rtive Long Lie, someone who shared the closest blood ties with him.


    Long Xuan patted his startled heart repeatedly. My goodness, do people in this world all like to sneak up on others from behind? When he''s in the ancient tomb, he better hope no one sneaks up on him from behind. Scaring people like this could really kill someone.


    Long Xuan red at Long Lie and said, "Because I want to contribute to the n. I want to sacrifice my life for the family, to shed blood andy down my life for the family. Is that not allowed?"


    Of course, all these words were just nonsense. Although they sounded grand and righteous, no one would probably believe them.Long Lie looked at him deeply, sniffing wildly at his shoulder.


    Long Xuan knew exactly what he was sniffing for. He had learned his lesson before¡ªno way would he let it happen a second time.


    This time, he ensured that Long Lie wouldn''t catch a whiff of alcohol on him.


    The smell is hard topletely eliminate, and Long Xuan had no other option. Does he have to take ten baths every time he goes out? Even if he did, it still wouldn''t be a foolproof solution.


    So, he came up with a clumsy idea: to keep his spiritual armor on at all times when going out, trapping the scent inside.


    Although having spiritual energy cover his entire body would increase consumption, he had the Ten Absolute Body Physique, and his spiritual energy was abundant. He had the capital to squander it freely.


    Besides, keeping the spiritual armor on at all times not only prevents the scent from spreading but also effectively guards against other dangers.


    There are many methods in this world that can kill without a trace. Even Long Xuan couldn''t guarantee that he could see through all the world''s insidious tricks.


    Being cautious is never a bad thing for him.


    After sniffing around Long Xuan for a long time without catching a scent of alcohol, Long Lie finally realized why.


    Long Xuan, this kid, actually kept his spiritual armor on even in such a safe ce as the family grounds. Long Lie was genuinely shocked¡ªwas his spiritual energy limitless, that he dared to waste it like this?


    "Seriously, kid? As long as you bathe daily, very few people in this world could smell the alcohol on you."


    "I can guarantee that I''m the only one in the entire n with such a keen nose. You don''t need to be so cautious. Even the old ancestor wouldn''t catch a whiff of alcohol on you."


    Long Lie leaned in close, whispering in Long Xuan''s ear.


    Of course, Long Xuan wasn''t moved by his words. Even if he wasn''t refining the wine Gu, he decided to maintain this habit¡ªbetter safe than sorry.


    "What are you doing here? With your level, you can''t possibly be participating in this mission, right?"


    Since he knew Long Lie was his uncle, Long Xuan spoke much more casually, addressing him as "you" instead of calling him an elder.


    "I broke through the Spiritual Sea Stage a long time ago. I''m leading this mission, so of course, I''m here."


    "Don''t tell me, kid, you don''t even know who the leader of this mission is?"


    "You don''t even know the situation, yet you dare to participate in this tomb-raiding mission? You sure have guts."


    Long Lie''s eyes widened. The fact that Long Xuan didn''t even know who the mission leader was indicated how little information he had gathered. To dare blindly follow along with a tomb raid without understanding anything? That takes some serious nerve.


    Long Lie couldn''t help but show concern, doubting the safety of Long Xuan''s trip.


    He looked serious, gazing at Long Xuan intently, "There''s not much time left, so I''ll just give you two pieces of advice. First, make sure you get out before dawn on the second day. You only have half a day to loot treasures¡ªdon''t ask why."


    "Second, stay away from the geniuses of the major ns who are Gu Masters. Peak-grade Gu insects are extremely rare in proportion; the world of rogue cultivators might not even have one, and there are only a few rogue across the hundreds of Gu cultivator families in the Far West. But the top seven ns in the Far West have a lot of them."


    "Among the geniuses from the major ns heading to the tomb this time, there''s guaranteed to be someone carrying peak-grade Gu insects¡ªthis is 100% certain, and there might even be more than one."


    "If you encounter a genius from a major n who is a Gu Master, make sure you stay far away. Got it?"


    "Forget it! You probably don''t even know who the geniuses of the major ns are, what they look like, or who to avoid. You''re doomed, kid!"


    Long Lie couldn''t help but p his forehead, feeling like his nephew was beyond saving¡ªhe might as well start preparing hisst will.


    "Whatever. I''ll just remind you of one thing: when you enter the tomb, stick close behind your senior sister. With her around, you should be perfectly safe."


    In the end, Long Lie gave the same advice as Long Qilin, showing just how much both of them trusted Long Ziyan''s personalbat abilities.


    "Oh, and that wine you gave mest time¡ªgive me some more. Don''t get me wrong! I don''t want to drink it; that wine is best for refining Gu. Drinking it would be a waste."


    "Just give me the spicy wine. I''m going to refine a wine Gu. I''ll trade you some peak-grade spiritual insects for it."


    Long Xuan stared at him in disbelief.


    Didn''t he say there wasn''t much time left? If time was running out, why was he asking for wine?


    Why did it feel like that was the real reason Long Lie came to find him, and everything before that was just a pretext?


    However, Long Xuan was indeed interested in the peak-grade spiritual insects Long Lie mentioned, but this wasn''t the right ce for a transaction.


    So, Long Xuan said, "Didn''t you say there wasn''t much time left? If there isn''t much time, why are you still standing here?"


    This time, it was Long Lie''s turn to be taken aback.


    "Alright! There really isn''t much time left."


    Long Lie nced at the sky, his expression turning serious as he finally walked away toward the front of the field. As the leader of this mission, he didn''t give any opening speech. Instead, he directly took out a dragon-headed dragon boat from his storage bag and ced it on the ground.


    The dragon boat gradually expanded until it could amodate a hundred people, then it stopped growing.


    Long Lie waved his hand, shouting for everyone to board the ship, then he leaped onto the bow. Apanying him were two enforcers at the Marrow Cleansing Stage, dressed in ck robes embroidered with three-wed divine dragons. These two seemed to be there to supervise the tomb raiders on the boat.


    The rest of the group also eagerly climbed aboard, taking their seats with great excitement.


    Boat-type spiritual artifacts are extremely rare, each worth a fortune, and very difficult to acquire.

 Chapter 91: (2): Goodbye Long Lie

    Moreover, this dragon boat, which can freely change its size, is of inestimable value. It was crafted by the most renowned artifact master of the time, with thebined efforts of the entire Long n. This is a supreme spiritual weapon, the n''s treasure that safeguards the family. Its flying speed is incredibly fast, and when controlled by a Gu cultivator at the Spirit Sea stage, it can reach speedsparable to a Gu King.


    This kind of peak-grade spiritual artifact is not something you can see every day, let alone ride. Today, having the chance to travel on such a great artifact, everyone is visibly excited.


    Even Long Xuan was no exception. He eagerly explored the dragon boat, looking around with great interest.


    Shouldn''t everything abide by thew of conservation of mass? How on earth does this boat mysteriously growrger? He was puzzled and increasingly intrigued.


    His passion is research. In his past life, he was a research fanatic, and any novel phenomenon would captivate his interest.


    He was just curious about what kind of energy should be used in formations, and now he''s be fascinated by spiritual artifacts as well. His interests are indeed many and varied, almost too much to handle.


    After jumping aboard, Long Xuan directly sat at the stern of the boat and instinctively nced behind him. This time, no one would be patting him on the shoulder, right? If there were someone behind the stern, they could only be a ghost.


    At that moment, a fragrant breeze wafted by, and Long Ziyan sat down beside him.


    A person who enjoys peace and quiet usually likes to sit in the corner, so her choosing to sit here was no coincidence.After sitting down, she said nothing, quietly reading a book.


    Long Xuan nced at her book and realized it was the same one she had been reading in the silkworm chamber. The characters were strange, and he couldn¡¯t understand them at all.


    However, Long Xuan knew from his clone''s memories what these characters were. They were divine script, anguage belonging to the gods.


    He didn''t expect this senior sister to be a theology enthusiast, proficient in divine script, which surprised him.


    It''s important to know that this world has many myths and mythological relics, different from the previous world where myths were fabricated. Here, mythological stories are likely to have truly happened.


    So mastering divine script is extremely useful. Long Xuan had just developed an interest in spiritual artifacts, and now he was also very intrigued by divine script.


    He decided that when he had time, he would have his clone study divine script. It''s always beneficial to have more skills, and mastering thisnguage would surely benefit his future. Who knows, maybe one day a mythological relic would emerge, and it could be a great help to him.


    Once everyone was seated, the dragon boat finally started, slowly rising for reasons unknown, and then flew off into the distance.


    The dragon boat was very fast; it only took a day to reach their destination. By then, it was already dusk, and the sun was about to set.


    They arrived just in time, as entering this deadly tomb was only advisable after sunset. Even if they had arrived earlier, it would have been pointless¡ªthey would just have had to sit around and wait.


    By this time, arge group of Gu cultivators had already gathered here. This was a joint tomb-raiding operation by the seven major ns, with each family sending about a hundred people, totaling around seven hundred. The numbers were indeedrge.


    The Long n was thest to arrive; the other six n families were already present. Only the Long n was missing.


    The sudden appearance of the dragon boat in the sky caught the attention of everyone present.


    As the dragon boat slowly descended, several people immediately came forward to greet them.


    ¡°You Long n sure took your sweet time. Everyone¡¯s been waiting for you. So it was you leading the team? No wonder! Did you drink yourself into a stupor again? Wasn¡¯t it you who slept for three days at the Qian n restaurantst time?¡±


    As soon as the Long n members disembarked, someone beside them made a sarcastic remark.


    Long Xuan looked towards the source of the voice and saw a figure dressed in red with a phoenix embroidered on it, emanating the aura of a Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivator. He suddenly understood. He had heard that the Long n and the Feng n were arch-enemies, always at odds wherever they went. Now it seemed to be true.


    Hearing someone mock him like this, Long Lie became furious on the spot and roared, ¡°You''re talking nonsense! Which eye of yours saw me drinking? Obviously, the Long family is the furthest from here! I¡¯ve flown all the way here, how much faster do you want me to be?¡±


    ¡°Besides, did I make you wait for me? You can go down to the tomb right now! You don''t need to wait for me! I have no objections!¡±


    Feng Yu nced at the sun, which had not yet fully set, and dared not go down yet. Going down now would be courting death.


    ¡°Alright, everyone calm down. The tomb entrance time must be after the sun haspletely set. It doesn¡¯t matter whether you arrive early orte.¡±


    At this moment, a Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivator from the Shi family stepped forward to mediate.


    Long Xuan looked and realized it was someone he knew¡ªwasn''t it Shi Jian, who had forced rogue cultivators to fight against the beast tidest time? When he saw himst, he was only at the peak of the Marrow Cleansing stage, and now, after a few years, he had transformed into a Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivator.


    As expected of a major n¡¯s Gu cultivator, his cultivation speed was indeed fast.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect that after a few years, you¡¯ve also reached the Spiritual Sea stage. Congrattions! Did they assign you to this mission just after you broke through?¡± Shi Jian walked towards Long Lie,ughing.


    ¡°There''s no other way; I''m a neer, so they said it was to train the newbies. Otherwise, I wouldn''t bother with this errand.¡± Long Lie smiled wryly.


    He suddenly looked at Feng Yu and loudly said, ¡°Last time we bet on who would reach the Spiritual Sea stage first, you cheated and won an excellent Gu insect from me. How about we bet again this time? Let''s bet on who will get the most spoils from this tomb raid. Do you dare to ept my bet?¡±


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan''s eyelids twitched. Long Lie was really cunning; he was clearly setting a trap for Feng Yu.


    Because in thest few tomb raids, the losses had been too heavy, so the various ns had jointly decided that only Spirit Gathering stage Gu cultivators could enter the tomb.


    But the Long n yed dirty, sneaking in a Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivator''s clone. Who could outy the Long n in such a bet?


    Even though it was only a clone of a Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivator, its real realm was actually Spirit Gathering stage.


    However, such loopholes would surely not be allowed. Otherwise, what if other families sent in a Gu King''s clone? Even if that Gu King clone was only at the peak of the Spirit Gathering stage, itsbat power would be worlds apart from an ordinary Spirit Gathering stage Gu cultivator. Once a Gu King''s clone entered, it would be like a tiger entering a flock of sheep, with no one able to stop it.


    Whoever epted this bet would be unlucky. Now, it was just a matter of whether Feng Yu would fall for it. Long Xuan looked at Feng Yu, thinking there was a high probability he would.


    Because this was a provocation. If you didn¡¯t ept the bet, it would seem like you were afraid of him. This concerned face, and more importantly, the face of the entire n. If you dared to back down at this moment, wouldn¡¯t you be ridiculed by everyone present and called a coward?


    If it were Long Xuan, he could thicken his skin and endure it, but if it were someone else, that might not be the case.


    If the other Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators leading the other families couldn¡¯t resist joining the bet, wouldn¡¯t Long Lie be making a huge profit?


    Wait, Long Xuan suddenly thought, if the Long n could sneak in a Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivator, why couldn¡¯t the other ns? What if the other families had the same idea?


    This bet was risky.


    He quickly covered his forehead with his hand and looked towards the camps of the other n families...

 Chapter 92: (1): Peak-grade Silkworm-Type Spiritual Insect

    Under his gaze, nothing could be hidden from his eyes. Soon, he noticed something strange about a young man from the Lei n¡¯s camp.


    This young man was clearly not very old, with a youthful appearance. As a genius Gu cultivator from a prestigious n, he had just reached the peak of the Spirit Gathering stage. How could his age be that advanced?


    Yet, the progress bar above his head astonishingly disyed¡¾91.7381%¡¿


    Long Xuan was shocked.


    How could this young man be so close to death? He looked so young on the outside, yet his lifespan was nearly exhausted.


    This situation quickly led Long Xuan to a possible exnation. It was known that any Gu King had one opportunity for taking over another''s body, but the lifespan would not increase because of it.


    If that Lei n Gu cultivator had been possessed by an old monster, the disyed progress would naturally be the remaining lifespan of that old monster. This would exin everything.


    In other words, that young man was a Gu King, a wolf about to mingle among the sheep.


    Damn, the Lei n was ying dirty.Long Xuan¡¯s pupils immediately contracted.


    He looked again at the other ns'' Gu cultivators, and his pupils contracted once more.


    In both the Feng n and the Gu n, one person each had a progress bar showing four decimal ces¡ªsomething only possible for those with over a thousand years of lifespan.


    A mere Spirit Gathering stage Gu cultivator, yet possessing over a thousand years of lifespan¡ªwho were they trying to fool?


    The lifespan of a Spirit Gathering stage Gu cultivator was no different from that of an ordinary person. A Gu cultivator in the Marrow Cleansing stage had a lifespan of 200 years, and in the Spiritual Sea stage, it was 400 to 500 years. Only a Gu King could surpass a thousand years.


    Good heavens, there were only a few people here, yet three of them were Gu Kings.


    Long Xuan hurriedly tugged on Long Lie¡¯s sleeve.


    ¡°Stop fooling around!¡±


    Long Lie shook off his sleeve, releasing Long Xuan¡¯s hand.


    At that moment, Feng Yu¡¯s loudughter echoed, ¡°Hahaha¡­ Why wouldn¡¯t I dare? Whoever doesn¡¯t dare to bet is a coward! I¡¯ve never lost a bet, so why would I fear you?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll bet with you! Just likest time! We¡¯ll wager a high-grade Gu insect!¡±


    ¡°But this time, the high-grade Gu insect has to be different. Last time, we bet on a spiritual Gu that had only undergone one evolution.¡±


    ¡°Now that we¡¯ve both reached the Spiritual Sea stage, our bet must naturally be on a rare Gu that has undergone two evolution!¡±


    ¡°Do you dare to ept my bet?¡±


    Long Lie¡¯sughter followed, ¡°Hahaha¡­ Why wouldn¡¯t I dare? It¡¯s just a mere rare Gu. If it weren¡¯t for the fear of you reneging on the bet, I¡¯d double it!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll bet with you. Long Xuan! Why are you pulling me? Don¡¯t hold me back from striking it rich!¡±


    Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but p his forehead. This was it¡ªthe end of the Qing dynasty!


    Long Xuan felt exhausted. This brilliant fool still wanted to double the bet. If he knew that the Lei n had a reborn Gu King, and both the Gu n and the Feng n had Gu King clone, who knows what he¡¯d think?


    His guess hade true. Many people had indeed thought the same as the Long n, nning to cheat in various ways to maximize their gains. Clearly, one should never underestimate the cleverness of people in this world.


    But that wasn¡¯t the end. The greedy Long Lie then turned to the other n¡¯s leading Gu cultivators andughed, ¡°You¡¯ve seen the bet I¡¯ve made. Do you dare to join us in a round?¡±


    ¡°Whichever family brings out the most valuable treasure from the tomb can take all the high-grade rare Gu insects on the table.¡±


    ¡°This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get rich overnight! Don¡¯t miss out,¡± Long Lie coaxed in a tempting voice.


    Long Lie¡¯s greed was insatiable. Winning one high-grade rare Gu wasn¡¯t enough; he wanted to take everything, aiming at everyone¡¯s heads.


    The Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators from the other ns were all taken aback. Originally, this was a conflict between two people and had nothing to do with them, but Long Lie had used the word ¡°dare¡± to challenge them.


    If they didn¡¯t dare, wouldn¡¯t they be ridiculed? After all, they were Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators, and as powerful individuals, they cared greatly about their reputation. Moreover, with so many people present, how could they let their prestige falter?


    The key was that the winner would get all the high-grade rare Gu insects on the table¡ªa temptation too great to resist.


    The winner wouldn¡¯t just gain wealth overnight; they¡¯d soar to new heights. With a handful of high-grade Gu insects, who could stand against them? Whoever swept the board today would likely be an unrivaled force in the region.


    The allure was so immense that many Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators began breathing heavily, their eyes filled with greed.


    ¡°I¡¯ll bet! Who¡¯s afraid of whom? Anyone who doesn¡¯t bet is a dog!¡±


    Finally, the Lei n¡¯s Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivator couldn¡¯t resist the temptation and took out a high-grade rare Gu from his Gu pouch. He immediately severed the blood contract and joined the bet.


    Everyone¡¯s faces darkened. If anyone didn¡¯t participate in the bet today, would that mean they were a dog?


    He did it on purpose! That statement was definitely on purpose, forcing more people to join the bet so he could make a bigger profit.


    ¡°Hmph! You talk as if victory is guaranteed! Do you really think you can secure the win? Be careful not to bite off more than you can chew!¡±


    The Gu n¡¯s Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivator gave him an unhappy look and then added, ¡°It¡¯s just a rare Gu, right? I¡¯ll bet too! Whoever doesn¡¯t bet will be cursed with no descendants!¡±


    Everyone¡¯s faces darkened again. What had they done to deserve this?


    ¡°Such arrogance! If you¡¯re going to put it that way, then I have no choice but to bet. Count me in. Anyone who doesn¡¯t bet will get cheated on!¡±


    Shi Jian finally joined the fray, his face pale with anger.


    Long Xuan waspletely dumbfounded at this point. Were they just stacking buffs on each other?


    And the worst part was that their statements were all curses. Couldn¡¯t they limit this to the Spiritual Sea stage and spare us poor Spirit Gathering stage Gu cultivators? These buffs were too brutal.


    Getting cheated on? He was genuinely afraid of that! Shi Jian was just too ruthless.


    Finally, under Long Lie¡¯s clever maniption, one Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivator after another joined the bet, making Long Lie grin from ear to ear.


    Even those Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators who weren¡¯t confident in their n¡¯s talents had no choice but to join the bet under the pressure of the others¡¯ words.


    In the end, seven high-grade rare Gu insects were ced on the table, making everyone¡¯s eyes turn red with greed.


    Finally, each Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivator severed their blood contract with their precious Gu insects, cast spells to put them to sleep, and ced them in arge Gu pouch that was tossed onto the table.


    The final winner could take the entire Gu pouch and its contents¡ªa simple and direct arrangement.


    Many were full of confidence, kissing their precious Gu insects before sending them into the pouch, iming they¡¯d bring them hometer. But who knew if this would be their final farewell?


    There could only be one winner, no matter how confident they were.


    Long Xuan was helpless. This brilliant rtive of his just couldn¡¯t stay out of trouble, creating such a massive bet.


    If they lost, they¡¯d lose a key asset, a blow that would be hard to recover from. But if they won, they¡¯d rise to prominence, with theirbat strength soaring several times over, enough to be a top-ranked power in the region, with a well-known reputation.


    However, the bet didn¡¯t stop there. His brilliant cousin had cleverly roped everyone into it, cing seven high-grade rare Gu insects on the table¡ªa fortune so immense it was bound to make anyone envious.


    If his senior sister performed exceptionally well and managed to win the bet under the pressure of several Gu Kings, could he truly take away such a massive fortune peacefully?


    It was possible that everyone would honor the bet and let him take it safely, but there was also the chance of an unexpected event¡ªperhaps someone would grow envious and ambush him midway, or even start a conflict on the spot. Who could say for sure?


    Long Lie had just broken through to the Spiritual Sea stage and was still a novice, while the others were mostly in the mid-Spiritual Sea stage, far more powerful than he was.


    If they could crush him with their strength and take the treasure without any risk, wouldn¡¯t it be normal for them to ambush him?


    Though the bet had nothing to do with Long Xuan, it could easily affect him. If someone grew greedy and decided to target Long Lie, he would inevitably be dragged in as well, potentially being killed to silence witnesses. There were a hundred people on the boat¡ªnone of them would be left alive.


    With these thoughts, Long Xuan broke into a cold sweat. Such a scenario was entirely possible, and he had to think of a way to break the situation in advance.


    He knew it. He knew that getting involved with such a ''bad'' rtive would only lead to disaster. Long Lie was definitely trouble, and it seemed he¡¯d be busy in the future


    It seems there''s a reason why this branch of the family has so few members¡ªthey inherited the self-destructive gene. Long Xuan looked at the smug Long Lie and thought helplessly.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 92: (2): Peak-grade Silkworm-Type Spiritual Insect

    ¡°Long Xuan, I noticed you seemed very interested in that peak-grade spirit silkworm earlier. Once I get my hands on the Insect Nurturing bag tomorrow morning, I¡¯ll give you that prak-grade spirit silkworm as a deposit for the spirit wine!¡±


    Long Lie hadn¡¯t yet noticed the change in Long Xuan¡¯s expression and leaned in excitedly as he spoke.


    Notice what he said¡ªin his words, he already considered the Insect Nurturing bag as his. It¡¯s unclear where he got such confidence.


    However, when Long Lie mentioned the peak-grade spirit silkworm, it did make Long Xuan''s eyes light up.


    It¡¯s important to understand that different types of Gu insects have different values.


    Although all the Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators had taken out high-quality rare Gu, their values were certainly not the same. Some were worth much more, and some much less; it was quite normal for the difference to be several times.


    As a result, wouldn¡¯t those Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators who brought out better Gu species suffer a loss?


    Therefore, those who presented low-value Gu species would certainly have topensate, and the peak-grade spirit silkworm was one of thosepensations that immediately caught Long Xuan¡¯s eye and greatly tempted him.


    However, to obtain this peak-grade spirit silkworm, he would have to help Long Lie win this bet. Yet, pulling teeth from the mouths of several Gu Kings was no easy task, and he wasn¡¯t confident about it.This sort of thing, He couldn¡¯t solely rely on his senior sister; the chances of winning wouldn¡¯t be high. No matter how many trump cards she had, could they really be stronger than a Gu King?


    The most important issue was the aftermath. Even if they won the bet, could they safely take the Insect Nurturing bag away?


    It was another test of his intelligence.


    His sharp mind began to operate at high speed, frantically searching for a way to break the situation.


    ¡°Do you have a Image recording Gu?¡± Long Xuan suddenly asked Long Lie.


    Long Lie was taken aback and looked at him with confusion, asking, ¡°What do you need that Gu insect for? It has nobat power at all. Considering our blood rtion, I can lend you a high-grade Gu insect for self-defense!¡±


    ¡°No need to ask. If you have it, lend it to me. There¡¯s no time to exin; time is running out,¡± Long Xuan said in a very serious tone.


    Long Lie instinctively nced at the sun and noticed that it was already about to dip behind the mountains, with only one-fifth of it still radiating light.


    After all themotion earlier, time had unknowingly slipped away, and in the blink of an eye, it was already time to descend into the tomb.


    ¡°It really isn¡¯t early anymore!¡±


    Long Lie showed an excited expression, pulled out a green Gu insect withrge eyes from his Insect Nurturing bag, and sneakily handed it to Long Xuan.


    ¡°Remember! You must follow closely behind your senior sister; she¡¯s the only one who can help you.¡± Long Lie once again leaned in close to his ear, repeatedly reminding him.


    Just as the two were whispering, Feng Yu shouted loudly, ¡°The auspicious time hase; descend into the tomb!¡±


    As soon as he finished speaking, a group of Feng family Gu cultivators rushed into the huge Tomb''s tunnel in the center of the venue. In no time, the more than a hundred Feng n members had all disappeared, bing the first group to enter the tomb.


    Although the sun had not yet fully set, this ancient tomb was buried deep, and the tunnel was long. By the time the Feng family¡¯s Gu cultivators reached their destination, it would be nearly dark.


    Seeing the Feng family had already gone in, the other ns didn¡¯t dare to waste time. At themand of their leading Gu cultivators, all the Spirit Gathering phase Gu cultivators present entered the tunnel in single file, surging into the Tomb¡¯s tunnel like a tide.


    When ites to tomb robbing, being the first in doesn¡¯t necessarily give you the greatest advantage, so the various ns didn¡¯t scramble for position. Only the Feng family was in a hurry, rushing in first, though it wasn¡¯t clear why they were so eager.


    Long Xuan mingled with the crowd, positioning himself in the middle as they walked into the robbers¡¯ tunnel.


    He didn¡¯t obediently follow behind his senior sister. What¡¯s the point of relying on a woman for protection as a grown man?


    Of course, the real reason was that Long Ziyan was on a different path from him. She had long since broken through the Marrow cleansing stage, so collecting Spirit Surge Grass would never be her goal.


    Since their paths differed, there was no need for him to shamelessly follow her.


    The Tomb''s tunnel sloped downward, with a gradient slightly less steep than forty-five degrees, and was wide enough for three people to walk side by side.


    People all around were holding torches, so the tunnel didn¡¯t seem dark.


    The tunnel was long, and Long Xuan didn¡¯t know how long he had walked before finally arriving in a huge underground cavern.


    There were many forks here, and each fork led to an unknown depth.


    ording to the map, he had already learned about the terrain here. The Empress¡¯s tomb was built inside a huge underground cavern.


    There were caves everywhere, countless forks, and dense openings leading intoplex passageways. This was a natural giant maze, and once someone got lost here, they would easily lose their way and eventually die trapped inside.


    This was the Empress¡¯s tomb¡¯s natural protectiveyer and the first line of defense for the ancient tomb. Many people might never find the Empress¡¯s tomb and would get lost here.


    Each n had thrown countless people into this giant maze before finally figuring out a few correct paths leading to the ancient tomb and mapping them out.


    However, each n was highly secretive, never sharing the information they had.


    So, each n¡¯s map was different, and the paths they chose to reach the ancient tomb were also different.


    Some ns had mapped out longer routes, while others had found shorter ones.


    Even though there were countless tunnels here, with multiple paths leading to the ancient tomb, the level of danger and distance varied. Without sharing information, no one knew which n¡¯s map had the optimal route, and they could only blindly trust their own maps.


    It was here that the more than seven hundred Gu cultivators began to split off, each following their own map and entering different tunnels.


    The number of people around Long Xuan started to dwindle, and it didn¡¯t take long before only about a hundred people were left by his side.


    Long Xuan continued to study the map while observing hispanions.


    With the Eye Of Heaven, Long Xuan quickly scanned the maps of the various ns and found that the map drawn by the Long n was rtively detailed, marking many paths to the ancient tomb, including water routes, and noting the dangers that might be encountered along some sections.


    The path he had chosen was the shortest route to the Herb Garden, although most of the Long n¡¯s Gu cultivators had no intention of heading to the dangerous Herb Garden.


    Some were nning to head to the Burial Pit, others to the Alchemy Room, and some daredevils even intended to go to the Bedchamber, so they had chosen different paths.


    At this point, the Gu cultivators still traveling with him were likely headed for the Herb Garden as well, with an eighty percent chance their target was the same.


    This group included not only Long n Gu cultivators but also Gu cultivators from other ns, including the Clone of that Gu King from the Gu n, which made Long Xuan''s pupils contract.


    ording to the intelligence he had gathered, besides the Bedchamber that housed the coffin, the Herb Garden was the most dangerous ce in the ancient tomb.


    He hadn¡¯t expected so many people to choose the Herb Garden. They were really brave; many clearly weren¡¯t afraid of death.


    However, when Long Xuan saw that most of the Gu cultivators traveling with him were already elderly, with graying hair and advanced age, he understood.


    These aging Spirit Gathering peak Gu cultivators didn¡¯t have much lifespan left. Instead of dying of old age in a few years, they preferred to take a gamble here.


    If they were lucky enough to gather Spirit Surge Grass, they would have a chance to break through to the Marrow cleansing stage, doubling their lifespan. Even if they failed, they would only die a few years early. With this mindset, many Spirit Gathering stage Gu cultivators nearing the end of their lifespan would willingly take the risk here.


    There were also some younger people who were bold and reckless, like Long Bao and Long Yan, who happened to be on the same path as him. Who gave them the courage to dare to enter the Herb Garden? They really weren¡¯t afraid of death.


    ¡°Why are you following me? Everywhere I go, you follow!¡±


    ¡°Who¡¯s following you? I want to ask you why you¡¯re always blocking my view. Don¡¯t you know you¡¯re in the way?¡±


    ¡­


    As expected, those two clowns started bickering again, making Long Xuan shake his head.


    He stopped paying attention to them and focused on his surroundings, alert for any potential danger.


    Long Xuan was curious about whether they would encounter ghosts or zombies in a tomb raid in this world. This world had those who controlled insects, beasts, puppets, ghosts, and even zombies¡­


    Since this world had professions that controlled ghosts and zombies, it was certain that ghosts and zombies existed.


    But since the tomb owner was a Gu cultivator who specialized in controlling insects, the dangers in the tomb would likelye from insects and Gu, and the chances of encountering ghosts and zombies were unlikely.


    Just as Long Xuan was thinking this in his heart, perhaps his wishfull thinkinging true, suddenly a blood-red earthworm with serrated teeth emerged from the ground, swallowed a Gu cultivator into its mouth, and quickly sank into the ground and disappeared.


    Only the terrifying screams were left, echoing in the cave for a long time.


    The sudden change made everyone''s face turn pale. They all looked at the ground with vignt eyes, their expressions were extremely nervous.


    "Damn it! It''s actually a bloodworm! Wasn''t this thing not supposed to be here? How did it get here?!"


    "Idiot! This is a living creature, and it can move. The bloodworm can appear at any location. Don''t trust the map blindly!"


    "This is a big problem. The bloodworms burrow into the soil silently. No one can detect where they are. This thing is really hard to guard against."


    ......................................................................


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 Chapter 93: (1): Entering the Herb Garden

    The crowd was in chaos, as bloodworms could emerge from any spot on the ground at any moment, swallowing unsuspecting people whole.


    No one could see what was beneath the surface, and facing such a murderous creature, it seemed impossible to find a solution.


    Among the crowd, only Long Xuan remained calm, his expression unchanged and showing no signs of panic.


    In his vision, a few sets of numbers moved back and forth underground, which undoubtedly indicated the progress of the bloodworms.


    The terrifying thing about bloodworms is their unpredictability and the difficulty in defending against them. Their actualbat strength may not be that formidable.


    Since he could see the exact position of the bloodworms, they were no longer something to fear for him.


    These bloodworms posed no threat to him, so naturally, he remained calm and unflustered.


    At this moment, a few more people were dragged underground by the bloodworms, their screams echoing endlessly.


    Some were quick to react, cutting off a small section of the bloodworm''s body. But with worms, cutting them into two pieces doesn''t kill them.In fact, it might even create two worms, effectively making a separate entity, which would be even more troublesome.


    Facing this situation, the crowd could only passively defend themselves, helplessly watching as one Gu cultivator after another was mercilessly dragged underground.


    At this point, Long Bao and Long Yan stopped quarreling, their faces changing color as they took out huge Earth-Master Gu from their insect-rearing pouches and ced them on the ground before jumping onto their backs.


    These two Earth-Master were d in thick, heavy armor, resembling solid lumps of iron¡ªessentially, they were steel behemoths.


    The bloodworms could not possibly swallow suchrge lumps of iron whole, making this method an effective way to avoid a bloodworm''s ambush.


    Long Xuan nced at them, understanding in his heart. He finally realized where they got the courage toe here. Their confidencey in these two Earth-Masters.


    The armor on these Earth-Masters wasn''t made from ordinary iron but from spiritual weapons, specifically crafted for them. The heavy armor was covered in intricate runes.


    This was exactly the second evolution n mentioned in the Gu techniques, but arming the Earth-Master with spiritual weapons came at a significant cost.


    No doubt, the defense of these two Earth-Master was at a monstrous level.


    If the bloodworms dared to swallow such a thing, they would undoubtedly break their teeth.


    The medicinal garden was perilous, and if Long Xuan guessed correctly, they nned to rely on the Earth-Masters defense to forcibly retrieve herb from the garden''s dangers.


    He was still unclear about the situation in the herb garden and didn''t know if their n would work.


    The two rode their Earth-Master recklessly through the cave, forcing others to dodge, and then followed behind them, running wildly.


    Facing the unsolvable bloodworms, they had no choice but to run through this area as fast as they could.


    Perhaps some people could deal with the bloodworms, but they would not easily take action. For instance, Long Xuan¡ªhow could he possibly reveal that he had the ability to see through things?


    The Gu King¡¯s clone from the Gu n surely had a way to deal with the bloodworms, as he remained calm throughout, undoubtedly holding a trump card.


    But he was eager for more people to die so that fewer wouldpete with him for treasurester on. Why would he expose his trump card to save others?


    Many in the group shared the same mindset; though they had trump cards, they didn''t use them. They just kept running, allowing the bloodworms to devour those behind them, resulting in heavy casualties.


    After the Gu King¡¯s clone disappeared into the lead, Long Xuan¡¯s eyes flickered, and he decided that caution was the better part of valor. In a hidden corner, he released his Fire clone.


    Yes, Long Xuan was using the same trick again, intending to send his clone into the herb garden in his ce to bear the uncertainties posed by the Gu King¡¯s clone.


    He had done this so many times that he was thoroughly familiar with it.


    Although he believed that with his current trump cards, he shouldn''t fear a Gu King¡¯s clone at the Spirit Gathering stage¡ªespecially since it wasn¡¯t the main body present, and Gu Kings in the same realm were only superior in battle experience and knowledge, not rawbat power.


    But being naturally cautious, Long Xuan decided to y it safe.


    After handing the borrowed Image Recording Gu to his Fire clone, he instructed, "If that Gu King¡¯s clone dares to harm anyone, record all his actions. Understood?"


    "Go now!" Long Xuan patted his Fire clone on the shoulder, and the Clone disappeared into the depths of the cave in the blink of an eye.


    The Image Recording Gu was amon Gu insect, with every n having their own version of it.


    Its sole ability was to store everything it saw and then project it onto a wall in the form of images.


    Simply put, the Image Recording Gu could y movies on a wall, with effects simr to those in a cinema, disyingrge images.


    However, the movies projected by the Image Recording Gu were just its memories; they couldn¡¯t be fabricated.


    The Image Recording Gu was widely used for gathering intelligence and was verymon, with every faction having many of them.


    The reason Long Xuan borrowed the Image Recording Gu from Long Lie was to leave evidence of the Gu King infiltrating the ancient tomb. If the Gu King started massacring people in the tomb, that would be even better.


    Just by ying this movie outside, he could create chaos, spark conflict, and maybe even start a fight.


    Once the melee began, no one would have the time to kill Long Lie.


    This was the n Long Xuan came up with on short notice, and he had gone to great lengths to ensure his safe return.


    Chased by the bloodworms, the group ran for an unknown amount of time until they finally reached a massive underground space.


    At this point, the bloodworms stopped pursuing them.


    Maybe there was something in this area that the bloodworms feared, or maybe they were simply full, so they gave up the chase.


    Everyone rested their hands on their knees, gasping for breath, looking terrified and ncing back with lingering fear.


    Long Xuan, however, focused all his attention on the enormous herb garden in front of him.


    This herb garden was built in a vast underground space, and its size was enormous.


    It looked like an illusion; Long Xuan could actually see the sun here. The ce seemed boundless, just like the world above ground. There were no obstructions in his sight, whether looking forward or up at the sky, where he could see clouds.


    One must understand that this was the underground world, surrounded by cave walls, so how could his vision be unobstructed?


    Long Xuan deduced that there was arge illusion at y here, though it was unusual in that the sun it created could actually emit sunlight.


    It¡¯s well known that most nts require sunlight. Without light, they can''t Photosynthesize and can''t survive.


    Since the spiritual herbs in this herb garden could continue to grow, it meant that the sunlight created by the illusion was genuine, which was quite amazing. Long Xuan became even more intrigued.


    Compared to the dark underground world, this ce was like a beautiful utopia, a rare scenic spot here.


    The only w was that the spiritual herbs in this herb garden were too monotonous¡ªthere was only one type.


    The entire garden was filled with Spirit Surge Grass. Everywhere he looked, it was a sea of green. Apart from the green, there was no other color.


    No, there was another color¡ªwhite. A cute, fluffy rabbit was lying in the green fields, sunbathing with its white belly exposed. A patch of white amidst the endless green¡ªhow striking!


    Everyone''s eyes focused on this small figure, and their expressions immediately turned into one of hatred, as if they wanted to skin it alive. Their gazes were as if they were ready to devour it.


    But no one dared to make a rash move.


    It was as if there was something terrifying in this green field, preventing them from stepping closer.


    Long Xuan¡¯s mind raced, and he quickly guessed that this rabbit was probably the spiritual herb that Long Tian had mentioned, which had gained sentience.


    After gaining sentience, it became obsessed with alchemy, squandering all the precious spiritual herbs in the garden, leaving only a field of weeds.


    Everyone was furious.


    For some reason, Long Xuan felt an urge tough.


    There were many entrances to this medicinal herb garden, and they weren''t the first to arrive. Some had already entered from other tunnels and were trying to gather spiritual herbs from the garden.


    These people were the first batch of Feng n Gu cultivators to enter the tomb. There were quite a few of them, but most were Gu cultivators at the early stage of the Spirit Gathering realm.


    These early-stage Spirit Gathering Gu cultivators were clearly not Feng n members but seemed like vigers from a mortal vige. After being quickly trained by the Feng n into Spirit Gathering Gu cultivators, they were sent on this dangerous mission.


    Under the Feng n Gu King¡¯s coercion, one viger after another ran into the medicinal garden, risking their lives to pull out Spirit Surge Grass.


    But most of the vigers didn''t even get close to the garden before their heads suddenly fell off. One headless body after another copsed to the ground, staining it red.


    Their deaths were eerily strange, with no visible attack. Their heads just inexplicably flew off, and no one could figure out how their heads were severed.


    Seeing this, everyone was terrified, their pupils dted, and no one dared to step into the herb garden.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 93: (2): Entering the Herb Garden

    Long Xuan was shocked. Dead people aren¡¯t scary, but what¡¯s terrifying is not knowing how they died.


    Is there some unknown creature here, or is it the effect of a trap formation?


    Long Xuan didn¡¯t understand, and without understanding, he didn¡¯t dare to act rashly. Fear always stems from the unknown, and this herb garden was truly ominous.


    The Gu cultivators of the Feng n couldn¡¯t see what was here either; they only knew that the great terror here seemingly couldn¡¯t leave the herb garden.


    So, they came up with this insane method, intending to use human lives to collect the Spirit Surge Grass in the garden.


    In their eyes, the lives of ordinary people were worthless. Even if it took one life to get one stalk of Spirit Surge Grass, it was worth it. As long as they had one stalk of Spirit Surge Grass, the family might gain another Gu cultivator in the Marrow Cleansing stage.


    Their approach was sheer madness, but one had to admit, it was effective.


    Even though countless mortals who rushed into the garden died, there were always some who seeded.


    At this moment, that Feng n Gu King already had ten stalks of Spirit Surge Grass in his hands, making him smile with satisfaction. Everyone who saw this felt their scalp tingle, but no one stepped forward to criticize.


    ¡°No one knows what kind of terrifying thing it is that can kill people without a trace. I wonder if those Earth Master in heavy armor can withstand its attack.¡±


    Long Yan looked worried. He wasn¡¯t sure if his Earth Master could withstand the beheading attacks in the Herb garden.


    If that thing could really cut through the defense of the Earth Master, his losses would be huge.


    Although the cost of the Earth Master wasn¡¯t high, the spiritual insect armor they wore was incredibly valuable.


    He had spent all his savings to custom-make a set of insect armor for the Earth Masters, and now he didn¡¯t know if he should take the risk.


    He couldn¡¯t help but look at Long Bao, hoping he would make the first move.


    If Long Bao¡¯s Earth Master went in and were fine, then it wouldn¡¯t be toote for his own Earth Master to enter. How clever of him.


    So he looked at Long Bao and said, ¡°Hey! Weren¡¯t you going to send your Earth Master in to fetch the grass? I won¡¯tpete with you this time; you go first!¡±


    Long Bao turned to look at him, thenughed angrily, ¡°Now you¡¯re being so considerate? You really take me for a fool?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t dare to take the risk, so you want me to test the waters. Wishful thinking! Let me tell you, that¡¯s not happening!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re older than me, so you should go first. That¡¯s the principle; the elder always goes first. You go first!¡±


    Long Yanughed and said, ¡°At home, the elder brother always lets the younger one go first. The older one must always yield to the younger. Don¡¯t you understand that? Hurry up and go! Stop dawdling!¡±


    Long Bao sneered, ¡°I¡¯m definitely not going first. If anyone goes first, it¡¯ll be you. Or we could just y rock-paper-scissors, and the loser goes first!¡±


    ¡°Fine, we¡¯ll y rock-paper-scissors. No one can back out!¡±


    Seeing these two clowns arguing again, Long Xuan was speechless.


    What started as a one-round game turned into a best-of-three, then a best-of-five, seemingly endless. Finally, a crisp voice interrupted them.


    ¡°Stop ying rock-paper-scissors. The Earth Master can¡¯t withstand that thing¡¯s attack. Whoever goes in first will die. You¡¯d better give up this pointless argument and leave here as soon as possible.¡±


    The two turned their heads toward the voice. The figure was masked, and while others might not know who it was, they knew very well that this was Long Ziyan, the number one genius of the Long n.


    Her words carried a lot of weight.


    ¡°Do you know what¡¯s in the herb garden?¡± Long Yan hesitated and walked over to ask in a low voice.


    Long Ziyan nced at a certain figure not far away, knowing he was listening, and then patiently exined, ¡°That thing is ancient and rarely recorded. Few people in this world know about it.¡±


    ¡°I only learned about it from divine texts.¡±


    Long Ziyan¡¯s voice carried a hint of dread as she said, ¡°It¡¯s a powerful Gu species from the age of the gods, known as the Dream Butterfly Gu.¡±


    ¡°The Gu insects of that era were all extremely sinister. You probably can¡¯t even imagine the abilities of the Dream Butterfly Gu.¡±


    ¡°The Dream Butterfly Gu is a dream-based Gu insect, with a body that takes the form of a dream. You can see it in dreams, but not in reality.¡±


    ¡°That means no matter what method you use, you won¡¯t be able to see it. There¡¯s no way to defend against its sneak attack.¡±


    ¡°And since the Dream Butterfly Gu is in the form of a dream, it has no physical body and can be immune to almost all attacks in reality, whether physical or non-physical.¡±


    ¡°You can only see this Gu insect in dreams, and only in dreams can you hurt it.¡±


    ¡°The problem is, would you dare sleep in this ce? Even if you dared, could you be sure you could defeat them in your dreams?¡±


    Hearing this, not only were Long Yan and Long Bao shocked, but Long Xuan, who had been eavesdropping, was also shocked, feeling his scalp tingle with fear.


    Visible in dreams but invisible in reality, and immune to almost all attacks in reality.


    It can attack you, but no matter what you do, you can¡¯t hit it.


    Damn, it¡¯s like it¡¯s cheating!


    This Gu insect is ridiculously unfair!


    How can anyone fight this? This thing is probably unbeatable.


    Seeing their shocked expressions, Long Ziyan continued, ¡°The Dream Butterfly Gu not only has powerful physical attacks, but remember, it¡¯s in the form of a dream and can attack people¡¯s dreams¡ªyou can think of it as attacking the mental world.¡±


    ¡°So, in front of the Dream Butterfly Gu, it doesn¡¯t matter how high you stack your Earth Masters¡¯ physical defense; their attacks are spiritual.¡±


    Upon hearing this, they were all shocked again. In front of this Gu insect, everyone was as fragile as paper, and all defenses were useless.


    Is it really this exaggerated? Long Xuan thought to himself.


    He showed an extremely serious expression. This was the most difficult Gu insect he had ever encountered in his life as a Gu cultivator, bar none.


    Faced with such an unreasonable Gu insect, even he felt helpless, unable to think of any way to kill them.


    At this point, Long Yan and Long Bao hadpletely given up any thoughts about the Spirit Surge Grass. They had already decided to leave, and this decision was firm¡ªnothing could stop them.


    They were truly scared of this Gu insect.


    Long Yan sighed heavily and then casually asked, ¡°Since the Dream Butterfly Gu is so difficult to deal with, why did youe here?¡±


    He couldn¡¯t help but be curious. Long Ziyan had already reached the Marrow Cleansing stage, so Spirit Surge Grass was useless to her.


    Logically, she shouldn¡¯t havee here under any circumstances, so her reason for being here was intriguing.


    Long Ziyan nced at Long Xuan and then quickly looked away, casually saying, ¡°It¡¯s nothing. I just heard there was a rabbit here that looked really cute, so I came out of curiosity to take a look.¡±


    ¡°Now that I¡¯ve seen the rabbit, it¡¯s time for me to leave!¡±


    Upon hearing this, Long Yan and Long Bao were stunned. What a powerful reason. Toe all this way just for a cute rabbit¡ªwasn¡¯t Long Ziyan being too willful?


    ¡°What? Aren¡¯t you nning to leave with me? Are you still clinging to the Spirit Surge Grass?¡±


    Just as Long Ziyan turned around, she noticed Long Xuan had no intention of following. She frowned and asked.


    Long Xuan was thinking, if the Dream Butterfly Gu is visible in dreams and invisible in reality, capable of killing without a trace, could the main body see its progress?


    If the Dream Butterfly Gu had a visible progress bar above its head, the main body could urately determine the location of every Dream Butterfly Gu and avoid them.


    As long as he could see the Dream Butterfly Gu, collecting Spirit Surge Grass in the herb garden would be a simple task.


    After all, the Dream Butterfly Gu was confined to the garden and couldn¡¯t leave. Even if it were rmed, he could still escape easily.


    Thinking this, Long Xuan became excited. The decision toe in person was indeed correct; his cheat ability could really neutralize the dangers in the herb garden.


    The Dream Butterfly Gu was indeed terrifying, but as long as he avoided its location, he had nothing to fear.


    For others, the Dream Butterfly Gu might be a nightmare, but for him, it might not be a threat at all.


    In that case, the Spirit Surge Grass in the herb garden would already be as good as his. He could easily get it; this ce would be his private garden.


    So how could he possibly leave with Long Ziyan?

 Chapter 94: (1): The Damned Rabbit

    Long Xuan casually waved his hand and said, "You guys can leave first. Don''t worry about me. I think that rabbit looks pretty cute. Let''s see if I can lure it out and catch it!"


    Hearing this, Long Yan and the others looked at him with strange expressions, and Long Ziyan furrowed her brows even deeper. However, she ultimately chose not to say anything further to persuade him.


    "Alright! The path is yours to walk. I hope you won''t regret your decision."


    After saying this, Long Ziyan finally turned around and left, with Long Yan and the others hurrying to follow, showing no reluctance to leave.


    Long Xuan nced at their departing figures before focusing his attention on the rabbit, which was acting cute.


    He wondered what kind of pill this rabbit could refine. If it used a spirit herb that had be a spirit itself, the pill should be extraordinary. Perhaps he should catch it.


    Long Xuan''s expression turned thoughtful.


    As he was lost in thought, others had already started to venture into the herb garden to gather herbs.


    Without exception, the first to enter were Gu cultivators with little remaining lifespan. Their faces were aged, and they exuded an aura of death.Since they didn''t have much time left to live, they naturally chose to take a gamble.


    Among them were a few Long n Gu cultivators with less than a year left to live, who also charged in at this moment.


    In their minds, the Feng n Gu cultivators on the other side were attracting all the danger, so all the terrifying things should have been drawn over there. It was a rare opportunity, and they didn''t want to miss it.


    So they acted decisively, gritted their teeth, and chose to enter the herb garden from the side farthest from the Feng n Gu cultivators.


    The idea wasn''t wrong, but reality was cruel, and things didn''t go as they imagined.


    How could such a simple strategy like luring the tiger away from the mountain work here? If it did, then collecting the Spirit Surge Grass would have been an easy task, and it wouldn''t have kept various ns at bay for so many years.


    The Dream Butterfly Gu on this side clearly wasn''t distracted by themotion over there and remained dutifully guarding its post.


    As a result, arge number of the elderly Gu cultivators who entered from this side were instantly killed.


    Their deaths were simr to those of the vigers on the other side¡ªheads flying off with eyes filled with disbelief, dying with unfulfilled regrets.


    Even in death, they didn''t know how they had died, as they hadn''t seen anything.


    However, a few lucky ones managed to sessfully pluck a stalk of Spirit Surge Grass during a moment when the Dream Butterfly Gu was busy ughtering others.


    They didn''t get greedy. After sessfully obtaining the herb, they turned and ran.


    Their decision was the right one. They struck once and fled, leaving the approaching Dream Butterfly Gu with nothing but empty air.


    By the time the Gu attempted to pursue, those old fellows had already escaped beyond the herb garden''s boundaries, forcing the Gu to cease their chase.


    But one old man was greedy. He thought one stalk of Spirit Surge Grass wasn''t enough, so he decided to pluck another. He resolved that this would be thest one¡ªafter this, he would run and never look back.


    However, his greed ultimately slowed him down, and the approaching Dream Butterfly Gu tore off his head. Even in death, his eyes reflected deep regret.


    This scene once again deterred many who were thinking of entering the herb garden.


    Though some had just seeded, most had not, and the odds of survival seemed exceedingly slim.


    The rabbit tilted its head, staring at the scene in bewilderment.


    It was very confused. Why were these humans desperately rushing in to snatch those weeds? Had they all gone mad? It was too strange,pletely iprehensible.


    Meanwhile, the elderly cultivators who had sessfully obtained the Spirit Surge Grass were on the verge of tears of joy, overwhelmed with excitement.


    They knew when to stop. After storing the Spirit Surge Grass in their storage bags, they immediately left without lingering.


    Everyone watched enviously, but in the end, no one followed to kill and steal the treasures.


    Those who had seeded were the peak-level Spirit Gathering Gu cultivators, the highest-ranking in the area. Being older, their Gu insects were also the most mature, making them difficult to deal with.


    Without absolute confidence, most people would not choose to risk their lives to kill and steal treasures.


    Moreover, there were many witnesses, including members of their own ns, making it inappropriate to act rashly.


    This was the first group to venture into the garden for herbs, and soon, the second group of adventurers made their move.


    The second group consisted of three people, led by a young man dressed in green. Based on his attire and the hat he wore, it was clear that he belonged to the Miao n, one of the seven major ns.


    The young man had a haughty expression, looking down on others with disdain as he led his two followers toward the medicine garden.


    Judging by his demeanor, Long Xuan could tell that he had an extraordinary background, either from a powerful lineage or as a super-genius of his n.


    Lacking detailed information, Long Xuan wasn''t aware of the top geniuses from the various ns, but from the conversations around him, he understood the young man''s identity.


    The young man was named Miao Dongdong, the Miao n''s top genius, and the only direct grandson of the Miao n''s patriarch. He was a favored child of the heavens, possessing both talent and a powerful background¡ªdefinitely not someone to be trifled with.


    Long Xuan sighed. No wonder he was so arrogant, looking down on others with his nose in the air¡ªhe indeed had the right to be proud.


    As the Miao n''s top genius, obtaining resources to break through was not difficult, so there was no need for him to risking here.


    His daring presence in the garden indicated that he had a way to deal with the Dream Butterfly Gu and was confident that he wouldn''t encounter danger; otherwise, he would never risk his life.


    Long Xuan couldn''t help but be curious about how this young man could survive the Dream Butterfly Gu. His curiosity was genuinely piqued.


    However, Miao Dongdong didn''t enter the garden. He stopped at its edge, then turned to give the crowd a contemptuous look before taking out a handful of high-grade spirit herbs from his storage bag and waving them toward the rabbit.


    "Aren''t you fond of alchemy? You''re out of materials now, aren''t you? Must be itching to get back to it!"


    "My Miao n specializes in cultivating spirit herbs, and I have plenty of high-grade ones here. If you want them, just throw me the weeds on the ground. We''ll trade herbs for grass!"


    With that, he turned back to the crowd, his eyes filled with mockery. These people, what were they thinking?


    Everyone was stunned.


    This was an option?


    Was this even possible?


    Indeed! The rabbit could be used. Why hadn''t anyone thought of this?


    Everyone''s eyes lit up, unable to contain their excitement as they pped their hands, delighted beyond measure.


    Who didn''t have a few high-grade spirit herbs? If the rabbit really agreed to trade, wouldn''t it be easy to exchange for a few stalks of Spirit Surge Grass?


    Excitement spread through the crowd, but they were soon doused with a cold reality¡ªnone of them had thought to bring high-grade spirit herbs, so they were unprepared.


    Who would carry a bunch of high-grade spirit herbs around for no reason? Especially on such a perilous journey, where survival was uncertain¡ªthey wouldn''t dare carry such valuable herbs with them. Now, they were filled with regret.


    If only they had known it would be this simple, there would have been no need to risk their lives.


    Those old men who died earlier¡ªhow unfortunate for them! If they knew in the afterlife that Spirit Surge Grass could be obtained so easily, would they die of anger all over again?


    Everyone couldn''t help but feel this way as they looked at the headless corpses in the herb garden.


    In any case, the rabbit loved alchemy and would surely agree to the trade.


    As expected, the rabbit, seeing someone waving a handful of high-grade spirit herbs to tempt it, immediately stood up, overjoyed, and hopped toward them.


    At this point, everyone''s attention was focused on this scene, watching anxiously.


    Meanwhile, the Feng n Gu cultivators had finished evacuating all the vigers. The Feng n Gu King, seeing this, then looked at the mere dozen or so Spirit Surge Grass in his hand and turned livid.


    Earlier, he had been smug, but now, looking at the few Spirit Surge Grass in his hand, he felt they were far less valuable.


    If it were so easy to get Spirit Surge Grass, then what was the point of the sacrifices his side made? Did his people die in vain?


    He suddenly felt his intelligence had been insulted. Clenching his fists, he led the Feng n Gu cultivators toward the scene, full of rage.


    Long Xuan watched quietly, unsure whether to praise Miao Dongdong for his cleverness or criticize him for his stupidity.


    A bit clever, but not much.


    Couldn''t he have waited until everyone had left before pulling this stunt? There were two Gu Kings here¡ªhe''d be in tears soon. Long Xuan silentlymented for Miao Dongdong.


    At this moment, Miao Dongdong was still basking in his pride. He loved the feeling of outsmarting others, and seeing the changes in their expressions gave him immense satisfaction, making him suppress the urge tough.


    "Rabbit! Your garden is full of worthless weeds. I''m feeling generous because you are cute, so how about a trade¡ªone thousand weeds for one high-grade spirit herb? You''re making a lot of money here."


    ........................................................................


    Read extra chapters on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 94: (2): The Damned Rabbit

    Upon hearing Miao Dongdong¡¯s words, everyone couldn¡¯t help but roll their eyes. They silently cursed in their hearts, thinking, "Isn¡¯t this too cunning? Is it really okay to deceive a rabbit like this?"


    But don¡¯t think that Spirit Surge Grass is just a low-tier spiritual herb; it¡¯s not cheap at all. Spirit Surge Grass has a 20% chance of helping someone break through their cultivation, so its value cannot be measured as a low-tier spiritual herb. In fact, saying that Spirit Surge Grass is more valuable than an ordinary fourth-grade spiritual herb is not an exaggeration.


    If Miao Dongdong could trade one high-grade spiritual herb for a thousand des of grass, which the rabbit sees as weeds, he would make a killing, and everyone would be envious.


    Fortunately, this rabbit, despite its dumb and cute appearance, isn¡¯tpletely foolish.


    The fact that people were willing to risk their lives repeatedly to obtain these "weeds" shows just how valuable they are in human eyes.


    If the rabbit couldn¡¯t figure out that the grass it sees as weeds is actually important to humans, it would indeed be stupid.


    So, the rabbit shook its head, stretched out one finger with its left paw, and one finger with its right paw. Everyone understood what this meant¡ªit was clearly insisting on a one-to-one exchange.


    Miao Dongdong¡¯s face darkened, and he said in an unpleasant tone, "Are you kidding me? All the nts in your garden are weeds, and you want to trade one-for-one with me? Isn¡¯t that too greedy? You should be more reasonable..."


    Miao Dongdong tried to continue deceiving the rabbit, but the rabbit was clearly sharp and wasn¡¯t falling for his tricks.Even after Miao Dongdong argued until his mouth was dry, the rabbit still insisted on the one-for-one trade, refusing to budge.


    Left with no choice, Miao Dongdong had topromise.


    "You sly merchant! Fine, I¡¯ll take the loss and trade one-for-one with you. Consider it making a friend."


    With that, Miao Dongdong decided not to waste any more time and tossed over a storage bag full of spiritual herbs.


    Despite the grim look on his face, he was secretly pleased. Trading high-grade spiritual herbs one-for-one with Spirit Surge Grass was still a huge profit for him.


    The value and rarity of spiritual herbs generally correspond to their grade, but this is not always absolute. A single Spirit Surge Grass could potentially help a family produce a new expert in the Marrow Cleansing Stage, while a fourth-grade spiritual herb is merely a material for alchemy, which could very likely be wasted. There¡¯s no doubt which is more valuable.


    The Miao family is most skilled at cultivating spiritual herbs, and that storage bag contained ten thousand spiritual herbs of third-grade or higher.


    This dumb rabbit didn¡¯t know the market value; if it really traded one-for-one, how many new Marrow Cleansing Stage experts would his family gain? They could easily dominate the Far West!


    As Miao Dongdong was dreaming about the future, his face lit up with anticipation.


    But his expression quickly froze, and his face darkened again.


    The darn rabbit was being too picky, throwing away most of the spiritual herbs like they were trash, looking utterly disdainful.


    Those were ten thousand high-grade spiritual herbs, yet it only kept two hundred.


    "Damn it! Those are fourth-grade spiritual herbs! Do you even know their value?"


    Miao Dongdong was heartbroken and quickly had his subordinates pick up the discarded herbs, dust them off, and put them into another storage bag.


    At that moment, he felt like killing the rabbit.


    He had to admit that the rabbit had a sharp eye; the two hundred spiritual herbs it chose were the most valuable ones in the storage bag.


    This rabbit was indeed extremely picky. After all, it saw Spirit Surge Grass as nothing but weeds, so it¡¯s no surprise that it considered most of Miao Dongdong¡¯s herbs as garbage.


    The onlookers exchanged nces¡ªthis rabbit was just too choosy. It was going to be tough to satisfy it. While high-grade spiritual herbs are obtainable, finding ones that meet its standards would be extremely difficult.


    The rabbit happily left with its two hundred high-tier spiritual herbs, but then it suddenly turned back, casually pulled out two hundred des of grass, and tossed them at Miao Dongdong¡¯s face.


    It seemed to be a rabbit of its word.


    Everyone¡¯s breath quickened at the sight¡ªthose were two hundred des of Spirit Surge Grass!


    What did two hundred des of Spirit Surge Grass mean? Each of the Seven Great Families of the Far West only had about a hundred Marrow Cleansing Stage Gu practitioners. Two hundred des of Spirit Surge Grass could create how many new experts for a family?


    One could easily imagine the value of these Spirit Surge Grass des. This immense wealth would make anyone jealous.


    If Miao Dongdong brought these two hundred des of Spirit Surge Grass back to his family, the Miao family¡¯s strength would soar.


    The expression on the Gu King¡¯s clone from the Gu n turned grim. Two hundred des of Spirit Surge Grass could give his family several more Marrow Cleansing Stage Gu practitioners, significantly boosting their strength in a short time. The temptation was too great¡ªhow could he not be tempted?


    At that moment, no one noticed his expression; they were all rushing over, offering all their treasures to trade with the rabbit.


    While they didn¡¯t have high-grade spiritual herbs prepared, they had other treasures that the rabbit might find useful, like alchemy furnaces, alchemical books, and spiritual pills...


    The rabbit was a spiritual herb transformed into an animal, so it would surely like spiritual water and spiritual soil.


    There were plenty of things to tempt it with¡ªthey just didn¡¯t believe the rabbit wouldn¡¯t take the bait.


    So, from time to time, people would throw treasures into the herb garden, eagerly watching the rabbit.


    The rabbit¡¯s eyes lit up at the sight of the treasures, and it began to pick and choose with a discerning eye, quickly bing overwhelmed by the options.


    But if it found something it liked, it would throw out a de of grass as a trade, always true to its word.


    However, it would only throw out one de of grass for each treasure, never two.


    It had be cunning, realizing that it didn¡¯t understand the value of human treasures, so it simply set a uniform price¡ªall treasures for one de of grass.


    If you wanted to trade, fine; if not, that was fine too. It refused to negotiate.


    Long Xuan was now interested as well. He checked his storage bag.


    To be honest, he had no shortage of fourth-grade spiritual herbs¡ªhis herb garden was filled with them, including many rare ones.


    He especially loved growing flowers and trees.


    Though spirit trees are considered spiritual herbs, their value is not equivalent to a single de of grass. The exchange rate was more like a single fruit or a few leaves for one de of grass or flower. So, although his herb garden wasn¡¯trge, it was incredibly rich.


    But unfortunately, he didn¡¯t have the foresight to predict what would happen in the tomb, so he didn¡¯t bring a lot of high-grade spiritual herbs with him. At this moment, he didn¡¯t even have a single fourth-grade spiritual herb on hand.


    Moreover, most of his treasures were with his main body, so after searching his storage bag for a long time, he didn¡¯t find anything valuable.


    Finally, he found a carrot, and his eyes lit up.


    He had nted arge vegetable garden, and carrots were just one of the crops. He hadn¡¯t expected to find a carrot in his storage bag¡ªaren¡¯t carrots a rabbit¡¯s favorite?


    Without hesitation, he tossed the carrot into the herb garden, uratelynding it next to the rabbit.


    The rabbit, hearing themotion, picked up the carrot and sniffed it, showing a look of disdain before tossing it back at Long Xuan¡¯s face.


    It turned out to be a first-grade spiritual herb. Among all the people present, he was the stingiest and deserved a beating!


    Long Xuan caught the falling carrot, his expression puzzled. "Aren¡¯t carrots a rabbit¡¯s favorite? What¡¯s wrong here?"


    Meanwhile, the others were trading with the rabbit enthusiastically, many of them reaping great rewards, smiling with joy.


    Especially an old man who happened to carry a lot of alchemy books and recipes. Since the rabbit¡¯s rule was one de of grass for any treasure, he had made an incredible profit.


    By getting rid of his useless books, he had exchanged them for seventy des of Spirit Surge Grass, and he was grinning from ear to ear.


    But his gains inevitably attracted greedy gazes, including one from the Gu King¡¯s clone from the Gu n.


    At this moment, Long Xuan finally stopped paying attention to the ungrateful rabbit. His peripheral vision caught sight of the two Gu Kings, and his heart sank.


    Don¡¯t tell him that the Gu Kings were poor and didn¡¯t have treasures to satisfy the rabbit¡ªhe would never believe that.


    They had plenty of treasures in their storage bags, yet they didn¡¯te to trade with the rabbit. So what were they nning?


    Don¡¯t try to tell him that the two Gu Kings weren¡¯t interested in Spirit Surge Grass. If they weren¡¯t, they wouldn¡¯t have chosen toe to this herb garden.


    There was definitely a conspiracy, a big one.


    Were they nning to kill everyone here and take all the Spirit Surge Grass for themselves?


    Long Xuan suddenly felt a chill down his spine as the thought crossed his mind.


    When someone is strong enough to easily kill everyone and everyone has treasures that could tempt them, how likely the possibility is it that they would start a massacre?


    Long Xuan¡¯s answer was 90%.

 Chapter 95: (1): Arrogant Miao Dongdong

    Just as Long Xuan was lost in his thoughts, things began unfolding exactly as he had anticipated.


    Without any warning, an clone of the Gu n''s old ancestor suddenly made a move. With just two strikes, he effortlessly dealt with the two subordinates at the peak of the Spirit Gathering stage who were behind Miao Dongdong.


    Miao Dongdong''s expression froze, and then his face changed dramatically as he angrily shouted, "You must be blind! How dare you attack me! Do you even know who I am?"


    "Heh! Aren''t you just the grandson of the Miao n''s old fellow? You have good talent, but you''re not too bright. You took something you shouldn''t have, so I have no choice but to apologize to that old fellow," the Gu n''s old ancestor replied with a mocking expression.


    "You must be seeking death! Do you really think I''m a fool for revealing my treasures so casually? Since I dared to show them, I''m not afraid of you taking action. Let me tell you, even if everyone here joined forces, you wouldn''t be my match!"


    "I''m the Miao n''s top genius, possessing two peak-grade Gu insects. If you dare to attack me, you''re courting death!"


    "I''m telling you! You''ve messed with the wrong person! You''re finished!" Miao Dongdong sneered, clearly not taking the person before him seriously.


    He lightly patted his storage bag, and instantly, a praying mantis and a slug jumped out.


    The slugnded on his shoulder, releasing a vibrant green domain filled with vitality. Meanwhile, the red mantis leaped to the ground, brandishing its scythes and charging toward the Gu n''s old ancestor.Long Xuan watched in silence, shaking his head.


    This young man was indeed confident, but he was overly so. He likely had no idea what kind of terrifying existence he was about to face.


    Miao Dongdong indeed had reasons to be proud, being the top genius of the Miao n and possessing two peak-grade Gu insects. One was the Regeneration Gu, which granted an immortal domain as long as it had the power of nts, making him invincible within it.


    The other was the Grim Reaper Mantis, which had a death domain where any Gu cultivator would turn into a mindless lunatic, driven to mutual ughter. The death domain could also absorb energy from corpses to heal any injuries, allowing the mantis to fight indefinitely without fear of a prolonged battle.


    In this domain, as long as there were enough people, the mantis was invincible, growing stronger as it fought.


    Thus, when Miao Dongdong imed that everyone together wasn''t his match, he wasn''t exaggerating. With the Grim Reaper Mantis in hand, he truly had the power to wipe out everyone, which was likely why he dared to reveal his treasures so boldly.


    But that was assuming there were no Gu Kings hidden among the crowd. He could never have imagined that two Gu Kings might shamelessly mingle with the group, could he?


    Who could have anticipated such a thing? No matter how tough he was, could he be tougher than two Gu Kings?


    So he was destined to face a tragedy, one that Long Xuan couldn''t bear to watch.


    However, Long Xuan didn''t forget his primary task and secretly took out a image recording Gu to record the intense and exciting scene.


    At this moment, everyone was stunned. Was that person insane, attacking the grandson of the Miao n''s old ancestor?


    They were all witnesses, and with so many present, the Miao n''s old ancestor would easily find out who the culprit was once they left. Wasn''t he afraid of the Miao n''s old ancestor''s revenge?


    Or did he n to go all the way and kill them all to silence them?


    That seemed a bit too arrogant, didn''t it? There were over fifty people here, half of whom were at the peak of the Spirit Gathering stage. Could one person take on such arge group? Who gave him the courage, everyone thought disdainfully.


    However, that thought barely formed before the entire crowd was stunned, finally realizing something was wrong.


    The person was dueling with the Grim Reaper Mantis, single-de style against dual-de style. His swordsmanship was incredibly skilled, as if he''d been practicing for hundreds of years, far beyond what a Spirit Gathering stage Gu cultivator should possess.


    In just a few exchanges, he sessfully severed one of the Grim Reaper Mantis''s arms, shocking everyone and making them gasp.


    At that moment, they finally realized the death domain of the Grim Reaper Mantis waspletely ineffective against this person!


    With the domain nullified and the swordsmanship unmatched, the peak-grade Gu insect was no match for this person.


    The only possibility that could render the death domain ineffective was realm suppression¡ªthis person wasn''t a Spirit Gathering stage Gu cultivator at all but an old monster who had lived for countless years.


    Everyone''s hearts skipped a beat, their faces turning pale as they realized the gravity of the situation.


    Miao Dongdong, his eyes red, shouted to the crowd, "Run! He''s not a Spirit Gathering stage Gu cultivator; he''s an clone of the Gu n''s old ancestor!"


    As his words fell, he ordered the Grim Reaper Mantis, now missing an arm, to cover his retreat as he desperately fled toward one of the tunnels. At this point, all his previous confidence and arrogance were gone.


    But before he could run far, a giant spider suddenly leaped down from above, swallowing him and the Regeneration Gu whole. After chewing twice, it swallowed them into its belly, leaving everyone watching in horror.


    "Heh! So what if you''re immortal in and of nts? As long as you''re isted from such an environment and then shattered, I don''t believe you can survive," a voice said.


    The Feng n''s old ancestor, who had been hiding all along, finally revealed himself. At this moment, he no longer pretended and showed his true colors.


    Everyone''s scalp tingled. Another Gu King!


    It was said that Gu Kings were forbidden from entering the ancient tomb, yet they dared to tantly vite the agreement. Everyone''s faces turned grim.


    "Heh! Old fellow from the Gu n, we killed him together. How about we split the spoils evenly?" the Feng n''s old ancestor proposed with a smile.


    The Gu n''s old ancestor was visibly surprised; this person had hidden so deeply that even he hadn''t known another Gu King was among the crowd. They had the same idea¡ªa kindred spirit.


    When two people of the same rank fight, there''s no guarantee of victory, so he didn''t want a full-blown conflict. If they could split the spoils peacefully, that would be ideal.


    So he nodded in agreement and said with a smile, "Good! I was thinking the same. But how about we split Miao Dongdong''s Spirit Surge Grass evenly? As for the Spirit Surge Grass from the others, whoever grabs it keeps it."


    The Gu n''s old ancestor looked at the group of Gu cultivators with a cruel gaze, making them tremble in fear.


    "Hahaha... I was thinking the same thing. Since they already know our secret, we can''t let them leave!"


    "Kill them! Leave no one alive!" The Feng n''s old ancestor revealed a ruthless expression and mercilessly killed several Feng n Gu cultivators beside him.


    This matter was of utmost importance, especially the killing of Miao Dongdong. It could never be exposed, and the fewer people who knew, the better. Even his own people might leak the information, so to ensure nothing went wrong, he decided to kill them too.


    After all, those Feng n Gu cultivators were old, of low talent, and a waste of the family''s resources. Killing them was of no consequence to him.


    And just like that, the once-proud Feng n Gu cultivators fell into pools of blood, their eyes wide with disbelief. They couldn''t believe their own ancestor would turn on them, dying with their eyes wide open, filled with regret.


    "Hahaha... Indeed, you''re a true hero, killing even your own. I can''t be left behind either¡ªthese Spirit Gathering stage Gu cultivators are worthless."


    At this point, the Grim Reaper Mantis had already died due to its owner''s death, freeing the Gu n''s old ancestor. He tossed out his Blood de, which danced in the air as if it had a will of its own, swiftly decapitating all the Gu n Gu cultivators in an instant.


    Heads rolled, their eyes wide open in death, unable to rest in peace.


    After quickly dealing with his own people, the Gu n''s old ancestor immediately lunged forward at top speed toward the elder who had traded for seventy stalks of Spirit Surge Grass.


    Since they agreed that whoever grabs the Spirit Surge Grass keeps it, and since that elder had the most, he naturally became the first target.


    As expected, the Feng n''s old ancestor had the same idea and also aimed to kill the elder holding seventy stalks of Spirit Surge Grass.


    The elder, facing thebined might of two Gu Kings, felt immense pressure. Seeing this, he turned pale, gave up resisting, and closed his eyes in despair.


    The two Gu Kings effortlessly killed him. Since they attacked simultaneously, they split the contents of his storage bag evenly.


    Then the two of them unleashed a brutal massacre on the crowd. With two Gu Kings in action, it was a bloodbath with no survivors.


    Don''t think that scattering and fleeing would allow a few to survive¡ªwould a Gu King not foresee such a possibility?


    The giant spider that had just devoured Miao Dongdong, a peak-grade Gu insect known as the Ghost Extinguishing Demon Spider, had razor-sharp legs that easily pierced through human bodies as it charged into the crowd.


    At the same time, it spat out webs it had already woven, trapping the fastest runners, preventing their escape.

 Chapter 95: (2): Arrogant Miao Dongdong

    The screams and cries of the crowd continued, and before long, the area was drenched in blood, with corpses scattered everywhere. The battle was extremely brutal.


    Long Xuan, holding a Image Recording Gu, recorded this gruesome scene with a heavy heart.


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    The ancestor of the Feng family finally noticed this peculiar individual. Upon realizing that this person had recorded all his actions with the image Recording Gu, his face turned dark, and he was furious.


    He rushed over, enraged, his face terrifying.


    Seeing this, Long Xuan quickly put the Recording Gu into his insect-rearing pouch and then turned to run.


    ¡°You dare record this!¡±


    The Feng family ancestor struck with anger,nding a heavy blow on Long Xuan¡¯s back. Blood spurted from Long Xuan¡¯s mouth as he was sent flying forward.


    However, whether intentionally or not, his position was rather tricky.As he was sent flying, hended directly in the herb garden. He twitched a couple of times on the ground, and with the help of the Water Bear Gu, he managed to hold on to his breath and feigned death, giving no chance for a finishing blow.


    This was a herb garden guarded by the Dream Butterfly Gu, and the Feng family ancestor did not dare to enter.


    To avoid being finished off, Long Xuan pretended to be dead by lying in the herb garden.


    From the outside, it looked like his heart had been destroyed, making it seem like he was certain to die. However, with the Water Bear Gu in his possession, even if he wanted to die, it would be difficult.


    The Feng family ancestor was very confident in his strike, believing that it hadpletely destroyed Long Xuan¡¯s heart. Even with a Little Strong Gu, it would be impossible to survive.


    Even if the body was not in the herb garden, he would not bother to deliver the finishing blow.


    The only thing he regretted was that Long Xuan¡¯s storage pouch and insect-rearing pouch had fallen deep inside the herb garden, right under the feet of a rabbit. The rabbit, after a moment of confusion, picked them up.


    There was no way he could retrieve anything from the herb garden, which made him slightly regretful.


    Of course, a storage pouch belonging to a Gu practitioner in the Spirit Gathering stage was not something that a Gu King like him would care about, so its loss was not a big deal.


    After dealing with this nuisance, he felt relieved and continued the massacre, ughtering the remaining Gu practitioners.


    Before long, all the sounds had ceased, leaving only blood covering the ground and the pungent smell of blood in the air.


    The two Gu Kings exchanged a smile and then left together.


    After they left, the area fell into a silence so deep that even the sound of a pin drop could be heard.


    No one knew how long had passed when the sound of footsteps echoed again. Step by step, someone walked towards the area.


    The rabbit looked at the person who entered, then at the corpse lying in the herb garden, tilting its head in confusion. These two people looked exactly the same.


    ¡°What the heck! What happened here? So many people died!¡±


    ¡°Luckily, I didn¡¯te in myself. Having my clonee in instead was indeed a wise decision. It¡¯s a good thing I had foresight.¡±


    When Long Xuan¡¯s main body entered the area and saw the countless corpses and blood, he couldn¡¯t help but widen his eyes in shock.


    It wasn¡¯t hard to guess that the wolves hidden among the sheep must have gone on a killing spree. He wondered how his clone fared, hoping that nothing had gone wrong.


    Long Xuan quickly searched for his clone, and before long, he found the clone¡¯s body in the herb garden.


    Although his clone could fool others by ying dead, it could never fool his main body. Seeing that the clone was still alive, Long Xuan finally breathed a sigh of relief.


    However, despite knowing that his main body had arrived, the clone continued to y dead, indicating that there was something unknown. Therefore, Long Xuan did not rashly go over to pick up the clone.


    He instinctively activated the Eye of Heavenly Secret and scanned the area, soon noticingrge numbers of moving figures in the herb garden. He was startled.


    What were those things? Completely invisible, except for their moving figures, indicating that there were living creatures there. Yet, he couldn¡¯t see what they were with his naked eye, not even able to imagine their appearance.


    He was utterly shocked. A creature that waspletely invisible could kill anyone it wanted. If such a thing were to attack, it would be unstoppable.


    No wonder the Fire clone dared not move while lying in the herb garden. Apart from himself, there were probably very few people who could urately locate these creatures.


    Suppressing his shock, Long Xuan quickly entered the herb garden and pulled the Fire Clone out. There were no unknown creatures around, so it was safe to just walk in and drag the clone out.


    At the same time, he quickly assimted the Fire clone¡¯s memories, revealing a look of surprise as he quickly understood what had just transpired here.


    The two Gu Kings had ughtered everyone here just for a few hundred weeds. They were utterly insane.


    However, their evil deeds were now fully recorded by Long Xuan, who smirked sinisterly.


    ording to the Fire clone¡¯s memories, he had recorded everything they did using the Image Recording Gu.


    Once such a spectacr scene was released, there would be an uproar.


    Especially since the direct grandson of the ancestor of the Miao family had been brutally killed, the Miao family would undoubtedly go mad.


    The more chaos, the better. It would keep them too busy to consider intercepting Long Lie, ensuring that everyone on the ship would be safe.


    Indeed, Long Xuan was now confident that the bet was in his favor.


    This herb garden, dangerous to others, was like a walk in the park for someone who could see the Dream Butterfly Gu. He could pick as much Spirit Surge Grass as he wanted without any issues.


    Given these circumstances, who could outdo his harvest in the ancient tomb? Unless someone managed to take the Tomb-Guarding Treasure from the pce, this bet was practically won.


    As long as he helped Long Lie win this bet, that Peak-grade Spirit Silkworm would be his. Long Xuan¡¯s eyes gleamed.


    After the Fire clone painfully woke up, Long Xuan didn¡¯t waste any more time and used Treading Star Step to rush to the weakest point of the herb garden¡¯s defense as quickly as possible.


    He grabbedrge handfuls of Spirit Surge Grass and stuffed them into his storage pouch without restraint. Meanwhile, his Eye of Heaven and golden finger were both activated, constantly monitoring the movements of the Dream Butterfly Gu.


    As long as those creatures charged at him, he would quickly escape the herb garden.


    However, he found that he might have overestimated these creatures¡¯ speed. The Dream Butterfly Gu was fast, but not fast enough to catch up with his Treading Star Step.


    This made things much simpler; he didn¡¯t need to leave the herb garden. He just kept picking herbs.


    When the Dream Butterfly Gu flew over, he simply dodged them. After all, they couldn¡¯t catch him.


    So, Long Xuan ended up ying with the Dream Butterfly Gu like they were pets. Before long, a whole group of Dream Butterfly Gu was chasing him, but they couldn¡¯t even catch a glimpse of him.


    Long Xuan was having a great time picking herbs.


    Before long, his storage pouch was filled with 300 Spirit Surge Grass.


    Even if he handed over 70% to the family, keeping 30% for himself was more than enough.


    Feeling satisfied, Long Xuan stopped looting the herb garden.


    He certainly had the ability to strip the entire herb garden of its Spirit Surge Grass, and he wanted to do so.


    After all, who wouldn¡¯t want more treasures?


    However, the reality was that he didn¡¯t have enough time. He had to leave the herb garden by daylight, leaving him less than half a day to rob the tomb.


    Considering the time it would take to travel back and forth, he didn¡¯t have much time left.


    He needed to leave enough time to check the pce. What if he really could retrieve the Tomb-Guarding Treasure? What if his golden finger could neutralize the dangers in the pce? These were uncertain possibilities.


    Although even the Gu Kings couldn¡¯t take the Tomb-Guarding Treasure, that didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t.


    Take this herb garden, for example. Even the Gu Kings couldn¡¯t do anything about it, didn¡¯t he just conquer it with his golden finger?


    He was someone who knew how to make decisions, never greedy. Since the Spirit Surge Grass was already sufficient, he wouldn¡¯t be blinded by these small gains.


    The Tomb-Guarding Treasure in the sleeping pce was the real prize, worth a hundred times more than the entire herb garden. He had to avoid losing the bigger picture for these small gains.


    With this mindset, the herb garden was spared from beingpletely looted.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 96: Long Ziyans Secret

    "Eh?"


    At this moment, Long Xuan suddenly noticed some progress at a nearby spot under his feet.


    It wasn''t the progress of a spiritual herb, but something seemed to be hidden in the soil. The key point was that he was very familiar with the numbers disyed¡ªweren''t they the progress indicators of that rabbit?


    A barely noticeable smile appeared on Long Xuan''s lips.


    Is this little thing too bold? It actually dared to stay close to his feet, thinking it could burrow into the ground like a spiritual herb and go unnoticed? How naive!


    Where did it get such confidence?


    For such an overly confident and audacious rabbit, he certainly wouldn''t let it go. How could he let go of the meat delivered right to his mouth?


    Suddenly, without any warning, he bent down and swiftly plunged his hand into the soil.


    His speed was extreme.When he pulled his hand out of the soil again, he had grabbed a white, furry creature.


    This white creature had short legs that iled in the air, emitting panicked squeaks.


    Long Xuan burst intoughter, "You dare to act cocky? Not so cocky now, are you? How dare you show off in front of me? Now you''re in my hands!"


    Feeling extremely pleased, Long Xuan tossed it into his insect breeding pouch. "In you go!"


    Long Xuan was thrilled. He hadn''t expected this unexpected gain. He thought it would be difficult to catch a spirit herb that had gained sentience and could burrow into the ground, and had already nned to give up. But unexpectedly, the prey delivered itself, so how could he not ept it?


    This was a spirit herb that had gained sentience, its value was immeasurable.


    The most valuable item in this herb garden had already been obtained by him, and he was satisfied. Even if the treasure guarding the tomb didn''t belong to him, he had no regrets.


    Catching the arrogant rabbit wasn''t enough; Long Xuan also confiscated all the treasures it had obtained through trading, putting everything into his storage pouch.


    It''s worth noting that the rabbit had very discerning taste, and every treasure it had picked out made him grin from ear to ear.


    Not to mention, the high-grade spiritual herbs that Miao Dongdong had sent were enough to keep him excited for a long time.


    The herbs the rabbit had chosen were all the rarest ones, and all were precious varieties that his medicine garden didn''t have.


    Rarity brings value, and these spiritual herbs were not themon fourth-grade materials found outside; they were worth a fortune on the market.


    What''s more, these herbs had just been unearthed and, if rented in superior spiritual soil, could likely survive. These 200 rare spiritual herbs were enough to enrich his medicine garden.


    After raiding the rabbit''s home, reiming his insect breeding pouch and storage pouch, Long Xuan also dug up some spiritual soil for Long Qilin before hurriedly rushing out of the medicine garden.


    He had spent quite a bit of time in the garden and wasn''t sure if there was enough time left toplete the raid on the sleeping pce.


    Meanwhile, in a certain cave, more than twenty Gu cultivators wearing clothes with lightning symbols surrounded a veiled young girl, with three or five corpses dressed in simr clothing lying on the ground.


    Despite outnumbering her by dozens to one, the expressions of the Lei family Gu cultivators were extremely cautious, with some even showing fear, not daring to approach recklessly.


    It seemed that their numerical advantage didn''t give them much confidence.


    If not for the presence of their family''s ancestor''s clone behind them, they would have scattered long ago.


    However, even the ancestor''s clone wasn''t a match for this girl, forcing them to engage in a war of attrition, where any carelessness would result in bing another corpse at her feet.


    "Hehe! As expected of the Nine Yin Severing Body. It''s said that this special constitution can release the most terrifying cold energy in the world, making ice-based abilities ten times more powerful. Thebat strength of the Nine Yin Severing Body is said to be no less than that of the Ten Absolute Body. Today, I see it for myself, and it lives up to its reputation."


    "If not for my personal intervention, my Lei family wouldn''t stand a chance against you."


    The Lei family''s ancestor smiled at the young girl before him, gently stroking the beard on his chin, only to realize that this young body had no beard, causing him to awkwardly lower his hand.


    Long Ziyan, still maintaining her taciturn nature, nced at him without a word, focusing entirely on the battle before her.


    "Grandfather, isn''t this a bit too much? Using this method I might gain her physically, but it won''t win her heart, and could even make her hate me!" a nearby youth said hesitantly, casting an admiring nce at her.


    The Lei family ancestor turned his head, looking at the youth with a disappointed expression, "Foolish boy, do you really think you can win her over with your own abilities?"


    "Even though Lei Guang is dead and you are now the top talent of the Lei family,pared to her, you''re still several levels behind."


    "She not only has the Nine Yin Severing Body, but also the Ninth-Grade Dragon Bloodline, the Innate Sword Bone, and heavenly talent in a single attribute. How can youpete with that? Do you understand how far you''ve fallen behind?" the Lei family ancestor harshly criticized.


    "Moreover, even if you had talents on par with hers, the world''s most handsome face, and the best background, she still wouldn''t marry you."


    "Fine! I''ll tell you a secret, so you can give up."


    The Lei family ancestor nced at Long Ziyan, seeing that she couldn''t escape for the time being, and continued speaking to the youth beside him, "Her mother was also the top talent of the Long family in her time, named Long Hongyu. Coincidentally, she too possessed the Nine Yin Severing Body. Her cultivation speed was astonishing, and herbat strength was unmatched in her realm."


    "She was also the most beautiful woman of the Long family at that time. Somehow, that useless man Long Ao, who had a very low cultivation level back then, managed to win her heart with sweet words, and they formally became dual cultivation partners one day."


    "But the stronger the physique, the more limitations it has. The greater the power, the more significant the drawbacks, and the Nine Yin Severing Body is no exception."


    "The Nine Yin Severing Body grants its possessor immensebat power but alsoes with an unbearable drawback: a shortened lifespan."


    "Those with the Nine Yin Severing Body have lifespans far shorter than normal people."


    "That''s why it''s hard for such individuals to find true love. When they age and turn into old women, their partners are still in their prime. How could there be any love left? Tragedy is inevitable."


    "After marrying Long Ao, Long Hongyu wasted a lot of cultivation time during pregnancy. In a time where spiritual energy is scarce, every moment of cultivation was precious for someone with the Nine Yin Severing Body."


    "From then on, she noticed herself aging rapidly, with wrinkles appearing on her face. She was no longer the number one beauty in the n."


    "In this situation, it''s no surprise that her man changed his heart and found another woman."


    "Long Hongyu then turned into a madwoman, losing her faith in love and hating all men. She constantly instilled in her daughter the belief that no man in the world is trustworthy."


    "In that state, her inner demons became deeply rooted, making it impossible for her to break through to the Gu King realm."


    "Failing to reach the Gu King realm meant she couldn''t significantly extend her lifespan, which was a critical issue for someone with the Nine Yin Severing Body."


    "She had to frequently enter the Great Ten Thousand Mountains to seek life-extending spiritual herbs, but as the saying goes, ''the more you walk by the river, the more likely you are to get your shoes wet.'' Eventually, she returned with incurable injuries."


    "Before she died, she called her daughter to her bedside and personally crushed her daughter''s first refined Gu insect, a Love Gu, and once again warned her not to trust the sweet words of any man. The Nine Yin Severing Body has a short lifespan, and in an era of scarce spiritual energy, all time must be devoted to cultivation, with no room for love. The Nine Yin Severing Body can never have love¡­"


    "After saying these words, she died, clutching Long Ziyan''s hand, leaving her daughter crying beside her. Since then, Long Ziyan has hated Long Ao and no longer associates with him."


    "Do you think you have what it takes to make her break her mother''sst words?"


    "That''s why she will never marry, and no one can win her heart! Do you understand?" The Lei family ancestor stared deeply at Lei Yiming.


    Lei Yiming was shocked. He hadn''t expected such a hidden story behind the Long family. It was truly a dramatic tale.


    He furrowed his brow. Although Long Ao was despicable, he suddenly thought that if Long Ziyan married him and soon turned into an old woman, could he ept it? He fell silent...


    The Lei family ancestor patted him on the shoulder, sighing, "I know what you''re thinking. It''s fine. After all, she won''t be your only wife."


    "Extraordinary measures are needed for extraordinary circumstances. I don''t want to do this either, but if you want to marry her, there''s no other way than to make it a done deal."


    "Your love for her has reached an obsessive level, leaving you distracted all day. I''m worried that if you don''t fulfill your dream, it will leave a mental demon, which is very detrimental to your cultivation."


    "Moreover, Long Ao is now a third-grade alchemy master. If we can forcibly establish this marriage connection, it will greatly benefit our family."


    "When that timees, you can ask your father-inw for any pill you want. Even if he is angry inside, he won¡¯t refuse your request, worrying about his daughter''s happiness in her husband''s family." The Lei family ancestor showed a sinister smile.


    Lei Yiming''s brows rxed, and he also revealed a slight smile. Under the Lei family ancestor''s persuasion, he finally let go of his mental block. Although a forced melon is not sweet, at least it quenches thirst, which is better than never being able to touch it.


    Perhaps their conversation had a significant impact on Long Ziyan, as her eyes were no longer calm and emotionless. Distracted, she eventually got hit by a sword on her back, and blood seeped through her clothes.


    Lei Yiming showed a look of distress and hurriedly shouted to the crowd, "Be careful, try not to injure her skin."


    "Exhaust her spiritual power as much as possible. Although the Nine Yin Body can be immune to all poisons, an aphrodisiac is not a poison. She can¡¯t avoid it and won''tst much longer!"


    Hearing this, a group of Lei family Gu cultivators were extremely angry. It sounded easy when he said it, but if they seeded, he would gain all the benefits.


    They had to hold back during the fight, unable to use full force, unable to break her skin, so how could they fight? Holding back during battle is cruel to oneself, and it''s an easy way to get killed.


    If everyone fought with full strength, with the ancestor assisting from the side, they wouldn''t be struggling so much and wouldn''t be losing people constantly.


    It was just when everyone was holding back that another Lei n Gu cultivator fell into a pool of blood.


    They fought with restraint, not daring to attack her skin. Long Ziyan, however, fought with full strength. Her body emitted an extremely cold aura, and anyone who was identally injured would have no chance of recovery; they would have their heart veins frozen and die instantly.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 97: (1): Loss of Self-Control

    After leaving the herb garden, Long Xuan took the map and walked briskly toward the sleeping pce. Along the way, he asionally encountered corpses¡ªsome had clearly fallen victim to the dangers within the ancient tomb, while others had evidently died in battles with their fellow treasure seekers.


    It seemed that not only the herb garden had been fiercely contested; those who ventured elsewhere in search of treasures likely encountered various unexpected perils.


    "All the corpses on this path belong to Lei n''s Gu cultivators," Long Xuan thought as he nced at a body d in clothes marked with a lightning symbol, his brows furrowing slightly. He suddenly stopped walking.


    On this path alone, he had already seen several simr corpses. Every few steps, another Lei n Gu cultivator''s bodyy on the ground.


    There was no blood flowing from the wounds, as if they had been frozen by a chilling energy. All of them had died in the exact same manner.


    It wasn''t hard to deduce that there was likely a group of Lei n Gu cultivators ahead, chasing down someone.


    This person must be exceptionally strong to be able to asionally counterattack and kill his pursuers while being outnumbered. There weren''t many in the ancient tomb with such power.


    The two Gu King clones that had just left the herb garden could be ruled out, and the third Gu King clone belonged to the Lei n''s ancestor, so it couldn''t be him. After ruling out these three possibilities, Long Xuan quickly thought of Long Ziyan. Aside from her, he couldn''t think of anyone else with such strength.


    A genius who could take on dozens of opponents of the same level was as rare as a phoenix feather, not only within the ancient tomb but across the entire world.So Long Xuan was fairly certain that the person being pursued was his senior sister, Long Ziyan.


    After thinking for a moment, he decided to catch up and take a look.


    It wasn''t long before he heard the sounds of intense fighting ahead. He quickened his pace, rushing toward the source of the noise.


    Soon, he arrived at the battlefield and finally saw that familiar figure. As he had spected, the person being besieged was indeed his senior sister, Long Ziyan.


    At this moment, Long Ziyan was somewhat out of breath, a clear sign of exhaustion. Although herbat prowess was exceptional, she did not possess the massive spiritual power of the Ten Absolute Bodies. After being worn down by the repeated attacks of more than twenty Lei n Gu cultivators, her spiritual power was nearly depleted.


    She was gritting her teeth, holding on with sheer willpower. With an ancestor of the Lei n asionally harassing her, her chances of escaping were slim.


    Seeing the wound on her back, Long Xuan frowned slightly. If she hadn''t given him the second-grade Dragon Silkworm Robe, she wouldn''t have any injuries on her body.


    After all, he owed her a favor, so he couldn''t just leave her to die.


    After a brief moment of contemtion, Long Xuan ultimately decided to y the hero and rescue her. After all, she was his senior sister, and he was obligated to save her, both emotionally and logically.


    He didn''t dy any longer and charged forward at full speed.


    Before he even reached the battlefield, his Dragon Gu was already there.


    The Dragon Gu suddenly appeared at the back of one man''s neck, biting through his throat. In an instant, it teleported to another man''s back, piercing through his heart with its ws. Then it attacked a third person...


    In just a brief moment, seven people were brutally killed, leaving only a dozen Lei n Gu cultivators surrounding Long Ziyan. A gap was quickly opened in their encirclement.


    Everyone was stunned.


    "What on earth is that thing?"


    "So fast! What kind of Gu insect is this? It''s terrifying!"


    "How did it just appear out of nowhere? Damn it..."


    Screams filled the air.


    As another person fell into a pool of blood, everyone was horrified, unleashing their spiritual armor with full force, disregarding any potential exhaustion.


    Faced with something so unpredictable, everyone was terrified. They stood back to back, eyes darting in all directions,pletely losing theirposure.


    The Lei n ancestor''s pupils contracted, his face showing extreme shock.


    The speed at which this creature was killing was astonishing¡ªalmost one kill per second. It was elusive, vanishing from sight with no trace. Even with his vast experience, he had never seen such a fearsome Gu before. The ability to instantly appear anywhere was something he had never encountered.


    Anyone with insufficient defenses would be dead meat against such a Gu¡ªthere was no way to counter it.


    In his fear, he thickened the lightning armor woven around his body.


    "This is a peak-grade Gu insect! Everyone, be careful! Stand back to back and increase your defenses!" the Lei n ancestor shouted, his eyes wary as he nced at the masked man who had suddenly entered the battlefield.


    Long Xuan looked at the Lei n ancestor and silently thought it was a pity.


    This old man was too cautious. Even in what should have been an effortless battle, he insisted on maintaining ayer of lightning armor on his body at all times, exposing no weaknesses, even though it would drain a significant amount of his spiritual power.


    Against such an overly cautious old man, the Dragon Gu couldn''t find an opening to strike and had to start by clearing out the small fry. Otherwise, the Dragon Gu''s first target would have been him.


    If he hadn''t maintained any defenses earlier, he would have been dead under the Dragon Gu''s sneak attack, even if he was a Gu King reincarnate.


    But his years of caution had saved his life this time.


    Seeing the spiritual armor thickening on the remaining Lei n Gu cultivators, Long Xuan realized that while the Dragon Gu could still break through, it could no longer kill them in a single blow. He didn''t want to risk the Dragon Gu anymore, so he grabbed Long Ziyan''s arm and began to run.


    "Let''s go!" Long Xuan had no intention of fighting a Gu King reincarnate. He had always been cautious, and unless he had a guaranteed victory, his first choice was always to flee rather than fight.


    "Chase them! That man is mine! You just need to be careful of that Gu''s sneak attacks!" the Lei n ancestor shouted, gnashing his teeth in frustration. How could he be content to let them escape so easily? He led the remaining Gu cultivators in hot pursuit.


    Lei n Gu cultivators were known for their speed. Among the seven great ns, they were the fastest. Lightning shed under their feet, and in an instant, they covered a great distance. Shaking them off wouldn''t be easy.


    What''s more, Long Ziyan was clearly struggling, out of breath and showing signs of exhaustion. She probably wouldn''t be able to run much further.


    Long Xuan asionally nced back. Seeing that they couldn''t shake off their pursuers, he came up with a n and turned to Long Ziyan, saying, "Follow me!"


    With that, he veered off into a side path.


    "That path leads to a dead end¡ªa sea ofva!" Long Ziyan hurriedly warned.


    Although Long Xuan was masked, she immediately recognized him as her junior brother, and was surprised by his strength.


    She figured that since her junior brother had the family''s map, he couldn''t be unaware that this path led to theva sea.


    If he still chose to take this path, he was either foolish or had a way to break through the dead end.


    She trusted thetter, so she gritted her teeth and followed Long Xuan down the path.


    "Hahaha... That path is a dead end! Your Long n''s map must be iplete! You''ve walked right into your own doom!" the Lei n ancestor''s maniacalughter echoed behind them.


    Soon, one by one, the Lei n Gu cultivators followed them down the path.


    Before long, Long Xuan felt a rolling heatwave surging ahead, and the area was bathed in fiery light. Even before they got close, the heat was unbearable.


    Standing at the edge of a cliff, he looked down and saw a wide river ofva flowing slowly in a certain direction, its destination unknown.


    To his surprise, he noticed movement in theva below¡ªseemingly living creatures, which made him wary.


    Any creature that could survive inva would be extremely dangerous.


    Taking a deep breath, Long Xuan looked back at the approaching pursuers and, without hesitation, wrapped his arm around Long Ziyan''s slender waist and jumped off the cliff.


    Everyone behind them widened their eyes in disbelief. Just as they were puzzled by this sight, they saw the man lightly step on his right foot, then step on his left foot in midair, and leapt across theva.


    Incredibly, he repeated this a few more times, and finally, with someone in tow, hended steadily on the opposite bank of theva sea before disappearing from view.


    Everyone''s jaws dropped, their mouths wide enough to fit an egg. They were stunned by what they had just witnessed and rubbed their eyes in disbelief.


    "What the hell! How did he do that?"


    "Stepping on his own feet to fly? Are you kidding me?"


    "Am I seeing things? Did he really walk on air by stepping on his own feet?"


    A group of Lei n Gu cultivators stood at the edge of the cliff, dumbfounded, utterly shocked by the bizarre scene before them.


    The Lei n ancestor''s face turned livid with rage, teetering on the brink of fury.


    ¡°Who here can fly?¡± he shouted.


    Everyone looked at each other, but no one answered.


    The ability to fly was extremely rare. Even the ancestors couldn¡¯t do it, so how could they possibly know how? Even if someone did know, they wouldn¡¯t admit it. Flying over there to face that fierce individual would likely result in a horrible death.


    They had arrived by a flying boat, which could indeed fly over. The problem was that the flying boat was left with the Gu cultivator at the Spiritual Sea stage outside, so they couldn¡¯t bring it in.


    So, facing this situation, they had no solution. It was impossible to catch up with the person¡­


    ¡°Damn it! Where the hell did that kide from? The Gu insect he used was bizarre and unheard of, and his movement technique was unbelievably strange, something I¡¯ve never seen before. Who is he, exactly¡­¡±


    Seeing the duck fly away just as it was within reach, Lei Yiming was on the verge of rage, his face twisted in a terrifying manner.


    Thinking about what might happen next made his heart bleed¡­


    ...


    This was an area not marked on any map. After all, the ability to fly was so rare that few could reach the other side of theva.


    What was on the other side? What dangers awaited there? It was entirely unknown. Without any knowledge of the situation, Long Xuan didn¡¯t dare to venture further. So, he helped Long Ziyan into a cave and sealed the entrance.


    At this moment, Long Ziyan was panting heavily. At first, Long Xuan thought she was just exhausted, but gradually he realized something was wrong.


    The way his senior sister looked at him waspletely different. It felt like desire¡ªyes, desire, as if she wanted to devour him.


    Long Xuan was startled. Could it be that those guys had given Long Ziyan some kind of drug? His expression changed slightly.


    This kind of drug wasn¡¯t poison, and his detoxification pill didn¡¯t seem to work.


    ¡°Senior Sister, are you okay?¡± Long Xuan asked weakly.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 97: (2): Loss of Self-Control

    Long Ziyan forcefully shifted her gaze elsewhere and said, "You should have already guessed my situation. There''s no other way to resolve it."


    "This is just an clone; you don''t need to feel any burden."


    Long Xuan immediately understood her meaning¡ªhe would be a fool not to.


    ...


    Three hourster, Long Xuan stared nkly at Long Ziyan, who was sitting by the bedbing her hair.


    Don¡¯t ask why there¡¯s a bed here. Long Xuan is such a peculiar person that he carries a bed, table, chairs, pots, pans, and even seasonings with him wherever he goes.


    His thoughts wereplicated at this moment. Although this was just an clone of Long Ziyan, the clone''s body was exactly the same as the original.


    Moreover, the way Long Ziyan controlled the clone allowed her to multitask, meaning that whatever happened just now was fully experienced by her original body as well.


    Women in this world are very conservative, and this kind of overstepping is considered a loss of virtue. In such a conservative society, she couldn''t possibly marry another man. Her only choice was him.With this in mind, Long Xuan felt a bit moved. The path of cultivation is long and lonely, and he would never want to live like some other immortal characters, remaining celibate for eternity. He definitely wanted to find a dual cultivation partner.


    His requirements weren¡¯t high¡ªjust a peerless beauty would suffice.


    And indeed, Long Ziyan¡¯s appearance was breathtaking,pletely fitting his aesthetic tastes. She was definitely a good candidate for a dual cultivation partner.


    Long Xuan made up his mind to strike while the iron was hot, boldly confessing his feelings. In this conservative world, women were thin-skinned, so he had to take the initiative; otherwise, who knows how long things might drag on.


    At this moment, he hadpletely forgotten that he had once sworn never to "eat the grass near his nest."


    "Ziyan, since things have already happened, and I do have feelings for you, why don''t we just be dual cultivation partners?" Long Xuan boldly proposed to her back.


    Long Ziyan turned around and gave him a calm nce, her expression unchanged, as cold as ever. She slowly stood up and walked toward the cave entrance.


    Two faint words drifted back to him from the cave entrance.


    "No way."


    Long Xuan was stunned. Rejected so tly? Did she just take advantage of him for nothing and leave without any sense of responsibility? What a heartless woman!


    However, his thick skin didn''t allow this rejection to affect his mood. He just assumed she was being too reserved. After all, they had only just met and needed more time to get to know each other. Once they became familiar, everything would be fine. She couldn''t marry anyone else now, so who else would she marry if not him?


    At this point, Long Xuan had no idea how difficult it would be to win over this woman¡ªit was definitely a hell-level challenge.


    He got up, put the bed back into his storage bag, and shamelessly followed her.


    The two didn¡¯t head into the unknown world ahead; time was limited, and they couldn¡¯t afford to go deeper. After messing around for three hours, there wasn¡¯t much time left. Dawn would break in just a few hours.


    They returned to the edge of the magma sea, where Lei''s group of Gu cultivators clearly weren¡¯t guarding the other side anymore.


    Time was running out, and they still needed to search the various tomb chambers for treasure. They didn¡¯t have time to waste here.


    Long Xuan cautiously used the Eye of Heaven to scan the opposite shore. Seeing no progress, he turned to Long Ziyan and said, "They¡¯re not here. We can go across."


    Long Ziyan nodded. Even if they were here, it wouldn¡¯t matter. Now that her strength had returned to its peak,bined with Long Xuan''s power, they could easily take on that group, even if it included a reincarnated Gu King.


    Long Xuan wrapped his arm around Long Ziyan''s slender waist and, using his treading Star step technique, easily jumped across to the other side.


    Long Ziyan watched in amazement. Even now, she found this technique unbelievable. Using this method to fly hadpletely shattered her understanding, filling her with curiosity, though her shy nature kept her from asking more.


    Afternding on the other side, Long Ziyan took out a map from her storage bag, nced at it, and then chose a path.


    This time, Long Xuan didn¡¯t act alone; he followed her wherever she went.


    Soon, under Long Ziyan¡¯s guidance, he arrived at a tomb chamber. The stone walls of this chamber were covered with murals, and Long Ziyan, holding amp, focused intently on them.


    Long Xuan frowned slightly. It was clear that the treasures in this tomb chamber had long been taken. Besides the murals, there was nothing here.


    At this point, Long Xuan finally understood Long Ziyan¡¯s hobby. She was a history enthusiast, deeply interested in history, with theology being a part of that, so it had also be her passion.


    She probably didn¡¯t send an clone into the ancient tomb because she was after some treasure; she was here to explore history.


    He couldn¡¯t help but feel sorry for Long Lie. Betting on Long Ziyan was sheer madness.


    As her fellow n member, Long Lie didn¡¯t even understand Long Ziyan¡¯s character before cing his bet on her.


    If Long Lie knew that Long Ziyan entered the tomb not for treasure but to study boring history, he¡¯d probably be infuriated to death.


    Had he known this, he never would have dared to make such a bet, as cing hope on her was a guaranteed loss.


    With the help of the light from Long Ziyan''smp, Long Xuan curiously scanned the surrounding murals.


    These murals might not be useless; they could contain many hidden messages that might be key to finding treasure or help him avoid many dangers.


    So he examined them carefully, not missing an inch.


    The murals depicted the life of the Empress Yaoguang, from growing up with her mother in the cold pce, alone and helpless, topeting with her brothers for the throne.


    Afterunching a pce coup, she became a generation-defining empress, suppressing rebellions with an iron fist, transforming the empire into a war machine, and rapidly expanding the territory of the Great Ying Empire.


    At the height of her reign, the Yaoguang Empress''s prestige reached its peak, and the Great Ying Empire became unprecedentedly powerful during her rule.


    The final mural depicted a grand battle between two armies. One side was clearly the Great Ying Empire¡¯s forces, their numbers unknown, with a massive sedan chair carried by eight people at the forefront. The person sitting in it, though their face was unclear, was undoubtedly the Yaoguang Empress.


    Opposing them was another nation¡¯s army, with a banner bearing therge character "Emperor." Strangely, ten suns appeared in the sky above this army.


    The oue of this battle, who won, and the losses on each side remained unknown.


    "This mural depicts the final battle between the Great Ying Empire and the Ancient Samsara Kingdom. The Samsara Kingdom was a very ancient country founded by the Emperor n, known for having the longeststing national destiny in history."


    "The Samsara Kingdom could refine a heaven-defying Gu worm called the Samsara Gu. The emperors of the Samsara Kingdom could use the power of the Samsara Gu to reincarnate endlessly with their memories intact."


    "When a nation''s emperor is an immortal, that nation is destined to be an eternal, never copsing due to a tyrannical ruler."


    "Many nations, in their quest for the secret of immortality,unched continuous wars against the Samsara Kingdom. The Ancient Samsara Kingdom was besieged from all sides, constantly at war, yet it stood firm for countless millennia."


    "However, as the world''s spiritual energy dwindled, the materials needed to refine the Samsara Gu eventually became extinct. The Samsara Gu, though still capable of reincarnation, could no longer retain memories."


    "As a result, the emperors of the Samsara Kingdom became increasingly corrupt in theirter years, indulging in lust and pleasure. Finally, the Great Ying Empire seized the opportunity to annihte them in one fell swoop."


    "The mural depicts the final battle between the two nations. In this battle, the Samsara Kingdom nearly exhausted its entire army, leading to its downfall."


    "After destroying the Samsara Kingdom, the strongest nation of that time, there was practically no force left to stop the Great Ying Empire''s expansion. Within a century, the Great Ying Empire had nearly unified the entire Gu World."


    "The five great regions of the Gu World¡ªeast, west, south, north, and central¡ªwere all incorporated into the territory of the Great Ying Empire, making it the only unified dynasty in history."


    Long Ziyan slowly walked over, and as she recounted this history, a rare look of excitement appeared in her eyes.


    Long Xuan recalled his current location. Based on the memories of Fire clone studying the geography books, he should be in the Western Region.


    The Western Region is divided into thirty-sixnds, with the Central Land being thergest. His current position should be in the Western Land, specifically in the farthest western part of the Western Land.


    This meant that he was in the farthest western position in this world, on the edge of the world. The farthest western ce was also known as the Far West.


    It was truly remote. If the Great Ying Empire had unified the five domains, the capital would surely be built in the strongest Central Region. The distance from the Central Region to the Far West is the distance from the world''s center to its edge, which is incredibly far.


    How could an imperial tomb be built in such a remote location? Could it be to prevent theft?


    Moreover, the entire Western Land was controlled by n powers and had never been governed by any country. Could this ce have once been ruled by the Great Ying Empire?


    Long Xuan was puzzled, feelingpletely lost, surrounded by mysteries.


    "Could this ce have been part of the Great Ying Empire?" Long Xuan asked in confusion.


    Regarding historical matters, Long Ziyan was certainly knowledgeable. She patiently exined, "During the peak of the Great Ying Empire, every corner of this world was considered part of the Great Ying Empire''s territory."


    "However, this world was simply too vast for the military to conquerpletely, so most areas were vassal states. You could understand this as nominal control with limited actual authority."


    "The Far West was nominally part of the Great Ying Empire, but the Great Ying Empire''s system,ws, customs, culture, and currency were never implemented here."


    "This ce was too barren, so it was used as a ce of exile. Many criminals would be exiled to this region."


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan couldn''t help but twitch the corner of his mouth. The ce where he lived in his previous life was also called a ce of exile in ancient times. To think that his birthce was seen as a ce of exile by others was undeniably embarrassing.


    However, at this moment, a new doubt arose. How could the Empress''s tomb be built in a ce of exile? Could she have been exiled too? Did she exile herself?


    How could that be possible? No matter how severe her crime, it was impossible unless the person whomitted the crime wasn''t her.


    With this thought, Long Xuan suddenly shivered. He thought of a possibility¡ªthe only possibility he could think of.


    Long Xuan suddenly recalled the massive w in the "Sun and Moon Heart Sutra": the Empress had not fully mastered the technique, and the clone she created posed a risk of rebellion, with the potential to kill the original at any moment.


    Could it be that the one buried in this tomb wasn''t the Empress herself but merely one of her clones? Did she bury a rebellious clone here and bury it alive?


    His eyes widened, considering this possibility. The implications were enormous.


    Based on the information he currently had, it was highly unlikely that the owner of this ancient tomb was Empress Yaoguang.


    This information was very valuable to him. If this tomb wasn''t the Empress''s tomb, then the danger level of the sleeping hall would be significantly reduced.


    However, there were also drawbacks. If this tomb wasn''t the Empress''s tomb, then the burial goods would likely be few, and their value would be very limited.


    Of course, this was only rtive. Even if the burial goods in this tomb couldn''tpare to those in a real imperial tomb, they would still be astonishing enough for someone like him, a Gu cultivator in the Spirit Gathering stage, to be tempted.


    "Senior Sister! Have you ever thought that the one buried in this tomb might just be the Empress''s clone?" Long Xuan shared his spection with Long Ziyan.


    Long Ziyan didn''t show any surprise, clearly having already had the same thought.


    "I''ve researched a lot of historical records. The real Empress Yaoguang has already ascended; she is the only one in ten thousand years who sessfully ascended to the Spirit Realm."


    "Because Empress Yaoguang had no offspring, the vast Great Ying Empire quickly fell apart after her ascension, returning to its previous chaotic state, with countless small states emerging."


    Long Ziyan disyed a look of regret.


    The Spirit Realm? Where is the Spirit Realm? Long Xuan furrowed his brow, showing a puzzled expression. Despite his intense curiosity, he chose not to ask further.


    Time was running out. He didn''t have time to ask questions like a curious child. He had too many questions in his mind, and he nned to solve them after leaving this ce.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 98: The Sleeping Palace

    After the two left, they walked directly toward the location of the sleeping pce within the tomb.


    The path they now walked was no longer a muddy cave, but a tomb passage paved with bluestone. The passage was square, t, and made a tapping sound as they walked on it.


    From time to time, a burial chamber would appear on either side of the tomb passage. Some doors were open, some closed, and most of the chambers had already been looted.


    Due to time constraints, the two did not enter any of the other burial chambers but headed directly to the deepest part of the tomb¡ªthe sleeping pce.


    The tomb passage leading to the sleeping pce wasplex, with crossroads appearing every now and then. Without a map, he might have gotten lost.


    In this world, many powers possess the ability to move mountains and fill seas, so constructing a massive ancient tomb wasn''t difficult for them. Tombs in this world were generally farrger than those in his previous life.


    As he had anticipated, the various mechanisms within the tomb appeared clearly in his eyes, revealing their progress. He could see the location of every trap.


    However, it was of no use. The tomb had been robbed multiple times, and most of the mechanisms had already been dismantled, rendering his awareness of them unnecessary.


    The two thus arrived safely at the location of the sleeping pce.Information about the sleeping pce was scarce among any tribe. They only knew it was dangerous, but no one knew the specifics, as everyone who had entered had died without exception.


    This included two Gu Kings.


    The two were not the type to risk their lives for treasure.


    Long Xuan simply wanted to see if his golden finger could break through the dangers of the sleeping pce. He only intended to observe from afar and had no ns to enter.


    Long Ziyan¡¯s purpose might be to study history, or she might have another reason. Perhaps she also harbored the idea of picking up leftovers like him, but she clearly had no intention of entering either.


    The two stood in the bluestone tomb passage leading to the sleeping pce, observing the situation from afar.


    Each had an eye at the center of their foreheads¡ªwhether it was Long Xuan¡¯s Eye of Heavenly secret or Long Ziyan¡¯s Evil Dragon Emperor¡¯s Eye¡ªboth had long-range vision, allowing them to see the sleeping pce clearly even from a distance.


    The sleeping pce was vast, with ten statues of Golden Crows positioned in various directions within it. The statues were lifelike, as if they mighte to life at any moment.


    The floor was paved with white stones that reflected light, seemingly made of extraordinary materials with considerable hardness.


    Numerous oilmps that had been burning for an unknown length of time hung on the walls, making the entire sleeping pce seem both dim and bright.


    Surprisingly, the walls were not decorated with murals but with aplete text of the "Sun and Moon Heart Sutra," though itcked the apanying spiritual techniques.


    This was strange, as if the tomb¡¯s owner wanted to openly disy the "Sun and Moon Heart Sutra" for everyone to see.


    Not only did the sleeping pce contain the "Sun and Moon Heart Sutra," but many burial chambers also showed traces of it¡ªLi Laodao even found a paper version.


    Was she intentionally trying to spread her cultivation technique? Did she want more people to learn it?


    She was already dead, so why did she do this? Was she trying to find someone who could fix the ws in her technique? Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but entertain this baseless thought.


    He temporarily set aside this strange notion and focused his gaze on the crystal coffin in the center of the sleeping pce. The coffin was made of some kind of crystal stone, semi-transparent, making it easy to see what was inside.


    Long Xuan¡¯s curiosity was piqued, and he wanted to see what the legendary Yaoguang Empress looked like, so he directed his gaze into the coffin.


    The Yaoguang Empress was dressed in a golden robe embroidered with many Golden Crows. She wore numerous glowing jewels and ornaments on her fingers and neck, clearly all priceless treasures, making him envious.


    He hurriedly looked at the empress¡¯s face but was disappointed to find a strikingly beautiful flower growing inside the coffin, its stem wrapped around the empress¡¯s body, with its leaves conveniently covering her peerless face.


    This strange flower was eerie. Though it was full of energy, it didn¡¯t contain spiritual power, and his X-ray vision couldn¡¯t prate the thin leaves, astonishing him.


    The only part of the empress he could see was her bright red lips, but just by looking at them, he could tell she must have been breathtakingly beautiful, her appearance capable of toppling kingdoms.


    Suddenly, he frowned, realizing that he couldn¡¯t see the empress¡¯s progress. Even though she was dead, there should have been some indication of progress, right?


    After all, her body hadn¡¯t decayed due to special reasons and remained youthful. Even if the body had decayed, it should have shown decay progress.


    His frown deepened as he looked at the ground topare with the corpses.


    Many people had entered the sleeping pce, and many corpsesy on the ground.


    There were even a few fresh corpses with undried bloodstains, clearly having died recently. Some people were truly fearless, entering even after the Gu Kings had perished.


    Looking closely, he was shocked to see that two of the fresh corpses were very familiar to him¡ªthey were none other than the ancestors of the Feng and Gu ns.


    Judging by their injuries, it appeared they had killed each other in a struggle over treasure, resulting in mutual destruction.


    He searched the ground carefully but found no storage bags belonging to the two, which puzzled him.


    He didn¡¯t believe anyone could have left the sleeping pce alive.


    So there was only one possible exnation.


    The two Gu Kings¡¯ clones must have entered the tomb to im the burial treasure of the sleeping pce.


    These clones, only at the Spirit Gathering Stage, were disposable. Even if they died, it wouldn¡¯t be a significant loss. If they somehow managed to bring out the burial treasure, they would have hit the jackpot.


    The two ancestors¡¯ mindset was to send clones into the tomb at minimal cost for a high-stakes gamble. As for the Spirit Surge Grass, it was merely a bonus, not worth deploying clones for.


    They knew their chances of survival were slim, so they naturally handed all their Spirit Surge Grass and some valuable items to the family¡¯s Gu cultivators to take out. That exined why they had so few valuables on them.


    Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but marvel at the two ancestors¡¯ cunning¡ªthey never intended for their clones to survive.


    If they didn¡¯t leave, there would be no evidence left, and if he hadn¡¯t recorded a video, they might have seeded in their deception.


    However, what puzzled him was what treasure they found that caused them to kill each other. Did they really find the burial treasure?


    Where could the treasure be? It couldn¡¯t have been taken out, but it wasn¡¯t on the ground either. He was utterly baffled¡ªthe situation in the sleeping pce was far too eerie.


    As expected, the corpses disyed progress. The life force of those who died naturally had disappeared, while those who died violently retained their youthful appearance. If the body didn¡¯t decay, the youthful appearance would remain fixed.


    Out of curiosity, he nced at Long Ziyan beside him.


    ¡°Ziyan, do you know...¡±


    His words abruptly stopped because he realized he couldn¡¯t see Long Ziyan¡¯s progress either.


    His face stiffened.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t good...¡±


    He quickly tried to dodge but was a step too slow, getting shed across his right shoulder, causing it to bleed before being quickly sealed with ice.


    The Second-Grade Dragon Silkworm Treasure Robe was pierced by her sword as if it were made of paper.


    Long Xuan felt a chilling aura surge into his body, making his limbs cold, slowing his movements, and even causing his heart to feel like it was freezing.


    If not for the Water Bear Gu¡¯s strong resistance to cold, a normal person would have died from this strike.


    Long Xuan was utterly shocked and quickly distanced himself. When he looked at Long Ziyan again, she had already vanished into thin air. In another spot, a different Long Ziyan suddenly appeared out of nowhere. This Long Ziyan was staring at him with a bewildered expression and at the wound on his right shoulder.


    Noticing the progress bar above her head, Long Xuan realized that this Long Ziyan was the real one. He quickly ran over and grabbed her arm.


    "Let''s go..."


    After running some distance, they entered a tomb chamber. Long Xuan leaned against the wall, gasping for breath. The recent events had been incredibly perilous.


    What would have happened if he didn''t have the golden finger that allowed him to see progress? He might have been ambushed and killed by that damned illusion, or he could have been deceived by the illusion and ended up fighting the real senior sister, leading to a mutual destruction.


    He finally understood how the two ancestors had died. Earlier, he had been puzzled as to why they would inexplicably start fighting when there was clearly no treasure on the ground.


    Now he knew. They had fallen victim to the illusion''s scheme to sow discord, mistakenly believing that the other had attacked them, leading to internal conflict.


    The two Gu Kings who had entered this tomb during previous grave-robbing attempts likely died the same way¡ªtricked by the illusion into attacking each other, ultimately resulting in mutual destruction.


    Such a realistic illusion would be almost impossible for anyone else in the world to see through, and anyone who fell for it would inevitably be deceived and manipted.


    No matter the power difference between the parties, the oue would always be mutual destruction in the end.


    This is because the damn illusion was different from normal illusions. Normal illusions are visual deceptions that cannot produce physical attacks.


    However, the illusion in the tomb not only perfectly mimicked a person but could also simte a person''s abilities with 100% uracy, delivering real attacks that left genuine injuries. This was simply absurd. It was the first time Long Xuan had encountered such a sinister illusion, and it was terrifying.


    Even if you were lucky enough to kill the real opponent, you would still be killed by the illusion in your wounded state. And even if you were lucky enough to kill the illusion, so what? Illusions are not one-time things¡ªthey can reappear repeatedly.


    Unless you can see through the illusion, it will automatically disappear, just like when Long Xuan suddenly suspected that the Long Ziyan without progress might be an illusion. The moment this thought urred to him, the illusion automatically disappeared. Otherwise, the illusion would have continued to chase him.


    This is amon w in most illusions: once you recognize them as illusions, they will automatically vanish.


    "What just happened? How did you suddenly get injured?"


    Long Ziyan nced at his injured shoulder, noticing that the wound had been sealed with ice, emitting an aura she found very familiar. She frowned; the wound looked so much like one she might have caused. Could her junior brother have misunderstood?


    Long Xuan didn''t answer her question. Instead, he anxiously stared into her eyes, "Tell me quickly, did you see that flower?"


    After some brief deductions, he finally concluded that it was definitely that demonic flower causing all the trouble.


    Everyone had died in the bedchamber, so naturally, he thought the danger would only be within that area. That''s why he dared to observe from the tomb passage, believing that as long as he didn''t enter, he wouldn''t be in danger. Long Ziyan had thought the same.


    But now, even though he hadn''t entered the bedchamber, he was inexplicably caught in a trap. Byparing the differences between himself and the group of dead bodies, he could only conclude that it was because he had the ability to see from a distance, allowing him to spot that strange flower in advance.


    Others without the ability to see from afar would have to get very close before they could see the flower, so they all died in the bedchamber.


    As for why he only suspected that flower and not the other things in the coffin, it was entirely because everything else in the coffin was an illusion.


    The female emperor''s corpse, which had no progress, must have been an illusion. The crystal coffin waspletely empty¡ªthere was nothing inside but that demonic flower.


    He broke out in a cold sweat, feeling a chill in his bones, and goosebumps rose on his back.


    Where did the female emperor''s corpse go?


    With that demonic flower around, even if the Gu Kings hade, they would have died. It was impossible that someone took it away.


    So there was only one answer: she had walked out herself, taking all the tomb treasures with her.


    His fear grew even stronger.


    When did this happen? When did the female emperor''s corpse walk out?


    It shouldn''t have been before the tomb-robbing began.


    Because many people had taken countless priceless treasures from the tomb, and the Long n had even brought out the precious Blood of the Golden Crow.


    If she had left before the tomb-robbing, she shouldn''t have left those treasures behind.


    He didn''t even consider the possibility of her bing a zombie¡ªthis wasn''t a horror story. In this world, people don''t naturally turn into zombies after death unless they''re specially refined.


    So she must have been conscious, awakened during the tomb-robbing, and took all the treasures from the coffin.


    Had a resurrected powerhouse with overwhelmingbat power returned?


    Did this happen just now, or a long time ago? Did the female emperor escape long ago, or is she still in this ancient tomb?


    Long Xuan''s scalp tingled.


    So the first thing he asked was whether Long Ziyan had seen that demonic flower.


    If she had seen it, then things would be really troublesome.


    What if she was attacked by an illusion pretending to be Long Xuan and then attacked the real Long Xuan in anger? That would be deadly.


    So if he knew Long Ziyan had seen that flower, he would have to stay far away from her, as she would be extremely dangerous at that moment.


    Fortunately, Long Ziyan showed a confused look at this time, asking in surprise, "What flower? I was just watching the part about the supernatural powers in the ''Sun and Moon Sutra'' on the wall. The content on it can enhance my clone, so I didn''t look too closely at the other parts of the tomb."


    "That''s good. It''s good that you didn''t look too closely." Hearing this, Long Xuan let out a long sigh of relief and patted his chest.


    He quickly exined his deductions to Long Ziyan and then asked, "You are knowledgeable. Do you know the origin of that demonic flower?"


    He showed deep dread toward that demonic flower. He had only nced at it in a hurry, not seeing it clearly. The progress on that demonic flower was incredibly long; it seemed to be not just five digits after the decimal point but seven digits after the decimal point¡ªit was utterly terrifying.


    Moreover, the energy contained in that demonic flower wasn''t spiritual power. His Fire clone had searched through all the illustrations but had never seen it. He didn''t know its species, didn''t know its function¡ªit was all unknown.


    Long Ziyan frowned slightly, clearly shocked by the fact that the female emperor''s clone had likely already escaped. If so, this ancient tomb was now too dangerous, and they needed to leave as soon as possible.


    "I don''t know the origin of that flower either, but if I can''t recognize the spirit herb, then there is only one possibility."


    Long Ziyan''s eyes shed, and she said confidently, "That is, this flower is not something from this world at all. It might be from another world, such as the Demon Realm."


    "The energy you mentioned that isn''t spiritual power might be demonic energy. The Demon Realm is a higher ne, so its energy level must be above spiritual power. A demonic flower with demonic energy would be extremely difficult to deal with, and its abilities would not be easy to break." Long Ziyan showed a serious expression.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 99: Long Xuans Slander

    Hearing this, Long Xuan''s thoughts grew heavy. At this point, he no longer had any intention of returning to the pce to pick up the buried treasure. All the tomb treasures had already been taken by the Empress, so where could he find any more?


    But, that''s not quite right¡ªshe seemed to have intentionally left behind a certain demonic flower. This flower, with its slow progress, seemed to be an extraordinary treasure against the heavens and could indeed be considered a tomb guarding treasure.


    However, the abilities of this demonic flower seemed useless to him. Any illusions it created would be immediately dispelled by him, posing no threat whatsoever.


    Long Xuan stroked his chin, realizing that his golden finger could indeed help him pick up tomb guarding treasure.


    His eyes grew increasingly bright.


    But he decided to n this carefully and didn''t intend to go back and pick that demonic flower for now.


    On one hand, the Empress might have been resurrected, and it was too dangerous to stay in the tomb any longer.


    On the other hand, everything he acquired in the tomb needed to be turned over to the n, with 70% handed over.


    He originally wanted to outsmart the n''s higher-ups, but they didn''t even mention how they would inspect their storage bags.It was impossible to directly search storage bags, as everyone has their privacy, and the n wouldn''t dare to do this, as it would cause public outrage.


    If they didn¡¯t search the storage bags, how would the n distinguish between the treasures taken from the tomb and those that belonged to the person?


    Long Xuan knew nothing about the n''s methods. Since he didn¡¯t know, he couldn¡¯t show off his intelligence. How could he dare to act rashly?


    The smartest approach was simply not to take the treasures out, wait until everyone had left, and then sneak back inter.


    The ancient tomb wouldn''t move¡ªwhat''s the harm in returning another day?


    He thought about the rabbit in his insect breeding bag, which might also be a treasure of immense value, so he dared not take it out.


    Therefore, he nned to stealthily hide it in a concealed corner of the tomb and retrieve itter when he had the time.


    As for the treasures he confiscated from the rabbit and the spiritual soil, he wouldn''t take them out either. He nned to hide everything in a corner and only take the Spirit Surge Grass out of the tomb.


    "Let¡¯s go! If the Empresses out of the tomb resurrected, the world may be turned upside down. We must inform the n as soon as possible."


    Long Ziyan''s face changed as she grabbed the still-pensive Long Xuan and ran towards the tunnel...


    Although it seemed there was still some time before dawn, all the tomb raiders were running madly as if unknown changes had urred at various ces within the ancient tomb.


    Long Xuan had only taken a few steps when he heard the sound of dense footstepsing from one of the corridors.


    Looking over, he saw Long Bao and Long Yan running for their lives with a group of dried corpses chasing them, looking terrifying.


    "Zombies?" Long Xuan was startled.


    "They''re not zombies; they''re a type of corpse-controlling Gu."


    "These corpses alle from the sacrificial pit and are part of its dangers."


    "Logically, these things onlye out during the day, so why are they out now? There should still be some time before dawn," Long Ziyan frowned.


    Hearing this, Long Xuan''s heart sank. Could it be that the dangers that only appear during the day were now emerging early?


    Long Ziyan released a Earth Master Gu from her insect breeding bag. The Earth Master held a giant earth ball in its hands and, after Long Yan and Long Bao exited the corridor, it threw the earth ball into the corridor.


    The corridor was narrow, and with such arge earth ball rolling through, there was no room to avoid it.


    The earth ball rolled forward like a massive bowling ball, crushing the dried corpses in its path before bing lodged in a section, blocking the corpse horde from advancing further.


    Long Xuan was startled. Even a genius like Long Ziyan was cultivating such a low-grade Gu?


    "We can''t stay in the tomb any longer, let''s go!"


    After the four met up, there was no time for greetings¡ªthey immediately ran towards the tunnel.


    Along the way, the air was filled with screams, and it seemed the dangers that only appeared during the day were now emerging early. All the tomb raiders from various ns who had entered were running for their lives, throwing the ancient tomb into chaos.


    When Long Xuan saw someone inexplicably lose their head, his heart sank.


    The Dream Butterfly Gu from the herb garden area had also left its activity range¡ªthis was a big problem. Once that thing got out, almost no one in the tomb would survive.


    "Not good! The Dream Butterfly Gu has alsoe out! Run!" Long Xuan shouted in rm, but in reality, he was deliberately warning the other three.


    Long Ziyan''s pupils shrank instantly. It was clear she was also deeply afraid of this thing, with no way to handle it.


    "This is a big problem! Hurry!"


    The group sped towards the tunnel. By now, everyone in the tomb was running towards the corridors, and Long Xuan encountered more and more people.


    But the Dream Butterfly Gu was indiscriminately ughtering those who had entered the tomb. Those running behind him were dropping like flies, their heads falling off as if they were chickens being ughtered. No one could resist the Dream Butterfly Gu.


    Facing this bizarre, unsolvable threat, everyone''s faces turned pale, and they ran desperately forward as if they had grown four legs.


    Just as everyone entered the tunnel and began to smile in relief, believing they had narrowly escaped, a scene that shattered their hopes unfolded.


    There was a row of explosive talismans left in the tunnel by some bastard, and with a deafening explosion, the front of the tunnel copsed, trapping everyone inside.


    Those blocked by the copse were stunned, staring at thepletely sealed tunnel entrance with their minds utterly shattered.


    "Who the hell did this? Damn them to hell!"


    "This is too wicked! Who did this? This scumbag!"


    "Who? Who did this? Which bastard did this!"


    "This is too vile! Don¡¯t let me find out which son of a bitch did this!"


    Everyone was enraged, swearing viciously, their curses growing nastier.


    Long Xuan was also furious. He wasn¡¯t at the front and had been focused on the Dream Butterfly Gu, so he really hadn¡¯t noticed who did this.


    Even though he didn¡¯t know who was trying to kill everyone with such a despicable move, it didn¡¯t stop him from ming someone else.


    Long Xuan suddenly cursed, "Damn! That old ancestor from the Lei n is truly inhuman! He possessed a family genius and vited the rules to enter, and now, fearing exposure, he¡¯s trying to kill everyone in the tomb. What a ruthless heart!"


    Long Xuan took the opportunity to expose this, hoping these people would report it to their n¡¯s Spiritual Sea-stage Gu cultivators.


    If this led to chaos, even better, as it would allow Long Lie, a rookie at the Spiritual Sea stage, to escape safely.


    Even though he made it all up, so what?


    The Lei family ancestor did possess a family genius, and that was an undeniable fact that couldn¡¯t withstand scrutiny.


    Once investigated, this situation would inevitably be a disaster.


    Everyone would naturally assume he was trying to hide his entry into the tomb by killing everyone, and he wouldn¡¯t be able to clear his name, no matter what.


    However, what Long Xuan didn¡¯t expect was that his fabricated nder turned out to be true. He had stumbled upon the truth by ident.


    It was indeed the Lei family ancestor who had caused the tunnel copse.


    He had failed to kill Long Xuan in the tomb and was afraid that his actions would be exposed, so he had no choice but to silence everyone by copsing the tunnel.


    It was a coincidence, but Long Xuan¡¯s guess hit the mark.


    Once Long Xuan spoke, as expected, all eyes turned to the Lei family Gu cultivators, and a few with weaker psychological resilience began to look guilty.


    This only confirmed the suspicions, and the usations grew stronger.


    "Damn it! It really was you scumbags who did this! Go to hell!"


    A member of the Shi n, consumed with rage,unched an attack and, without warning, stabbed a Lei n Gu cultivator through the back.


    At this moment, the remaining Gu cultivators from various ns were already on the verge of copse. They were close to death themselves, and there was no rationality left. They vented their anger on the Lei n Gu cultivators.


    The cave instantly descended into chaos, filled with screams and the sound of battle. Blood covered the ground. Meanwhile, the Dream Butterfly Gu continued its indiscriminate ughter, with headless bodies asionally copsing to the floor, turning the tunnel into a river of blood.


    However, the entrance was already blocked, and retreat was a dead end. They had no choice but to go berserk and attack the Lei n Gu cultivators, determined to take at least one of them down with them, even in death.


    As for who would be killed by the Dream Butterfly Gu, that was up to fate¡ªthere was simply no way to defend against it.


    It was Long Ziyan who first came up with a solution. She released her Earth Master Gu once again.


    As soon as the Earth Master Gu appeared, it began to devour the earth inrge mouthfuls. The blocked passage ahead quickly had a small pit dug out by it.


    At this moment, Long Yan and Long Bao''s eyes lit up. Yes, the Earth Master Gu feeds on earth, and its mouth has a huge cavity that can store arge amount of soil.


    The Earth Master Gu could dig out a tunnel in a very short time.


    So, they also released their own Earth Master Gu, standing side by side with Long Ziyan''s Gu, quickly devouring the soil ahead.


    The appearance of these three giant dung beetles drew the attention of many people. Seeing how fast they were digging, knowing that a long tunnel would soon bepleted, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief, their eyes once again filled with hope.


    With these creatures around, they would be saved.


    Many people smiled, feeling as though they had narrowly escaped death, thankful that the Long n possessed such Gu insect.


    However, the appearance of these Gu worms also caught the attention of the Feng n Gu cultivators. When did the Long n develop such terrifying, unique Gu insects? The surviving Feng n Gu cultivators exchanged nces, their expressions growing serious.


    Finally, with the path cleared by the three Earth Master Gu, the blocked passage ahead was quickly dug through.


    Fresh air rushed in through the tunnel, and everyone''s expressions turned to wild joy as they frantically charged forward.


    Long Xuan''s group of four, responsible for clearing the path, naturally ran at the front, making them the safest.


    Meanwhile, the Dream Butterfly Gu continued its relentless pursuit, causing heads to roll and the Gu cultivators from various ns to die in droves.


    By this time, there were only a few surviving Gu cultivators left. Long Xuan didn''t have time to count them, but a rough estimate suggested that there were no more than thirty left.


    This tomb raiding operation had been a devastating loss for the various ns¡ªover seven hundred people went in, and less than thirty came out alive. The casualty rate was higher than in any previous tomb raiding operation.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 100: Comparing Treasures

    After everyone emerged from the tunnel, they all gasped for air, desperately breathing in the fresh air outside. The tension that had gripped them finally eased, and they felt an overwhelming urge to cry. The recent journey had been so dangerous that they could hardly believe they had made it out alive.


    The Dream Butterfly Gu chased them to the exit but ultimately didn''t break through to the surface and retreated. Still, Long Bao wasn''t reassured. He ordered the earth master to throw a pile of earth balls topletely block the tunnel, only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.


    His back was drenched with sweat, having broken out in a cold sweat.


    "What exactly happened? Why did only so few of you survive?"


    The group of Gu practitioners from various tribes, all in the Spiritual Sea stage, approached with grim faces.


    Long Lie also rushed over and, after counting the people, his face darkened when he found that only four members of the Long family had made it out alive.


    The leading Gu practitioners from other ns also looked grim; each had only three or four people left, which was almost like being wiped out entirely.


    The leaders from each n began asking what had happened inside the tomb.


    This was when Long Xuan''s fabricated story finally took effect.The surviving Gu cultivators from the various ns pointed angrily in the direction of the Lei family¡¯s camp, using them of causing the deaths by copsing the tunnel. They imed that even if there had been an unexpected change inside the tomb, it wouldn''t have led to so many deaths if the tunnel hadn''t been destroyed.


    This made the leaders of all the tribes look increasingly angry, ring at the Lei family¡¯s Gu cultivators with eyes full of fury.


    "You owe us an exnation!"


    "Who exactly is that young man? Is he a Gu King infiltrated by your side?"


    "Dare you let us check him out?"


    Soon, an argument broke out, with the Lei family''s ancestor feigning innocence, acting like a pure, naive young boy with a confused expression. His acting was quite convincing.


    But no matter how well he acted, it was useless. The more he refused the inspection, the more it proved he was hiding something. There was no way he could keep up the pretense.


    If they were only 90% convinced before, now, with the Lei n''s leaders doing everything to avoid inspection, they were fully convinced. Everyone was furious.


    The enraged Spiritual Sea stage Gu practitioners, including those from the Gu and Feng families, conveniently ignored the fact that they had also sent a Gu King¡¯s clone inside. They acted like victims, as if their Gu King''s clone had already died in the tomb, waiting for the drama to unfold.


    However, despite the heated argument, they didn¡¯t end up fighting. They decided toplete the wager first. They were still fixated on the seven high-grade rare Gu''s, much to Long Xuan''s disappointment.


    He walked up to Long Lie and whispered, "It seems like the Yaoguang Empress has been resurrected. I suspect she''s already escaped, but I don''t know when she got out. Did you see a golden figure flying away just now?"


    He had scanned the ancient tomb and found no suspicious progress, so he assumed the Empress had already left and was no longer in the tomb.


    Upon hearing this, Long Lie¡¯s pupils shrank, and he was startled by Long Xuan''s words. He uncertainly replied, "Did I? I didn¡¯t notice anything. I was focused on those seven high-grade rare Gu''s. Maybe there was a golden figure? I don¡¯t know."


    Long Xuan''s face darkened; he knew Long Lie was unreliable. He didn¡¯t even know if someone had escaped from the tunnel. What could he possibly know?


    Long Lie then shifted his tone and said, "The dead can''te back to life. How could she be resurrected so easily? Unless she was never really dead."


    "Whether she¡¯s dead or not is not our concern. Let the higher-ups of the family worry about it. The urgent matter now is toplete the wager. Only a few of you survived, so the wager will soon be over."


    "What did you bring out from the ancient tomb? Show it quickly."


    Long Lie was still fixated on the wager.


    Long Xuan, feeling helpless, first scanned the area with the Eye of Heaven but didn¡¯t find any suspicious progress, which put him slightly at ease. He casually replied, "I''ll gost. You check the others first."


    Long Xuan wanted to see what methods the n would use to check if they had hidden anything before making his ns.


    Meanwhile, he secretly returned the image -recording Gu that documented the crimes of the Gu and Feng families to Long Lie without anyone noticing his movements.


    "Credit this to someone else. I don''t want it."


    After saying this through a soul transmission, Long Xuan turned and left.


    Long Lie was a bit puzzled but could guess that there must be something significant recorded. He became thoughtful.


    There weren''t many survivors left, and while Long Xuan and Long Lie were secretly conversing, the other ns had already counted their spoils from the tomb. Only the Long n hadn¡¯t moved yet, so the Spiritual Sea stage Gu practitioners from various tribes started approaching them.


    Many of them had expressions so grim they looked as if they had lost their mothers.


    "Heh! Long Lie, hurry up! What are you stalling for?"


    "I advise you to admit defeat. My tribe brought out 180 Spirit Surge Grass from the tomb, the highest haul so far. The Gu family got 175 nts, cing them second."


    "Now we''re just waiting for you. Show us your treasures!"


    Unsurprisingly, the speaker was Feng Yu, the Feng family¡¯s leading Gu cultivator, who was always at odds with the Long family.


    Long Xuan nced at him, thinking his guess was correct: those two ancestors had indeed handed over all their treasures to be taken out by others.


    He wasn''t surprised. He had already anticipated the amount of Spirit Surge Grass, which the Feng family ancestor had obtained by killing all the Gu practitioners. The number didn¡¯t shock him.


    Upon hearing this, Long Lie¡¯s face changed instantly. 180 Spirit Surge grass? How did they get so many?


    Although Spirit Surge Grass is a first-grade spiritual herb, its value far exceeds that of an ordinary first-grade herb. It is precious enough to make a peak Spirit Surge stage Gu practitioner go bankrupt.


    Everything of value in the tomb had probably already been taken, and the most valuable thing was likely the Spirit Surge Grass.


    But 180 Spirit Surge Grass nts? My god!


    Long Lie shuddered, his face falling as a bad premonition arose in his heart.


    At this point, all the confidence he had earlier evaporated. He was no longer confident in his chances of winning.


    He could only pin all his hopes on Long Ziyan.


    He immediately turned to Long Ziyan, anxiously asking, "Ziyan, what did you find in the tomb?"


    He looked at her expectantly, as if she were hisst hope, his eyes full of anticipation.


    However, he was destined to be disappointed.


    Long Ziyan stood there motionless, her expressionplex. It wasn''t embarrassment, just a slight blush, as if she had thought of something.


    She had spent barely half a day in the tomb. She was dyed in the herb garden for a while, then spent most of the remaining time in a small cave with her junior brother after shaking off the Lei family''s Gu practitioners.


    When she finally made it to the sleeping pce, she found nothing.


    So, she came back empty-handed, with nothing to show for her efforts.


    She was destined to disappoint Long Lie. Unable to bear seeing his hopeful gaze, she turned her head away.


    Long Lie had put his trust in the wrong person after all.


    His heart skipped a beat. No way! No way! My dear youngdy! What do you mean by turning your head away? This is going to get someone killed!


    Long Lie''s face turned pale as he clutched his trembling heart, feeling a sense of impending doom.


    ¡°Hahaha¡­ If I''m not mistaken! You didn¡¯t get anything, did you?!¡±


    ¡°I was wondering what kind of genius could make Long Lie so confident to propose such a bet, to make him so arrogant. I thought there was some extraordinary talent in the group.¡±


    ¡°But this is it? Hahaha¡­ this is killing me withughter!¡±


    Long Lie''s face darkened, holding onto thest shred of hope in his heart. He pointed at Long Bao and said, ¡°You! Yes, you! Take out everything you gained from the ancient tomb.¡±


    Long Bao¡¯s expression froze. He slowly walked forward, took out a pile of junk from his storage bag, and ced it on the ground. Long Lie¡¯s face turned even darker.


    Most of it was worthless antiques, along with some clothes worn by corpses in the burial pit and a few weapons. Due to their age, the weapons were so damaged they were no longer usable.


    Although they were worth some money,pared to the Spirit Surge Grass, they were practically worthless and couldn¡¯t possiblypare to 180 stalks of Spirit Surge Grass.


    At this moment, Long Xuan looked at Long Bao¡¯s butt with a strange expression. In his vision, Long Bao¡¯s butt seemed to be bulging.


    Goodness, did he really hide a treasure in his asshole? This is too bizarre! This guy is hardcore! Hiding a treasure in such a way to avoid being searched is one method, and a decent one at that. But who knows if it will work.


    He was genuinely curious now about what method the family used to determine if someone who entered the tomb had hidden treasures. He wondered if they could detect a treasure hidden so deeply. His face showed his curiosity.


    Just as Long Xuan was growing eager to see what would happen, Long Lie took out something incredibly familiar to him. His pupils suddenly contracted.


    Appearing in Long Lie¡¯s palm was none other than a golden toad. He recognized it instantly. My goodness, isn¡¯t this the exclusive Gu worm of the Qian n Chamber of Commerce¡ªthe Integrity Gu?


    The family is truly resourceful, even managing to borrow the Integrity Gu from the Qian n Chamber of Commerce. This time, Long Bao is done for.


    He nced at Long Bao with sympathy and silently mourned for him in his heart.


    ¡°Long Bao! Did you hide any treasures?¡± Long Lie asked, holding the Integrity Gu in his hand as he walked up to Long Bao.


    The Integrity Gu stared at him intently.


    Long Bao¡¯s expression stiffened, and cold sweat instantly poured out. His heart was pounding, and he didn¡¯t dare to meet the gaze of the Integrity Gu, but he had no choice but to grit his teeth and say, ¡°No! Just these!¡±


    As soon as he finished speaking, the Integrity Gu¡¯s eyes began shing wildly, so brightly that it was blinding.


    The Integrity Gu disyed an angry re and lunged forward to devour this untrustworthy fellow.


    ¡°Calm down! Calm down!¡±


    Long Lie quickly intervened, restraining the Integrity Gu. He turned to Long Bao with a dark expression and said, ¡°Well, well, Long Bao! How dare you hide treasures! Seize him and search him thoroughly!¡±


    Two Long n enforcers in the Marrow Cleansing Stage immediately rushed over with sinister expressions, grabbing Long Bao and dragging him away.


    Long Bao kept yelling, ¡°Despicable! Why didn¡¯t you mention the Integrity Gu earlier? If you had brought it out earlier, none of this would have happened! But no¡­¡±


    Long Bao¡¯s cries grew fainter and fainter¡­


    Long Lie sneered. Mention it earlier? If I mentioned it earlier, who would dare to break the rules? He deliberately didn¡¯t mention it earlier.


    Seeing this scene, Long Yan was so frightened that he shuddered. He quickly opened his mouth and pulled out a string, retrieving a ne from his stomach.


    Long Xuan¡¯s eyebrows twitched as he watched. My goodness, these guys are all something else.


    To hide their treasures, they truly went to any extreme. He was genuinely impressed.

 Chapter 101: Long Xuans Manipulation

    Long Yan secretly felt relieved; luckily, the first to be checked wasn''t him. Otherwise, it would have been a big problem. No matter where the treasures were hidden, they couldn¡¯t escape the scrutiny of the Integrity Gu.


    It was just Long Bao¡¯s bad luck to have stepped on thendmine for him.


    Long Yan, showing a hint of fear, proactively stepped forward and handed over all the treasures he had acquired in the tomb.


    ¡°The storage bag was full, so I hid one in my mouth. I hope you don''t mind.¡±


    As he spoke, he ced a wet ne on the table, looking embarrassed.


    Everyone looked at him with an extremely strange expression. Who was he trying to fool? Did he think they were all idiots? Where did such a weirdoe from? The Long n really produced some characters.


    In the end, Long Lie didn¡¯t pursue the matter further. He picked up the ne and examined it, finding it to be a peak-grade first-level spiritual artifact. However, it was still not as valuable as 180 Spirit Surge Grasses. He shook his head in disappointment.


    Soon, the twow enforcers who had pressed down Long Bao came running over after searching him, holding their noses, and ced a bead in front of everyone.


    Immediately, a strong odor spread throughout the hall.¡°Blech!¡±


    The crowd instantly erupted in sudden sound of retching.


    ¡°What is this? Who relieved themselves?¡±


    The onlookers quickly covered their noses, backing away from the table, all wearing peculiar expressions as if they had already guessed what it was.


    ¡°Take it away! Quickly take it away!¡±


    ¡°What kind of thing do you think should be put on the table? What were you thinking?¡±


    ¡°Hurry up and make him eat it! What is that smell?¡±


    Long Lie flew into a rage, his face darkening. He was closest to the table, and the smell hit him right in the throat. His eyes rolled back as he almost vomited the food he ate three days ago.


    Even the Integrity Gu was rolling its eyes from the stench.


    The twow enforcers quickly took the bead away with handkerchiefs and ran off, finally dispersing the smell a bit.


    ¡°Heh! The Long family sure knows how to produce talent! Where did these freakse from? No one even saw what that thing was just now, but let''s just consider it as a peak-grade spiritual artifact. I¡¯d like to see if thest one of you can still turn things around. Hurry up!¡±


    Feng Yu looked at Long Xuan, thest person, with a contemptuous smile, as if victory was already in his grasp. He didn¡¯t believe this least conspicuous person could do anything to change the oue.


    By this time, Long Lie had already lost all hope. Holding the Integrity Gu in his palm, he walked up to Long Xuan and asked, ¡°What did you bring out of the tomb? Speak up. I won''t me you if I lose."


    Facing the Integrity Gu, which was staring intently at him, Long Xuan truthfully answered, ¡°I only brought out one type of treasure¡ªSpirit Surge Grass.¡±


    Upon hearing this, Long Lie¡¯s eyes lit up, though tinged with disbelief. He nced down at the Integrity Gu and noticed that its eyes didn¡¯t glow, indicating that Long Xuan wasn¡¯t lying. He had indeed only brought out Spirit Surge Grass from the tomb.


    Long Lie was overjoyed, thinking there might still be a chance to turn things around, perhaps even win. His face showed a look of expectation as he eagerly asked, ¡°How many Spirit Surge Grasses did you bring out in total?¡±


    Long Xuan looked at the Integrity Gu, which was still staring at him, and after a brief thought, he said, ¡°A lot, more than a hundred. You can count them.¡±


    As he spoke, he ced 190 Rush Spirit Grasses on the table.


    In his mind, he added, "One hundred ny is more than one hundred, and so is three hundred. What¡¯s wrong with that? Nothing at all. Based on the literal meaning, he wasn¡¯t lying."


    He dared to y such word games because Long Lie¡¯s intelligence didn¡¯t seem very high and he looked easy to deceive.


    If anyone else were checking him, he wouldn¡¯t dare to be so clever. He would hand over the exact amount, cautious by nature and not willing to take risks.


    But the family had sent such a ¡°smart¡± person this time, giving him a golden opportunity.


    At this moment, the Integrity Gu tilted its head, realizing that 300 indeed counts as more than 100. Nothing wrong with that. This person hadn¡¯t lied at all.


    The Gu insect had a simple mind and wasn¡¯t very intelligent, so it didn¡¯t know theplexities of humannguage. Thus, it had no reaction to Long Xuan¡¯s straightforward statement.


    ¡°One hundred ny! One hundred ny! It''s actually one hundred ny! Hahaha¡­ I¡¯ve turned the tables! I really did! Long Xuan, you did great! You¡¯re my lucky star!¡±


    ¡°Hahaha! I now have one hundred ny Spirit Surge Grasses plus two peak-grade spiritual artifacts. Now, I¡¯m worth the most here! The seven high-grade rare Gu''s are mine! Thank you, thank you all! Hahaha¡­¡±


    At this point, Long Lie waspletely out of his mind, dancing around andughing uncontrobly. His mouth almost reached his ears; he was utterly ted.


    In contrast, everyone else¡¯s faces turned grim.


    Especially Feng Yu, whose face was so dark it seemed like water could drip from it¡ªan extremely frightening sight. He had been the first ce just moments ago, and now he was suddenly overtaken. How could he ept that?


    The victory had been in his grasp, and the seven high-grade rare Gu''s were almost his. But unexpectedly, everything changed, and the duck that was almost in his mouth flew away. He was nearly driven mad with anger, and his gaze towards the one who took out the 190 Spirit Surge Grasses became increasingly hostile.


    Sensing this hostile gaze, Long Xuan felt a bit nervous.


    Although he didn¡¯t think Feng Yu would attack him in front of everyone, he had ruined his ns, and who knew if he was the vengeful type? It would be best to figure out a way to eliminate this person quickly.


    Seeing Long Lie stillughing foolishly, Long Xuan felt a surge of irritation. His heart must be as big as hisughter. He quickly sent a soul transmission, saying, ¡°What are you waiting for? Take out the image recording Gu!¡±


    ¡°Do you really think you can safely leave with seven high-grade rare Gu''s? Look at Feng Yu¡¯s expression; how ferocious is it? He¡¯s in the middle stage of the Spiritual Sea, while you¡¯re in the early stage. What are the chances he¡¯ll not rob you halfway?¡±


    Long Xuan¡¯s words were like a bucket of cold water poured over his head, instantly sobering Long Lie up.


    Seeing Feng Yu ring at him with murderous intent, Long Lie fell silent. Given this guy¡¯s usual despicable nature, the chances he couldn¡¯t ept his loss were very high.


    Long Xuan¡¯s worries weren¡¯t groundless. Long Lie¡¯s heart sank as he realized the gravity of the situation.


    He was just a novice who had recently advanced to the Spiritual Sea stage, with no fully refined rare Gu''s yet. Who could he even defeat here?


    Although he hadn¡¯t yet checked what was recorded inside the image recording Gu, there was no time to think it over now. He took Long Xuan¡¯s advice and pulled out the image recording Gu, then projected the recorded image onto the mountain wall.


    Everyone was stunned when Long Lie suddenly took out a image recording Gu, unsure of what he intended to do. Did he want to record his glorious moment of winning the seven high-grade strange Gu''s?


    Their confusion didn¡¯tst long. When the image from the image recording Gu was projected onto the mountain wall, the entire scene fell into silence, so quiet you could hear a pin drop.


    The image that appeared made the hearts of Feng Yu and the Gu n¡¯s leading Gu cultivators skip a beat. Their faces changed instantly, and they silently cursed, realizing things had gone terribly wrong.


    The image showed the two Gu Kings¡¯ clones from the Feng n and Gu n massacring Gu cultivators from various ns,ughing maniacally as they killed. The herb garden had turned into a living hell.


    Particrly the scene where the Miao n¡¯s top genius was devoured in one bite by the Ghost-Eater Spider¡ªit made the Miao n¡¯s leading Gu cultivator¡¯s eyes bulge with fury, almost driving him mad with anger.


    That was the Miao n¡¯s top genius, nurtured with all the n¡¯s resources. Those two peak-grade Gu insects had consumed countless resources of the n. Miao Dongdong¡¯s future was destined to be a Gu King, the hope of the entire Miao n, yet he was brutally murdered by the despicable Feng n ancestor who shamelessly bullied the young. The Miao n¡¯s leader was furious.


    The Feng and Gu ns had dared to grantly vite the rules, sending Gu King clones to ughter Gu cultivators from various ns. If not for the image recording Gu as evidence, he wouldn¡¯t have believed those two Gu Kings would lower themselves to such a level.


    As the ancestors of their ns, how could they do something so disgraceful as ughtering the younger generation? Were they not afraid of being ridiculed by all the ns? Did they have no shame?


    At this moment, everyone in the hall, whether they were Spirit Gathering stage Gu cultivators or Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators, looked at the Gu cultivators from the Feng and Gu ns with strange expressions, filled with anger and mockery.


    "Hehe! No wonder your Feng n brought out so many Spirit-Surge Grasses from the tomb. Such a meticulous n! Truly, a well-calcted move!"


    The leader of the Miao n''s Gu cultivators was so enraged that heughed instead. He looked at Feng Yu with a ferocious expression.


    "Feng, you owe us an exnation! All ns had already agreed that no Gu cultivators above the Marrow Cleansing Stage would participate in this tomb raid, yet you dared to secretly send a Gu King''s Clone inside. What is the meaning of this? Are all your promises nothing but empty words?"


    "And you, Gu, your Gu n''s ancestor shamelessly massacred my nsmen. You must give us an exnation! Do you really think my n is so easy to bully?"


    At this moment, the crowd became chaotic, filled with curses and usations. The Gu and Feng ns were thoroughly condemned, having aroused public outrage. The situation even escted to the point where people began shoving each other.


    Long Yan watched with great interest, enjoying the spectacle as if the chaos wasn''t enough. He eximed excitedly, "Damn! Those two ancestors actually dared tomit such a heinous act. It''s a good thing we left early, or we''d be in big trouble."


    "This is going to be a good show. Do you think they''ll start fighting soon and trigger a mass brawl?"


    Long Xuan''s eyes flickered with a thoughtful look.


    He hoped that this situation would lead to a fight between the Gu cultivators in the Spiritual Sea Stage. If that happened, no one would have the time to hunt down Long Lie, ensuring hisplete safety.


    But that was just the ideal scenario. Whether or not they would actually fight was uncertain. This matter was too significant and would most likely be decided by the higher-ups of the ns. The chances of them privately killing someone to vent their anger were slim, especially since the main culprit was already dead in the tomb.


    So, he had to add more fuel to the fire¡ªa fire that would ensure they would indeed start fighting.


    Long Xuan''s eyes shifted slightly, then he took over Long Yan''s words, looked at him, and smiled, "Do you even need to ask? Of course, they''ll start fighting."


    "Think about it. Feng Yu has 180 Spirit Surge grass in his possession, which all the ns are coveting. They didn''t have a legitimate reason to seize them earlier, but now they finally have a justified excuse to kill and rob. How could they let this chance slip by?"


    "Anyone who doesn''t make a move now would be a fool. If Feng Yu manages to take those 180 Spirit Surge Herbs back, and the Feng n ends up with 180 more experts in the Marrow Cleansing stage, their strength will surge. How would the other ns seek revenge then? They would be left to suffer in silence, swallowing their grievances."


    Long Xuan seemed to be casually chatting, but his voice was loud enough for all the Gu cultivators present to hear.


    Long Yan slowly turned his head, staring at him with wide eyes, as if seeing him for the first time.


    "Damn! This guy is really wicked! The various ns were still restraining themselves, but his words have thrown Feng Yu into a death trap!"


    The Gu cultivator leading the Miao n''s group perked up his ears, his heart stirred. That''s right! Those are 180 Spirit Surge Herbs, capable of bringing who knows how many Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators to our family. If we don''t seize this opportunity, when will we?


    Could we really sit and watch them take the Spirit Surge Herbs back? If they do, and as a result, their n gains arge number of Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators, it would only be detrimental to our family.


    With that in mind, the Miao n leader steeled his heart and made a quick decision.


    "Feng! Your n killed our n''s top genius in vition of the rules. This enmity is irreconcble. Today, I will kill you to avenge our n''s genius!"


    As he spoke, the Miao n leader suddenly attacked, unleashing all his Gu insects in a relentless assault on Feng Yu.


    Feng Yu felt an overwhelming urge to spit blood. They had just agreed to report to the patriarch for a decision, and now they had suddenly turned on him. How fickle! Were their words just nonsense?


    But now, the Miao n leader was charging at him with murderous intent. Feng Yu had no choice but to release his Gu insects and fight back.


    The sudden fight between the two shocked everyone present.


    At this moment, the Gu cultivator leading the Mu n revealed a look of greed. He turned his gaze towards the Spirit Surge Herbs in the hands of the Gu n''s leader and shouted, "You from the Gu n have gone too far! Do you really think the Mu n is powerless?"


    "If I don''t seek justice for the Mu n''s children today, how can we hold our heads high in this ce? Prepare to die!"


    With that, he charged towards the Gu n''s camp.


    The whole scene was once again thrown into chaos.


    The sudden fight between the two served as a catalyst, leading the Spiritual Sea stage experts from all the ns to join the fray. Even the Gu cultivators in the Gathering Spirit stage and Marrow Cleansing stage joined in, plunging the battlefield intoplete chaos.


    Because of someone''s words, a bloody conflict erupted, throwing the situation into utter disarray.


    The Long n''s camp was leftpletely stunned.


    At this point, the Long n was the only side that hadn''t joined the fray.


    Long Lie''s expression was one of uncertainty. He truly didn''t know which side to help.


    The Lei n''s Gu cultivators were part of the viting faction and feared being held ountableter, so they were currently aiding the Gu and Feng ns.


    As a result, the battlefield was now evenly matched, with both sides locked in a stalemate, unable to gain the upper hand in the short term.


    At this moment, the Long n''s position became crucial. It could be said that whichever side the Long n joined would emerge victorious.


    However, Long Lie was feeling apprehensive. The Long n was also part of the viting faction, and he still wasn''t sure if Long Ziyan''s identity had been discovered. What if they helped the wrong side?


    If someone had indeed uncovered Long Ziyan''s identity, they might use that as an excuse to seize the Spirit Surge Herbs from him and take his seven high-grade Gu insects.


    The thought made Long Lie shudder. He didn''t dare to get involved in this mess and decided to leave immediately.


    "They''ve all gone mad. Let''s get out of here!"


    Terrified, Long Lie quickly packed away the insect pouch containing his seven high-grade Gu insects, then ced the dragon boat on the ground and jumped onto it as fast as he could.


    The rest of the Long n''s Gu cultivators were quick to follow, leaping onto the dragon boat with agility. They had already sensed that something was wrong and didn''t dare to dawdle.


    Once everyone was aboard, the dragon boat ascended at top speed and flew away into the distance, disappearing in the blink of an eye.


    The Long n had shamelessly fled without a second thought for the chaos below.


    Those still fighting couldn''t help but feel an overwhelming urge to spit blood. They had stirred up the conflict, but after everyone else started fighting, they had fled first. How could anyone do such a thing?


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 102: Self-Created Pill Recipe

    At this moment, there were only a few people left on the dragon boat. Including Long Lie and the twow enforcers, there were only seven people on the boat, making it feel quite empty.


    Thinking about how the boat was full of people when they set out, but now only seven remained on the return journey, everyone''s mood was heavy, and they remained silent.


    Long Xuan wasn¡¯t very familiar with the people on the boat, so he didn¡¯t feel particrly sad, just a bit emotional.


    He walked to the bow of the boat, to where Long Lie was standing, and whispered, "I helped you win seven high-grade Gu insects. Shouldn''t you give me that peak-grade Spirit Silkworm now?"


    Even now, he was still thinking about that peak-grade Spirit Silkworm. He took the risk to help Long Lie win the bet entirely because of this Spirit Silkworm.


    He had already decided that his next Gu insect would be a silkworm-type Gu, and the main ingredient for a peak-grade Gu must be a peak-grade spiritual insect. This Spirit Silkworm was extremely important to him, and he had to get it.


    Whether he could research and create the legendary Soul Armor all depended on this peak-grade Spirit Silkworm.


    Hearing this, Long Lie chuckled and said, "I knew you''d be interested in this Spirit Silkworm. It''s a ten-thousand-year-old Ice Silkworm, a famous breed among silkworms, and extremely rare."


    "Unfortunately, there is no Gu recipe for this kind of spirit insect in the n. Otherwise, I would definitely use it to refine a peak-grade Gu, rather than letting you have it so easily."As he spoke, Long Lie took out the ten-thousand-year-old Ice Silkworm from his insect-raising bag and secretly handed it to Long Xuan.


    Long Xuan didn¡¯t have time to examine it closely and quickly put it into his own insect-raising bag before handing a storage bag to Long Lie.


    "I''ve prepared enough spicy liquor for you to refine Gu thirty times. Are you sure you can refine a Gu insect using only spicy liquor?" Long Xuan asked curiously.


    He had only managed to refine Xiao Bai (Little White) using abination of sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy liquors.


    He didn¡¯t know if a Gu could be sessfully refined using only spicy liquor, but he figured that even if it could, thebat power of the resulting peak-grade Gu would likely be far inferior to Little White''s.


    "Wine Gu is considered a universal Gu recipe. Any single type of liquor can be used to refine wine Gu, so you can rest assured."


    "I have a feeling that the Wine Gu refined from your spicy liquor will definitely be extraordinary. It might even be my main force."


    After looking at the spicy liquor in the storage bag, Long Lie''s eyes lit up like spotlights, and his breathing became rapid, as he kept swallowing.


    He forcibly resisted the urge to take a sip, reluctantly tearing his gaze away and closing the storage bag.


    This liquor was meant to refine Wine Gu, so he absolutely couldn''t drink it. His willpower ultimately triumphed over his desire.


    For a man who loves alcohol as much as his life, seeing good wine but not being able to drink it was a huge test of willpower.


    After they secretlypleted their transaction, the dragon boat fell silent once more. Half a dayter, the dragon boat finally arrived above the Long n¡¯s territory, then slowly descended to the drill ground. Long Lie put away the dragon boat and hurried off to report to the n leader.


    After exchanging nces, the others also went their separate ways. Long Xuan greeted his senior sister before returning to Little Poor Peak.


    ¡­ Inside a thatched cottage on Little Poor Peak, Elder Long quietly watched Long Xuan and calmly said, "I wrote to Ziyan asking her to look after you. I''m not surprised you came back alive."


    "But I am surprised that you managed to snatch a hundred and ny Spirit Surge Grasses from under the noses of two Gu King clones. How did you do it?"


    Long Xuan casually replied, "I don¡¯t have the ability to snatch anything from them. I only sent one of my clones to the herb garden at the time. It yed dead and narrowly escaped disaster."


    "After the two Gu King clone left, I went back in and traded with the rabbit, which is how I got the hundred and ny Spirit Surge Grasses."


    "However, the Empress suddenly revived and took all the treasures from the tomb. That rabbit was obviously no ordinary creature and was probably taken away by her as well. It¡¯s unlikely you¡¯ll be able to trade any more treasures with that rabbit for Spirit Surge Grass."


    This was the story Long Xuan told his family. Whoever questioned him, he would say the same thing. After all, it wasn''t an interrogation, so the family wouldn''t really use a Integrity Gu to examine him.


    Still, he didn''t dare to tell what happened with Long Ziyan, fearing he might get beaten to death. Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but feel a little guilty.


    "What a pity," Elder Long sighed. "The diminishing concentration of spiritual energy in the world has led to the gradual extinction of Spirit Surge Grass. Now, with the current concentration of spiritual energy, it¡¯s impossible to sessfully transnt Spirit Surge Grass."


    "And with that rabbit taken away by the Empress, those hundred and ny Spirit Surge Grasses might be all our family has left. No, by the rules, you should get thirty percent, so the family only has a hundred and thirty-three Spirit Surge Grasses left."


    "I wonder how many experts we can cultivate to the Marrow Cleansing stage with that amount of Spirit Surge Grass."


    "You now have fifty-seven Spirit Surge Grasses. I know the Ten Absolute Physique is more difficult to break through than other stages, but I don¡¯t know exactly how much harder it is. It¡¯s hard to say whether fifty-seven Spirit Surge Grasses will be enough for you to break through."


    "Give it a try anyway. Prepare to attempt the breakthrough now. I''ll lend you this formation te so you don¡¯t have to worry about being disturbed."


    Elder Long took out three formation gs from his storage bag and handed them to Long Xuan.


    After all, Little Poor Peak currently had no protective mountain array, so others could freely enter and use their spiritual sense to perceive the situation inside.


    Without a protective formation, it would be impossible to safely attempt a breakthrough in this ce. If someone like the not-so-bright Long Lie barged in and disturbed him, he could suffer a Qi deviation.


    Long Xuan thought to himself that this cheap master of his was finally somewhat useful. He epted the three formation gs with both hands, but after just a nce, his expression froze, and his earlier thoughts instantly vanished.


    This formation te was utterly terrible. It was far inferior to his Ice formation, not evenparable.


    To him, this formation te was like a sieve, full of holes. How could it protect against anything?


    There were even severalrge holes in the formation gs. Wouldn¡¯t the barrier created by this formation te be blown away by one of Long Lie¡¯s sneezes?


    Then again, Elder Long was dirt poor and deep in debt. How could he possibly afford a better formation te? Long Xuan realized he had been expecting too much.


    Still, it was better than nothing, so he decided to make do with it for now. While this formation would be useless outside, it should be fine here. No one would likely break the formation of their own n.


    As for running outside to hide in the Ice formation to attempt the breakthrough, Long Xuan dismissed that idea.


    After all, he had just offended Feng Yu. How could he dare to run out now?


    Even though the two of them didn¡¯t have a deep-seated grudge, it was highly unlikely that Feng Yu would lower himself toe and kill him just because of a bet. Long Xuan was probably worrying over nothing.


    But he had always been cautious, and he would never take a risk, even if there was only a 0.1% chance of danger.


    So, it''s better for him to stay put on the Little Poor Peak and focus on breaking through. Moreover, all the ns have just experienced a major conflict, and who knows how many people will die? It''s unclear what kind of storm this incident will cause or whether it will lead to a war. In such uncertain times, it''s best not to wander around outside.


    Since Elder Long needed to refine pills to repay a debt, the two didn¡¯t chat for long before Long Xuan bid farewell. After leaving, he immediately began preparing to break through the Marrow Cleansing stage.


    The foundation of the Ten Absolute Bodies is too strong, making it more difficult to break throughpared to ordinary people. Whether the Spirit Surge Grass will help him break through is uncertain.


    To be safe, Long Xuan decided to use the Spirit Surge Grass as the main ingredient and create his own pill recipe.


    The Spirit Surge Grass alone has a 20% sess rate when eaten raw, but once refined into a pill, the efficacy could increase several times over. The sess rate might be 60% or even 80%.


    By then, the pill recipe he created, the Spirit Surge Pill, would likely be the most effective among simr spiritual pills. Taking such a pill would give him the greatest chance of sess, making it the safest approach.


    As long as one is proficient in pharmacology, creating a pill recipe is much easier than creating a Gu recipe form, and it wouldn¡¯t take him much time. Moreover, this is just a first-grade pill recipe, the lowest level, and the pharmacology isn¡¯tplicated.


    So, Long Xuan nted the formation gs at his residence on the Little Poor Peak and began the grand task of creating the Spirit Surge Pill recipe.


    Half a monthter, a recipe with 36 ingredients wasid out on the table. With a grand flourish, he wrote the words ¡°Written by Long Xuan.¡±


    This pill recipe was special. Although the number of ingredients was surprisingly small, the number of words was quite extensive.


    Each ingredient was precisely measured down to the gram, specifying the exact temperature in Celsius required for extracting the medicinal essence, and even the time for each step was calcted down to the second, with extreme precision.


    He even invented a unit of measurement for soul force, calling it one Xuan force, two Xuan forces...


    No one else¡¯s pill recipe was written with suchplexity, but it was precisely due to his meticulousness that his sess rate in pill refining was extraordinarily high.


    In his view, pill refining isn¡¯t a matter of luck. There¡¯s always a reason for failure, and it shouldn¡¯t be attributed to luck.


    As long as every step in the pill-refining process is performed to perfection, there should be no possibility of failure. Even without the aid of a cheat-like ability, achieving a 100% sess rate isn¡¯t difficult.


    After admiring his schrly achievement, he proudly ced the recipe into a small box and immediately set off to collect the ingredients.


    With only 36 ingredients, all of which were first-grade spiritual herbs, it wouldn¡¯t take him long to gather everything.


    Long Xuan was quite satisfied with his self-created Spirit Surge Pill. If the sess rate of the Spirit Gathering Pill was 10%, then his Spirit Surge Pill had a 90% sess rate.


    With his Spirit Surge Pill, even a sow could break through. He genuinely believed that such a potent spiritual pill could easily break through the rock-solid Ten Absolute Body Physique.


    Among all the spiritual pills that aid in breaking through from the peak of Spirit Gathering to the Marrow Cleansing stage, his Spirit Surge Pill was undoubtedly the best, unmatched by any other pill of its kind.


    Once his Spirit Surge Pill was released, it would shock the world and cause a sensation in the entire pill-refiningmunity.


    However, Long Xuan had always been low-key and didn¡¯t want to draw too much attention, so this heaven-defying spiritual pill was something only he would enjoy, with no intention of spreading it around.


    Perhaps one day, when he became a great leader or when he was ready to pass on his legacy, this pill recipe might see the light of day.


    Although each of the ingredients in the recipe was expensive, as long as one had contributions, anything could be exchanged for at the Long n¡¯s treasure hall. With just one trip, Long Xuan gathered all the necessary ingredients.


    Once the materials were collected, he didn¡¯t dy and immediately started refining the pill.


    With only 36 ingredients, it didn¡¯t take him much time at all. Before he was even fully engaged, a batch of Spirit Surge Pills was sessfully refined.


    He eagerly opened the pill furnace and, upon seeing the three golden pills inside, showed a slight hint of dissatisfaction.


    A full batch of this recipe only produced three pills, which was indeed too few.


    For reference, a full batch of Hundred Flower Pills yields as many as 81 pills.


    But this was understandable since the pill types were different, and the Spirit Surge Pill recipe only required 36 ingredients. With mass-energy conservation, it¡¯s natural that the number of pills produced wouldn¡¯t be high.


    Given the high difficulty of breaking through with the Ten Absolute Bodies, Long Xuan didn¡¯t feel fully confident with just three Spirit Surge Pills. So, he put away the pills, stored them in a vial, and continued refining more Spirit Surge Pills.


    He had plenty of Spirit Surge Grass. Not to mention the 30% return of the Spirit Surge Grass from the family, he had also embezzled over 100 Spirit Surge Grass and hadn¡¯t handed them over to the family.


    With so much Spirit Surge Grass, he had only used one nt so far, so he could indulge as much as he wanted.


    Soon, some time passed, and he still maintained a heaven-defying 100% sess rate, with another full batch sessfully refined.


    It¡¯s important to note that the Spirit Surge Pill was a newly created pill type, and this was his first time attempting to refine it, with no prior familiarity or practice. Yet, he still managed to maintain a 100% sess rate, which would shock anyone who witnessed it.


    But that wasn¡¯t the end. After sessfully refining the second batch of Spirit Surge Pills, Long Xuan didn¡¯t stop. He continued until he had refined a total of five batches of Spirit Surge Pills.


    Each batch of Spirit Surge Pills produced three pills, and his pill yield rate was 100%, with no wastage, meaning he now had 15 Spirit Surge Pills in total.


    Long Xuan had always been cautious. Even though the Spirit Surge Pill¡¯s medicinal power was already substantial, he decided to prepare 14 more just in case.


    Breaking through requires a single, uninterrupted effort. The process starts strong, then weakens, and finally exhausts itself. A single, continuous breakthrough is best, while frequent attempts are bound to result in repeated failures.


    Long Xuan decided that he would either not attempt to break through at all or ensure sess in one go. To be safe, he prepared 15 Spirit Surge Pills.


    He felt that with his meticulous preparation, even with the high difficulty of breaking through with the Ten Absolute Bodies, his sess rate should now be 100%.


    This time, when advancing to the Marrow Cleansing stage of Gu cultivation, he was certain of sess. Long Xuan clenched his fists in excitement, quickly adjusted his state, and officially prepared to attempt the breakthrough.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 103: (1): Breaking Through the Marrow Cleansing Stage

    He tossed a Spirit Surge Pill into his mouth and swiftly circted his cultivation technique to absorb the medicinal power of the pill.


    At the same time, the five elemental forces of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth formed a cycle within his body. Using the cycle''s continuous regenerative force, heunched an assault on the bottleneck as solid as a rock.


    Long Xuan immediately felt a vast power surging through his body, making him feel as if he was about to explode. His whole body throbbed with pain.


    Sweat instantly poured from his body, and the intense pain caused him to tremble all over. He clenched his teeth, forcing himself not to cry out.


    There was no other way. The breakthrough had to be done personally; his clones couldn¡¯t do it for him.


    He could only endure this inhuman torment himself.


    Time flew by, and a month passed in the blink of an eye. On this day, Long Xuan finally opened his eyes, and a sh of brilliance flickered within them, as if his eyes were brighter than before.


    A slight smile appeared on the corners of his mouth. He clenched his fists and felt the power that came with his new realm. The smile on his face grew even wider.


    ¡°So this is the power a Gu cultivator gains in the Marrow Cleansing Stage? It''s at least ten times stronger than a Gu cultivator in the Spirit Gathering Stage. No wonder geniuses who can fight across levels exist in this world, but I¡¯ve never heard of anyone who can fight acrossrge realms.¡±¡°The gap between major realms is as vast as the difference between heaven and earth, an insurmountable chasm.¡±


    Long Xuan was both shocked by the power of a Marrow Cleansing Stage Gu cultivator and increasingly excited.


    The difficulty of breaking through with the Ten Absolutes Body was greater than he had imagined. It took him five Spirit Surge Pills to finally break through in one go, but he was, fortunately grateful for being well-prepared.


    From now on, he was a Gu cultivator in the Marrow Cleansing Stage.


    No longer just a small Gu cultivator, he could now be considered a minor expert.


    In a powerful family like the Long n, there were only about a hundred Marrow Cleansing Stage Gu cultivators, which showed just how valuable this realm was and how rare it was in this region.


    By passing this hurdle, he had surpassed 99% of the Gu cultivators in this world.


    Even the Gu Kings, who are rarely encountered, might not be able to keep up with his star-stepping speed, despite being a major realm above him in the Spirit Sea Stage.


    His current strength was more than enough to protect himself in this ce, and it would be difficult to encounter any danger from others. He could officially dere that he had graduated from the novice vige.


    Long Xuan stood up, stretched his neck, and moved his stiff muscles before finally walking out of the formation.


    As soon as he stepped out, he saw Elder Long sitting cross-legged on the ground in meditation, and a warm feeling rose in his heart.


    It wasn¡¯t hard to guess why Elder Long was sitting there. The formation disk was too inferior to provide any real protection, so Elder Long must have personallye over to protect him out of concern.


    Hearing movement behind him, Elder Long turned around and, upon seeing the aura of the Marrow Cleansing Stage emanating from Long Xuan, showed a look of surprise. Clearly, he hadn¡¯t expected Long Xuan to break through.


    Judging by his expression, Long Xuan could tell that Elder Long wasn¡¯t optimistic about his chances of breaking through; otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have been so shocked.


    It seemed that the chances of the Spirit Surge Herb helping someone with the Ten Absolutes Body to break through were extremely slim, and Elder Long hadn¡¯t been confident about this breakthrough.


    Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but feel lucky that he had been cautious enough to refine the Spirit Surge Herb into pills. If he hadn¡¯t spent time creating the Spirit Surge Pill recipe, he probably wouldn¡¯t have seeded today.


    ¡°What¡¯s with that look? It¡¯s like my breakthrough has left you baffled. Did you really have that little faith in me?¡± Long Xuan said after ncing at Elder Long.


    ¡°It¡¯s truly unbelievable. I didn¡¯t expect you to actually break through. Even though you had dozens of Spirit Surge Herbs, quality is more important than quantity when ites to breaking through, and I didn¡¯t think the Spirit Surge Herb had the power to break the rock hurdle of the Ten Absolutes Body.¡±


    ¡°That you were able to break through this time is beyond my expectations. Maybe your ancestors¡¯ graves are giving off smoke!¡±


    Elder Long suddenly frowned and said, ¡°Once your Ten Absolutes Body breaks through, it¡¯s truly terrifying. Most of the n¡¯s Marrow Cleansing Stage Gu cultivators won¡¯t be your match, and your status within the family will rise rapidly. You¡¯ll be as highly regarded as Long Ziyan, and the n will devote all its resources to nurturing you.¡±


    ¡°Take some time to report to the n head. Every newly advanced Marrow Cleansing Stage Gu cultivator has the right to establish an independent cave dwelling and will be rewarded with a spirit-rich mountain peak by the family.¡±


    ¡°When choosing your cave dwelling, try to pick a ce close to the heart of the Long n. The closer you are to the n¡¯s center, the higher the concentration of spiritual energy. Additionally, if you ever find yourself in danger, the n cane to your aid quickly.¡±


    ¡°Go choose your cave dwelling now, and once you¡¯ve made your choice, report to the n head.¡±


    With that, Elder Long finally stood up and left, as if he had something important to attend to, and didn¡¯t engage in further conversation.


    Long Xuan nodded and, in good spirits, went off to select his cave dwelling. Since it was a gift, why not ept it? There was no reason to refuse.


    He left the Long n and first found the highest mountain peak, then climbed to the highest tree on that peak. Using his star-stepping technique, he lightly stepped onto a leaf at the very top, then opened his Eye Of Heaven and scanned the surroundings with his enhanced vision.


    Standing higher allows for a broader view, and from this vantage point, he could see all the mountain peaks within the Long n¡¯s territory.


    Cultivating in the Marrow Cleansing Stage requires a vast amount of spiritual energy, so typically, only one Marrow Cleansing Stage cultivator resides on each peak to meet their daily cultivation needs. This is why the family rewards each Marrow Cleansing Stage Gu cultivator with a mountain peak.


    The peaks vary in size, and the concentration of spiritual energy also differs slightly, but it¡¯s firste, first-served. Unless the Gu cultivator upying the best peak dies unexpectedly, the mountain remains in their possession until then. Later arrivals have to settle for less.


    Some peaks haverge herb gardens, fish ponds, ranches, and other ie-generating assets left by their previous owners. These different assets also add value and are considered when selecting a peak.


    The wealth of each peak varies, and even if a Gu cultivator can¡¯t manage the assets on their peak, they can delegate the task to mortals. Most Gu cultivators do just that.


    Long Xuan first looked at the peaks closest to the n¡¯s center and the ones with thergest areas, only to find that they were all protected by formations, indicating they were already upied. Many mortals were working hard on them.


    All therge, wealthy peaks had already been taken, leaving only the smaller, poorer ones on the outskirts. Long Xuan frowned slightly.


    This was the consequence of his own actions. By submitting arge number of Spirit Surge Herbs to the family, he had caused a recent surge in newly advanced Marrow Cleansing Stage Gu cultivators in the Long n, leading to all the good peaks being taken. What was left for him were the small, poor peaks.


    Long Xuan¡¯s mood immediately soured. Reluctantly, he could only choose the best among the lesser options, but none of the remaining peaks satisfied him.


    So, he continued to expand his search, gradually moving farther and farther from the n¡¯s center.


    No one would choose a location far from the n for their cave dwelling. The spiritual energy was thinner, and if there were an attack by demonic cultivators or a war, the peaks on the n¡¯s outskirts would be the first to be attacked. Due to the distance, the n wouldn¡¯t be able to provide timely assistance.


    Therefore, everyone chose peaks close to the n. Only Long Xuan, with his many secrets and love of solitude, would consider a location far from the n.


    Eventually, Long Xuan¡¯s gaze settled on a particrlyrge peak.


    This peak was enormous, at least ten timesrger than thergest upied peak near the n. Thend was so vast that it seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see.


    Although this peak was massive, it was incredibly far from the n. No Long n Gu cultivator had ever established a cave dwelling on this peak, and there were no signs of human activity.


    This also meant that there was no herb garden, no fish pond, and no ie-generating assets on this peak. The new upant would have to start from scratch and set everything up on their own.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 103: (2): Breaking Through the Marrow Cleansing Stage

    Of course, Long Xuan hadn''t yet decided that he must choose this ce. The reason his gaze lingered on this mountain peak was entirely because he saw a progress of [86.583214%] at the center of this peak.


    Six decimal ces after the point¡ªwhat could it possibly be?


    Long Xuan was shocked, filled with immense joy, and showed a curious expression.


    Although he didn''t know what was hidden in the center of the mountain peak, there was an 80% chance it was something valuable. His heart began to race, and he showed signs of excitement. After jumping down from the leaves, he rushed towards the mountain peak as fast as he could.


    The mountain peak was very, very far from him, but at his star-stepping speed, he reached it in less than half a day.


    Without stopping, he quickly ran to the location where the progress appeared. Since the progress point was in the middle of the mountain, he had to stop somewhere halfway up the slope.


    Of course, he didn¡¯t have the ability to burrow into the earth directly, so he couldn¡¯t simply tunnel into the center of the mountain to check out what was causing the six decimal ces of progress.


    But that didn¡¯t bother him. He hadn¡¯t discarded the Earth Master Gu he had refined, as he wasn''t in the habit of casually abandoning his Gu insects.


    That Earth Master Gu was ced in his second team. He didn¡¯t n to cultivate it as a main force and would only use his second team¡¯s Gu in situations where it wasn¡¯t convenient to use his peak-grade ones.His second team currently consisted of the Earth Master Gu, the Little Strong Gu, and the Ice Queen Bee Bingbing.


    Once the Earth Master Gu was released, it opened its massive maw and began to crazily scoop up earth into its mouth. Before long, it had dug arge hole in the mountain.


    Although the Earth Master Gu''s speed in devouring earth was astonishing and it could temporarily storerge amounts of soil in its storage space, it still took a long time to finally reach the center of the mountain.


    At the center of the mountain was a huge crack, forming a vast space inside. Numerous glowing nts were growing within, so rather than being dark, the space was actually quite beautiful.


    As soon as he broke through to this area, Long Xuan was hit by a wave of rich spiritual energy, which immediately refreshed his mind.


    The concentration of spiritual energy here was far higher than in the outside world, leaving him with a stunned expression.


    "What is this ce? How can the spiritual energy concentration be so high?"


    Long Xuan was shocked and quickly looked towards where the progress point appeared. His mouth fell open, revealing a look of astonishment.


    What appeared in his view was a round spring that continuously bubbled with water. The spring wasn¡¯t veryrge, but its water was so clear that the bottom could be seen. The surface of the water emitted an incredibly dense spiritual energy that spread throughout the entire space.


    Long Xuan''s heartbeat quickened, and he hurried towards the spring as fast as he could. He scooped up some water and drank it, his eyes quickly lighting up with excitement.


    "This is..."


    Looking at the constantly bubbling spring, his eyes gleamed, and his breathing became rapid.


    The water from this spring not only contained vast amounts of spiritual energy, but the energy would also disperse into the air. Every bit of water that emerged from the spring brought out arge amount of spiritual energy, making the concentration of spiritual energy in this hidden space extremely high, far higher than outside.


    At this moment, he couldn''t help but think of something often mentioned in cultivation novels of his previous life¡ªSpiritual Springs.


    The concentration of spiritual energy varies across different ces in the world; some ces have high concentrations, while others have low.


    If you were to ask where the concentration is highest, it would undoubtedly be in Spiritual Veins, Spiritual Mountains, Spiritual Eyes, and Spiritual Springs...


    The richness of spiritual energy in these ces could be ten times, a hundred times, or even a thousand times higher than in other ces.


    Cultivating in such ces would lead to rapid progress.


    When a Gu-cultivating family chooses a ce to settle down, they need to consider various factors.


    But if they unexpectedly find such a ce, then no other factors need consideration¡ªthey should upy it immediately. The benefits this ce could bring to the family would allow them to ovee any difficulties.


    If a family settles by a Spiritual Spring, the cultivation speed of all Gu-cultivators in the family would far exceed that of those in the outside world. Even the innate talent of children born here would generally be higher than in the outside world.


    It¡¯s no exaggeration to say that within a few hundred years, a family could grow into a powerful force, and a single Spiritual Spring could allow a small family to quickly be arge one.


    Anyone could imagine the value of a Spiritual Spring. It could easily trigger a war if exposed, as its value far exceeds that of fossil ore veins.


    If he could have his five clones cultivate here every day, his cultivation level would rise in the sky like a rocket. The temptation was far too great for him.


    No need to choose anymore; this is the ce. There¡¯s no better location for a cultivation cave than this.


    He immediately decided to make this mountain his new home. It would be foolish not to im such a cultivation paradise.


    At this point, he was already nning to move his herb garden from the Great Stone Vige to this ce. With the Spiritual Spring nourishing the spiritual herbs, their growth rate would be much faster.


    Plus, with the high concentration of spiritual energy here, the herbs would thrive even better, and even the tough-to-grow Spirit Surge Grass would survive in this ce.


    The low spiritual energy density of the mortal vige,bined with the overwhelming presence of mortal life, made it far from an ideal ce for a Gu-cultivator to reside long-term.


    Long Xuan''s eyes flickered as he quickly made up his mind.


    However, before moving, the protective formations for this ce had to be prepared first.


    The Spiritual Spring was far too important to risk exposure. Although the Great Ice Formation was decent, it wasn¡¯t sufficient to protect this ce.


    Setting aside the difficulty in blocking Gu-cultivators in the Spiritual Sea Stage, even those formation masters who were proficient in formations would easily break through it. Di Xin could shatter it with a casual move.


    The secret of the Spiritual Spring must not be discovered by anyone, or it would bring disaster upon him. Therefore, the protective formation here had to be capable of blocking everyone¡ªincluding Gu Kings.


    Since setting up a formation doesn¡¯t requirepleting it all at once and can be interrupted for rest, even Gu-cultivators of a very low level could set up extremely powerful formations.


    It¡¯s perfectly normal for a Gu-cultivator in the Marrow Cleansing Stage to set up a formation that could block a Gu-cultivator in the Spiritual Sea Stage. A formation that can only block those of the same level is of no use.


    Of course, due to the limitations of his level, a Marrow Cleansing Stage Gu-cultivator would find it difficult to set up a formation that could block a Gu King.


    But as long as the formation core is powerful enough¡ªsay, using a Spiritual Vein or a Dragon Vein¡ªthen it¡¯s not a fantasy to think that such a formation could block a Gu King.


    And Long Xuan just so happened to have a Spiritual Spring, which is of the same level as a Spiritual Vein, as his formation core. So it wasn¡¯t a pipe dream for him to set up a formation that could block a Gu King.


    Not just him; under the same conditions, most Marrow Cleansing Stage Gu-cultivators proficient in formations could achieve the same. This was nothing unusual in this world¡ªonly that items of this level for the formation core were extremely hard to find.


    Moreover, Long Xuan also had a method to shrink the formation patterns a hundredfold, which could increase the upper limit of the formation¡¯s power, making his formation even more formidable. As long as his formation diagram was well-designed, and with the Spiritual Spring as the core, it would definitely be able to block a Gu King.


    And the items he could use for the formation core weren¡¯t limited to just the Spiritual Spring. The demonic flower he had just obtained would also be good. Using it as the core of an illusion formation would allow the illusions it produced to threaten a Gu King.


    The Divine Ice me was the strongest artificial fire, with power approaching that of the legendary Heavenly Fire. If used as a formation core andbined with an even more powerful formation, its power would definitely not be inferior. It could even pose a threat to a Gu King.


    Many of his formation cores had the power to threaten a Gu King. Now it all depended on how well he could design the formation diagram.


    Long Xuan¡¯s eyes lit up with ambition.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 104: Creating a Formation Map

    Originally, the first thing he wanted to do after breaking through to the Marrow Cleansing stage was to deduce the second level of the "Ten Absolute Scripture". But now, it seemed that this n would have to be postponed.


    While cultivating, he could simply drink the Spirit Spring Water, which would not slow down his cultivation speed. In the short term, not having a technique wouldn''t be a problem.


    After deciding this in his heart, he immediately filled severalrge barrels with Spirit Spring Water, sealed the cave entrance to prevent the abundant spiritual energy inside from leaking out, carefully checked everything, and then left.


    The most urgent task was to research the Microscopic School Formation as quickly as possible,pletely upy the Spirit Spring''s location, and then relocate. Nothing was more pressing than this.


    However, just as he was thinking this, he suddenly remembered there was something he needed to do first, something even more important than creating his own formation.


    But for a moment, he couldn''t recall what it was. Long Xuan furrowed his brows in deep thought. Finally, a sh of inspiration struck him, and he remembered what he had forgotten.


    The ancient tomb. He had forgotten about the ancient tomb. He finally recalled that when he left the tomb, he was afraid that the rabbit would be discovered by the family, so he had stuffed it into a insect raising bag and hid it in a concealed corner of the tomb, intending to retrieve it after everyone had left.


    If possible, he also nned to pick that demonic flower, as it seemed he had the ability to see through its illusions, making it highly likely that he could subdue it.


    But as soon as he returned, he was preupied with refining the Spirit Surge Pill and preparing to break through, and ended up forgetting about this matter.That rabbit hadn''t eaten or drunk for nearly two months by now¡ªcould it have starved to death? What a sin! What a sin!


    Thinking of the rabbit, Long Xuan became extremely anxious, genuinely worried that it might have died, which would have wasted a precious treasure. So, without dying any further, he immediately packed his things and set off.


    Since this time he wasn''t using the peak -grade dragon boat of the Long family, it was impossible to arrive within half a day.


    Riding as fast as he could on his Treading on Star steps, it still took him ten days to reach the ancient tomb.


    By then, it was already night, the time when the danger level of the Yaoguang Ancient Tomb was at its lowest.


    Upon arrival, Long Xuan was shocked by the scene before him.


    It was clear that a fierce battle had taken ce here. The ground was so damaged that it was unrecognizable, trees and bushes were charred, and the bloodstains on the ground had dried, indicating the intensity of the battle and the heavy casualties.


    There were no bodies on the ground, presumably already removed.


    Long Xuan was curious about the oue of the battle¡ªhad Feng Yu died or not?


    After returning, he had been busy breaking through and hadn''t paid attention to this matter, so he didn''t know the result of the battle. He also didn''t know whether the Spirit Surge Grass had been destroyed in the battle or had fallen into the hands of some family.


    He only knew that after the Long family brought back more than a hundred Spirit Surge Grass nts from the ancient tomb, the family had gained dozens more Marrow Cleansing stage experts.


    The entire family had celebrated with feasts and festivities for three days, and the atmosphere had been very lively¡ªhow could he not be aware of this?


    The Long family''s strength had skyrocketed, and the number of experts had increased dramatically.


    Long Xuan was pleased with this situation. Currently, he and the Long family were on the same boat¡ªsharing both glory and defeat. The stronger the Long family, the safer he was. He hoped the family would be as powerful as possible.


    Perhaps because of the Long family''s growing strength, someone became envious and organized another tomb raid, possibly intending to trade arge amount of Spirit Surge Grass with the rabbit, and so they entered the tomb again.


    But they were doomed to be disappointed. The rabbit had long been stuffed into the insect raising bag by Long Xuan. There was no rabbit left in the herb garden.


    Moreover, they had no chance to even get close to the garden now, as the Dream Butterfly Gu guarding it had already ventured out, and its range of activity was no longer confined to the garden.


    The ancient tomb had now be extremely dangerous¡ªexcept for Long Xuan, anyone who entered was likely to die. It''s estimated that those who ventured in suffered heavy losses and retreated.


    Since all the most valuable items in the tomb had already been taken by the resurrected Empress, and there was no more Spirit Surge Grass to be found, the tomb had lost all its value aside from its dangers, and so it had beenpletely abandoned by all the ns.


    Now, the tomb entrance was no longer guarded by any n''s Gu masters, meaning anyone could enter and search for treasures at any time.


    But others weren''t foolish. If the major ns didn''t dare enter, how could the weaker minor n Gu masters and rogue cultivators dare to?


    Besides, the tomb was now empty except for the dangers. Anyone who entered to rob an empty tomb would be a fool.


    This was why Long Xuan didn''t see any tomb watchers or grave robbers when he arrived.


    But this also worked to his advantage, making it easier for him to carry out his ns.


    The tomb entrance that Long Bao had blocked was already reopened by someone. Without hesitation, Long Xuan flew straight in.


    The ancient tomb was now filled with the unsolvable Dream Butterfly Gu¡ªanyone who entered was likely to die.


    But Long Xuan was an exception. He could see the Dream Butterfly Gu, and its speed was far inferior to his.


    The Dream Butterfly Gu posed no threat to him, so what was a deadly ce for others was like a stroll through his own backyard for him.


    After entering, he easily avoided all the Dream Butterfly Gu and quickly found the insect raising bag with the rabbit.


    He hurriedly opened the insect raising bag and pulled out the rabbit, noticing that its four short legs were iling in the air and it was making soft cries. It seemed to be alive, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief.


    He then stuffed it back into the pouch and tossed in a handful of carrots for it to eat, to prevent it from starving to death on the way back.


    With the rabbit still alive, one worry was off his mind. After hanging the insect raising bag on his waist, he let out a heavy sigh and began walking toward the sleeping chamber.


    Arriving at the entrance of the sleeping chamber, although he knew how to break the demonic flower''s illusion, he still didn''t risk approaching it himself out of caution. Instead, he skillfully sent his clone to handle it, directing the Fire Clone to pluck the demonic flower.


    He had fallen into the illusion from a distance after seeing the demonic flower, while others,cking farsight ability, didn''t fall into the illusion at his distance.


    So, he could basically conclude that only by seeing the demonic flower would one fall into the illusion; if one didn''t see the demonic flower, they wouldn''t fall into the illusion.


    Thus, he had the Fire Clone cover its eyes with a ck cloth while he guided its actions through a soul transmission.


    The n went unexpectedly smoothly. Following this method, the Fire Clone indeed didn¡¯t fall into any illusions, pushed open the crystal coffin, and effortlessly pulled out the demonic flower.


    Long Xuan was overjoyed and immediately ordered the Fire Clone to seal the demonic flower in a box.


    After eliminating the danger of the demonic flower, Long Xuan finally dared to enter the sleeping chamber.


    Upon seeing the storage bags hanging from the waists of the corpses scattered all over the floor, he naturally gathered them all up.


    Storage bags cannot store other storage bags, so for a while, his waist was wrapped in storage bags, making him appear quite bulky.


    Especially the storage bags left behind by the two Gu Kings who perished together during his first tomb-raiding expedition; these made him grin from ear to ear. This was a big haul, a real windfall.


    One could easily imagine how valuable the items in the Gu Kings'' storage bags must be.


    However, he didn¡¯t have time to check what was inside the Gu Kings'' storage bags at this moment. After scanning the sleeping chamber, he finally disyed the typical behavior and style of small medicine boy and even lifted the crystal coffin where the Empress resided and took it away.


    He swept the area once more, looking to see if there was anything else worth taking. He quickly removed the ever-burningmps and the Golden Crow statues hanging on the walls, and finally, he took down theplete mural recording the "Sun and Moon Heart Sutra," leaving the ancient tombpletely satisfied.


    By now, the sleeping chamber was thoroughly stripped bare, destroyed beyond recognition, and in utter disarray.


    Under his frenzied looting, there was truly nothing left in the tomb except for the Spirit Surge Grass.


    In the end, he didn¡¯t go to the medicine garden to loot the Spirit Surge Grass again. This thing was no longer useful to him, and it wouldn¡¯t be appropriate to hand it over to the n in exchange for contribution points since he had no way to exin how he could see the Dream Butterfly Gu...


    He spent another ten days returning to his medicine garden in Great Stone Vige.


    By this time, he had already broken through to the Marrow Cleansing Stage, confident that using the speed of his Stepping Star technique, he could easily shake off a Spiritual Sea Stage Gu cultivator, so he wasn¡¯t as afraid of Feng Yu anymore. He could return to the medicine garden with peace of mind.


    After returning to the medicine garden, he pulled out the rabbit with its little legs iling from the insect raising pouch and threw it into his medicine garden.


    The rabbit hopped into the soil and instantly disappeared.


    Long Xuan wasn¡¯t afraid it would run away. Its ginseng body was still in his hands; he essentially held its lifeline, so where could it possibly go?


    The rabbit might run away, but the ginseng couldn¡¯t. It was impossible for it to abandon its original body.


    Long Xuan smiled and stopped paying attention to the rabbit. After sitting back in the familiar pavilion, he began his formation diagram project.


    Creating a formation diagram on his own was something he was doing for the first time, and he was filled with a sense of novelty. This gave him great enthusiasm, and he was determined to create an unparalleled, deadly formation, one that even Di Xin couldn¡¯t break.


    The fact that the Great Ice Formation didn¡¯t have the ability to stop Di Xin made him feel insecure.


    He took a light sip of honey water with ice and began brainstorming about the formation.


    He had quite a few ideas regarding formations; there were too many works from his past life to draw inspiration from.


    Formations can be divided into trapping formations, killing formations, illusion formations, maze formations, linked formations, defensive formations, auxiliary formations...


    Due to the limited size of the formation base, most killing formations are just killing formations, illusion formations are just illusion formations, and it¡¯s very difficult to cover other functions. Even if they do, there will be a primary and secondary distinction; it¡¯s impossible to master all types of formations.


    Even Long Xuan''s Ice Formation was primarily a defensive formation with a secondary killing formation, with no illusion effects at all.


    There are formations that cover all types of formations, but they require arge area, a massive formation base, and ample space to carve formation patterns to achieve this.


    This already falls into the category ofrge-scale formations, and formations that epass all types of formations are known as Combination formations.


    Combination formations are extremely troublesome, and even a formation expert would find it very difficult to break aplexbination formation.


    But Long Xuan could use the Heavenly Eye to draw the formation patterns smaller, which was enough to carve out a massive number of formation patterns, giving the Combination formation an embryonic form.


    And if the core of a Combination formation is pressed down on spiritual veins, spiritual mountains, or spiritual springs, it would then change names and be called a deadly formation. A particrly formidable deadly formation might even be called a peerless deadly formation.


    If Long Xuan¡¯s microscopic flow formation concept could truly be realized, then his formation would be a deadly formation, perhaps even a peerless deadly formation, capable of withstanding the assault of a Gu King.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 105: The Insidious Long Xuan

    However, not everyone can arrange abination formation. Don¡¯t assume that just because there are many formations, it means abination formation has been created. There¡¯s a deep level of knowledge involved here.


    When different formations appear in the same position, they can conflict with each other, and even attack one another, causing an instant copse.


    The more formationsbined, the easier it is for ws to appear.


    Formations can be understood as simr to program code from the previous life. The more code there is, the more powerful the functions, and the moreplex the functions be. However, with increasedplexity, a multitude of vulnerabilities will also arise.


    When different formations arebined, they can produce an effect greater than the sum of their parts,plementing each other.


    But conflicts and repulsions can also ur, leading to more ws as more formations arebined.


    Perfectly coordinating various formations is no easy task.


    Long Xuan¡¯s own poweres from the Five Elements, so his first thought was to develop arge Five Elemental Cycle Formation that could produce an effect greater than the sum of the five elements, which he named the [Five Elements Reversal Formation].


    However, how tobine various formations to achieve this effect was something he couldn¡¯t figure out immediately.The concept of a Five Elemental Cycle is not well established in this world, so he might have to create some original formation diagrams to achieve this functionality.


    Speaking of creating original formation diagrams, many ideas immediately surfaced in Long Xuan''s mind.


    His self-created Five Elements Reversal Formation would include a trap formation, a killing formation, an illusion formation, a maze formation, a chain formation, defensive formations, and auxiliary formations...


    This is aplex and enormousbined formation. Long Xuan¡¯s first step was to study the trap formation, which he nned to set up on the outermostyer.


    As the name suggests, the trap formation''s purpose is to trap those who enter it. If the intruder cannot find the exit, they will be trapped inside until they die, making it ideal for the outermostyer of the formation to avoid identally killing allies.


    Long Xuan had many ideas regarding trap formations. It is a very interesting type of formation. Those who mistakenly enter a trap formation are akin to being in a vastbyrinth, where finding the exit is extremely difficult.


    The more advanced the trap formation, the fewer exits it leaves. The fewer exits there are, the harder it is to escape.


    Moreover, the number of exits is something the formation setter can hardly control because an exit is essentially a w in the formation. Every formation has ws, which are difficult for the setter to detect and can only be discovered by those who enter the formation by ident.


    Thus, the number of exits in a trap formation entirely depends on the setter''s level of mastery.


    But there¡¯s one prerequisite: every trap formation will have at least one exit, even if it¡¯s set up by a formation god.


    It can also be said that the minimum number of exits in a trap formation is one, not zero.


    This is because the formation setter must leave at least one door to allow people to enter the trap. This door naturally bes the exit. Without a door, no one could even enter the trap formation.


    Therefore, every trap formation will have an exit. The primary task for the formation master is to design this exit and to hide it as effectively as possible.


    Long Xuan was racking his brains, thinking about how to design the most concealed exit, one that would be so well-hidden that no one could find it. This was truly a world-ss challenge.


    All formation masters have pondered over this issue, but to this day, no one has managed to design an exit that¡¯s 100% undetectable.


    Long Xuan¡¯s first thought was whether he could set up a self-destruct mechanism for the exit, so that the number of exits in the trap formation would be reduced to zero. But he quickly shook his head and dismissed this idea, as setting a self-destruct mechanism would make the formation a one-time use, which was absolutely uneptable.


    He fell into deep thought again, furrowing his brows, racking his brain, killing countless brain cells.


    No one knows how long he pondered until suddenly, his eyes lit up, and an idea shed across his mind.


    He had just been thinking about using elements from his previous life to design the trap formation. A formation designed this way would be unparalleled in this world.


    A formation that doesn¡¯t exist in this world means no one has ever seen it before. A formation that¡¯s never been seen before would naturally be extremely difficult to break.


    The most terrifying thing is always the unknown; this is true for everything.


    Once Long Xuan¡¯s thoughts drifted to the world of his previous life, inspiration struck him.


    He suddenly thought of the Rubik''s Cube from his previous life. A Rubik''s Cube has six faces and fifty-four squares. He nned to use barriers to create a giant cube with fifty-four squares, then use illusions to transform each of these squares into different worlds. These fifty-four different worlds could be scrambled like a Rubik''s Cube and continuously change positions based on the direction of movement.


    With the demon flower as one of the formation''s cores, these fifty-four illusionary worlds would be extremely realistic.


    The Rubik''s Cube has six faces.


    The first face''s nine squares represent a forest world.


    The second face''s nine squares represent a magma world.


    The third face''s nine squares represent an icefield world.


    The fourth face''s nine squares represent a desert world.


    The fifth face''s nine squares represent an ocean world.


    The sixth face''s nine squares represent a swamp world.


    Long Xuan''s imagination soared as he prepared to hide the exit within the restored Rubik''s Cube. A scrambled Rubik''s Cube would have no exit.


    In other words, the Rubik''s Cube formation¡¯s exit would only appear if the six worlds on the Rubik''s Cube were restored to the same face. Unless someone could solve the Rubik''s Cube, following its solution route to find the exit, they would be trapped forever in this Rubik''s Cubebyrinth.


    Since the formation core is the demon flower, the illusionary worlds created by the Rubik''s Cube formation would be indistinguishable from the real world.


    "If you fall into a swamp, you will suffocate and die. If you are lost in the desert for a long time, you will die of thirst. If you enter the icy world without thick clothing, you will freeze to death...


    The only way to escape these dangerous worlds is to restore the Rubik''s Cube world. But how could an ordinary person possibly restore a Rubik''s Cube?


    Unless you are a transmigrator who just so happens to know how to solve a Rubik''s Cube, this trap is basically unsolvable. No native would even dream of finding the exit gate.


    Long Xuan revealed an extremely sinister smile. The life gate he designed was well hidden, wasn''t it? I''d like to see who can find it.


    If someone actually finds this hidden life gate, then I would truly be impressed.


    His current n was to create a massive Rubik''s Cube with the spiritual spring at its center. The surface area of the Rubik''s Cube would be the outer trapping formation, while the core area where the spiritual spring is located would be protected by abination of killing formation, illusion formation, defense formations, and support formations.


    The vast spiritual energy provided by the spring would be confined to this area and would not flow out to the outer regions. All the spiritual herbs in his herb garden that could not be easily exposed would also be concentrated in this area.


    This area must remain hidden at all costs. No one could enter it, and it must be a hundred times more dangerous than the outer Rubik''s Cube formation.


    However, the outer Rubik''s Cube formation, as a buffer zone, required the creation of fifty-four massive worlds, which would require arge amount of space.


    Once the Rubik''s Cube formation was set up, it would upy a huge area, covering a range sorge that it would be shocking.


    And therger the area covered by the formation, the more materials it would require. The two are directly proportional. If he truly conceived such a Rubik''s Cube array, the materials needed to set it up would be astronomical.


    Long Xuan was a bit troubled at the moment, but he decided to go ahead with it to ensure the absolute secrecy of the spiritual spring.


    No matter how many resources he had to spend, it would be worth it for the spiritual spring. He believed that with such an unparalleled trap in ce, no one could break through the array and discover the spring.


    Long Xuan picked up his pen and quickly drafted the outline of the Rubik''s Cube formation.


    First, he had to name the Rubik''s Cube formation and explicitly state that there was only one way gate in the formation, and that the only way out was to restore the Rubik''s Cube world.


    In this way, his golden finger would directly eliminate any loopholes. Once he sessfully created the Rubik''s Cube formation diagram, it would undoubtedly be wless. If it had only one life gate, then it would indeed have only one life gate.


    For others, creating an formation without any loopholes is impossible; even the most powerful formation master would leave more than one life gate.


    However, with the help of his golden finger, Long Xuan could set up apletely wless trap, ensuring that there was only one life gate. This was something unimaginable to anyone else.


    After quickly drafting the outline of the trap, Long Xuan began to brainstorm other types of arrays. He decided to next conceive of auxiliary formations.


    There were simply too many auxiliary formations, such as the no-flight array, gravity array, spirit-gathering array, space teleportation array...


    There were far too many.


    His first thought was still originality. He was afraid of death, and even though the Five Elements Reversal Array was already safe enough, his first thought was still to improve his escape abilities and add anotheryer of insurance.


    So his ideas started flowing.


    He suddenly thought, could he stealthily shave off the dragon beard from the dragon Gu and use it as the base to create an array that could allow instant teleportation to a set coordinate?


    That way, if he wanted to go to the market or the Long n, he could simply step into the teleportation array and instantly teleport there, saving a lot of time.


    This was definitely feasible, as saving time would allow him to spend the saved time on cultivation to be stronger.


    In case he encountered an enemy that even the Five Elements Reversal Array couldn''t withstand, he could immediately step into the teleportation array for an emergency escape.


    This could potentially save his life, so the teleportation array diagram must be researched and developed¡ªit was a mandatory project.


    Long Xuan quickly made up his mind and took out another piece of paper to draft the outline of the teleportation array.


    Afterpleting the outline of the teleportation array, he began brainstorming other types of arrays. Who knows how much time passed, but by the time the table was covered with an unknown number of sheets of paper, all types of arrays had been designed.


    He finally began working on the core of the formation. The core of the formation, without a doubt, was the formation eye, which was one of the three key elements of any formation. To create an original formation, the first problem to solve was the formation eye.


    Since it was the Five Elements Reversal Array, possessing five attributes, he would have to design five formation eyes for it.


    Having only one formation eye was too risky; if this formation eye were destroyed, even the strongest formation would instantly copse.


    So, ording to his understanding of arrays, the more formation eyes an formation had, the more stable and safer it would be. The Five Elements Reversal formation he created should ideally have five formation eyes, each with its own attribute.


    The spiritual spring belonged to the water attribute, so naturally, it should be ced in the water attribute formation eye. This formation eye was the most critical, the most important of the five, and must be equipped with the highest level of defense.


    The demonic flower''s illusionary abilities were too powerful, so not using it as the treasure for the illusion array''s formation eye would be a waste.


    So, the demonic flower must be one of the five formation eyes, and since it was of the wood attribute, it would be ced in the wood attribute formation eye.


    The Divine Ice me was considered the strongest artificial fire, with terrifying power beyond imagination, almostparable to heavenly fire. However, due to realm restrictions, Long Xuan had not yet been able to fully unleash its power.


    Such a fearsome me naturally had to be used as a formation eye. Since fire belonged to the fire attribute, the Divine Ice me would be ced in the fire attribute formation eye.


    As for the gold and earth attribute formation eyes, he hadn''t yet figured out what to use. It wasn''t easy to find treasures of the same level as the previous three, so he would have to research thatter.


    However, even with only three formation eyes, it was more than enough. It wouldn''t matter if he couldn''t find the other two formation eyes for the time being.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 106: (1): Formation Diagram Completed

    After Long Xuanpleted his initial conceptualization of the "Five Elements Reversal Grand Formation," a model formed in his mind. He quickly started writing based on this model.


    All of the formations mentioned above were of his own creation, but there were too few of them. Truly formidableposite formations always integrate thousands of various formations, covering a wide range of functions.


    The few formations he created himself were far from meeting the standard of aposite formation. Once the formations reach a level of intricacy, they be insufficient.


    Thus, he had to incorporate arge number of already existing formations into hisposite grand formation.


    Thousands of formations¡ªcreating just a few of his own would be sufficient. If he had to create them all from scratch, it would be exhausting.


    What he needed to do now was figure out how to piece together these thousands of formations. Since he was working on a microscopic-level formation, the number of formations he needed to integrate far exceeded that of a standardposite formation.


    Of course, the more formations abination formation contains, the stronger it bes, which is also the advantage of the microscopic school of formation.


    However, the more formations there are, the more prone thebination formation is to vulnerabilities. This would require immenseputational power and consume a considerable amount of his time.


    That cavern lord was undoubtedly a rare formation master. The formation legacy he left behind was extremely powerful, and there were numerous formation diagrams he left as well.After learning from this legacy, Long Xuan¡¯s understanding of formations was no longer elementary; he was far beyond the half-baked level he was at in the past.


    With his current knowledge of formations, and the aid of the error-correcting tool, it wasn¡¯t too difficult for him to develop abination formation with very few ws.


    However, time was of the essence. Setting up such a massivebination formation was too time-consuming, so he needed to move in as soon as possible; there wasn¡¯t time to wait.


    Thus, he decided to temporarily set aside the study of original formations like the "Rubik¡¯s Cube Grand Formation" and "Teleportation Formation," as they were not that important. As long as the formations he set up could provide a ce to live, the remaining time-consuming details could be studied after moving in.


    To speed up the process, Long Xuan decided to leave many things unfinished for now, focusing only on the "Rubik¡¯s Cube Grand Formation" as his original creation. The rest of the tens of thousands of formations would be ready-made ones, simply pieced together. His task was merely to fit the pieces together like a puzzle.


    With the help of his golden finger, perfectly piecing these formations together wouldn¡¯t take too much time.


    As a result, it took him only eight months toplete the formation diagram for the Five Elements Reversal Grand Formation.


    The three core elements of the formation¡ªthe formation base, formation eye, and formation guide¡ªwere all sessfullypleted.


    Of course, this was only a semi-finished product that was functional for the time being. He would need to continually fill in the content afterward.


    A fullypleted Five Elements Reversal Grand Formation would take far more than a year to finish.


    As his cultivation level increased, he would need to continually refine the formation.


    The Five Elements Reversal Formation was a massive project that would require a lifetime of refinement.


    Since his formation patterns were scaled down versions, the number of formations he would need to use in the future could reach into the millions or even tens of millions, making the upper limit of this formation terrifyingly high.


    After repeated experiments in the Origin realm, he confirmed that microscopic formations were indeed achievable in this world, but only when the formation patterns were reduced to about one-hundredth of their original size. Any further reduction would render the formations ineffective.


    But even reducing them by one-hundredth was enough to satisfy Long Xuan.


    To say nothing of reducing them by one-hundredth, just reducing them by tenfold would be enough to crush the mainstream formations of this world, so what more could he want?


    Thebination formation he designed might not be the most powerful in this world, but because of the sheer number of formation patterns he etched, even if there were some ws, his Five Elements Reversal Formation would still rank as a world-ss formation.


    While he didn¡¯t dare boast that it was an peerless deadly formation, Long Xuan was confident that his Five Elements Reversal Formation could certainly be considered a deadly formation. It wouldn¡¯t be something that an average formation master could easily break.


    If a formation master wanted to break his formation, sorry, but they would first have to find where the formation patterns were hidden!


    The Five Elements Reversal Formation was a massive chain formation, with the forces of the five elements interlocking. Tugging on one part would affect the whole.


    Unless someone understood how to dismantle the power of the five elements, this fierce formation was unsolvable.


    If a powerful being tried to break the formation by brute force, given that the formation eye was pressed down by a spiritual spring, they would need a force capable of shaking the heavens and earth; otherwise, the formation would remain unbroken.


    Hidden within this formation, Long Xuan felt that he could sleep peacefully.

 Chapter 106: (2): Formation Diagram Completed

    The only thing that troubled him was the issue of material collection. The thought of the materials needed for the Five Elements Reversal Formation gave Long Xuan a headache.


    It was needless to say that setting up a fierce formation would be incredibly costly. Otherwise, this world would be full of fierce formations, especially the "Rubik¡¯s Cube Grand Formation," which was practically a money-burning machine.


    Given the importance of keeping the spiritual spring a secret, Long Xuan was meticulous about the materials used for the Five Elements Reversal Formation, using only the best and cutting no corners. Many of the materials couldn¡¯t be bought directly with spirit stones and were extremely difficult to collect.


    Thus, the cost of his Five Elements Reversal Formation was astronomical.


    Just thinking about the materials list that was about to be a book made Long Xuan¡¯s scalp tingle.


    Especially the primary materials for the Five Elements Reversal Formation, which gave him an even bigger headache.


    The primary materials for the Five Elements Reversal Formation were peak-grade spirit stones of the gold, wood, water, fire, and earth attributes.


    These were peak-grade spirit stones. In a small spirit stone mine, finding a single peak-grade spirit stone would already be considered fortunate.


    Peak-grade spirit stones contained the most pure elemental power, infinitely close to the source, and were priceless.The value of a Peak-grade spirit stone was on par with that of millennium ice marrow, so the difficulty of collecting them was imaginable.


    Not only was it extremely difficult to collect, but because of their immense value, gathering them would certainly involve risks. Just like thest incident with Master Jin, such dangers were unavoidable unless one decided not to collect them at all.


    If you want to collect priceless treasures, but expect to do so without any risk, that¡¯spletely impossible.


    At this moment, Long Xuan could only think of two rtively safe ways to collect them.


    The first method of collecting materials is to once again go to the Mission hall of the Long Family and take advantage of the situation.


    In the Long Family, as long as you have contributions, you can exchange them for anything. It¡¯s extremely convenient to collect materials there, and I hardly have to pay any cost¡ªa perfect opportunity to freeload.


    As for the risks involved, he is currently the family¡¯s genius that is under special training, highly valued due to his Ten Absolute Body. They are more focused on protecting him than anything else. Plus, He also has the family''s only third-grade alchemy master as his backer. He feels that the possibility of him being in danger is very low.


    But nothing is absolute. After all, peak-grade spirit stones are useful to any level of Gu cultivators. So for the sake of caution, he decided that his real body would stay in the Five Elements Reversal Formation in the future and would not appear in the Long family anymore.


    All daily activities in the Long Family will be handled by his clone. Ever since he broke through the Marrow Cleansing, the Evil Dragon Emperor¡¯s Eye of the Long Family can no longer see through his clone. So, even if the clone causes trouble due to the peak-grade spiritual stones, it will only be the clone that suffers the consequences.


    Moreover, the Five Elements Reversal Array is anchored by a spiritual spring, making it difficult even for a Gu King to break. His true body will be 100% safe inside, and in the event of any unforeseen variables, he can escape via the teleportation array.


    With theseyers of protection, he believe this method of collecting peak-grade spiritual stones is entirely feasible.


    The second rtively safe method of collecting materials is to trade with Di Xin.


    She¡¯s the wealthiest in the entire marketce¡ªa true little richdy. Di Xin frequently visits the treasuries of various ns, so she¡¯s far wealthier than me. I absolutely must take advantage of her and cannot let this opportunity slip by.


    Moreover, she is a formation master, so she must have a lot of formation materials. He might even be able to collect most of the formation materials he need from her alone.


    There¡¯s a good chance she also has peak-grade spiritual stones, perhaps even more than one.


    He already had many dealings with her, and he feel that she¡¯s unlikely to make a move against him. He can safely reveal his treasures in front of her.


    The key point is that thebat power of the Ten Absolute Body is unbeatable at the same level. After his breakthrough, he no longer fear Gu cultivators at the Marrow Cleansing Stage. Even if Di Xin suddenly makes a move, he''s confident he won¡¯t need to fear her.


    So, this method of collecting peak-grade spiritual stones is also very safe, allowing him to work on both fronts.


    However, Di Xin has a particr fondness for high-quality spiritual insects, so to impress her, he''ll need to raid the gambling stone shops run by the major ns. This is another chance to freeload without any cost.


    Ever since the seven major ns spent a fortune to buy the fossil mine from him, they have deployed massive manpower and resources to excavate a huge number of fossils, which led them to start the gambling stone business.


    But in his view, they¡¯re just workers, working for him for free.


    They give him a sum of money, and the spiritual insects they painstakingly dig out eventually end up back in his hands. They¡¯re essentially digging fossils for him¡ªhe''s freeloading off theirbor.


    Long Xuan disyed a sinister smile.


    These are the only two rtively safe methods he could think of to collect peak-grade spiritual stones.


    As for the ordinary materials needed for the Five Elements Reversal Array, they can be collected directly in the marketce using spiritual stones.


    Don¡¯t underestimate the cost of setting up a fierce array. After all, it¡¯s an array that can stop a Gu King¡ªjust the quantity of materials alone is enough to fill a book.


    Long Xuan can¡¯t currently estimate how many spiritual stones will be consumed to sessfully set up the Five Elements Reversal Array.


    But once the array isplete, he''ll probably have very few spiritual stones left, if not running a deficit. He''ll definitely have toe up with another source of ie.


    Long Xuan stopped thinking about this headache-inducing matter. Afterpiling all the papers filled with writing into a book, he wrote on the cover:


    "Five Elements Reversal Formation Diagram"


    ¡ªWritten By Long Xuan


    After cing it in the small box, he took out another nk sheet of paper, preparing to create another low-grade Gu form to milk another round of benefits from the Long Family.


    But this time, he nned to use the "let it be" method, just to make do with it. There¡¯s no need to earn a billion contributions¡ªhe doesn''t have that kind of obsessivepulsive disorder. Pursuing the ultimate cost-performance ratio is mentally exhausting, and the brain cells he just killed haven¡¯t even recovered yet; he need rest.


    Peak-grade spiritual stones are incredibly rare. Even in the Long Family¡¯s Treasure Hall, there are only two¡ªone gold, one fire. Each peak-grade spiritual stone costs 30 million contributions.


    He still has over 10 million contributions left. Long Xuan felt that this low-grade Gu form only needed to earn 50 million contributions, which would be enough. There¡¯s no need to aim for the extreme.


    As usual, he nned to use some rarely-used, obscure spiritual insects to refine Gu. After roughly searching through his mind, he decided to focus on the sedge moth.


    Don¡¯t be fooled by the sedge moth¡¯sck of offensive power; it is a master architect among insects with a rich artistic sense.


    The hobby of this insect is building houses, and the little houses it constructs are beautiful and aesthetically pleasing.


    sedge moths collect various materials from nature as building materials, constructing houses in different shapes¡ªsome in pyramid shapes, some in spiral staircase shapes, some in chimney shapes...


    The little houses built by these insects are simply bizarre, with creativity entirely different from that of humans.


    The reason he chose the sedge moth is purely because he likes this type of insect.


    In his previous life, when he was studying entomology, he enjoyed cing various materials in front of sedge moth, allowing them to freely use their imagination to build all sorts of strange houses, and he never got tired of it.


    In this world, whether the sedge moth is strong or not is secondary. He just wanted to see if refining sedge moth into Gu insects would result in any differences in the houses they build.


    In the future, could they make the houses bigger, and could humans live in them? Would there be any special effects if someone did live in one?


    What if the houses built by sedge moth turned into Gu insects could double a person¡¯s cultivation speed? These are all possibilities.


    Long Xuan was very much looking forward to it.

 Chapter 107: Gu Completion

    (TL Note: sedge moth Gu will now be referred to as Suo Gu)


    Long Xuan didn''t overthink or specte about what effects a house built by a Suo Gu would have. Specting on the effects of such a Gu would be too time-consuming.


    This time, he decided to use the "Let It Be" method to refine the Gu. The abilities of the Gu insect produced would be entirely random. He wasn''t fixated on earning a billion contributions; if he could earn a few tens of millions for free, he''d be content.


    Since he wasn''t overly focused on researching the Gu recipe, it only took him two days toplete it.


    With a hundred types of materials, he ordered his clones to buy them all from the market and immediately began the Gu refinement.


    The refinement of the Suo Gu would take some time. Naturally, Long Xuan didn''t n to waste this period. While the Gu was being refined, he prepared to craft the Thousand Flowers Pill recipe.


    The Hundred Flowers Pill was ineffective for Gu cultivators in the Marrow Washing stage, so he could only research and create an advanced version, the Thousand Flowers Pill recipe.


    Since the Hundred Flowers Pill was known as the most potent pill for enhancing cultivation during the Spirit Gathering stage, the upgraded Thousand Flowers Pill would surely be the strongest pill for boosting cultivation during the Marrow Cleansing stage.


    He needed to significantly elerate his cultivation speed by using pills. Creating the Thousand Flowers Pill recipe was essential. Bybining it with the spiritual spring, his cultivation speed would multiply exponentially.With the Hundred Flowers Pill as a temte, crafting the Thousand Flowers Pill was just a matter of finding patterns, so it wasn''t very challenging.


    The only issue was therge number of materials required, which wasted two months of his time.


    After writing <em>"¡ò Written by Long Xuan"</em>on the Thousand Flowers Pill recipe, he ced it in a small box, stretched heavily, and finally stepped out of the small pavilion.


    His gaze fell on the rabbit in the herb garden. Since arriving, the rabbit had been thrilled to see the abundance of spiritual herbs and had settled in the garden with no intention of escaping.


    He gave this rabbit a loud name: Fairy Jade Rabbit.


    At that moment, a giant pill furnace, much taller than the rabbit, stood before the Jade Rabbit.


    Below the furnace burned the Divine Ice me. The Jade Rabbit was fully focused on refining pills, it''s expression serious as it watched the mes under the furnace withplete concentration.


    Before long, the mes extinguished, the furnace lid flew off, and several spiritual pills floated out,nding in a pill bottle ced on the ground.


    The Jade Rabbit picked up the pill bottle, sniffed the fragrance at the mouth of the bottle, and revealed a look of intoxication.


    Seeing this, Long Xuan was astonished. This rabbit''s pill-refining skills weren''t bad; it had some real talent.


    He was genuinely surprised, giving the rabbit a nce of curiosity. He hadn''t expected it to be so skilled in alchemy, which was far beyond his expectations.


    Looking at the recipe on the ground, he found it was one of his own creations.


    Though, it couldn''t be called his creation¡ªhe had merely improved many recipes from this world, even marking them with units like grams and degrees Celsius, which most people wouldn''t understand. Yet, this rabbit hadprehended it; truly a prodigy in pill refinement!


    Long Xuan looked at the rabbit with interest. Initially, he was thinking about what kind of pill he could use this rabbit for, but now he had changed his mind.


    Wouldn''t using it to make pills be a waste? A rabbit with such excellent alchemy skills shouldn''t be wasted.


    In the future, he could have it work for him, making pills every day. Wouldn''t that be wonderful?


    This way, he could save time on pill refinement and focus on other things. He could also trade the spiritual pills refined by the rabbit for resources, opening another revenue stream¡ªa win-win situation. Such a diligent worker was hard to find.


    Long Xuan lightly stroked his chin, revealing a devilish smile as an idea formed in his mind.


    He took out the Thousand Flowers Pill recipe he had just put in the box, threw it in front of the rabbit, and kindly said, "Jade Rabbit, I have a special task for you."


    "Refine the spiritual pills from this Thousand Flowers Pill recipe. The pills you produce will be your tuition for learning this recipe."


    Long Xuan''s ability to freeload had reached a masterful level. He wanted the rabbit to work but didn''t want to pay it, likely making him the stingiest boss in the world.


    Seeing a new recipe appear before it, the Jade Rabbit immediately showed interest.


    After all, this rabbit''s hobby was refining pills, so seeing a new recipe naturally piqued it''s interest.


    However, when saw that the recipe required a thousand different materials, it''s expression fell. A thousand materials? How long would it take to refine that?


    Seeing the rabbit''s surprised expression, Long Xuan smiled slightly.


    The Thousand Flowers Pill, as the name suggests, required a thousand different spiritual flowers as ingredients.


    Because of the sheer number of materials, each refinement consumed a lot of time. That''s why Long Xuan was reluctant to do it himself and decided to assign this time-consuming task to the rabbit.


    He was busy with countless affairs every day; how could he have the time to refine such a lengthy recipe?


    Now that he had a working rabbit, the daunting task was fully handed over to it.


    Though the Thousand Flowers Pill required many materials, this had its advantages. Thew of conservation of mass applied here¡ªthe more materials used, the more pills would be produced.


    Once the Thousand Flowers Pill was sessfully refined, it could produce several hundred pills in a single batch, which wouldst him a long time.


    As for the materials for the Thousand Flowers Pill, the herb garden had them all. To massively increase the number of Ice Bees, Long Xuan had been frantically nting flowers, so the garden was well-stocked with all kinds of spiritual flowers.


    That all the ingredients for the Thousand Flowers Pill could be found in his herb garden wasn''t a coincidence; it was inevitable.


    Therefore, the materials needed for the Thousand Flower Pill can bepletely self-sufficient from the herb garden; the rabbit can just pick them itself. However, it must be taught sustainable development; it absolutely cannot repeat what it did in the ancient tomb, where it only picked but never nted, causing the herb garden to be stripped of all its spiritual herbs, leaving only the Spirit Surge Grass.


    Ignoring the still-dazed rabbit, Long Xuan walked toward where the Suo Gu was located, his eyes revealing a look of anticipation.


    Speaking of which, the Suo Gu had long since matured into a Gu insect, but building a house takes time, which is why Long Xuan has not yet submitted his research results to the n.


    As early as when the Suo Gu had just matured, Long Xuan had ced various materials in front of it¡ªwood, metal, beast materials, and various other types of materials piled up like a mountain.


    Seeing so many high-quality building materials, this insect that loves to build houses immediately showed excitement, rushing over to select building materials.


    Sometimes it would pick up a piece of metal, then put it down and pick up a piece of wood. It would look at this material for a while and then at another, revealing a conflicted expression. It was actually overwhelmed by the choices, not knowing which material to select.


    It was also because Long Xuan was too rich; his storage bag had all kinds of good stuff, causing the Suo Gu to suffer from choice paralysis.


    Long Xuan watched with great interest; he enjoyed watching the Suo Gu build all sorts of exquisite little houses. He was also eagerly anticipating what shape the Suo Gu''s next house would take.


    Because this Suo Gu was refined using the "random fate method," its abilities were unknown, even after a blood contract. Its secrets were probably hidden in the houses it built.


    So, Long Xuan could only wait patiently.


    However, this Suo Gu was a perfectionist when it came to house building, refusing to cut corners, which made its building speed very slow.


    In the end, Long Xuan finally lost his patience and left to work on the form for the Thousand Flower Pill.


    Now that the form for the Thousand Flower Pill had been developed, he wondered how the house had turned out after such a long time. His curiosity piqued, Long Xuan decided to go and see its masterpiece immediately.


    As soon as he arrived, Long Xuan was astonished by the two exquisite little houses on the ground.


    He couldn''t help but marvel at the Suo Gu''s artistic talent¡ªit had an eye for aesthetics, and the houses it built were indeed impressive.


    The first house it built was pyramid-shaped, but with a narrow base and a wide top, and the tip of the pyramid was stuck straight into the ground. It had actually built an inverted pyramid, showing a truly imaginative mind.


    The second house it built was somewhat moreplex, resembling several thick ropes twisted together in a dead knot. The house was a tangled mess with numerous passages inside, like a giant maze¡ªanyone living in such a house would surely get lost!


    Humans could never build houses of this shape; only an insect with a different way of thinking could create such imaginative houses.


    But it was indeed interesting, and Long Xuan''s interest grew stronger.


    He saw the Suo Gu at that moment, happily picking out building materials from the pile, ready to build a third house. It was really a hardworking little builder¡ªwas he about to gain anotherborer? Long Xuan wondered.


    But then he was shocked. He suddenly remembered that the Suo Moth was the master architect of the insect world, known for building small houses. However, it only ever built one small house, just enough for itself.


    But now that it had be a Suo Gu, it seemed to have changed its habits. After building one house, it didn¡¯t stop; it wanted to build a second, a third...


    Its habit now wasn''t just to build one house but to build houses all over the ce¡ªthe more, the better. It had be a house-building maniac.


    There must be a reason for such a change in its behavior; this personality shift wouldn''t happen without a cause.


    Long Xuan showed a thoughtful expression¡ªcould its ability be rted to the number of houses it built? He pondered this possibility.


    To verify his hypothesis, he walked over to the Suo Gu, who was happily choosing building materials, snatched the materials from its hands, and carried it over to the tangled knot-like house, stuffing it directly inside.


    However, the Suo Gu only wanted to build its third house and didn¡¯t want to sleep, so it ran out of the house again.


    Long Xuan grabbed it and stuffed it back inside.


    The Suo Gu ran out again, and Long Xuan stuffed it back in again.


    The two of them went back and forth for countless rounds until the Suo Gu finally gave in and didn¡¯te out again.


    But then, out of the corner of his eye, Long Xuan suddenly saw the Suo Gu emerge from the pyramid house and dive back into the pile of building materials to continue selecting materials.


    Long Xuan¡¯s pupils shrank instantly, and he stood up abruptly, shocked beyond words. He waspletely stunned.


    The Suo Gu had actuallye out of another house¡ªhe could hardly believe his own eyes. What kind of extraordinary ability was this?


    He was dumbfounded. Did this mean that all the houses built by the Suo Gu were interconnected, allowing it to move freely between them?


    If two houses were separated by a great distance, could the Suo Gu instantly appear in another distant location through the houses?


    This ability was simply terrifying. With such an ability, the Suo Gu¡¯s escape capabilities would be top-notch.


    If it ever encountered danger, it could dive into its house and instantly appear in another distant location¡ªwho could possibly catch up with it?


    No wonder it was building so many houses; it was actually a case of the cunning rabbit having three burrows. If it had this ability, then its change in habits made perfect sense.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 108: In-Depth Development of the Suo Gu

    How should this ability be deeply developed? What if we use the Suo Gu to transmit information over long distances by tying paper strips to it?


    If it can be used for information transmission, can it also be used for escorting valuables, sending messages, or even for logistics? If the house it builds isrge enough, could humans crawl inside and achieve long-distance teleportation? Could we trap enemies inside a small house and directly teleport them to a dangerous location?


    With Long Xuan''s imaginative thinking, he quickly came up with several ideas for developing this ability without much hesitation.


    His eyes sparkled with excitement as he contemted his ideas. To verify his thoughts, he began experimenting with the Suo Gu, interfering with its house-building process and testing its abilities in various ways.


    After three days, Long Xuan roughly understood the limits of the Suo Gu''s abilities.


    Through his research, he discovered that all the small houses built by the Suo Gu are connected to a space called the Void Realm.


    The Suo Gu can enter the Void Realm and travel to small houses that are extremely far apart in the real world.


    This Void Realm exists in reality; it wasn''t created by the Suo Gu.


    All Suo Gu share the same Void Realm, and they can encounter each other within it.The Void Realm is vast, a gray, misty world where any living creature that enters one of the small houses built by the Suo Gu will be lost in the Void Realm, making it nearly impossible to return.


    Therefore, the idea of Gu cultivators using small houses for long-distance teleportation is currently impractical.


    However, inanimate objects can be carried by the Suo Gu for long-distance transport, message delivery, and even logistics.


    Using this ability, the Suo Gu could easily start a business in escorting valuables, sending messages, logistics, or even food delivery. These would all be highly profitable ventures.


    Moreover, this ability is highly effective for transmitting information, making it very suitable for intelligence work.


    With the Suo Gu''s instantaneous teleportation, traditional methods like carrier pigeons or flying insects for message delivery could be rendered obsolete.


    Long Xuan took a deep breath, fully aware of how valuable this ability was. The wealth the n could umte from this was unimaginable.


    The Suo Gu is worth at least one billion contributions, maybe even more, though the family''s maximum contribution limit is just one billion.


    It wasn''t really a loss; after all, the family allowed him to learn all sorts of secret techniques for free, so he saw it as repaying the favor. Besides, a stronger n could only benefit him.


    Unexpectedly, although he had no intention of earning a billion contributions (otherwise, he would have had to embroider another dragon on his body, which would have been quite painful), it seemed unavoidable. He smiled wryly.


    After putting away the Suo Gu and its two small houses, Long Xuan finally set off towards the Long n.


    After bing a Gu cultivator at the Marrow Cleansing Stage, his speed using the Star Stepping Technique became even faster. It used to take him half a day to reach the Long Family at full speed, but now he could reach the ce in just one hour.


    As soon as he entered the Long family''s territory, Long Xuan noticed that the ce was bustling with noise. His timing was perfect, as today happened to be the day of the Earth Master Competition.


    However, by the time he arrived, thepetition was already halfway through, nearing its end, and he had missed the registration deadline, making it impossible to participate.


    Intrigued, Long Xuan decided not to rush in handing over the Suo Gu form to the family. Instead, he headed towards thepetition area to join in the excitement.


    Thepetition was being held in a clearing on the outskirts of the family grounds. When Long Xuan arrived, the next match had not yet begun, so he sought out Long Qilin to ask about the previous matches.


    Seeing Long Qilin''s frustrated expression, Long Xuan immediately knew that the earlier matches hadn''t gone well and that he probably hadn''t won the championship. If Long Qilin had won, his joy would have been evident.


    "Really? I gave you the spiritual soil from the Empress''s tomb, didn''t I? That''s mid-grade spiritual soil. Even with your Earth Master''s evolution into a spirit Gu, you still couldn''t win the championship?" Long Xuan asked in surprise.


    Long Qilin nced at him helplessly and said, "The family organized thispetition to encourage more people to refine Earth Master, so spirit Gu were not allowed to participate, to maintain fairness."


    "If spirit Gu were allowed, the elder''s Earth Masters, which have already evolved into rare Gu, would also be eligible topete, and then we wouldn''t stand a chance."


    "Thepetition rules only allow ordinary Earth Master to participate, so I haven''t let mine evolve yet."


    "The Strongman Cup and the Pushball Competition are over, and the championships were all taken by Long Ziyan again. I was beaten by her once more."


    Long Xuan gave him a sympathetic look. It seemed Long Qilin was destined to be the eternal runner-up, never able to escape this curse. He wondered if this would leave a psychological scar.


    Patting Long Qilin''s shoulder, Long Xuanforted him, saying, "No worries, victory and defeat aremon in life. Isn''t there still a tug-of-war match?"


    "You know all male Gu cultivators, while she knows only female Gu cultivators."


    "She''s unbeatable in individual strength, but tug-of-war isn''t a one-person game. Individual strength can''t determine victory in a team event. You''ll definitely win this round."


    Long Qilin forced a bitter smile, shaking his head. "You probably don''t know yet, but there was an ident in the tug-of-war match."


    "Thebined strength of ten Earth Master was too overwhelming, and the family didn''t have a rope strong enough to withstand it."


    "All the ropes snapped, and even iron chains were no use. The tug-of-warpetition has beenpletely halted, and the family elders still haven''te up with a solution."


    "Thispetition might be canceled altogether, so there''s no hope of me beating her."


    Long Xuan was taken aback, realizing that he had arrived in vain, having missed all the matches.


    "No worries, thispetition will be held again next year, right? Just win it back next year. By the way, I''ve been in seclusion breaking through to the Marrow Cleansing stage, so I''ve been out of touch. How did the ns resolve the incident in the ancient tomb?"


    This was the question that Long Xuan was most eager to get answered.


    He had to know the situation clearly.


    Once he handed over the Suo Gu form and received his billion contribution points, he nned to immediately begin setting up the Five Elements Reversal Formation.


    If the outside world was in chaos, with the possibility of war or an invasion by foreign forces, he couldn''t afford to be out in the open, and setting up the formation would have to be postponed.


    Long Qilin shook his head and replied, "I don''t know much either. The information ising in too slowly."


    "I only know that the ns who sent their Gu King clones into the tomb, even when caught red-handed, refused to admit their wrongdoing, apologize, orpensate."


    "Since three parties were involved, they formed a three-against-three standoff, so no one was really afraid of the others."


    "Our n, though it only sent in a Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivator''s clone, technically vited the rules too, so we''re also keeping a neutral stance, not daring to pick sides."


    "Because our family is neutral, the situation outside is bnced at three versus three. The Miao n''s old patriarch lost his favorite grandson and will never let this go, so things are chaotic outside, with frequent skirmishes."


    "But since our family is neutral, our territory is at peace, and we can safely hold all kinds ofpetitions."


    Long Qilin suddenly grinned mischievously, "Hehe! While the other six ns are constantly fighting and exhausting their resources, our n is preserving its strength and growing steadily."


    "After this, we''ll have closed the gap with the strongest families, maybe even surpassed them."


    Long Xuan couldn''t help but marvel at how cunning the Long family was. While the other families were at each other''s throats, the Long family was sitting back and watching, even having the leisure to holdpetitions. And it was the Long family that had instigated this mess in the first ce.


    But knowing this, Long Xuan felt relieved. Since the mes of war hadn''t reached the Long family''s territory, he could proceed with his n to set up the Five Elements Reversal Formation without worrying about running into trouble.


    Since the tug-of-war match was likely canceled, Long Xuan lost interest in the spectacle.


    After chatting a bit more with Long Qilin, he found an excuse to leave. While everyone was busy watching thepetitions, he headed straight to the Long family''s mission hall.


    At this time, the mission hall was almost empty. Taking advantage of theck of attention, Long Xuan quickly dropped the bag containing the Suo Gu and the Suo Gu form into the box under the long-term mission board and then nonchntly left.


    Now, all he had to do was wait patiently.


    ...


    Half a monthter, in the council hall.


    The atmosphere in the council hall was strange, with a group of old men engrossed in watching a Gu build a house, all with eager expressions,pletely absorbed in what they were watching.


    It''s unclear what was so fascinating about a Gu building a house that captivated them to the point of obsession. They had been in the council hall for days, watching the Gu build a house.


    Among them, the Grand Elder was the most engrossed, his eyes bloodshot from staring. Suddenly, he pulled out a branch emitting a life force from his storage bag and, with a smile, ced it in front of the Gu.


    The Gu¡¯s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing the branch, showing extreme excitement. It quickly grabbed the branch, eagerly contemting where it should ce it in its new home.


    Everyone was shocked by this scene.


    Long Wanli eximed, "That¡¯s a branch from the Earth-Grade Spiritual Herb, the Ancient Tree of Life! Are you seriously using it to help a bug build a house? Are you out of your mind?"


    Everyone gasped at his crazy behavior, looking at him with confusion. Had he gone mad watching the bug build a house?


    The second elder sighed and said, "Are you still not giving up? After countless experiments, we¡¯ve proven that the house of the Suo Gu insect cannot transmit living beings. The idea of using it as a substitute for a teleportation formations is very difficult to achieve."


    "The technique of building the house rtes to the stability of entering the Void Realm, while the materials used for the house determine the transportation distance. No matter how high the grade of the materials, it¡¯s impossible for it to carry living beings."

 Chapter 109: Long Qilin Goes Crazy

    The Grand Elder spoke calmly, "How could I not understand what you''re saying? But if I don''t try it myself, how can I be at ease?"


    "The most profitable business in this world is to control a teleportation formation, especially an interdomain teleportation formation. Just by collecting tolls, you can earn an endless amount of wealth."


    "Building a teleportation formation is extremely difficult; there aren''t many in the entire world. If our n can master the technology to rece teleportation formation, our n will soar to great heights. Bing the strongest n in the world wouldn¡¯t be impossible!"


    The Grand Elder''s eyes gleamed with a fervent ambition, his expression full of desire.


    The Second Elder sighed, "Sigh! You really dare to dream. The profits from a teleportation formation are indeed immense, but even if the Suo Gu truly has the ability to transport people over long distances, we won''t be able to hold onto such vast wealth."


    The Grand Elder turned to him and said seriously, "How could I not understand such a simple truth?"


    "Our n indeed cannot hold onto such a huge business, even if our strength were to expand a hundredfold."


    "But we can share this business with those powerful rtives of ours. Even though we haven¡¯t been in contact with those rtives for 800 years, the immense benefits would be enough to bring them back together."


    "At that time, it will be the great revival of our n!"The Grand Elder was extremely excited, a fanatical expression on his face.


    All the elders exchanged nces. Long Wanli showed a thoughtful expression, and after a while, he looked at the only female elder, the Fourth Elder, and said, "Long Lin, you have the most extensive knowledge in the n."


    "In your opinion, if we continue to study the Suo Gu, researching its different evolutionary paths, could it develop the ability to transport people over long distances?"


    Long Lin quickly replied, "It¡¯s entirely possible to induce any change in the Suo Gu through different evolutionary paths, including developing the ability to carry living beings."


    "I can only say that the possibility of it developing the ability to transport people over long distances is there, but I can''t estimate how likely it is. It could be one percent, or it could be one in ten thousand. It could seed in a year, or it could take a hundred years."


    The Third Elder nodded, "As long as there is a possibility, no matter how slim, it¡¯s worth dedicating all our n¡¯s resources to in-depth research."


    The Fifth Elder also nodded in agreement, "Exactly, once we develop the ability to transport living beings over long distances, the benefits will be enormous. It¡¯s worth the gamble, even if we must dedicate all our n''s resources."


    The Sixth Elder smiled, "Even if the Suo Gu cannot develop the ability to transport people, its current abilities alone are worth promoting throughout the n."


    "It¡¯s no exaggeration to say that although the Suo Gu has littlebat ability, its value far exceeds that of the Earth Master Gu, making it absolutely worthy of cultivation."


    "If every Gu master in our n had a Suo Gu, just running a message delivery service or a courier service would bring immense ie to our n."


    "The ie the Suo Gu would generate for our n would far surpass that from the fossil mines."


    "So, I suggest we quickly promote the Suo Gu throughout the n. Let¡¯s stick to our old method and organize apetition with amazing rewards to stimte the n members¡¯ enthusiasm for refining the Suo Gu!"


    "We¡¯ll call thispetition the House-Building Contest. There will be two categories: the first is to see whose Suo Gu can build the most beautiful house, a contest for the poorer faction since they don¡¯t have many expensive materials for construction."


    "The second category will consider the house''s practicality, requiring a lot of expensive materials. Only wealthy Gu masters can afford to participate."


    "To rapidly increase the number of Suo Gu, I suggest we enhance the reward mechanism. The champion should receive a contribution of 20 million, and the top 50 participants should also receive contribution rewards."


    "I don¡¯t believe that with such huge rewards, we won¡¯t be able to get everyone in the n to refine a Suo Gu."


    Upon hearing this, all the elders nodded in agreement. Clearly, his proposal was unanimously approved.


    "Let¡¯s do it. We messed up thest Tug-of-War Tournament with the Earth Master; this time, we must hold the House-Building Contest properly and make it the most lively event of the year," the Seventh Elder nodded and said.


    "Heh, you¡¯ve said so much, but don¡¯t forget the main task. We¡¯re here to rate the new unique Gu recipe and determine how much contribution the creator should receive."


    "I think you¡¯ve all forgotten about it," the Eighth Elder chuckled, stroking his beard.


    "Why bother rating it? Is there any need for that? Just give a contribution of one billion. I don¡¯t think there will be any disputes," the Ninth Elder smiled.


    At this moment, all the elders nodded again. Indeed, there was no need to go through the rating process, as it would just be a waste of time.


    The value of the Suo Gu far exceeds a contribution of one billion; if not for the cap on long-term tasks, it would be worth two billion contributions.


    The wealth that the Suo Gu will generate for the n is unimaginable. From now on, the annual revenue of the Long family will at least double, possibly even more, and that¡¯s without the ability to transport people.


    The profits are enormous, and the contributions to the n are too great; no reward is too high.


    With this, the Long family will soar to great heights, and it is only a matter of time before they be the number one n in the Far West.


    All the elders¡¯ faces were flushed, showing excited smiles.


    The next day, an incredibly lucrative House-Building Contest was officially announced by the Long family. The news spread rapidly throughout the n, and everyone was thrilled, their eyes turning red with excitement.


    The champion¡¯s reward was an astonishing 20 million contributions, an amount that even a normal person wouldn¡¯t earn after decades of hard work.


    In the face of such a huge reward, everyone went crazy, rushing to the Treasure Pavilion at an astonishing speed to exchange the new unique Gu recipe as quickly as possible.


    Among them, Long Qilin¡¯s eyes were the reddest. He was the first to rush into the Treasure Pavilion and exchange the Suo Gu recipe immediately.


    He seemed to have forgotten his previous defeats and even harbored the delusion of beating Long Ziyan once. He still had delusions of winning the championship, bing more determined with each setback.


    On this day, the Suo Gu recipe spread at an astonishing rate to every member of the Long family.


    After obtaining this new unique Gu recipe, everyone showed great interest in this gu insect that loved building houses.


    Soon, house-building became a trend in the Long family, and watching Gu build houses became a hobby for all the Long family¡¯s Gu masters.


    Everyone brought out their rare materials for the Gu insect to use as building materials, eagerly watching them create one unique house after another, showing great enthusiasm.


    It was as if watching the gu build houses had be an addiction; many people were obsessed, even offering precious materials to the Gu like the Grand Elder had done, which was simply insane.


    In a courtyard.


    "You¡¯re crazy! This is madness!" Long Xuan eximed.


    What appeared before him was a small house made entirely of high-grade spirit stones. The house was built from various colored high-grade spirit stones, reflecting a rainbow of colors under the sunlight, looking incredibly beautiful.


    At this moment, the exquisite little house was more than halfway done, and a Suo Gu was excitedly cing high-grade spirit stones of different attributes to fill the gaps in the house.


    Clearly, it was very satisfied with the high-quality materials, even showing a smile.


    Long Xuan was stunned. Was Long Qilin crazy? How dare he use high-grade spirit stones as building materials for the Suo Gu?


    High-grade spirit stones were extremely rare, even Long Xuan didn¡¯t have many.


    Yet Long Qilin dared to extravagantly use them to build a house for the Suo Gu; this was pure madness.


    The cost of this tiny house alone was estimated to be worth several million low-grade spirit stones, possibly even over a billion. Long Xuan¡¯s scalp tingled.


    Insane! They¡¯ve all gone insane!


    Long Qilin¡¯s eyes were bloodshot, as if he hadn¡¯t slept for several nights. He was probably too excited watching the Suo Gu build the house, staying up several nights in a row.


    He looked crazed, licking his lips excitedly, "Hehe! A house made entirely of high-grade spirit stones, let¡¯s see who canpete with me in this House-Building Contest?"


    "I want to see how Long Ziyan can fight me this time. My creation will definitely win first ce."


    Long Xuan quickly took a few steps back, distancing himself from the madman. Long Qilin was clearly not in his right mind.


    Seeing Long Qilin¡¯s somewhat obsessed state, Long Xuan sighed. Could a house made of high-grade spirit stones win first ce?


    As far as he knew, even his senior sister had gone crazy, excitedly gathering a bunch of Hundred-Year Cold Ice Essence from who knows where, using it to build an ice house for the Suo Gu, which was insanely expensive.


    High-grade spirit stones were precious, but could theypare to Hundred-Year Cold Ice Essence?


    Long Xuan silently mourned for him.


    In recent days, he discovered that many people had gone mad. Through his Eye of Heavenly Secret, he saw people using fourth-grade spirit cores to build houses, some using Earth-grade spirit trees, and someone even used refined ck iron to construct a house...


    They were all crazy, one after another.


    Compared to them, Long Qilin¡¯s small house made of high-grade spirit stones was like a minor effortpared to major feats, wasn¡¯t it? He was still dreaming of winning first ce¡ªhe¡¯d struggle to even make the top three.


    He should just stick to the poor man''spetition; trying topete in the high-end bracket was a lost cause. There were just too many lunatics in this family.


    Long Xuan didn¡¯t dare to tell him the harsh reality and finally stepped towards an ancient pavilion in the courtyard.


    This pavilion was the residence of the family head, Long Wanli, which is why he was able to see the already deranged Long Qilin here.


    Today, the family head had summoned him. As expected, the long-dyed contribution points must have finally been released.


    Long Xuan was a bit excited and rushed over immediately.


    "Knock, knock!"


    Long Xuan knocked on the door, and a dignified voice promptly responded from within.


    "Come in! That fool is indeed crazy, don¡¯t bother with him!"


    It seemed the family head had overheard the conversation that just took ce in the courtyard. Long Xuan took a deep breath and boldly pushed the door open to enter.

 Chapter 110: Conversation with the Family Head

    Long Wanli looked at Long Xuan as he entered, showing a look of appreciation and smiled, saying, "Sit down, there''s no need to be formal at home."


    Long Xuan sat across from him with ease and first asked with concern, "Family Head, should we do something about Long Qilin? If he keeps going like this, he''ll go bankrupt."


    "Hehe! No need to worry about him. Winning the championship is out of the question, but building an expensive house might not be a loss."


    "The better the materials used by the Sou Gu to build a house, the farther it can transport. His high-grade Spirit Stone house will have its time to make big money in the future," Long Wanliughed.


    Long Xuan understood then that the family had already epted his proposal and was preparing to start the courier and escort business.


    To undertake these businesses, they would need a bunch of high-quality houses.


    One shouldn''t think that the Sou Gu is just a cost-effective low-grade Gu insect with cheap construction costs.


    The only thing cheap about it is itself. The houses it builds are anything but cheap; in fact, they might even be more expensive than those built by peak-grade Gu insects.


    No wonder so many crazies have popped up in the family recently¡ªLong Xuan had found the reason. The better the house is built, the more money it could potentially make.At this moment, a crazy thought also arose in his mind: should he chop down the Fire Dragon Fruit Tree to use it for the Sou Gu''s construction? He could just give up on everything else.


    Long Wanli looked at Long Xuan and sighed, "You¡¯ve already reached the Marrow Cleansing stage, haven''t you? Breaking through the Marrow Cleansing stage with a Ten Absolute Body is certainly no easy feat."


    "With your physique, once you break through the Marrow Cleansing stage, at least half of the family¡¯s Marrow Cleansing Gu Masters won¡¯t be a match for you. Our n has gained another young expert."


    After smiling contentedly, Long Wanli continued, "The Sou Gu you researched is excellent, worth at least a billion contribution points. Here''s a contribution token worth one billion; keep it safe."


    Long Wanli ced the contribution token on the table and slowly pushed it toward Long Xuan.


    Long Xuan calmly took the contribution token. A billion was just a small goal for him now; this number no longer excited him.


    "Since you''ve already broken through to the Marrow Cleansing stage, the family should reward you with a cave dwelling. Unfortunately, too many geniuses have broken through recently, and all the good cave dwellings have been taken."


    "You''ll have to make do for now. When a better cave dwelling bes avable, you can move in then. Rest assured, the family will prioritize reserving it for you."


    Long Wanli smiled as he spread arge map on the table, slowly unfolding it. "All the ces marked with an ''X'' are already imed. You¡¯ll have to choose a spot on the outskirts."


    Long Xuan nodded. He had already decided on a cave dwelling long ago¡ªbesides the mountain with the Spirit Spring, he had no interest in the other peaks.


    Without hesitation, he boldly drew arge ''X'' on thergest mountain on the map.


    Seeing how quickly Long Xuan made his choice, Long Wanli was slightly stunned. After seeing his choice, his brows furrowed.


    Although he had just said to choose an outlying peak, this location was too far out.


    That location was merely included to fill space; if the paper wasn¡¯t so big, it wouldn¡¯t even have been drawn on the map.


    No one in the family would choose that spot. The spiritual energy there was too scarce, and it was too far from the family¡¯s territory. Even at the fastest speed of a Marrow Cleansing stage cultivator, it would take days to travel back and forth. If it were attacked by demonic cultivators, the family wouldn''t be able to rescue in time.


    Long Xuan is now the family¡¯s potential treasure, a key figure to be protected. Long Wanli genuinely didn¡¯t want him to choose such a dangerous location.


    "Are you choosing that spot just because it¡¯s thergest? There¡¯s no need. Your Formation disk can¡¯t possibly cover such arge area; if you can¡¯t defend it, no matter how big it is, it¡¯s not really yours."


    Long Xuan replied, "Since I¡¯m choosing an outlying peak, it doesn¡¯t make much difference whether it¡¯s far or near. I might as well choose thergest one to grow more spiritual herbs. Family Head, there¡¯s no need to persuade me; my mind is made up."


    In the end, Long Wanli didn¡¯t persuade him further. After putting away the map, he said, "Managing such arge Herb garden might take up a lot of your cultivation time. Should the family assign you a batch of servants?"


    The secret of the Spirit Spring was too important; Long Xuan dared not bring others up the mountain. Besides, having his clone do the heavy lifting was more than enough, so he quickly declined, "No need for now. That ce has never been inhabited, and I¡¯ll need a lot of time to set up the array again."


    "During this time, even if I had servants, they¡¯d be idle. When I really need help, I¡¯ll select some then."


    Long Wanli nodded; Long Xuan''s exnation was reasonable, and he didn¡¯t suspect anything.


    The two then discussed some issues rted to the Sou Gu''s creation method. The reason Long Wanli had called Long Xuan over today was mainly to seek advice.


    To solve a problem, one must start from the source. Since the family wanted to research how the Sou Gu could carry people, naturally, they first had to ask the creator of the Gu method.


    Long Xuan, of course, held nothing back. He had long since stopped relying on guesses for his Gu creation methods; he had a solid foundation of experience and knowledge. It¡¯s no exaggeration to say that when ites to creating Gu Forms, no one in the Far West canpare to him.


    In the field of Gu insect research, he had a lot of valuable insights, and Long Wanli greatly benefited from the conversation, secretlybeling Long Xuan as a genius in self-created Gu methods.


    The two didn¡¯t know how long they talked until night fell. Only then did Long Xuan finally leave the pavilion.


    Seeing Long Qilin still staring wide-eyed at the Sou Gu building houses outside, he shook his head helplessly¡ªthis kid was beyond saving.


    In the end, Long Xuan didn¡¯t disturb him and quickly left.


    He hadpletely forgotten how obsessed he was with watching Sedge Moths build houses in his past life, even more so than Long Qilin.


    After leaving the Family Head¡¯s residence, Long Xuan headed straight for the Treasure Pavilion.


    To avoidplications, he decided to exchange the peak-grade Gold Spirit Stone and peak-grade Fire Spirit Stone that day before someone else did.


    Not only the peak-grade Spirit Stones, but the Five Elements Reversal Formation also required a vast amount of precious materials. Since he had plenty of contribution points, he decided to gather the remaining materials as well.


    However, doing so would empty out nearly half of the Treasure Pavilion. Don¡¯t underestimate the value of a billion contribution points in the Long family¡ªsuch a vast fortune made even him hesitate...


    As for Long Xuan¡¯s true body at this time, after spending half a month sweeping through the market, he finally headed straight for Di Xin¡¯s residence.


    That¡¯s right, the one looting the Long family''s Treasure Pavilion was none other than his Fire Clone. Even the Family Head hadn¡¯t noticed the deception.


    After all, looting the Long family''s Treasure Pavilion was such a high-profile act, it was best left to his Clone. He decided that his true body would no longer appear in the Long family.


    In the past half-month, his true body had been sweeping through the market, frantically gathering materials for the Five Elements Reversal Formation, visiting stalls, and participating in auctions and trade fairs. He spent spirit stones like water, and the pile of spirit stones he had umted was shrinking visibly.


    Yet, even after half a month, he hadn¡¯t found any sign of peak-grade Spirit Stones.


    The entire market didn¡¯t have a single peak-grade Spirit Stone, not even at the Qian n Chamber Of Commerce. This showed just how rare peak-grade Spirit Stones were.


    At this point, Long Xuan could only pin his hopes on Di Xin. For this reason, he had frantically raided the stone gambling shops of the various major families.


    Remembering how interested Di Xin was in spirit-enhancing pills during their first transaction, he had his rabbit and Clone refine arge batch of spirit pills, and then confidently headed to Di Xin¡¯s residence.


    It¡¯s worth mentioning that his Clone replicated everything about him, including the Five Elements attributes, so all his Clone could refine pills and control the Divine Ice me, even without Fire Spiritual power.


    After copying his true body¡¯s alchemy experience, each clone had a very high pill sess rate.


    So Long Xuan was a true pill-making powerhouse.


    As soon as he arrived at Di Xin¡¯s residence, she came out to greet him.


    ¡°You really have no fear of death, do you? Still daring to run into my formation! Or are you so arrogant that you don¡¯t even consider my formation a threat?¡± Di Xin said bluntly as soon as they met.


    ¡°This shows my trust in your character, believing you wouldn¡¯t kill for treasure. Let¡¯s talk inside.¡±


    Long Xuan didn¡¯t consider himself an outsider at all and walked straight in, treating her fearsome formation as nothing.


    He found a spot with tables and chairs and sat down.


    Di Xin was stunned when she saw him emitting the powerful aura of the Marrow Cleansing Stage. She didn''t expect that he had also made a breakthrough. With the powerfulbat power of the Ten Absolute Bodies, it was no wonder that he was not afraid of her.


    Here is the trantion of the provided text into English with good grammar and the correct terms:


    ---


    She slowly walked over and sat down across from Long Xuan.


    However, when she saw Long Xuan using his sly eyes to look around her Herb garden, she was immediately filled with frustration.


    This person probably wants to cause trouble in my herb garden again, right? Last time, he nearly plucked everything clean, and it took a long time to restore it. Di Xin was as alert as if facing a great enemy.


    ¡°Speak! What do you want this time? I don¡¯t do business for less than ten billion,¡± Di Xin asked directly.


    Long Xuan reluctantly withdrew his gaze. Di Xin had restocked again. He saw many rare spiritual herbs that made him covet them, and he couldn¡¯t help but want to make them his own.


    These spiritual herbs were so rare that they were nearly extinct. They couldn¡¯t be found on the market at all.


    ¡°Then I¡¯ll get straight to the point. I need peak-grade spirit stones. Do you have any?¡± Long Xuan asked, looking into her eyes.


    Di Xin was now hisst hope. If even she didn¡¯t have peak-grade spirit stones, then the task of setting up the Five Elements Reversal Formation would be indefinitely postponed. The Five Elements Reversal Formation would not bepleted anytime soon.


    Without this deadly formation for protection, he wouldn¡¯t feel safe guarding the Spirit Spring. This matter could not be dyed. Long Xuan looked at her with expectant eyes.


    After taking a sip of tea, Di Xin said, ¡°I have one earth-attribute peak-grade spirit stone and one water-attribute peak-grade spirit stone. Which one do you want?¡±


    Hearing this, Long Xuan¡¯s eyes lit up. As expected, she¡¯s a little richdy. The entire marketce didn¡¯t have peak-grade spirit stones, but she actually had two in her possession. Di Xin really didn¡¯t disappoint him.


    ¡°I want them both!¡± Long Xuan said eagerly.


    At the same time, he ced a book in front of Di Xin and said again, ¡°How much of the materials listed here can you provide?¡±


    Despite his frantic sweeping of the marketce over the past half month, spending nearly all his spirit stones, there were still quite a few materials he hadn¡¯t collected.


    The Long n¡¯s treasury allowed him to trade contribution points for some, but the rest he could only obtain from Di Xin.

 Chapter 111: The Wise Di Xin

    Di Xin casually flipped through a few pages after receiving the book, but she soon grew serious, her reading bing more focused.


    Even though there were no formation diagrams or patterns in the book, with her deep knowledge of formations, she could tell just from the materials required that this formation was far from ordinary.


    In fact, she didn''t even need to look at the book. Any formation that required high-grade spirit stones was bound to beplex, and she had already suspected as much.


    After a while, when Di Xin reached thest page of materials, her expression changed drastically. She widened her eyes in surprise, looking at Long Xuan with a rare disy of loss ofposure.


    Thest page listed all the rare spiritual herbs that she had recently nted in her herb garden. When had this little thief written them down? His hands were unbelievably fast!


    Using a bunch of spiritual herbs as materials to set up a formation¡ªwho was he trying to fool?


    Di Xin took a deep breath, her chest heaving as she struggled to suppress her growing anger. Slowly, she put the book down and looked at Long Xuan, her gaze full of meaning as she said, "Your formation is quite extraordinary. At the very least, it''s a deadly formation."


    "The level of danger in this formation is something I''ve rarely seen in my life. It could easily rank among the top three in all the formations I know."


    "Give me the diagram for this formation, and I''ll offer you two high-grade spirit stones and a third of the materials listed in this book. I''ll cover it all."Of course, Long Xuan couldn''t agree to her request. If he handed over the diagram for the Five Elements Reversal Formation, wouldn''t that mean she could enter it at will? That was absolutely uneptable.


    Long Xuan looked at her with some surprise and said, "There are only materials listed here, and they''re not evenplete. Yet you can already tell that this formation isn''t simple? And you''re willing to offer such a high price for it? Aren''t you afraid you''ll be at a loss? To be honest, this formation is actually quite weak."


    Di Xin''s lips curled into a smile, as if she were looking at an idiot, and sheughed lightly, "Please don''t insult my professional expertise. Your formation requires the most precious materials of the Five Elements attributes. The effect of thepleted formation should be a deadly formation with five formation eyes, allowing for a Five Elements cycle. If such a formation were simple, it would be truly strange."


    "A barrier formed by the Five Elements cycle can be self-sustaining and self-repairing, making it nearly impossible to break."


    "And your formation even requires the setup of so many barriers. Are you so afraid of death that you''re nning toy down ny-nine barriers in your own home? That''s a bit exaggerated. Doing so would be highly energy-consuming. Could it be that you''re trying to guard against the Gu King?"


    Di Xin looked at him with a strange expression, her eyes glinting.


    Long Xuan waspletely stunned by Di Xin''s understanding of formations. He realized that he had severely underestimated her knowledge in this area. This person was not just a genius in formations; she was a monster in the field, and nothing rted to formations could escape her notice.


    "Let me be honest with you. There''s no way I can give you the formation diagram. Otherwise, I wouldn''t feel safe with you, a master of formations, around."


    "If you''re really interested in the diagram of a deadly formation, I actually have another one. I guarantee that its power is no less than my own formation, and it might even surpass it. It will definitely meet your expectations."


    Long Xuan smiled as he ced a book with a nk cover on the table, his expression full of confidence.


    This ultimate deadly formation was naturally the one from the Empress''s tomb, a guardian formation of the highest caliber, especially since it utilized advanced sr energy technology.


    Under the Eye of Heavenly Secret, this formation no longer held any secrets for him. To study the sr energy technology of this formation, he had even ordered his clone to meticulously copy down the diagram of this deadly formation.


    It wasn''t an exaggeration to say that this formation was on par with his Five Elements Reversal Formation.


    The strength of his Five Elements Reversal Grand Formationy in its scaled-down formation patterns, but due to limitations in realm and formation knowledge, many aspects of it were still quite rough.


    Without microscopic technology, his Five Elements Reversal Formation wouldn''t have much of an advantagepared to the top formations of this world. The only aspect worth noting was the Divine Cube Formation.


    Curious, Di Xin picked up the book from the table and casually flipped through a few pages. There''s an unspoken rule in trading knowledge and inheritance: one can only look at a few random pages, not the entire book.


    So she casually flipped through the book before sensibly putting it down.


    She curled her lips into a smile and said, "The formation in the Empress''s ancient tomb? This formation is indeed deadly. I didn''t expect that she would ce the formation diagram meant to protect the tomb inside the tomb itself. I wonder what she was thinking."


    "I''m really tempted by the formation diagram of this deadly formation. I''m willing to trade it for a piece of peak-grade Spirit Stone."


    Hearing this, Long Xuan''s smile froze on his face. He quickly said, "Are you so sure that a single peak-grade Spirit Stone is equivalent to the formation diagram from the Empress''s tomb?"


    "Do you even know how powerful that formation is? That formation utilizes extremely advanced sr energy technology. I dare say that there are very few people in the world who understand this technology."


    "Just a moment ago, you were willing to trade two peak-grade Spirit Stones and half of the materials from the book for my Five Elements Reversal Formation diagram. The power of this diagram is certainly not inferior to the Five Elements Reversal Formation, so how could it be treated unfairly?"


    Di Xin shook her head with a smile and looked at Long Xuan, saying, "The problem is that I already have more than half of that formation diagram."


    "Without my guidance! Do you really think that group of fools could have broken this fierce formation? Without my guidance, the various ns would only continue to lose people in this ancient tomb, and they wouldn''t be able to bring out a single treasure."


    "Otherwise, how do you think I suddenly broke through to the Marrow Cleansing stage? Without arge amount of Spirit Surge Grass from the tomb, could someone with my talent have possibly broken through?"


    "When I was cracking this fierce formation, I had already figured out most of the principles, except for the sr energy part, which I could never solve. That''s why the various ns can only enter the tomb at night."


    "Since I already know the general idea of this formation, its value naturally decreases greatly. If you want to trade this formation diagram with me, then I can only offer you one peak-grade Spirit Stone."


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan said no more. He ced a Gu pouch and a storage bag on the table and said, "I learned from you. After I mastered the technique to break formations, I also raided the treasure vaults of various ns like crazy."


    "Knowing that you like high-quality spiritual insects and elixirs, I picked out all such items. Just exchange them for the remaining materials."


    Di Xin opened the Gu pouch and storage bag, casually nced inside, roughly estimated the quantity, and then closed them.


    She chuckled and said, "These things of yours cannot be equivalent to my peak-grade Spirit Stone. They can barely be exchanged for the materials in the book."


    Although Long Xuan often raided the gambling houses of the Qian n and the Seven Great ns, and the number of high-quality spiritual insects in his Gu pouch was unknown, the value was indeed far short of exchanging for one-third of the materials in the book and a peak-grade Spirit Stone.


    Long Xuan was already mentally prepared and said directly, "Just tell me what you want, and I''ll get it."


    Di Xin suddenly revealed a strange smile, leaned forward, and looked at Long Xuan with a yful expression, saying, "Take out the tree you stole from the cave, and I''ll trade. Other than this, I won''t exchange for anything else you offer."


    Hearing this, Long Xuan was shocked, but his expression showed confusion. He looked at her and said, "Tree? What tree? I don''t understand what you''re talking about. You''re speaking so strangely!"


    "Heh heh!" Di Xinughed yfully and said, "Keep pretending!"


    "Only a few of us knew about that cave. After we left, I returned shortly after, only to find that the treasure of the cave had been stolen in such a short time."


    "The one who left was clearly just a clone of yours. Apart from you, no one else had the time tomit the crime. If it wasn''t you, then who could it have been?"


    Di Xin gritted her teeth as she looked at him and said, "You''re really cunning! You stole the treasure of the cave, but now I''m the one bearing the me. Everyone thinks I''m the one who stole the treasure."


    "That Old Li Laodao keepsing after me for this. Every time I go to a trade fair, he nags me about it. Now I can''t even defend myself! All these years, you''re the only one who''s managed to trick me, Di Xin!" Di Xin red at him fiercely.


    Long Xuan rubbed his nose, knowing that no matter how much he denied it, Di Xin wouldn''t believe him. After all, he was the only one who had the time tomit the crime, so it was hard to shake off the me.


    So, he could only reluctantly say, "You know, that kind of tree is impossible to transnt. At that time, I was selfish, fantasizing about sessfully transnting it to my own herb garden, but in the end, it still died."


    Since there was no way to deny it, Long Xuan could onlye up with another excuse and say that the tree was already dead.


    This exnation was reasonable, and Di Xin was likely to believe it.


    Di Xin nodded and said, "Of course, I know you couldn''t have sessfully transnted that tree, but you definitely picked all the fruits from it."


    "You couldn''t possibly have eaten all the fruits yourself, and with your personality, you wouldn''t dare to sell such things, so you definitely have some left. There''s no need to tell me how many you have left. I won''t believe you anyway."


    "Two fruits for one peak-grade Spirit Stone. No bargaining. Just say whether you want to trade or not. If you insist you don''t have any, then this peak-grade Spirit Stone will be out of your reach."


    Seeing her expression, Long Xuan knew that if he didn''t take out the Fire Dragon Fruits today, there was no way he''d get the peak-grade Spirit Stone.


    With no other choice, he ced two jade boxes on the table and said with a bitter smile, "Believe it or not, I really only have these two left."


    Giving away the Fire Dragon Fruits didn''t bother him at all. He had already developed a resistance to them, and they were of no use to him now. Even if he kept them, they would eventually rot, so getting rid of them today might actually be a good choice.


    When Di Xin saw the two jade boxes, her face lit up with joy. After opening them and seeing the two fruits inside, which looked as if they were on fire, her smile grew even brighter.


    To prevent too much medicinal power from evaporating, she quickly closed the boxes.


    "Two peak-grade Spirit Stones. Here you go. I''ll go prepare the remaining materials from the book."


    Di Xin stood up, tossed two glowing stones to Long Xuan, gathered all the items on the table, and turned to walk toward her little room.


    Not long after, Di Xin came out of her little room, threw a pile of storage bags to Long Xuan, and there were so many of them that they nearly covered the entire table.


    At the same time, a giant beetle also came out of Di Xin''s medicine garden and ced several storage bags on the table.


    Di Xin instinctively looked toward her herb garden and found that arge patch of her paradise had been gnawed away like a dog had chewed on it, and her mood instantly soured!


    "Take your stuff and get out! Don''t let me see you again!"

 Chapter 112: Developing the Second Level of the Technique

    After leaving Di Xin''s residence, Long Xuan returned triumphantly. Following this transaction, he had almost gathered all the materials needed to set up the Five Elements Reversal Formation, with only fewer than a hundred materials remaining to be collected.


    The hardest-to-find peak-grade spirit stones were already collected: the Lonh n''s Treasure Pavilion had two with fire and gold attributes, and he had just acquired two with water and earth attributes from Emperor Xin.


    Thest peak-grade wood spirit stone was a fortunate find from the storage bags of those two Gu Kings.


    Soon after, the spatial ring hanging around his neck vibrated twice. He immediately retrieved amunication talisman from it to check.


    This talisman carried a message from his Fire Clone at the Long n.


    Long Xuan had just sent the remaining uncollected materials via themunication talisman, instructing that these materials be posted on the Long n''s Mission Hall and a bounty be set up.


    Because he was eager to set up the Five Elements Reversal Formation and wanted toplete the material collection as soon as possible, he set the contribution reward quite high. Even the now useless Spirit Surge Grass was offered as a reward.


    He couldn''t believe that the Spirit Surge Grass wouldn¡¯t be tempting to them.


    To his surprise, shortly after sending the message, he received a reply.Long Xuan immediately looked at the information on the talisman.


    The gist was that due to the generous rewards, the tasks he posted were quickly snapped up, and all the tasks were imed shortly after they were posted.


    Many people, thoughcking the materials, knew where to find them, whether through trade or field collection. What mattered was that the tasks were taken, so gathering the materials was just a matter of time. Patience was all that was needed.


    Seeing the information on the talisman, Long Xuan smiled with satisfaction. This meant the Five Elements Reversal Formation couldmence.


    He handed over all the newly collected materials to his clone and returned to his own herb garden.


    Indeed, he nned not to visit the Long n again. All formation tasks were entrusted to his clone; his main body would not be involved.


    Setting up such an extraordinary and dangerous formation required immense time. His main body, with numerous important matters to attend to daily, couldn¡¯t afford to handle this physicalbor and had to delegate it entirely to the clones.


    Undoubtedly, the clone replicated all his abilities. Since it could refine pills, it naturally could set up formations as well. Furthermore, with the power of the Divine Ice me, any metal would be melted by them, leaving no concern about their capabilities.


    Upon returning to his Herb garden, Long Xuan sat back in the familiar pavilion, took out paper and pen, and finally prepared to work on developing the secondyer of the "Ten Absolutes Scripture."


    This was the main reason he did not participate in the formation setup. He was too busy; after advancing to the Marrow Cleansing stage, the original first level of the "Ten Absolutes Scripture" had be useless. He needed to develop the second level of the "Ten Absolutes Scripture" suitable for Marrow Cleansing cultivation as quickly as possible.


    This task could not be dyed; the technique was crucial for his cultivation speed, and the faster it progressed, the better.


    After developing the "Ten Absolutes Scripture," he also needed to work on the second level of the "Purgatory True Demon Technique," or his body refining progress would stagnate.


    He was quite upied and would need to be in seclusion for a long period.


    When his seclusion ended, the Five Elements Reversal Formation would likely have been sessfully set up by his five clones. At that time, he would move, bringing all the spiritual herbs from this herb garden into the Spiritual Spring range.


    With the Five Elements Reversal Formation as protection, he would truly be able to rest easy.


    Long Xuan smiled and began writing the first character on the nk paper...


    Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, six months had gone by.


    Long Xuan sat cross-legged on the ground, performing variousplex hand gestures. Suddenly, he opened his eyes, and a glint of brilliance shed.


    "me Power! Condense for me!"


    With his fierce shout, the fire spiritual energy within him instantly surged.


    The me Power was a mutated spiritual energy formed by the fusion of wood and fire attributes.


    Water nurtures wood, and wood generates fire. When water, wood, and fire attributes blend, they produce a more terrifying fire attribute. Long Xuan named this fire attribute "Inferno," calling it Inferno Power or Inferno Spiritual Energy.


    He understood the principle long ago, but practical application posed numerous difficulties, with the ratio of attribute fusion being particrly troublesome.


    After persistent effort and repeated attempts in the Origin realm, Long Xuan finally seeded in researching the powerful Inferno Spiritual Energy.


    After a period of violent agitation, the fire spiritual energy within him began to transform into Inferno Spiritual Energy, and soon the transformation wasplete.


    Long Xuan barely had time to rejoice. As the fire spiritual energy transformed into the stronger Inferno Spiritual Energy, his fire attribute spiritual energy was now far superior to the other attributes.


    This imbnce would inevitably lead to an excess in one area, causing the Five Elements to be unbnced and disrupting their cycle.


    Therefore, he needed to quickly bnce the Five Elements, and the simplest method was to adjust the power of the other four attributes to be in harmony with the Inferno Spiritual Energy.


    Fortunately, the most challenging part was the beginning. Once he had sessfully researched the Inferno Spiritual Energy formed from the fusion of three attributes, studying the other mutated-attribute spiritual energies derived from these three attributes became less difficult.


    The research process is exactly the same each time, and the proportions of spiritual energy required are also identical; the only difference lies in the attributes.


    Using the temte for researching Inferno spiritual power as a reference, Long Xuan only needed to change the attributes. It took just a few months for the powerful mutated spiritual energies of Verdant (sen), Oceanic(miao), Prosperity(xin), and Mountainous(Y¨¤o) to be born in his hands.


    <em>Verdant Power</em> is formed by the fusion of Gold, Water, and Wood attributes.


    <em>Oceanic Power</em> is formed by the fusion of Earth, Gold, and Water attributes.


    <em>Prosperity Power</em> is formed by the fusion of Fire, Earth, and Gold attributes.


    <em>Mountainous Power</em> is formed by the fusion of Wood, Fire, and Earth attributes.


    With thepletion of the five major mutated spiritual energies¡ªProsperity, Verdant, Oceanic, Inferno, and Mountainous¡ªLong Xuan''s spiritual energy quality advanced to a higher level, causing hisbat power to undergo a dramatic transformation, with his attack power increasing significantly.


    He was already invincible at the same level, but now hisbat power had doubled, allowing him to crush opponents at the same level.


    Long Xuan opened his eyes, exhaled a breath of turbid air, clenched his fists, and felt the newly acquired power, his eyes showing signs of wild joy.


    Although he had not advanced in level, he felt as though he had, experiencing a sense of unprecedented strength that made him eager to test his power.


    However, he restrained this impulse. His current strength was still insufficient; the second level of his <em>Purgatory True Demonic Technique</em> had not yet been sessfully deduced, and his body refinement was not perfect. He decided to forge ahead andplete the secondyer of the <em>Purgatory True Demonic Technique</em> while the iron was hot.


    He quickly walked to the pavilion, took out paper and pen, and began deducing the second level of the <em>Purgatory True Demonic Technique</em> without any rest.


    When he was still in the Spirit Gathering Stage, deducing second level of the two techniques was fraught with difficulties, with constant bottlenecks making it impossible to proceed.


    Unexpectedly, after advancing to the Marrow Cleansing Stage and gaining the insights of this realm, deducing the techniques of this level became smooth and effortless.


    Following the previous patterns, he could almostplete it in one go, without encountering the difficulties that had caused him to be stuck for months.


    Thus, six monthster, two phantom images appeared in the sky¡ªone of a Golden Crow and one of a Divine Dragon.


    The phantoms of these two divine beasts appeared out of nowhere, emitting an incredibly terrifying aura.


    The phantoms were enormous, and though they were mere illusions, their expressions were so majestic and fierce that it was as if they were alive. Long Xuan could feel the immense pressure emanating from these two divine beasts, leaving him profoundly shaken.


    "So this is the Dharma Aspects? The spectacle is truly terrifying! It¡¯s hard to imagine that a body refinement technique can produce such a formidable phenomenon!"


    Gazing at the two Dharma Aspects in the sky, Long Xuan was both astonished and ted, murmuring to himself with great excitement.


    These two Dharma Aspects were incredibly powerful. Although they were only illusions and could not be used for attacks, they could carry a portion of the divine beasts'' power onto him.


    Even though the power was not substantial, it was still the power of divine beasts. Even a tiny fraction of their strength was formidable for humans, whose physical bodies are weak. That small amount of divine beast power could significantly boost a human¡¯sbat strength.


    Moreover, unlike ordinary people who possess only one Dharma Aspects, Long Xuan had two.


    By stacking the power of the two Dharma Aspects, he had be incredibly strong, with physical power so overwhelming that it even made him feel a sense of heart palpitations.


    And this was just with two Dharma Aspects. His self-created <em>Purgatory True Demonic Technique</em> would produce an additional dharma image with eachyer of cultivation.


    As his realm continued to rise, how terrifying would it be to have a multitude of Dharma Aspects appear when he fought someone? Apart from the immense power, the mere sight of so many Dharma Aspects would be enough to intimidate the enemy, reducing their momentum by a significant margin.


    Combining the power of all these Dharma Aspects, the strength would be unimaginably enormous.


    Long Xuan dared not imagine further, as it was too terrifying. He was even frightened by the technique he had created himself. Could such a technique really be created by humans? It was simply terrifying.


    He could not conceive of a body refinement technique more extraordinary than this. Even if his <em>Purgatory True Demonic Technique</em> was not the world''s number one body refinement technique, it was probably among the top ten in the world. Long Xuan''s heart raced with excitement.


    After feeling the power of the second level of the <em>Purgatory True Demonic Technique</em>, he finally retracted the two Dharma image.


    The secondyer of the body refinement technique had been sessfully deduced, sufficient toplete his training at the Marrow Cleansing Stage.


    However, while the technique had been created, it still required someone to practice it.


    The firstyer of the <em>Purgatory True Demonic Technique</em> involves magma swimming, while the secondyer involves cier swimming. While swimming is not strictly necessary, it must be practiced in extremely cold environments.


    Long Xuan frowned slightly. Such an environment is hard to find; the snowy mountains are naturally cold but not cold enough.


    The Divine Ice me has already acknowledged him as its master, and fire does not harm the master. Both he and his clone have developed high resistance to the Divine Ice me so practicing with it might not yield the best results.


    But since he could not find a suitable extremely cold environment, he had to make do with the Divine Ice me. cier swimming needed to be arranged for his clone as soon as possible¡­


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 113: Long Lie Refining Gu

    Just as Long Xuan was about to hand over the secondyer of the <em>Purgatory True Demon Technique</em> to his clone for cultivation, he suddenly felt something and used his ''Star-Stepping Technique'' to rush down the mountain.


    The <em>Iplete Five Elements Reversal Formation</em> had taken a year to be sessfully set up by his clone. A few months ago, he had already moved in, but the Herb garden had so many items that it would take some time topletely relocate everything.


    He had just sensed someone identally entering the outer area of the <em>Rubik''s Cube Formation</em>. Unsure of who it might be, he decided to check immediately.


    Shortly after, Long Xuan dragged the exhausted Long Lie out of the formation and ced him on the ground, looking at him helplessly.


    At this moment, Long Lie was panting heavily, his face showing a look of horror and distress.


    "What kind of formation was that? One moment, I was in a magma environment, then an ice mountain, and then an ocean. I almost drowned swimming in that ocean!" Long Lie panted, his spirit nearly broken.


    He had been on the verge of madness, tormented by the ever-changing worlds, where no matter which path he took, he would end up in a previously traversed world.


    Each world seemed to randomly appear at various locations, with no discernible pattern. Even when he marked the paths, the formation would rearrange them, and after a while, the paths would shift again, leaving him utterly lost.


    He wandered aimlessly like a headless fly, driven to the brink of insanity by this eerie formation.It wasn¡¯t just a mental torment but a physical one as well. The worlds felt all too real, with each one harsher and more unforgiving than thest, making survival nearly impossible.


    At one moment, he was burning up, and at another, freezing to death. He could clearly feel that it was not merely an illusion¡ªif he jumped into the magma, he would die for real.


    Trapped in this massive maze, he wouldn''t even have the chance to starve to death. The brutal environments would im his life long before that.


    He had been tortured to the brink of copse, and he still hadn¡¯t fully recovered.


    "This formation you randomly tinkered with scared me out of my wits. Why didn¡¯t you inform me beforeing? If I weren¡¯t home, and you got stuck in the trap, no one would have been there to save you," Long Xuan said, casting an exasperated nce at him.


    Fortunately, he had sessfully deduced the secondyer of the <em>Purgatory True Demon Technique</em> and hade out of seclusion; otherwise, Long Lie might have been trapped for who knows how long, possibly even to death.


    "You randomly tinkered with that formation?" Long Lie''s eyes widened in shock as he stared at him. "Do you realize how much space those worlds require? The area covered by this formation is massive, and the number of formation bases needed is unimaginable."


    "Where did you get so many materials? Even if the entire family pooled its resources, it would be impossible to set up a formation of such vast scale. How did you manage it?"


    Of course, Long Xuan wasn¡¯t going to tell him that he could draw small formation patterns, using one set of materials as if they were a hundred, which allowed him to set up such arge-scale formation at minimal cost.


    This was a groundbreaking technique, one that he couldn''t reveal to anyone, no matter how close they were.


    So, he bluffed, "It''s nothing. I just discovered an extremely cheap material, which I call ''cement.'' Mixing cement with spirit stone powder can createrge formation bases."


    "Therger the formation base, the more formation patterns can be inscribed. The more patterns there are, therger the formation''s range."


    "So don''t be fooled by the wide coverage of my formation; the cost was actually quite low. The formation bases made with cement aren¡¯t very sturdy, and it¡¯s a rubbish technique, not worth mentioning."


    Of course, Long Xuan was lying. Using cement mixed with spirit stone powder to create formation bases was an idea that had popped into his mind.


    But he quickly abandoned this idea because cement was far too fragile. Its hardness wouldn''t even rank in the top 10,000 in this world.


    If cement were used as the formation base, the formation would be extremely fragile, easily broken by brute force.


    While the cement technique could inscribe a massive number of formation patterns and achieve effects simr to the "Rubik''s Cube Formation", the formation base would be too weak to withstand a Gu King. It might not even hold up against a Spiritual Sea stage Gu Cultivator.


    Using cement for a Mountain-Guarding Formation would be suicidal.


    So the cement technique was worthless in this world, a mere side path with no real value for development.


    It wouldn¡¯t even be useful as construction material for ''Gu'', as the material grade was too low. Even Gu insects wouldn¡¯t use it, let alone Gu cultivators, who used spirit wood for construction. High-grade spirit wood was far superior to cement, being much harder and even resistant to an ordinary axe.


    However, cement wasn¡¯t entirely useless.


    The <em>Five Elements Reversal Formation</em> was located right next to the Long family. Anyone could see it and recognize its extraordinary nature. So if anyone asked, he nned to brush it off with the cement excuse, making them think it was merely impressive on the surface but actually just a paper tiger, not worth much attention.


    Not wanting Long Lie to continue questioning him on this topic, Long Xuan quickly changed the subject, asking, "Why did youe here? If there''s something, just say it!"


    Remembering his purpose, Long Lie sighed and said, "Don¡¯t mention it. I had terrible luck. I failed all thirty attempts to refine the Wine Gu, so I came this time to trade with you for more Spicy Wine. I¡¯m not willing to give up just yet."


    Hearing this, Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but widen his eyes. Thirty attempts to refine the Wine Gu, and all failed? Just how bad was his luck? Did his family¡¯s ancestral tomb have poor feng shui?


    "Thirty attempts to refine Gu, and you failed every single one? Are you kidding me? Are you sure you didn¡¯t just drink the wine yourself and then me it on the wine insect?" Long Xuan looked at him with suspicion, deeply doubting his im.


    Hearing this, Long Lie was so angry that his beard almost stood up. "You brat! How dare you use me of that! Yes, I love drinking, but I¡¯ve never dyed important matters. How could you think of me like that?"


    Long Xuan¡¯s words had really struck a nerve. He swore he had only drunk three jars of wine.


    "Alright, alright! It seems I misunderstood you. I''ll give you twenty more sets of materials; you just need to gather everything listed here for me."


    Long Xuan tossed a slip of paper towards Long Lie.


    After a long period of research, he had finally figured out a evolution path for the Dragon Gu. This path followed a very regr pattern:


    The dragon''s horns resemble a deer''s, its head resembles a camel''s, its eyes resemble a rabbit''s, its neck resembles a snake''s, its belly resembles a m''s, its scales resemble a fish''s, its ws resemble an eagle''s, its palms resemble a tiger''s, and its ears resemble a Ox.


    For the Dragon Gu¡¯s first evolution, it requires second-tier beast king materials from these nine spirit beasts.


    For the Dragon Gu¡¯s second evolution, it needs third-tier beast king materials from these nine spirit beasts.


    For the Dragon Gu¡¯s third evolution, it requires fourth-tier beast king materials from these nine spirit beasts.


    And so on.


    Each time the Dragon Gu undergoes a evolution, it needs these nine materials.


    The Ten Thousand Great Mountains had just recently experienced a beast tide, so second-tier spirit beasts weren¡¯t particrly rare. As a Gu cultivator in the Spiritual Sea stage, Long Lie should have no problem collecting these nine materials.


    Long Xuan didn''t feel like running around to gather these materials himself. Since Long Lie hade to trade spirit wine, he decided to hand over the task of collecting these materials to him.


    Long Lie took the slip of paper and nced at the materials listed on it. He couldn¡¯t help but twitch his mouth. Gathering nine kinds of beast king materials in one go? Those things aren''t cheap.


    To be honest, he felt that the value of these nine beast king materials was higher. He might be taking a bit of a loss in this trade.


    But when he thought about how he had suddenly gotten rich overnight, all thanks to Long Xuan, he decided not to fuss over it too much.


    "Alright! Leave it all to me. I was part of the beast tide, so I know where to find these nine materials. As long as I pay a certain price, collecting them all won¡¯t be difficult."


    "But you''ll need to pay half the deposit upfront. I urgently need of spiritual wine and can¡¯t wait too long," Long Lie said after putting away the slip of paper.


    Long Xuan nodded, took out several jars of wine from his storage bag, and ced them on the ground. Little white was drinking this stuff to grow stronger, so Long Xuan always kept a stockpile in his storage bag.


    When Long Lie saw the jars of wine on the ground, his eyes lit up. He sniffed the air, his throat moved, and he resisted the urge to drink three jars right there. Instead, he took out arge wine vat from his Insect Nurturing Bag and ced it on the ground.


    Long Xuan nced into the vat and saw a small red snake curled up at the bottom. The wine inside the vat had almost run dry and would likely be finished soon.


    If the Wine insect drank all the wine in the vat but failed to transform into a Wine Gu, all the previous efforts would be in vain.


    The method of refining the Wine Gu is different from the conventional Gu refining process. Normally, if other peak-grade spirit insects fail during Gu refining, they¡¯repletely ruined and can only be refined three more times at most.


    But refining the Wine Gu is different. The Wine insect can keep drinking wine, and as long as there¡¯s still wine in the vat, you can keep refilling it until it transforms into a Gu.


    So as long as there¡¯s enough wine, the Wine insect will eventually transform into a Gu.


    This was also why Long Lie, despite having failed to refine the Wine Gu thirty times, still came to Long Xuan.


    The wine in the vat had almost run out, so Long Lie didn¡¯t dare dy. He quickly grabbed a jar of wine, opened the lid, and poured all the wine into the vat.


    After emptying the first jar, he quickly moved on to the second jar, then the third...


    "Buddha, bless me! Buddha, bless me! I¡¯m willing to shrink Long Ao by an inch in exchange for sessfully refining a Gu just once!"


    Long Lie sped his hands together, looking devout, and bowed to the sky in prayer.


    Long Xuan was dumbfounded. Good heavens, this was too much! He was willing to offer up Long Ao (Elder Long) as a sacrifice, shrinking it by an inch? Wouldn¡¯t that mean it¡¯d shrink away entirely?


    "Is this how you usually refine Gu?" Long Xuan turned to look at him, bewildered.


    "Heh heh! This is my own creation¡ªthe ¡®Sacrificing Friends Technique.¡¯ It never fails. If you sacrifice a friend to the heavens, the sess rate will surely increase by several degrees. If it doesn¡¯t work the first time, sacrifice the second friend. After sacrificing all your friends, you¡¯re bound to seed at least once, heh heh," Long Lie said with a sinister grin.


    Long Xuan shuddered. Whoever ended up being Long Lie¡¯s friend must have the worst luck ever. If they knew that Long Lie was sacrificing them every time he refined a Gu, who knows how they would feel.


    As for this so-called Sacrificing Friends Technique, Long Xuan didn¡¯t believe it at all. Otherwise, Long Lie would have sessfully refined the Wine Gu long ago, rather than failing thirty times.


    The only reason he might have seeded in the past was probably that he had too many friends. Sacrificing fifty friends should result in at least one sess.


    He subconsciously used his golden finger ability to check the wine vat. Sure enough, there was no progress. Long Lie''s luck was as bad as ever. This so called ''mystical technique'' was utterly unreliable.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 114: The Gu Is Formed

    Long Xuan ignored Long Lie, returned to the mountain peak, and sat in a newly constructed pavilion. He skillfully took out paper and pen, and once again began working on the Gu form.


    The Gu he was currently researching was the one he had long envisioned: the Silkworm Gu. The silk produced by this Silkworm Gu would be in an energy form, capable of forming a soul armor that could defend against physical attacks, soul attacks, mental power attacks, and even sonic attacks...


    In short, it could defend against anything, and when fused with the body, it would provideplete, seamless protection.


    The soul armor he conceived was almost absurdly exaggerated, as if it were a wild fantasy, something that could only be realized in a dream. It was like he could write anything he wanted, and it would just happen.


    But everything is possible. If you don¡¯t try it yourself, how could you know that such a soul armor doesn''t exist in this world?


    Long Xuan created the Gu form by himself, first writing his description of the soul armor onto the Gu form, fixing the abilities of the Gu insect, and then writing down the first material for the Gu form¡ªan Ice Silkworm that has lived for ten thousand years.


    Seeing progress appear on the Gu form, the smile on his lips grew wider. Indeed, any ability can exist in this world; the only limits are what you can imagine, and not what doesn¡¯t exist in this world. It all depends on how big your imagination is.


    This was the first Gu insect he had refined since advancing to the Marrow Cleansing stage as a Gu cultivator, and his enthusiasm was high, brimming with energy.


    He wanted to create the soul armor he had imagined as quickly as possible. By then, with both the Water Bear Gu and the soul armor providing dual protection, he would truly be invincible.A year passed in a sh. By this time, he had progressed the Gu form to 50%,pleting half of the work. Creating something from scratch like this was incredibly time-consuming, requiring a massive amount of time to exhaust all possibilities.


    Even though his knowledge of Gu techniques was already quite extensive¡ªhe was no longer the novice he had been when he first crossed over¡ªhe still couldn¡¯t shorten the time significantly.


    Unable to resist, he stood up to stretch his aching muscles, intending to rest a bit before continuing his work.


    Suddenly, he noticed that Long Lie was still in the outer area and hadn¡¯t left yet, which surprised him. He immediately walked in that direction.


    ¡°Why are you still here? nning to spend the New Year with me?¡± Long Xuan asked as soon as he saw Long Lie.


    Long Lie nced at him and then turned his gaze back to the wine jar.


    ¡°How should I know when it wille out? What if it forms a Gu while I¡¯m not here and runs off? I have to stay and keep watch. Everyone who refines Gu needs to stay by its side. Don¡¯t you?¡±


    Long Lie turned back to him, asking in surprise.


    ¡°Of course not! I also have to stay by its side. I wouldn¡¯t dare wander around,¡± Long Xuan quickly denied, shaking his head.


    His eyes could see the progress and urately calcte the day the Gu would form, so he really didn¡¯t need to waste time staying by its side. But he couldn¡¯t say that.


    ¡°I mean, why don¡¯t you take the jar home and watch it there? I don¡¯t provide meals here,¡± Long Xuan asked.


    Long Lie shook his head and said, ¡°No need. What if I run out of wine after I get home? I¡¯d have to make another trip, and then I might stumble into one of those weird formations of yours.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s better to stay here. If I run out of wine, I can just ask you for more, saving myself the trouble of going back and forth.¡±


    ¡°My decision was correct. I¡¯m almost out of wine already. There¡¯s only enough for one more batch, so I¡¯m afraid I¡¯ll have to trouble you again.¡±


    Hearing this, Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but twitch the corner of his mouth. He¡¯s almost out of wine again? Just how unlucky could he be?


    He had given Long Lie twenty sets of materials, enough for twenty attempts at refining the Gu, and he still failed every time. That ¡°infallible ritual of sacrificing friends¡± of his didn¡¯t seem to work after all.


    Seeing Long Lie pour thest batch of spirit wine into the jar, Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°It seems your ritual of sacrificing friends doesn¡¯t work anymore. Maybe sacrificing too many friends made it ineffective? Why not try sacrificing yourself?¡±


    ¡°I used up all my luck when I won those seven high-grade strange Gu insectsst time. Now, it doesn¡¯t matter who I sacrifice,¡± Long Lie said casually as he slowly ced the lid back on the jar and took a few steps back. ¡°Heaven help me, I, Long Lie, am willing to trade a lifetime of being single for one sessful Gu formation.¡±


    ¡°So ruthless?¡± Long Xuan was startled by his wish. Out of reflex, he used his golden finger ability to peek into the jar, and when he saw progress inside, he couldn¡¯t help but twitch the corner of his mouth twice.


    Could it really be so coincidental? Did Heaven really trade his lifelong singleness for a sessful Gu formation? Did his wishe true?


    Long Xuan gave him a sympathetic look, shook his head helplessly, and finally walked away. Long Lie would have to fend for himself.


    After a brief rest, Long Xuan returned to the pavilion and continued working on the Gu form.


    There were no secrets in the outer area, so he wasn¡¯t worried about Long Lie wandering around. If he insisted on staying, so be it.


    Unknowingly, a few more months passed, and by this time, the progress on the Gu form had reached 70%, indicating that thepletion of the Gu form was in sight.


    Satisfied, Long Xuan nodded and put down his pen. Suddenly, he thought of something and ran toward where Long Lie was.


    He could see the progress of the Gu refining, so he knew exactly when the Gu would form. ording to his calctions, the wine Gu should form today.


    Curious about what abilities would be unlocked by refining the wine Gu with only strong, spicy wine, he decided to go and take a look.


    As soon as he arrived, he heard Long Lie¡¯s wildughter. It seemed he was indeed a bitte; the wine Gu had already formed before he arrived.


    But it wasn¡¯t toote. Long Lie¡¯s wildughter suggested that the Gu had only just formed.


    ¡°Finally formed a Gu? Didn¡¯t I tell you that sacrificing friends wouldn¡¯t work? You had to sacrifice yourself. See, as soon as you followed my suggestion, the Gu formed, didn¡¯t it?¡± Long Xuan said teasingly as he walked up to him.


    Upon hearing this, Long Lie''s smile froze on his face. He finally realized that earlier, he had jokingly wished to trade a lifetime of being single for a sessful Gu refinement. He said it casually at the time, never expecting that after so many failures, his wish would coincidentallye true right after he said that. Was fate ying a joke on him?


    He nervously nced towards the sky, wondering if it could really be that effective. He was just joking.


    Long Xuan sympathetically patted his shoulder and said with a smile, "Alright! Let''s first take a look at the Gu insect''s abilities, shall we?"


    "You mentioned earlier that you refined this Gu with the finest wine insect, so I imagine what emerges will be a peak-grade Gu insect. I wonder just how extraordinary this peak-grade Gu insect''s abilities will be."


    Long Xuan looked at the little red snake coiled around Long Lie''s arm, his face showing a hint of anticipation.


    The snake was red all over, with a fierce look in its eyes, giving off a menacing appearance. Just one nce made it clear that it had a very bad temper, easily provoked and quick to anger. It was far from cute and fell shortpared to his own little white snake.


    When it came to the abilities of this peak-grade Gu insect, Long Lie''s smile returned. He quickly put aside the previous matter and ran off to find an open space to test the abilities of his top-grade wine Gu.


    Long Xuan watched with interest and followed him.


    Soon, under Long Lie''s control, a sea of mes spewed from the little snake''s mouth.


    But this wasn''t an ordinary sea of mes. Long Xuan noticed that the little red snake could breathe fire and wine simultaneously.


    It''s well known that fire burns more fiercely when it meets alcohol, and it burns longer. Firebined with alcohol increases its power, making it a highly effective offensive weapon.


    The area affected by the fire and wine mixture was vast, and soon the entire open space was engulfed in a raging fire. The scorching heat roasted the two of them, with the mes burning intensely ahead, showing no signs of dying down.


    At this point, Long Lie was thoroughly excited,ughing wildly and dancing in front of the sea of mes like someone who had taken the wrong medicine.


    Only Long Xuan frowned slightly, showing a look of disappointment.


    Was this the ability of a peak-grade Gu insect?


    Wasn''t this just his zing me Palm technique with a bit of alcohol added?


    This ability seemed so ordinary, far inferior to his little white snake''s abilities. It hardly seemed like they were on the same level.


    "Hey! What''s with that expression? Do you really think fire-breathing is a weak ability?"


    "You really have no idea. This isn''t some run-of-the-mill fireball technique; it''s a forbidden move!"


    "Did you see the range of its attack just now? This is an extremely rare crowd-clearing move."


    "If I had this ability during the beast tide, I could have wiped out whole groups of beasts. What would I have to fear from a beast tide then?"


    "Even if a beast horde of thousands attacked, I could kill them all in one move. This is such a terrifying ability, yet you''re dissatisfied?"


    "You need to know that most people don''t have any kind of ultimate move. With this in hand, I''ll never have to worry about being outnumbered again. I''m extremely satisfied with this ability!"


    "This Gu insect could easily be my main battle force. It''s the strongest among all my Gu insects. With this Gu, mybat strength will increase several times over, enough to dominate the Long n."


    "From now on, I''m someone with a peak-grade Gu insect too, hahaha..."


    Long Lie couldn''t help but kiss the wine Gu twice, his eyes filled with excitement. It was clear that he was extremely satisfied with this ability.


    Seeing how excited he was, Long Xuan felt a bit helpless.


    Well, everyone has their own preferences. What seemed weak to him was a divine skill in someone else''s eyes.


    Was it a matter of differing perspectives, or was it just that his own Gu was too powerful to be judged bymon standards?


    Perhaps even among peak-grade Gu insects, there could be a heaven-and-earth difference in their capabilities. Not all peak-grade Gu insects had the same level ofbat strength.


    "This wine is my own creation, never before seen in this world. The Gu refined from this wine must also be a new breed, appearing for the first time in this world."


    "Since it''s a new type of Gu, it naturally needs a name. Will you name it, or shall I?" Long Xuan asked.


    Long Lie nced at him and said, "I refined this Gu insect, so of course, I''ll name it. How could I let you take advantage?"


    "My name is Long Lie, so let''s name it ''Lie Gu.''"


    "In this way, when this Lie Gu makes a notorious name for itself in the Gu world, people will think of me, Long Lie, when they hear its name. I''ll be remembered in history, hahaha..."


    Long Lie burst into another round of crazyughter.


    Long Xuan looked again at the Lie Gu. It was refined from the strongest wine in this world, had a fierce temper, and could breathe fierce fire.


    Long Lie had named it Lie Gu after himself, and the name was unexpectedly fitting. It seemed like a perfect coincidence.

 Chapter 115: Earth Masters Mobile Array

    After Long Lie finished his fit of madness, he left,ughing hysterically as he departed. With his departure, the Little Poor Peak of Long Xuan finally returned to its peaceful state.


    The peak where Elder Long resided was called Hongyu Peak, so Long Xuan could only transfer the name "Little Poor Peak" to his own mountain.


    This peak''s surroundings were indeed deste and barren, with nothing to offer¡ªjust a bare, bleakndscape. To outsiders, it truly deserved the name Little Poor Peak.


    Upon returning to the highest point of Little Poor Peak, Long Xuan felt a chill thates with great heights. He sat in the pavilion, continuing to work on his Gu recipe, his life remaining simple and unadorned. Though monotonous, he found joy in it.


    Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, another half-year had passed. On a stormy night filled with thunder and lightning, Long Xuan wrote the words "¡ò Written by Long Xuan" on a piece of paper. He had finallypleted the Gu recipe he named Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm.


    At this moment, the progress on the Gu recipe disyed as [100%], and seeing this number made him uncontrobly excited.


    It had not been easy¡ªhe had worked tirelessly for an unknown length of time. The materials required for this Gu recipe amounted to a staggering 7,000 portions, which was downright terrifying. If not for the fact that a considerable number of materials were duplicated, who knows how much longer it would have taken him toplete it.


    But after countless days and nights of relentless effort, this lengthy Gu form was finallypleted, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.


    As the creator of this newly born Gu species, he had the right to name it, so he decided to call it Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm.The name Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm had two meanings. First, this Gu recipe was inspired by the Dragon Silkworm Gu and borrowed heavily from the Dragon Silkworm Gu recipe, including simr refinement methods, so he chose the word "Dragon."


    Secondly, the idea was so wild that it could only be conceived in a daydream, something that could only be realized in a dream, hence he added the word "Dream." Thus, the new Gu species was named Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm.


    How powerful is the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm? Long Xuan didn''t know yet, as he hadn''t started refining the Gu.


    However, since this was a Gu recipe he created, the abilities the Gu would possess were already fixed in the recipe. So once the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm was refined, it would definitely have the exaggerated abilities he had written into the recipe.


    The abilities of the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm were already known; it was just a matter of how strong they would be.


    Long Xuan was now eager to refine the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm. His impatience was overwhelming¡ªwaiting even one more day felt like torture.


    The next step was to collect the required materials.


    With a Gu recipe requiring as many as 7,000 portions of materials, gathering them all would naturally be an astronomical task. Under normal circumstances, it would be extremely difficult to collect everything.


    But Long Xuan was no ordinary person. The materials needed for the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm were no longer a concern.


    Speaking of which, there''s something worth mentioning¡ªanyone with a bit of eyesight who passed by could see that the magic formation Long Xuan had set up was extraordinary, just from the sheer size of its area.


    Every time his Fire Clone mentioned using ordinary cement as the base for the formation, it was brushed off as unimportant.


    Upon hearing about the limitations of using cement as the formation base, many people lost interest and dismissed Long Xuan''s formation as a paper tiger¡ªone that would easily crumble under strong attacks.


    So, despite therge area covered by the array, most people paid it no mind, and it didn''t cause much of a stir.


    However, when the family head learned of this, he took it extremely seriously and immediately rushed over, offering to exchange a billion contribution points for Long Xuan''s cement technology.


    As a result, in Long Xuan''s dumbfounded expression, another dragon tattoo appeared on his body.


    This dragon tattoo meant that his invention could bring immeasurable benefits to the Long family. Only those who made enormous contributions to the family would be rewarded with the Hidden Dragon tattoo¡ªa level of honor even the Long family''s ancestor didn''t have.


    Thus, Long Xuan had no worries about gathering the materials for the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm. With such a massive amount of contribution points, what peak-grade Gu couldn''t he refine?


    But even now, he was still in a state of confusion,pletely unable toprehend how cement technology could be worth so many contribution points.


    In his view, cement technology had no ce in this world.


    You want to use it to build houses? Sorry, in this world, there are countless spiritual woods that are a hundred times better than cement for construction. Can you imagine cultivators living in cement buildings?


    You want to use it as an formation base? Sorry, cement is far too fragile. An formation made of cement wouldn''t stand up to a Gu King, and it might not even hold off a Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivator.


    To him, anyone who dared to use cement to set up an array was asking for death.


    If the family dared to use cement for a protective mountain formation, it would be riddled with holes, and no one would be able to defend it. Even thieves wouldugh themselves silly.


    So Long Xuan was truly baffled¡ªdid cement really have such a significant role?


    Curious, he immediately rushed to the Long family, partly to see how they were using the cement and partly to spend his billion contribution points.


    Not only did he want to collect all the materials needed for refining the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm in one go, but he also wanted to gather other useful resources for himself.


    As soon as he arrived at the Long family, he was stunned by what he saw¡ªmany Long family Gu cultivators were happily using steel-reinforced cement to make armor for Earth Masters. The armor was engraved with dense formation patterns, and everyone was working with enthusiasm, their eyes filled with excitement.


    Good heavens, they were outfitting Earth Masters with a set of formation bases to create a mobile array! This was precisely the extravagant idea he hade up with for the Earth Master. He hadn''t expected the family to actually adopt it.


    At this moment, he finally realized that for a family, what is most needed is always the most cost-effective thing, not necessarily the most powerful thing. The cost-effectiveness of cement was simply too high.


    In the past, developing the tactic of moving formations with an Earth Master was an extremely expensive affair. Without money, it was impossible to y with this idea, and most people had to abandon this notion.


    But now, with the advent of cheap cement, the strategy of having Earth Masters carry formations into battle could be applied on arge scale.


    Formations made of cement may not be presentable and might struggle to withstand experts beyond the Spiritual Sea stage, but who said that a formation must be able to withstand experts above the Spiritual Sea stage?


    Inrge-scale chaotic battles, as long as it can threaten Gu cultivators at the Marrow Cleansing stage, that¡¯s already enough.


    Cement may be useless to him, but that doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s useless to others.


    Originally, an Earth Master was only somewhat powerful in brute force, with mediocre abilities in other areas. But now, with each Earth Master carrying a formation on their back, if it¡¯s a killing formation, then this Earth Master would gain the ability to unleash fire and lightning.


    Good heavens, that¡¯s a bunch of mobile artillery tforms! How many artillery battalions could be formed? Once they hit the battlefield, they¡¯d be a nightmare for any enemy.


    If the Earth Master carries an illusion formation, then this Earth Master would also gain the ability to cast illusions.


    Isn¡¯t this just cheating? It¡¯s so unfair! How can those peak-grade Gu evenpete anymore? After all, an Earth Master is merely a low-grade Gu insect!


    And this is just an enhancement to individualbat power. What if there were enough Earth Masters, all collectively carrying an extremely lethal formation and moving around?


    Just thinking about such a scenario made Long Xuan shudder involuntarily. Who could be so perverse as to invent such terrifying Gu insect? This is seriously over the top, isn¡¯t it?


    At this moment, he finally understood why his cement technology was worth one billion contributions.


    It¡¯s no exaggeration to say that with the release of cement technology, the overallbat power of the Long family would instantly more than double. The strength of the Long n was rising at a speed visible to the naked eye.


    Is one billion contributions a lot? Not at all. Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but click his tongue in amazement.


    At this moment, all the members of the Long family were busy making cement battle armor. Many were designing styles for the armor and then putting the finished armor on their Earth Masters. Everyone was working with intense enthusiasm.


    The entire atmosphere of the Long family had changed, as if they had entered a state of war preparation. The air was filled with a murderous aura.


    The Long family had over ten thousand Gu cultivators, each with their own Earth Master. Just imagine that scene.


    The Long family didn¡¯t have enough formation masters to care for such a vast number of Earth Masters, so they spent spirit stones to hire many formation masters to help.


    Long Xuan casually scanned through the group of formation masters and suddenly narrowed his eyes, unexpectedly seeing a very familiar face. Who else could it be but Di Xin? Although she had disguised herself, she couldn¡¯t fool his eyes.


    She had actually infiltrated as well? Long Xuan was shocked because he was quite wary of her.


    She was currently caressing a giant Earth Master¡¯s battle armor with bright, interested eyes.


    Could it be that she¡¯s also interested in cement technology? Long Xuan¡¯s eyes shifted, unable to figure out her purpose in infiltrating the Long family.


    But Long Xuan couldn¡¯t be bothered with those trivial matters. He only wanted to collect materials as quickly as possible and then rush back to refine the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm. Nothing was more important than that.


    After understanding the Patriarch¡¯s intention behind wanting the cement technology, Long Xuan¡¯s curiosity was satisfied. He handed the one billion contribution token to his Fire Clone, ordered him to collect the materials on the Gu recipe within the Long family, and then headed towards the market.


    The Long family¡¯s treasure trove had limited treasures; it was impossible to have every kind of treasure. It wasn¡¯t likely that they¡¯d conveniently have all the materials listed in the Gu recipe.


    Although the Long family was very wealthy, he could only gather about half of the materials there. He still needed to go to the market to acquire the remaining materials.


    In the market, just one Qian n¡¯s Chamber of Commerce could allow him to collect almost all the remaining materials.


    However, building a lethal formation capable of withstanding a Gu King was incredibly expensive. He didn¡¯t have many spirit stones left, and not all treasures could be bought with spirit stones.


    After thinking it over, he decided to disguise himself as the mysterious alchemist who had appeared once at the Qian n¡¯s Chamber of Commerce.


    This mysterious alchemist was portrayed very sessfully. The people at the Qian n¡¯s Chamber of Commerce already believed he had an extremely powerful master behind him, someone they absolutely couldn¡¯t afford to offend.


    Over the years, that working rabbit had already refined mountains of spirit pills for him, all of which were high-grade spirit pills. Spirit pills were also valuable items, so they should be enough to exchange for the remaining materials.


    So, Long Xuan decided to split up with his Fire Clone. The Fire Clone would use the massive contribution to empty the treasure trove, while he would head to the Qian n¡¯s Chamber of Commerce to collect the remaining materials.


    If the remaining materials couldn¡¯t be gathered at the Qian n¡¯s Chamber of Commerce, he would have to dy for a few more days and stay in the market a bit longer.

 Chapter 116: The Working Rabbit

    What Long Xuan didn¡¯t know was that shortly after he left, two unexpected visitors, a man and a woman, appeared on his Little Peak. They were observing the mountain''s formations with curious eyes.


    ¡°What arge trapping formation, interesting! Interesting! Di Xin, are you interested in joining me to break through it?¡± the handsome man suggested, ncing at the woman beside him.


    Di Xin observed the formation with a strange expression. The more she looked, the deeper her frown became, and her expression grew increasingly serious.


    After a while, she shook her head and said earnestly, ¡°No! This formation is very peculiar. It¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve seen such a strange formation, something I¡¯ve never heard of before.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t see through it, and any formation I can¡¯t see through, I won¡¯t enter.¡±


    The man beside her chuckled lightly and said, ¡°You know, this is the first time you¡¯ve ever said something like that. This is the first formation you couldn¡¯t see through.¡±


    Di Xin shook her head and said, ¡°Believe me, this formation isn¡¯t as simple as you think. Before understanding its intricacies, I advise you not to act rashly.¡±


    The man sneered and said dismissively, ¡°Are you exaggerating? It¡¯s just a formation with arge area because of the cement used as its base. Such a formation is hardly worth mentioning.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve already uncovered the secret of the cement. Other than arming Earth Masters, it¡¯s useless. Anyone using it for formations is courting death. This technique is utterly useless; we¡¯ve wasted our timeing here.¡±¡°How strong can a formation made with such garbage be? Watch me break it quickly!¡±


    The manughed confidently and flew into the formation.


    Di Xin¡¯s expression changed, but she didn¡¯t stop him. It was good to have someone test the formation''s details.


    After seven days passed and the man still hadn¡¯t emerged from the formation, Di Xin¡¯s expression finally changed.


    ¡°Something¡¯s wrong!¡±


    If he hadn¡¯te out in seven days, he was likely in grave danger. This formation truly had something to it. Di Xin was startled, and her eyes showed fear. After ncing around, she finally left.


    Shortly after Di Xin left, Long Xuan finally returned, and he had gained a lot.


    In seven days, he had not only collected all the materials needed for the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm Gu, but he had also gathered many other treasures, such as spiritual herbs that hadn¡¯t been fully collected from the Herb garden and materials for the Five Elements Reversal Formation.


    The current Five Elements Reversal Formation was still iplete, merely a semi-finished product, and it was a fixed-position formation. He wanted to refine a portable formation disk for it.


    This would require a significant expense, but he wasn¡¯t in a hurry; he could take his time.


    As soon as he entered his formation, he saw a corpse lying on the ground, its eyes wide open in despair, dead with unresolved grievances. It looked like it had suffocated in a swamp, dying in extreme pain.


    Seeing this person, Long Xuan was taken aback.


    Who is this?


    He didn¡¯t seem to be from the Long n.


    Since he wasn¡¯t a Long n Gu Master, it didn¡¯t matter.


    Trespassing and dying was his own fault, not worthy of sympathy.


    Long Xuan took off the spatial ring from the man¡¯s hand, and after checking its contents, his face lit up with joy.


    Well, well, this guy turned out to be a formation master, and the ring contained arge amount of formation materials, many of which Long Xuan needed. This was indeed a fat haul.


    Long Xuan happily epted the spatial ring, then burned the corpse to ashes before finally heading to the mountaintop.


    At the mountaintop, in a high and cold ce, Long Xuan took out arge cauldron and began cing various silkworm-type spiritual insects from his insect raising bag into it.


    The materials included not only spiritual insects but also some non-insect materials, such as certain leaves that silkworms loved to eat. When refining silkworm-type Gu, various leaves could actually be used as materials.


    Long Xuan¡¯s luck was good this time. As soon as he put all the materials in, progress appeared above the cauldron.


    Amazing! It seeded in one go. This was the first time he had seeded on the first try in all his Gu refining attempts, and his luck this time was truly extraordinary.


    Long Xuan smiled, closed the cauldron lid, and left.


    Refining a peak-grade Gu insect would take a long time, so there was no need to wait around.


    In a good mood, he walked into the herb garden. Due to the presence of a spiritual spring, the spiritual energy concentration in the core area of the formation had greatly increased, and even the air was fresh. The spiritual herbs in this environment were growing well, maturing much faster.


    There were countless high-grade spiritual insects born from these high-quality spiritual herbs. The clones collected the high-quality ones, but they couldn¡¯tpete with Brother Chicken, who had eaten a considerable portion of them.


    As a result, Brother Chicken had grown fat and strong from all the supplements. It had changed significantly after consuming so many good things, and it had already advanced to a second-grade spiritual beast. It looked majestic, with bright, sharp eyes. Even when Long Xuan tried to steal its eggs, it wasn¡¯t easy.


    If not for Long Xuan¡¯s speed in star-stepping, he might not have been able to outrun this second-grade spiritual beast.


    Since its eggs were now second-grade spiritual eggs, which would be even more nourishing when made into tea eggs, Long Xuan turned a blind eye to its habit of stealing spiritual insects.


    After all, the herb garden wasrge enough that it couldn¡¯t eat everything even if it tried.


    However, he had to protect the ten-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs and the Fire Dragon Fruit Tree. These treasures must be safeguarded; if they were to be infested with insects, he absolutely couldn¡¯t let Brother Chicken eat them.


    The insects born from these spiritual herbs would be peak-grade spiritual insects, and if Brother Chicken got to them first, that would be a disaster.


    Especially the Fire Dragon Fruit Tree, which was an Earth-grade spiritual herb with an infinite growth rate. If it became infested with insects, the resulting Gu insects would undoubtedly be extraordinary.


    He had to keep a close eye on it, ensuring that Brother Chicken didn¡¯t get there first.


    Looking out over the fields of spiritual herbs, Long Xuan saw fields of ice bees flying joyfully among the flowers.


    There were too many flower-type spiritual herbs in Long Xuan¡¯s herb garden, and even the fruit trees could bloom. There was so much nectar that the bees couldn¡¯t consume it all, so they kept reproducing inrge numbers. Now, there were over ten thousand of them.


    With such a scale, they had begun to formbat power and could be his battlepanions.


    Long Xuan nodded in satisfaction. The more people under hismand, the more taxes he could collect. Now, he had more honey than he could drink, so he began to think about how to use the surplus honey.


    Speaking of which, the Ice Bee Queen, Bing Bing, had also undergone a evolution. Like Gu insects, spiritual insects can only evolve with human assistance; they can¡¯t do it on their own, probably because of their low intelligence.


    Gu Masters would never invest too many resources in weak spiritual insects, so few spiritual insects in this world underwent evolution.


    Only those with abundant resources would cultivate spiritual insects, but such people were rare.


    Long Xuan nned to raise Bing Bing as a pet, so he intended to keep her evolving, which would also continuously improve the quality of the honey, giving him even more delicious honey to enjoy.


    After pondering for a while, Long Xuan thought that the nectar from the Fire Dragon Fruit Tree might cause her to evolve, so he favored her by cing her in the area where the Fire Dragon Fruit Tree grew.


    Seeing the enormous Fire Dragon Fruit Tree, Bing Bing was thrilled, her eyes sparkling as she threw herself at the tree and began gathering nectar fervently.


    After she collected all the nectar from the Fire Dragon Fruit Tree, she immediately turned it into honey and enjoyed a hearty meal, even burping contentedly afterward.


    As Long Xuan expected, Bing Bing did not disappoint him. After a good sleep, she evolved, bing stronger, and her stinger evolved with a new fire poison, which was incredibly troublesome.


    The royal jelly she produced also became more delicious and even more miraculous, allowing other ice bees to undergo a evolution after consuming it.


    But Bing Bing was just one insect and couldn¡¯t produce much royal jelly, so she couldn¡¯t meet the needs of the entire swarm. She could only select a small number of the strongest ice bees and grant them royal jelly, making them her royal guard.


    Thus, Long Xuan now had a batch of second-grade spiritual honey. However, he still had more than he could consume; he couldn¡¯t drink honey water every day, as he also had tea and wine to drink.


    After much thought, he decided to brew wine with the second-grade spiritual honey.


    The Wine Gu, Little White, is fond of drinking, so it¡¯s not hard to guess that one of its evolution routes is probably rted to drinking. It might undergo a evolution every time it drinks a peak-grade wine.


    But it must be wine of extremely high quality¡ªordinary wine definitely won''t do.


    In other words, Little White needs a new wine recipe for each evolution.


    Long Xuan found this highly probable, so he immediately decided to create a peak-grade wine recipe.


    Since he had so much honey, he might as well create a honey wine. Little White could help him consume it, and with such a glutton around, no amount of honey wine would be enough. Once the honey wine was perfected, it might save him a significant amount of money...


    Long Xuan''s eyes brightened. It would take some time for the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm to evolve into a Gu, so he decided to use this time to research the wine recipe. The day the recipe isplete might just be the day the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkwormpletes its transformation.


    With this in mind, Long Xuan was about to leave the herb garden and return to the pavilion to study the wine recipe, but suddenly he stopped in his tracks, his gaze falling on a furry creature.


    It was a cute white rabbit, busily tossing spiritual herbs into a massive alchemy furnace, its eyes filled with seriousness, and its expression extremely focused.


    Long Xuan slowly walked over and gently patted its head.


    "Mm! Keep up the good work!"


    He handed it a recipe and smiled, "If you can refine the spiritual pill in this recipe, you can keep it as your tuition fee for learning the recipe."


    Long Xuan gave a mischievous grin, patted its fluffy head once more, and finally left.


    The recipe was for the Spirit Surge Pill. Originally, he intended to permanently seal the recipe, but then he identally discovered a spiritual spring, leading to therge-scale cultivation of Spirit Surge Grass in his hands.


    It would be a pity not to cultivate such a rare spiritual herb, which had long been extinct in this world. But after cultivating it, he realized he had no use for it.


    After some thought, Long Xuan decided to refine it into Spirit Surge Pills and sell them under the identity of that mysterious alchemist. The persona he created was so sessful that no one would dare to target him.


    The most important thing was that he had run out of spirit stones and was in desperate need of a source of ie, so he could only rely on this working rabbit to make money for him.


    The Spirit Surge Pill is more valuable than most second-grade spiritual pills, and refining it is highly profitable, enough to bring him a fortune every day.

 Chapter 117: The Completion of the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm

    After returning to the pavilion on the mountain, Long Xuan took a sip of the second-grade honey water and officially began researching the recipe for honey wine.


    He had previously created four types of spiritual wine recipes in one go, gaining experience in creating his own recipes. Just like creating alchemical forms, there are certain rules to creating wine recipes, so not every ingredient has to be guessed.


    Long Xuan became quite skilled at this, and it only took him four months to sessfully research the honey wine recipe.


    He wrote therge characters ¡°Returning Spirit Wine¡± on the recipe and added the note ¡°¡òWritten By Long Xuan¡± under the title.


    This wine recipe, primarily made from honey, was sessfully developed by him.


    Long Xuan put down his pen and revealed a satisfied smile.


    He named this newly created spiritual wine ¡°Returning Spirit Wine¡± because the honey produced by the Ice Bees has the effect of restoring spiritual power.


    Naturally, the wine brewed from Ice Bee honey also has the effect of restoring spiritual power, and its efficacy is even better¡ªabout twice as strong as the Returning Spirit Pills avable on the market. Given this, the wine recipe was aptly named ¡°Returning Spirit Wine.¡±


    In battle, having something that can restore spiritual power is incredibly important¡ªalmost a lifesaver.You could say that medicines that restore spiritual power are essential in battle, needed by everyone.


    Long Xuan was naturally very satisfied with such a practical ability.


    At this moment, he was contemting whether to hang a wine gourd on his waist and carry the Returning Spirit Wine with him as a must-have item for his future travels. After all, he had plenty of honey, and there was more Returning Spirit Wine than he could ever drink.


    Most importantly, Returning Spirit Wine is delicious¡ªsweet, and with different flowers infusing it with different vors, it never gets boring.


    He smiled as he handed the recipe to the Fire Clone, ordering it to immediately brew the Returning Spirit Wine, distill it, fill a wine jar, and then throw Little White into it to see if it could undergo a evolution.


    After consuming the items sent by Long Lie, the Dragon Gu had already sessfully transformed; it couldn¡¯t fall behind for too long.


    In the anxious waiting that followed, two more months passed, and on this day, the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm finallypleted its transformation.


    Long Xuan had already calcted the time based on progress hints, so on this day, he got up early and waited by the cauldron. Before long, the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm broke out of the cauldron. The moment it flew out, Long Xuan, quick-eyed and quick-handed, grabbed it and immediately made a blood pact with it.


    The Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm¡¯s primary material was the Ten Thousand year Ice Silkworm, so it looked very simr¡ªchubby, ice-blue all over, and extraordinarily cute.


    Long Xuan instantly liked this adorable little creature, caressing its chubby body lovingly, his smile so wide it could hardly stay contained. He gave it a cute name: Xiao Meng (Little Dream).


    There was no need to borate on Little Dream¡¯s abilities; its powery in spitting out energy-formed silk. This silk could be used to weave the legendary Soul Armor.


    The Soul Armor could not only defend against physical attacks but also against soul attacks, spiritual power attacks, sonic attacks...


    In short, it could defend against everything¡ªextremely powerful, to the point of being overwhelmingly so.


    The most crucial feature is that the energy-formed Soul Armor has no physical form and can be directly fused onto the body¡¯s surface, even protecting areas like the eyes, which are typically impossible to shield.


    Once wearing this Soul Armor, Long Xuan would have no weaknesses; every part of his body would be protected, which is simply astonishing.


    Although Long Xuan was eager to craft the Soul Armor he had envisioned, he ultimately did not rush.


    Now was not the time for the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm to spin its silk¡ªit had no food in its stomach, so how much silk could it produce?


    The silk it produces is not made out of thin air. Previously, it needed to consumerge quantities of spiritual leaves to spit out various exquisite silk threads.


    In other words, the better the quality of the food it consumes, the higher the quality of the silk it produces.


    Thus, Long Xuan didn¡¯t dare be stingy, pushing arge amount of spiritual herb leaves in front of the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm, intending to let it eat its fill.


    The Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm¡¯s diet consisted of leaves from various spiritual trees¡ªthe higher the grade of the spiritual tree, the better. Only then would the silk produced by the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm be more resilient.


    Upon seeing the table full of spiritual leaves, the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm¡¯s little eyes immediately lit up with delight. It quickly dove into the pile of leaves, and with a bite, it took a crescent-shaped chunk out of one. In a few more bites, it had devoured the entire leaf.


    After swallowing one leaf, it pounced on another, raised it, and stuffed it into its mouth. Before long, another leaf was downed.


    However, despite having consumed such arge leaf, its small belly didn¡¯t swell at all. Still hungry, it cast its greedy gaze toward the remaining leaves.


    What happened next left Long Xuan utterly speechless¡ªthe pile of spiritual leaves on the table was visibly shrinking at a rapid pace, and before long, half of them were gone.


    The Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm¡¯s stomach seemed like a bottomless pit, eating without any signs of fullness. Despite its small size, it could consume food a hundred times its volume, which was simply terrifying.


    Seeing this, Long Xuan waspletely stunned. Could this be another big eater? Could he afford to raise it?


    This little fellow¡¯s appetite was on par with Little White¡¯s. Was he really going to raise two big eaters?


    Just as Long Xuan was still in shock, the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm finished all the spiritual leaves on the table and looked at him with pitiful eyes, seemingly still not satisfied.


    Long Xuan waspletely numb. There was nothing he could do; he had to raise whatever he had created, no matter how much it ate. Long Xuan rummaged through his storage bag and found that all the leaf rted items had been devoured by this little fellow.


    After searching for a long time, he finally took out three fallen leaves from a Fire Dragon Fruit tree and ced them on the table.


    He thought that the energy from the leaves of a earth-grade spiritual herb was enormous enough to stuff it, right?


    As soon as the three leaves appeared, the Heveanly Dream Dragon Silkworm''s eyes lit up with a fiery gaze. Like a hungry tiger pouncing on its prey, it was far more excited than when it saw the entire table of spiritual herbs earlier, which clearly showed its deep affection for these spiritual leaves.


    It pounced on the three fiery red leaves like a ravenous wolf and devoured them in no time, swallowing all three leaves in just a few bites. Finally, it let out a satisfied burp, seemingly full atst.


    Long Xuan finally let out a long breath. It was finally full. Now that it had eaten its fill, it was time to get to work.


    Long Xuan''s eyes gleamed with greed as he looked at it with a smile, saying, "Little Dream! Now that you''re full, shouldn''t you get to work? Your master still needs a set of clothes, and I''ll have to rely on you."


    However, just as he finished speaking, the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm curled up into a ball, closed its eyes, and immediately fell asleep, without even ncing at him.


    Long Xuan''s face instantly darkened.


    Did it really intend to eat without working?


    Just as he was about to pull it up, his hand suddenly froze in mid-air, his expression turning strange as he sensed that something seemed off.


    The spiritual energy within the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm had suddenly be violent, surging wildly throughout its body, and a tremendous transformation was urring inside it.


    The feeling it gave him was as if... yes, it felt like a breakthrough.


    He had personally experienced this sensation before.


    At this moment, Long Xuan suddenly stood up,pletely unsettled.


    Amazing! He had inadvertently fed it something that triggered its transformation.


    The leaves of a Earth-grade spiritual herb turned out to be the catalyst for the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm''s Evolution.


    Following this pattern, one of the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm''s Evolution paths might be that every time it consumes the leaves of a Earth-grade spiritual herb, it undergoes a Evolution.


    He had identally discovered a Evolution path for the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm.


    However, this evolution path was rather difficult. Earth-grade spiritual herbs are not easy to find. The fact that he had managed to find a Fire Dragon Fruit Tree was already an incredible stroke of luck. How could he have the luck to find a second type of Earth-grade spiritual herb?


    Moreover, if he wanted the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm to keep evolving, finding just a few Earth-grade spiritual herbs wouldn''t be enough. He would need a whole bunch of them, and this thought gave him a headache.


    At this moment, Long Xuan was both surprised and delighted.


    What a coincidence! Unexpected things happen all the time, and the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm had unexpectedly started its evolution right after being born.


    It unexpectedly outpaced Little White,pleting its metamorphosis first, which meant little white could no longer hold onto second ce and would have to settle for third.


    Long Xuan took a deep breath, suppressing the joy in his heart, and ced it into the insect-rearing pouch, allowing it to undergo its transformation slowly.


    The fact that the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm had just emerged and immediately began to evolve was a good thing. He could now wear a second-tier Soul Armor right away, without needing to transition from first-tier Soul Armor.


    Feeling excited, he ran towards therge wine jar again.


    Beside the pavilion, there was a giant wine jar, and inside it was soaking Snake Wine. A small white snake was floating inside the jar.


    Long Xuan nned to check on Little White''s condition. He ran over to take a curious look into the jar and discovered that the intensity of the Returning-Spirit Wine was too high. Little White had drunk herself into a stupor again and was now floating on the surface of the wine, eyes tightly shut,pletely still.


    Drinking had caused it to mess up again, and it seemed like he was definitely going to be in third ce now...


    Long Xuan shook his head helplessly and finally turned to leave.


    Now that three peak-grade Gu insect had sessfully evolved, it was time to consider the evolution of the Eye of Heavenly Secret.


    As for how the Eye of Heavenly Secret could evolve, he had no clue. This was a Gu insect he had created himself, and its evolution would have to be figured out by him as well. There were no ready-made answers to follow.


    After much thought, he decided to seek guidance from his senior sister.


    He nned to see how the Dragon n''s Evil Dragon Emperor Eye had evolved. Both were eye-based Gu insect, sharing many simrities, so perhaps he could learn something.


    Of course, this was only one reason. The main purpose of visiting Long Ziyan was to strengthen their rtionship.


    Frequent contact was necessary to build familiarity. Otherwise, long periods of silence would create distance. Long Xuan decided to asionally ask her questions about cultivation, using that as an excuse to visit her. Over time, they''d naturally grow closer; after all, all couples start from familiarity.


    In any case, he was acting under the orders of the Elder Long, so his reasons were entirely legitimate.


    Long Xuan, with ambitious intentions and ulterior motives, smiled as he ran towards Long Ziyan''s cave.


    With his Star-Stepping speed, the distance between their caves wasn''t far, and he reached it in about an hour.


    ........................................................................


    Read extra chapters on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 118: Seeing Long Ziyan Again

    The mountain before him was covered in various trees, and asionally, a plump spirit silkworm could be seen perched on the leaves, munching on the spirit leaves.


    Long Ziyan''s business was raising silkworms and selling various types of silk to earn cultivation resources.


    Therefore, she needed a mountain suitable for growing many trees as her cave dwelling, and it had to berge enough in area.


    Such a mountain was not easy to find, so she chose a mountain for cultivating her cave dwelling that wasn''t the closest to her family.


    After looking at the plump little worms, Long Xuan shouted loudly towards the mountain, "Senior Sister! Long Xuan has something he doesn''t understand. Following the master''s orders, I came here specifically to ask for guidance."


    As soon as he finished speaking, the barrier before him opened a small door, and Long Xuan happily walked in.


    Although Ziwei Peak covered arge area, Long Ziyan''s location was not difficult to find.


    Long Xuan directly walked to the highest point of the mountain and saw a purple pavilion. The beauty was sitting inside the pavilion.


    Long Xuan couldn''t help but marvel; he and she truly seemed like a couple, even sharing the same interests. Not only did they both like to stay at the highest point of the mountain, but they also liked to build a pavilion here to shield from the sun and rain, sitting inside, enjoying the breeze, drinking tea, and feeling veryfortable.At this moment, she was holding a cup of tea, but unusually, she was not reading ancient scriptures. Instead, she was focusing her attention on a Sou Gu the table, watching with great interest.


    That''s right, this senior sister was actually watching the Sou Gu build a small house, looking on with amusement, with even a hint of a smile at the corners of her eyes.


    Long Xuan was stunned. When did Senior Sister develop this unusual hobby? Is she so idle now? What''s so interesting about watching a insect build a house?


    Long Xuan looked at the small house and found that it was actually built with Dragon Silkworm Gu silk. Isn''t this too extravagant?


    This was second-grade Dragon Silkworm silk, and so much of it would fetch an astronomical price outside. And now, she was using it all to build a house for a insect? Wasteful! Could it be that she''s used all the second-grade Dragon Silkworm silk produced in the past few years to build this house?


    As if seeing through Long Xuan''s thoughts, Long Ziyan nced at him and said, "It''s not really a loss. As long as I can win first ce, it''s like using the prize money to build the house."


    Long Xuan sat down opposite her and couldn''t help but ask, "Is the family holding another house-buildingpetition? So frequently?"


    He knew that in the first Sou Gu house-buildingpetition, Long Ziyan''s work had taken first ce without surprise. Her delicate little house made of hundred-year-old Ice Marrow outshone all others, blinding everyone, including all the Sou Gu, and it was still a topic of much discussion.


    That Sou Gu house-buildingpetition was like a battle among gods; even the elders of various ns participated, and the cost of the houses was increasingly astonishing. The houses built by the Sou Gu were more creative and exquisite.


    The high-quality spiritual stone house that Long Qilin had confidently built didn''t even make it into the top ten, leaving him crying in the bathroom.


    However, each Sou Gu house could only be used topete once. Long Ziyan''s hundred-year-old Ice Marrow house couldn''t be used in the nextpetition.


    This time, the small house she built with second-grade Dragon Silkworm silk was not as good as thest one with hundred-year-old Ice Marrow. Could she still win?


    As if seeing through his thoughts again, Long Ziyan slowly said, "The first house-buildingpetition was unbeatable. After thatpetition, everyone went bankrupt. How could theye up with something better?"


    "This small house built with second-grade Dragon Silkworm silk is already good enough. Although it may not be the most beautiful, it''s definitely the most practical. Not much power can break a house built with second-grade Dragon Silkworm silk."


    Seeing that Long Ziyan had once again seen through his thoughts, Long Xuan was slightly startled and couldn''t help but marvel at how they truly had a tacit understanding as a couple. How does she always see through his thoughts?


    "Besides, this is no longer just apetition. Because Sou Gu has greatly enhanced the family''s fortune, the family has designated Sou Gu''s birthday as a traditional family holiday tomemorate its contributions."


    "Sou Gu Day is celebrated every year on July 7th and will be passed down forever. The house exhibition is just one of the customs of this festival. Have you prepared your work?" Long Ziyan curiously asked Long Xuan.


    Long Xuan touched his nose. After refining his Sou Gu, he had thrown it into the second team for free-range rearing and had never cared about it, so naturally, he wouldn''t have any good work.


    But at this moment, he had already decided to go back and cut a few branches from the Fire Dragon Fruit Tree to build a house for his Sou Gu.


    Of course, he wasn''t interested in participating in any house exhibition. Since Sou Gu had been promoted throughout the n, it had begun appearing inrge numbers, and Sou Gu that entered the Void Realm started increasing.


    When Sou Gu enters the Void Realm, it not only encounters its kind but also enters the houses of other Sou Gu, visiting each other.


    This means that Sou Gu can travel long distances to enter the houses of its kind, but Sou Gu as a group has a pecking order.


    That is, Sou Gu with poorly built houses will be looked down upon, and Sou Gu with good houses won''t allow these Sou Gu to enter their houses.


    Sou Gu in the Void Realm are divided into many circles. The Sou Gu with luxury vis visit each other, while the Sou Gu with simple houses can only visit each other.


    For example, Elder Long''s Sou Gu¡ªElder Long was deeply in debt, dirt poor, and had no building materials at home, so his Sou Gu could only build a shabby grass hut.


    As a result, this Sou Gu was despised by the entire group. It couldn''t enter anyone''s house and could only stay alone in its shabby grass hut, looking with envy at the luxury vis of its kind every day, pitifully.


    So, if Long Xuan wanted his Sou Gu to enter Long Ziyan''s Sou Gu''s house, he could only spend heavily to build a luxury vi for his Sou Gu.


    In this way, he couldmunicate with Long Ziyan, which was another method to bring them closer together.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you have some questions to ask? Go ahead and ask them now.¡± After saying this, Long Ziyan turned her gaze to the Suo Gu that was building a house.


    Long Xuan finally remembered his main task and directly asked, ¡°I want to know the secret of the Evil Dragon Emperor¡¯s Eye and how it evolves.¡±


    Both Long Xuan and Long Ziyan were geniuses who could unconditionally learn all the family¡¯s forbidden secrets, so naturally, there was nothing to hide regarding such questions.


    She immediately replied, ¡°The Evil Dragon Emperor¡¯s Eye is the strongest unique Gu insect of our n, unparalleled in ancient times.¡±


    ¡°If the Evil Phoenix True Eye of the Feng n can perform myriad techniques and instantly learn the abilities of its opponent, then the Evil Dragon Emperor¡¯s Eye can break myriad techniques, instantly finding ws in the opponent¡¯s abilities and defeating them with a single strike. The two are mutually restraining existences.¡±


    ¡°However, as the spiritual energy of heaven and earth has gradually diminished, countless materials have gone extinct, resulting in both divine eyes continually reducing their materials and weakening their abilities.¡±


    ¡°Today, these two divine eyes are only effective against very weak abilities and have long lost their deterrent power from ancient times. They are no longer the strongest peak-grade Gu.¡±


    ¡°However, reducing the materials has its benefits as well. After reducing materials, the Gu forms have been ssified into four grades: low, middle, high, and peak-grade.¡±


    ¡°Therefore, the Gu forms are no longer expensive, and everyone in the n can afford to refine them. Although the Evil Dragon Emperor¡¯s Eye is not as strong now, it can still be made essible to the entire n, with everyone having one.¡±


    ¡°The Evil Dragon Emperor¡¯s Eye, in addition to its fundamental ability to break myriad techniques, also contains 108 sealed abilities, but each person can only randomly draw one.¡±


    ¡°The method of evolution for the Evil Dragon Emperor¡¯s Eye involves using eye drops, meaning that each evolution requires a different eye drop form, with the higher the form grade, the better.¡±


    ¡°This method can be applied to the majority of eye-type Gu insects, and it¡¯s very likely that your Eye Gu could be suitable for this method as well.¡±


    Long Ziyan nced at Long Xuan¡¯s forehead, handed him an eye drop form, and said, ¡°This is the form for Dragon¡¯s Tears. Applying these eye drops to your eyes will grant you dynamic vision, allowing you to easily capture the enemy¡¯s speed.¡±


    ¡°In your eyes, the enemy¡¯s speed will appear slowed, making it almost impossible for you to lose. Additionally, Dragon¡¯s Tears not only work for Eye Gu but also have a slight effect on human eyes¡ªthe more you use, the stronger the dynamic vision bes.¡±


    ¡°However, Dragon¡¯s Tears only have a one-day shelf life, and the primary material required is the sap from the sacred tree, Divine Dragon Wood, which also has a one-day shelf life.¡±


    ¡°Therefore, Dragon¡¯s Tears are always prepared on-site in front of the sacred tree, and those preparing to wash their eyes must be present on-site to wash their eyes immediately.¡±


    ¡°Eye Washing Day is also a traditional family festival, urring three days after the ¡®Gu Fighting game¡¯ Day. The first custom of Eye Washing Day is to hold a grand Gu Battle Tournament.¡±


    ¡°Only the top twenty in the Gu Battle Tournament are qualified to participate in the eye-washing ceremony. The higher the rank, the more Dragon¡¯s Tears one receives.¡±


    ¡°The Gu Battle Tournament involves both sides cing their Gu into arge pit. The Gu cultivators themselves cannot participate, so the oue is entirely dependent on the strength of the Gu insect, the number of Gu insects, and the strategy of the Gu cultivators.¡±


    ¡°Bymanding from the outside and using various tactics, Gu cultivators can also achieve victory with a weaker force, making it a game for the wise.¡±


    ¡°Because Gu cultivators are not allowed to enter the battlefield, their cultivation level doesn¡¯t provide a clear advantage in this game. There are numerous cases in past Gu Battle Tournaments where people have won against opponents across multiple levels.¡±


    ¡°So even though you¡¯re only at the early stage of Marrow Cleansing, as long as your Gu is strong enough, it will carry you to a good rank. I suggest you participate in this Gu Battle Tournament.¡±


    Hearing this, Long Xuan furrowed his brows slightly. He picked up on one thing from Long Ziyan¡¯s words¡ªthe more times Dragon¡¯s Tears are applied, the stronger the dynamic vision bes.


    But there was only one Divine Dragon Wood Tree, and with so many people in the n, the avable sap was far from enough. Each person could only receive a small portion, which wasn¡¯t sufficient to develop resistance to Dragon¡¯s Tears.


    If the Eye Gu were to evolve before developing resistance, the evolution effect would definitely be imperfect.


    Long Ziyan seemed to have sensed his thoughts and said in understanding, ¡°There¡¯s nothing we can do about it. With so many people in the n, it¡¯s impossible to cater to just one person. Moreover, even if we allocated all the Divine Dragon Wood''s sap to one person, it would still be far from enough.¡±


    ¡°So everyone can only let the Evil Dragon Emperor¡¯s Eye evolve in an imperfect state. I¡¯ve been suppressing the evolution of the Evil Dragon Emperor¡¯s Eye to umte enough Dragon¡¯s Tears.¡±


    ¡°My only strategy is to participate in the Gu Battle Tournament every year and take first ce, securing the most Divine Dragon wood''s sap each year, in an attempt to let the Evil Dragon Emperor¡¯s Eye evolve in a nearly perfect state. My Evil Dragon Emperor¡¯s Eye is a peak-grade Gu insect, and I can¡¯t afford to settle for less.¡±


    Long Xuan¡¯s gaze turned contemtive. Using a small amount of Dragon¡¯s Tears to let the Eye Of Heavenly secret evolve in an imperfect state would definitely not satisfy him. With his ambitions, he would certainly look for another solution.


    Moreover, he didn¡¯t want to rely on others for the eye drop form. He wanted to improve the Dragon¡¯s Tears form, making its dynamic vision effect even stronger.


    The only way to do that was to have a Divine Dragon Wood Tree in his herb garden. Then, he could do whatever he wanted with it, making as much Dragon''s Tears as he desired, ensuring the Eye Of Heavenly Secret could evolve in a perfect state.


    Long Xuan¡¯s eyes lit up with an idea. He wondered if he could secretly break off a thick branch from the Divine Dragon Wood and use the grafting techniques from his previous life to grow a tree from that branch.

 Chapter 119: Spinning Silk

    He wasn''t sure whether the grafting technique from his previous life would work on the spiritual herbs of this world, but he thought it was worth a try. His high-grade spiritual soil and spiritual spring water were the things nts loved most, which would likely increase the sess rate. Not to mention, he also had his golden finger and the assistance of the Origin realm, making sess highly probable.


    If this technique truly worked, it would be a heaven-defying breakthrough in this world. Long Xuan''s heart couldn''t help but skip a beat.


    It''s important to know that many rare spiritual herbs in this world are difficult to propagate, such as the Long n''s Divine Dragon Wood.


    The Divine Dragon Wood is so important to the family, yet to this day, there is only one tree in the entire n, which shows how difficult it is to reproduce and retain seeds.


    If he could truly research a grafting technique applicable to spiritual herbs, wouldn''t he be able to grow an entire forest of Divine Dragon Wood? He could use as much eye drops as he wanted, apply it to all his Gu insects, the swarm, and even Chicken Brother.


    The thought of this scene was terrifying, and Long Xuan couldn''t help but click his tongue in amazement.


    He finally decided to give it a try. Even if it failed, it wouldn''t matter. After all, the path of evolution for all his Gu insects wasn''t limited to just one. If it didn''t work, he could simply find another way. In any case, he would never use an imperfect method of evolution.


    With this in mind, he knew that attending the Gu Battle Tournament on Eye Washing Day was a must. Long Xuan''s eyes flickered slightly.


    "By the way, what kind of illusion does Senior Sister''s Evil Dragon Emperor Eye carry?" He couldn''t help but ask curiously, remembering that Long Ziyan had just mentioned that the Evil Dragon Emperor Eye randomly draws from 108 types of illusions.Long Ziyan didn''t intend to hide anything and casually said, "It''s called Soul Seed. My Evil Dragon Emperor Eye is of peak-grade quality, and the illusion it carries is very strong. This illusion is called Soul Seed."


    "Soul Seed is a type of illusion that can recur repeatedly, imprinting itself on a person''s soul for life. Even if the person breaks free from the illusion and is far from the caster, the illusion will still sporadically trigger, causing them to be in an illusion without realizing it."


    "The illusion alternates between activating and fading, gradually making it impossible for the person to distinguish between illusion and reality. Eventually, they might doubt everything, possibly mistaking their loved ones for enemies and killing them, only to lose their sanity in the end."


    "Among the 108 abilities of the Evil Dragon Emperor Eye, the Soul Seed ranks within the top ten. It''s challenging to awaken a top ten ability from the Evil Dragon Emperor Eye when the Gu form isn''tplete."


    "Currently, only Long Chao and I possess the Soul Seed ability within the n. Long Chao inherited it from our grandfather''s generation, but I was able to refine it myself, thanks to my heaven-defying luck."


    At this moment, Long Ziyan unusually disyed a look of pride.


    Hearing this, Long Xuan couldn''t help but be dumbfounded,pletely shocked by such an incredible illusion.


    It was the first time he had heard of an illusion that could be carried for life, causing the victim to repeatedly fall into the illusion, gradually unable to distinguish between illusion and reality, and eventually break down. Such an illusion was terrifying enough to y someone to death.


    Even he felt a twinge of fear towards this illusion, and his expression revealed a hint of apprehension.


    At the same time, he mentally noted the name Long Chao, marking him as someone to watch out for.


    After discussing the Evil Dragon Emperor Eye for a while longer, Long Xuan noticed it was gettingte and took the initiative to excuse himself.


    Upon returning home, the first thing he did was cut down arge portion of the branches from his Fire Dragon Fruit Tree. Since the fruit was no longer useful to him, it didn''t matter if the tree was severely damaged¡ªSuo gu would remember his generosity forever.


    He then poured an entire storage bag full of Fire Dragon Fruit Tree branches in front of his Suo Gu.


    Suo Gu was initially stunned, but upon realizing the quality of the branches piled high on the ground, its eyes lit up with an almost frightening brilliance. It quickly abandoned its current task, rushed over frantically, picked up thergest branch, and beamed with joy.


    The Suo Gu tribe currently had a strong trend ofparing houses, with one''s home determining their status within the tribe. Every Suo Gu strove to build the best house, earning the envy of their peers, so high-quality building materials naturally excited them the most.


    Clearly, Suo Gu was very satisfied with the building materials Long Xuan had prepared for it, and it eagerly threw itself into constructing a grand vi.


    It was clear that the half-finished house it had been working on was no longer wanted.


    Suoguo''s house-building skills were indeed impressive. It wasn''t long before the framework of the house waspleted.


    Long Xuan watched with great interest from the side. He had to admit, watching these creatures build houses was somewhat addictive, and he began to understand the obsession of those Gu cultivators who had be infatuated with it.


    But building a house is not something that can be done in a day. After observing for a while, Long Xuan left and returned to the cold pavilion, where he sat down to continue researching the improvement of the Dragon''s Tear.


    He wanted to enhance the eye drop¡¯s effect on improving dynamic vision to its maximum potential and develop the most suitable eye drop form for the Eye of Heavenly Secrets.


    Improving a form was much easier than creating a new one from scratch.


    Even though the process of preparing Dragon''s Tear eye drops wasplex, he managed to improve the form within just a month.


    After renaming the form to Dragon''s Eye, he stored it away and stepped out of the pavilion.


    The process of researching the eye drop form had been surprisingly easy, almost too simple. Even though he had sessfully developed a new form, his face showed no sign of joy.


    With the Dragon''s Eye eye drop form sessfully developed, he immediately went to check on the Suo Gu. He was curious to see how the grand vi wasing along.


    Before long, he saw a luxurious wooden vi appear before his eyes.


    This vi was nothing like those built for human habitation. It gave him a dreamy feeling, as if it were something out of a painting.


    Due to the mutation of his Fire Dragon Fruit Tree under the influence of the Ice God me, the branches exhibited two different states: one of ice and one of fire.


    Although they were from the same tree, the branches were entirely distinct.


    So, this Suo Gu had a wild imagination and built a vi that was half ice and half fire, with one side in icy blue and the other in fiery red. The two sides even had particle effects, like snow falling on one side and mes flickering on the other¡ªit was truly beautiful.


    In the middle of the vi, where the hot and cold met, the temperatures were neutralized, making it a perfectlyfortable ce to live.


    "But if it¡¯s summer, you can go to the ice half of the vi to escape the heat. If it¡¯s winter, you can go to the fire half of the vi to keep warm.


    This is simply a vi that stays cool in summer and warm in winter¡ªan ideal ce forzy people. The design is incredibly imaginative. He fell in love with it at first sight. Unfortunately, the house is still a bit small; he wouldn¡¯t be able to stretch his legs if he moved in. Otherwise, he would definitely have upied it by any means.


    He couldn¡¯t help but admire the Suo Gu; it truly deserves the title of master architect of the insect world, with an artistic touch in everything it does. This idea is absolutely brilliant.


    He immediately rushed over excitedly, walking to the front of the Ice-Fire Vi, examining it closely with a look of excitement on his face.


    Before long, he saw two small figures inside the vi.


    One of the figures was proudly showing off the vi to the other, leading the way with a face full of pride.


    The other small figure had stars in its eyes, looking at the vi with admiration, liking it more and more the longer it looked.


    Seeing this little figure, Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help butugh.


    "Oh! Isn¡¯t that Long Ziyan¡¯s Suo Gu? Has it already been lured over? Well done."


    Long Xuan showed a sly smile. It seemed that his Suo Gu had already established a connection with Long Ziyan¡¯s Suo Gu, allowing them to freely appear in each other¡¯s houses. This way, the two of them could exchange messages.


    Long Xuan immediately wrote a letter and hung it around the neck of Long Ziyan¡¯s Suo Gu.


    The content of the letter was an invitation to go shopping together on the uing Suo Gu Day.


    In Long Xuan¡¯s view, this was essentially a date.


    After touring the Sou Gu¡¯s house, Long Xuan went to check on his other Gu insects.


    The first one he checked was naturally the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm. At this moment, the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm had already awakened and sessfullypleted its evolution, bing a Spirit Gu on par with those in the Marrow Cleansing stage.


    Right now, the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm was diligently spinning silk, producing dark energy-shaped silk. So eager to start working already? Long Xuan was pleased.


    Although the essence of the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm¡¯s silk is an energy form, it can still defend against physical attacks and can be held in one¡¯s hand.


    Long Xuan carefully picked up the almost weightless silk from the table, bringing it close to his eyes to study it intently. Slowly, a faint smile appeared on his face. The armor made from this silk would be called the Heavenly Dream Soul Armor.


    However, making clothes is a skill he would need to find time to learn. It seemed that he would have to trouble his senior sister for guidance every now and then.


    After studying the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm¡¯s silk for a long time, Long Xuan found its toughness to be quite impressive. This was a second-grade Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm silk, and despite using all his strength, he couldn¡¯t break it.


    Other abilities of the silk had yet to be tested, and only after weaving it into soul armor could the full effects be seen. He couldn¡¯t rush this process.


    However, it was clear that the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm¡¯s silk was a high-grade silk, and its production was naturally limited.


    The Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm consumes a lot but produces little. Long Xuan had waited for a long time, and it still hadn¡¯t spun much silk.


    This made him anxious¡ªhe almost wanted to pull the silk out by hand.


    How long would it take to produce enough silk for a single set of clothes?


    Moreover, he needed more than just one set. Shouldn¡¯t all his clones wear a set?


    Shouldn¡¯t all his Gu insects wear a set?


    The Ice Bees are so weak, shouldn¡¯t they each have a set too?


    Suddenly, the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm shuddered. For some reason, it suddenly felt as though it was about to copse, as if it was being drained dry.


    Seeing the inefficiency of the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm, Long Xuan eventually lost patience. He stopped waiting and walked towards a nearby wine jar.


    When he got closer, he found that Little White was still soaking in the wine jar, like a snake soaking in wine.


    Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but frown, but quickly his frown turned into a cold smile.


    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that he could see the progress, he would have been fooled by it.


    Its evolution progress had disappeared, indicating that it had already sessfully evolved.


    Now it was pretending to be dead, lying in the wine jar, obviously wanting him to refill it with wine.


    It actually wants a refill!!!


    Such a cunning little thing, trying to trick him with these little tricks¡ªit was still too naive.


    Long Xuan reached in and grabbed it out of the wine jar, then shook it awake wildly¡­

 Chapter 120: The House Exhibition

    The next day, Long Xuan got up early and walked towards the Long family estate with Long Ziyan. The Long estate was festively decorated, with the sounds of children''sughter echoing everywhere, making the atmosphere extremely lively.


    As they walked down the street, a row of exquisite little houses lined the sides of the road. Each small house was incredibly well-crafted and creative, one more so than the next.


    The most beautiful little houses were surrounded by crowds of people, pointing and discussing them, their conversations filled withughter. From time to time, someone would throw a wooden que into the box beside a house.


    These were the voting boxes. At the end of the day, the house with the most votes in its box would be the final winner, receiving arge contribution reward. The higher the ranking, the greater the reward.


    In the family, the higher one''s status, the more votes they held. Both Long Xuan and Long Ziyan had a hundred votes each. These votes could be cast for anyone, but they were not allowed to vote for themselves.


    Looking around, Long Xuan noticed that there were too many small houses. Many wide streets were filled with exhibition spots. Considering that everyone in the n now had a Sou Gu, one could imagine how many small houses there were.


    Just viewing all the small houses would probably take half a day.


    Long Xuan, with his keen eyes, quickly spotted Long Ziyan¡¯s Dragon Silkworm House and immediately ran over. In front of her, he threw all of his votes into the box beside her house.


    Arge crowd had gathered around the Dragon Silkworm House, and it had received the most votes. Wooden ques were thrown into the box in droves, yet the box seemed like a bottomless pit, swallowing all the ques.Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but reflect that while this voting method appeared fair, it seemed somewhat unfair.


    The practicality of Long Ziyan¡¯s Dragon Silkworm House was probably the best, but the practicality of the houses was evaluated by the family''s upper echelon. Ordinary nsmen didn¡¯t have the expertise to judge that.


    So, this voting process was based solely on aesthetics. To be honest, Long Ziyan¡¯s Dragon Silkworm House wasn¡¯t the most beautiful, but she was the most beautiful, so votes rained into her voting box.


    Even though all the houses were presented anonymously, with no one knowing who owned which house, there was only one person in the entire n who possessed second-grade dragon silkworm silk. As long as one wasn¡¯t blind, they would know whose house this was.


    Given this, it was clear who would be the final winner of this house exhibition¡ªLong Ziyan was already poised for victory.


    Seeing Long Xuan throw all his votes into her box, a slight smile appeared on Long Ziyan¡¯s lips. She walked over and said, "What kind of house did you use to pry open my ice house? Why don''t you let me admire your masterpiece?"


    Long Xuanughed dryly and said, ¡°I didn¡¯t enter my house in thepetition. I¡¯ll take you to see it at my ce another day.¡±


    His Ice and Fire House was built entirely with branches of high-grade spiritual trees. Not only was it incredibly beautiful, but its practicality also far surpassed Long Ziyan¡¯s.


    To be frank, his Ice and Fire House could easily win a double crown.


    However, his Ice and Fire House was of such high grade that if he revealed it, it would cause a sensation¡ªtoo much attention, and it might bring some risks.


    Besides, he wasn¡¯t interested in the contribution rewards. If he ever needed contributions, he could easily produce a low-grade Gu recipe and earn a quick reward, so he had no reason to participate in thispetition.


    ¡°That¡¯s a pity! It looks like I won¡¯t be able to cast my hundred votes for you,¡± Long Ziyan smiled lightly and walked deeper into the street to admire the other houses.


    Long Xuan quickly followed behind.


    It had to be said, this newly created festival was incredibly lively, far more so than any traditional Long n festival.


    All the nsmen, young and old, hade out to admire the various small houses, filling every street with people,ughter, and joy.


    Long Xuan and Long Ziyan spent the entire day strolling through the streets, eating various snacks, and buying all sorts of exquisite little gifts. Finally, they reached thest event of the Sou Gu Day. By this time, it was already dark.


    This newly established holiday, Sou Gu Day, was also known as Valentine¡¯s Day, and most people preferred to call it that.


    This was because all the small houses of the Sou Gu were interconnected, allowing a Sou Gu to visit another¡¯s house.


    So, on this day, the men of the Long n would write a love letter and give it to their Sou Gu, asking it to deliver the letter to the woman they admired.


    Some had already chosen their targets, while others used this method to leave their fate to chance, letting the heavens decide their romantic destiny.


    The women of the Long n would anxiously wait by their small houses, eagerly anticipating the arrival of letters. Those who received many letters would naturally be envied, while those who received none would be teased, fostering a spirit ofpetition.


    Due to this activity, many members of the Long n found their match on this day, significantly boosting the birth rate.


    This was undoubtedly a good thing for the n.


    The Long n¡¯s upper echelon were very satisfied with this tradition, so they added a new rule this year: all single male Gu Masters in the n were required to participate in this event, with no exceptions.


    It was essentially a mandatory matchmaking event, forcing many cultivation fanatics who usually ignored romance to participate, much to their embarrassment.


    By this time, many had already handed their letters to their Sou Gu, and in the void realm, countless Sou Gu were bustling about, delivering letters back and forth.


    The outside was bustling, and the void realm was equally lively. Many, fearing the embarrassment of failing to find a match, sent out numerous letters, almost overworking their Sou Gu.


    As the n¡¯s number one beauty, Long Ziyan¡¯s small house was unusually quiet, with not a single letter in sight.


    It wasn¡¯t that shecked admirers, but her house was too advanced, and there were hardly any Sou Gu that could enter it.


    This served as a sort of filter for social status; those who seeded in finding a match were generally well-matched in terms of wealth and background, avoiding the clich¨¦ of a richdy falling for a poor boy.


    This was a mandatory event, so Long Xuan had no choice but to participate. Near the end of the event, he wrote a short love poem on his letter and gave it to the Sou Gu in his Gu pouch, then found an excuse to leave.


    Staying would only be awkward¡ªwhat better time to leave than now?


    Not long after he left, Long Ziyan¡¯s Gu pouch stirred. She reached in and soon pulled out a note. On it was written:


    "<em>Having seen the vast ocean, no other waters canpare;</em>


    <em>Apart from the clouds of Mount Wu, no other clouds are worth mentioning.</em>


    <em>Passing through the clusters of flowers, I am toozy to look back;</em>


    <em>Half because of my devotion to the Dao, and half because of you</em>."


    ...


    The lively Valentine¡¯s Day finally came to an end. As expected, Long Ziyan took the double crown, crushing thepetition.


    Meanwhile, Long Qilin once again gloriously secured second ce. Although the rewards for being second were still substantial, his face showed no trace of joy. It is said that he also failed to find a partner, though the details remain unknown.


    After one night, the Long family did not quiet down on the next day, as their traditional festival, the Eye Washing Day, was fast approaching.


    Although there were still three days until Eye Washing Day, preparations for the venue needed to be made in advance, and many things required early arrangements.


    Eye Washing Day is just as lively, no less so than Gu Day, because the Gu battles on Eye Washing Day are incredibly spectacr.


    In this entertainment-deprived world, many people attend such events to watch others engage in Gu battles, cheering and shouting on the sidelines, with crowds gathering in overwhelming numbers.


    Coordinating such arge number of people is no small task, so the family elders, having hardly rested half a day, were busy once again.


    Thest Gu battle tournament turned into a showcase for Earth Masters, a good Gu battle tournament turned into a showdown between Earth Masters.


    The power of these beings is simply too enormous, with just a slight movement, they could wreak havoc on the Gu pits.


    As a result, thest Gu battle tournament was aplete mess, and it took several days to finally finish the tournament.


    This time, the family learned their lesson and decided to improve the Gu pits. However, how to improve the pits has caused many of the elders to worry themselves sick.


    The Earth Masters this time are different from thest; this time, each Earth Master can carry formations made of cement into battle, capable of unleashing powerful elemental attacks, bombarding and destroying the venue far more than a year ago, further ruining the Gu pits.


    In the end, it was the newly discovered cement that solved their urgent problem.


    Cement engraved with reinforcement formations might not be able to withstand Gu Kings, but it¡¯s sufficient as a battleground for Gu insects.


    Even though cement with formations may not be 100% resistant to the impact of Earth Masters, it¡¯s affordable, so even if it¡¯s destroyed, it¡¯s not distressing.


    Thus, another grand project began. The festive atmosphere in the Long family was thick, having just celebrated one day, and now, unexpectedly, they were about to celebrate another festival.


    And so, three days quickly passed, with shadows of people constantly moving across various mountain peaks, asionally someone would dart out from a peak, heading towards the family gathering.


    Long Xuan was very interested in the family¡¯s Sacred Tree, the Divine Dragon Wood, and naturally wanted to participate in this Gu battle tournament.


    However, he didn¡¯t intend to take the top spot, so he just sent his Fire Clone to go through the motions, aiming for a spot in the top twenty.


    As for his real body, he disguised himself as the clone and watched from the sidelines.


    As for the Gu insects for the Fire Clone to battle with, of course, he wouldn¡¯t lend his best Gu insects, just the second squad would suffice. If they lost, it would be his own fault forcking skill.


    The Gu battle tournament was held in an open area on the edge of the family territory, with two Gu battle arenas. One arena was for Spirit Gathering stage Gu cultivators, and the other was for Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators. Beyond that, there were no more, as Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators did not participate in Gu battles.


    Only those in the top twenty of the Marrow Cleansing stage could qualify for Eye Washing Day, excluding those from the Spirit Gathering stage.


    Although over ny percent of the family¡¯s Gu cultivators were in the Spirit Gathering stage, most people still went to watch the Marrow Cleansing stage Gu battles. The higher the level of the Gu insects, the more exciting the battle, and the Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators had more Gu insects, making the chaotic battle scenes more entertaining.


    Thus, even though there were two Gu battle arenas, one was packed with people, while the other was almost deserted.


    Except for those participating in the Spirit Gathering stage battles, there were barely any spectators.


    However, this situation would improve on the second day, as there were fewer participants in the Marrow Cleansing stage, so their battles would finish in one day.


    The Spirit Gathering stage, with more participants, would have battles spanning several days.


    Once the high-level matches concluded, the audience would naturally flow back to the lower-level matches.


    Long Xuan headed directly to the Gu battle arena for the Marrow Cleansing stage. Upon arrival, he didn¡¯t choose the closest spot to watch but jumped onto a tree some distance away from the arena, using his Heavenly Eye to observe from afar.


    The first thing he noticed was the tenrge pits made of cement in the center of the crowd. Some were round, some square, and some had twelve sides¡­


    There were all kinds of shapes, but their sizes were generally simr.


    The pits were covered with densely packed formations, most of which were reinforcement formations, designed to make the cement more sturdy.


    Long Xuan knew that these were the legendary Gu pits.


    People used tforms for their battles, with tforms being raised.


    Gu insects used pits for their battles, with pits being sunken.


    Once out of bounds, it would be deemed a loss; the rules were simr overall.


    Gu pits were a unique cultural in this world, which Long Xuan found fascinating and watched with great interest.

 Chapter 121: The Gu Battle Tournament Begins

    At this moment, the area around each Gu pit was bustling with activity. There were many onlookers, as the Gu Battle Tournament was considered one of the most lively events in the n, attracting everyone toe out and watch.


    Before long, the family head, Long Wanli, stood up from a cement-built tform and began a lengthy opening speech.


    It was unclear what technique he used, but even though his voice wasn''t loud, it carried clearly to everyone''s ears, even to those spectators far away from the tform.


    However, his speech was a typical, formic address, filled with meaningless drivel that held no real appeal. Just as everyone below the tform was starting to doze off, the Gu Battle Tournament officially began with his announcement.


    The crowd below finally opened their eyes, instantly bing alert.


    Immediately, Long Wanli set down his lengthy speech and took out a list of names, which recorded the names of each participant.


    The Gu battles in the ten Gu pits were to be held simultaneously, with those whose names were called proceeding to their respective pits to battle.


    Each Gu pit also had a referee, who would dere the winner, allowing the next batch of participants to take their turn.


    However, the sequence of the Gu battles and the selection of opponents did not seem to be decided by drawing lots but were instead directly assigned by the family.This made Long Xuan feel a sense of unease.


    He had originally nned to use the minor X-ray vision ability of the Eye of Heavenly Secret to draw a favorable lot, so he could continuously pick the weakest opponents and be thest to enter the field.


    But he didn''t expect the family to y by their own rules,pletely skipping the lot-drawing process. This was outrageous, wasn''t it?


    Isn''t this kind of event supposed to involve drawing lots? How can it be fair and just otherwise?


    The family not following the usual procedure disrupted all of his ns, leaving him with no way to cheat.


    Just as he was still bewildered, Long Wanli''s voice suddenly called out.


    "Long Xuan, Long Ye, proceed to Gu Pit No. 1 for your Gu battle."


    Long Xuan''s body stiffened. Good heavens, the first match was his, and Gu Pit No. 1 was the closest to the tform where the family elders were seated. It was also the most conspicuous location, attracting the most attention and having thergest audience.


    Gu Pit No. 1 was the focal point of nearly half the audience''s gaze, making it the highest-profile position.


    This was the consequence of not drawing lots. Long Xuan sighed lightly, and then, without any sense of fair y, sent his clone to the battlefield, with no intention of showing any respect to his opponent.


    At this time, the Fire Clone received themand from his soul, and his mouth couldn''t help but twitch. He could only brace himself to go up. The main body hadn''t even given him a single peak-grade Gu insect, only throwing him a insect-rearing bag filled with second-Team of Gu insects.


    The second team¡¯s Gu insects were all low-grade. How was he supposed to fight with these? He was ordered to win but wasn''t given any resources¡ªthis was too difficult.


    He looked towards his opponent, who was already standing by the Gu pit. Long Ye was a mid-stage Marrow Cleansing Gu cultivator, and although he was one level higher, the Gu battle relied solely on the Gu insects. The cultivator¡¯s realm didn''t offer much advantage.


    But didn¡¯t this game¡¯s rules limit his Ten Absolute Body as well? He couldn¡¯t enter the field himself, so how could he win with just a few low-grade Gu insects? With what, his head? One must know that Long n¡¯s Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators typically had high-grade or even peak-grade Gu insects.


    Seeing Long Ye already tossing his Gu insects into the Gu pit one by one, especially the massive Earth Master Gu, which stood out sharply¡ªit had be a symbol of the Long n¡¯s Gu cultivators, each of whom possessed one.


    The Fire Clone reluctantly reached for the insect rearing bag that the main body had just handed over. After inspecting the Gu insects inside, his eyes suddenly lit up.


    He brought that guy along too? This seemed a bit unfair, didn¡¯t it?


    At this moment, the Fire Clone finally rxed, revealing a devilish smile, full of confidence for the uing battle.


    He patted his insect rearing bag, and immediately a swarm of Ice Bees buzzed out of it. In the blink of an eye, the Ice Bees filled the sky.


    By now, the Ice Bee swarm had grown to over ten thousand. Many of them had undergone a evolution and be Ice Bee Guards, giving the swarm formidablebat power, enough to help Long Xuan out of any predicament.


    This was the first battle for the Ice Bees, and they were all excited, eager to prove themselves. Since their stingers had evolved to produce unlimited ice needles, they had all turned into battle-hungry creatures.


    Thergest of them, the Queen Bee, was especially excited, staring intently at the ground below, brimming with fighting spirit.


    As soon as the massive swarm of insects appeared, it instantly drew the attention of everyone in the arena.


    The spectators who had been watching the other Gu pits all turned their attention to this side, their faces filled with astonishment. At this moment, Gu Pit No. 1 had truly be the center of everyone¡¯s focus.


    Spirit insects can reproduce on arge scale, but due to various limitations, very few Gu cultivators favor swarm tactics. However, once a swarm achievesbat power, it bes genuinely terrifying.


    Although spirit insects are weak individually, as long as their numbers arerge enough, even a peak-grade Gu insect can be swarmed and killed. This is not umon at all.


    But raising a swarm is extremely costly, and it''s difficult to find a suitable species, so it''s rare to see a swarm tactic in the Gu Battle Tournament.


    Such a rare battle scene naturally attracted everyone¡¯s interest, and spectators from other Gu pits quickly ran over to Gu Pit No. 1, watching the bee swarm in the sky with curious eyes, their faces filled with excitement.


    Some even took out spirit insect guides, hurriedly searching for the species of spirit bee in the sky. However, the Ice Bee was a breed created by Long Xuan, so how could they find any records of it?


    On the high tform, the elders were also showing looks of astonishment. The Grand Elder was the first to speak, "He¡¯s actually using the swarm tactic. Although swarm tactics are not to be underestimated in battle, they are incredibly costly."


    Long Wanliughed, "Not necessarily. Bees feed on nectar. As long as the herb gardens are filled with flowering spirit herbs, it will be enough to solve their food supply."


    "No wonder he wanted such arge mountain area for his cave. If he intends to raise arge number of spirit bees, he will need ample space to grow spirit flowers."


    At this point, the female Fourth Elder frowned and said, "Everyone knows that feeding spirit bees is easy, but there¡¯s a fatal w with them. Their tails grow barbs, and once they sting an enemy, they can¡¯t pull it out, leading to their death. They''re a one-time-use insect species."


    "No one would favor such a disposable spirit insect. Throughout history, no Gu cultivator has ever raised a bee swarm. He seems to be the first, setting a new precedent."


    "That was a new path, an unknown one at that, requiring him to explore on his own. Unless he could solve the fatal w of the Spirit Bees, where a single attack would result in inevitable death, his swarm would never amount to anything substantial."


    All the n elders nodded in agreement. The w of the bees was indeed too fatal. The initial investment of massive resources only to have them wiped out in a single battle was a serious imbnce between cost and return. Even a fool wouldn¡¯t consider nurturing such a species.


    But Long Xuan was clearly not a fool. Since he dared to invest heavily in raising these bees and even bred them to a certain scale, he must have found a solution to the problem.


    All the n elders disyed curious expressions, eager to know how Long Xuan had managed to ovee this issue.


    At that moment, in Gu Pit Number 1, Long Ye felt his scalp tingle as his opponent released so many insects. Tens of thousands of insects swarmed to besiege his mere handful of Gu insects. This wasn¡¯t just bullying, was it?


    To make matters worse, these insects could all fly. How was he supposed to fight them? Helpless, he could only send out his one and only flying insect, a giant butterfly, which pped its wings and fearlessly took to the skies.


    However, what greeted it was a wave of ''Pear Blossom Storm Needles.''


    All the Ice Bees formed a formation in midair, pointing their abdomens downward. Under themand of the Queen Bee Bingbing, the stingers on their abdomens rained down like raindrops.


    The fearless butterfly charged headlong into the needle storm, but being a fragile insect, how could it withstand the assault of the bees¡¯ stingers?


    In an instant, it was shot through like a porcupine and fell from the sky.


    Meanwhile, all of Long Ye¡¯s Gu insects on the ground were also doomed. The Gu pit was only so big, and the needle storm covered the entire pit.


    The rain of needles was so dense that there was no space to dodge. In this situation, there was no room for evasion; the insects could only run around in panic.


    Unfortunately for them, the Ice Bees¡¯ stingers could be fired indefinitely. After shooting one ice needle, another would grow on their tails, leading to wave after wave of bombardment on the ground.


    It didn¡¯t take long for all of Long Ye¡¯s Gu insects to be shot full of needles. Poison from the bees quickly paralyzed them, and soon all his Gu insects were motionless.


    Only the Earth Master Gu managed to hold out, protected by its thick iron armor that the bee stingers couldn¡¯t prate.


    Though it could threaten the Ice Bees, it was quickly overpowered by Long Xuan¡¯s own Earth Master Gu, which was evenrger.


    Faced with this situation, Long Ye had no choice but to surrender.


    Thus, the first match of the Gu Tournament ended in a sh, leaving everyone stunned.


    This attack method was brutally simple, especially within the confines of the Gu pit where movement was restricted. All Gu insects would be sitting ducks, with no way to escape the relentless needle storm. Such an attack method was truly unbeatable.


    One had to admit, thepetition rules were incredibly favorable to this group of bees. In a limited space, the lethality of the needle storm was amplified several times over.


    At this moment, everyone showed signs of apprehension, contemting how they would deal with such a situation if they were in Long Ye¡¯s ce.


    On the stage, the high-ranking officials exchanged nces. One of the four elder n members smiled first and praised, ¡°I see now. Recing the barbed stingers with regenerating ice needles is indeed a clever method.¡±


    Long Wanli turned and smiled at her, saying, ¡°Hehe, I spoke with him once. His research on insects is absolutely monstrous. It¡¯s no surprise that he could find a way to improve the ws of the Spirit Bees. In terms of understanding, my evaluation of him is that he is a genius rare throughout the ages.¡±


    The n elders were shocked by such high praise and all turned their eyes to Long Wanli. ¡°Rare throughout the ages¡± was an extremely high evaluation, considering the countless years of history in this world.


    However, when they thought about the terrifying Gu techniques he had developed, they all fell silent, unable to refute it.


    Long Xuan waspletely unaware that Long Wanli had given him such high praise. After winning the first victory, he tossed a bottle of pills to Long Ye and left the Gu pit.


    The poison of his bees was a new type of venom in this world, with no known antidote. If he didn¡¯t intervene, all of Long Ye¡¯s Gu insects except the Earth Master Gu would have perished.


    Long Ye caught the pill bottle and gave Long Xuan a grateful look before finally leaving the stage.


    The two of them hade and gone quickly, with the match ending almost as soon as it had begun. The crowd was left unsatisfied, feeling that it ended too soon.

 Chapter 122: Shocking Change

    Naturally, Pit No. 1 for Gu battles wouldn''t be left empty. As soon as two participants exited, Long Wanli immediately shouted to the crowd below, "Long Ziyan, Long Long, step into Pit No. 1."


    The moment his words fell, the crowd''s spirits lifted once again. Long Ziyan was the top genius of the family and a strong contender to win this Gu battle tournament. Her high status,bined with her striking beauty, naturally drew everyone''s attention to her uing battle.


    As a result, all eyes turned back to Pit No. 1, eagerly anticipating the next Gu battle.


    At this moment, Long Xuan also perked up, focusing his attention on Pit No. 1. He had long been curious about the types of Gu insects Long Ziyan possessed, and now he had the perfect chance to find out.


    However, just as his interest was piqued, Long Long suddenly raised his hand and, in a rather spineless manner, dered, "I surrender!" Long Xuan was stunned on the spot.


    So cowardly?


    The rest of the crowd was equally caught off guard, feeling stifled and frustrated. They all looked at Long Long with disdain, silently cursing him for being such a coward.


    Long Long noticed the contemptuous looks from the crowd but merely sneered inwardly. He wasn''t stupid¡ªwhy fight a battle that was destined to be lost? It was better to conserve his strength and focus all his efforts on the next fight.


    If he were to fight the top genius and end up with severely injured Gu insects, losing the next match would be inevitable. That would be truly foolish.With no more excitement to watch here, Long Xuan shifted his gaze to other battle pits. By now, the other pits had already begun their matches. Various types of Gu insects shed with each other, creating chaos within the pits, and the battles were incredibly intense.


    Gu Masters stood outside the pits, loudly directing their battles with intense emotions. This kind of game was indeed highly entertaining, and even Long Xuan found himself getting absorbed in the spectacle.


    Each Gu Master''s insect varied in strength and numbers, and it wasmon to see situations where fewer insects faced off against more but still miraculously secured victory.


    Some participants were tactical geniuses. Although their Gu weren''t particrly strong, they could cleverlybine the insects'' abilities and use a bit of strategy to achieve unexpected victories against much stronger opponents. Even Long Xuan was thoroughly impressed by these battles.


    No wonder so many people enjoyed watching others'' Gu battles. The chaotic skirmishes of the Gu insects provided both visual thrills and a mental challenge in devising strategies. It was a game that tested wisdom, making it addictive for participants and spectators alike.


    Moreover, this game offered many learning opportunities. Participants in the Gu battles could hone their practicalbat experience, while spectators could learn strategies to apply to their own Gu insects systems.


    Although Long Xuan prided himself on his intelligence and strategic acumen, he actually didn''t like to overthink things. Using one''s brain was too exhausting for him. He preferred to simply unleash a horde of peak-grade Gu insects and crush his opponents with overwhelming power, resolving the battle in a straightforward and brutal manner.


    In the face of absolute strength, tactics and strategies were useless. He couldn''t be bothered to rack his brain during a fight; nurturing his Gu insects to be the strongest was the true path to victory.


    Next, his clones entered several more Gu pits, but relying on his massive swarm of bees, he overwhelmed his opponents with sheer numbers, securing victories in a devastating manner almost every time.


    While it''s true that Earth Masters could withstand the ice needles of Ice Bees, one mustn''t forget that Long Xuan also possessed an Earth Master.


    Moreover, his Earth Master was the very first Earth Master ever born¡ªthe ancestor of all Earth Masters of the Long n, thergest and most powerful of its kind.


    His Earth Master underwent a evolution by consuming high-grade Spirit Soil, making it the strongest among all Earth Masters in the Long n.


    If it came down to a one-on-one duel between Earth Masters, who could possiblypete with his?


    There were indeed people who thought of using an Earth Master''s defense to withstand the Ice Bees'' attacks, but they were all beaten up by Long Xuan''s ancestor Earth Master and quickly became docile.


    Eventually, whenever anyone faced him, they would surrender immediately, having lost the courage to challenge the ancestor Earth Master.


    Of course, sweeping the battlefield with just a swarm of bees and an Earth Master wasn''t realistic either.


    Many could counter his swarm and Earth Master, such as Long Ziyan and those geniuses who possessed peak-grade Gu insects.


    But these individuals were few and far between. Whenever Long Xuan encountered a tough opponent, he would simply surrender.


    He wasn''t aiming for first ce¡ªjust staying in the top 20 was enough for him. He didn''t mind losing a few matches here and there.


    As time passed, more and more matches in the Gu battle tournament concluded, and before he knew it, it was already midday.


    For all this time, Long Xuan had been fixated on Long Ziyan, eager to see what kind of Gu insects she would use. However, to his surprise, the opportunity never came. Every Long n Gu Master who faced her surrendered before the fight even began.


    Long Ziyan had been standing there the entire time without moving. She hadn''t fought a single battle but had already advanced to the first ce effortlessly. This was absurd¡ªwas this senior sister really that terrifying? Long Xuan was stunned.


    In reality, most of Long Ziyan''s opponents, like Long Long, didn''t dare to let their Gu insects get injured. The Gu battle tournament was a round-robinpetition, where the more matches one won, the higher their ranking. Hence, participants had to fight countless matches in a day.


    If their Gu insects were severely injured, they would lose subsequent matches due to ack of fighting strength. The cost was simply too high, and no one could afford it.


    So, not only when facing the top genius Long Ziyan, but whenever they faced any unbeatable opponent, most people would choose to surrender outright.


    This made the Gu battle tournament progress rapidly, and soon it was time for the midday break.


    At this moment, Long Xuan was finally matched with a new opponent¡ªa participant named Long Chen.


    However, when Long Xuan saw this opponent, he was suddenly taken aback, genuinely startled.


    This was because the progress bar for this person didn''t appear above his head but was disyed in the center of his forehead. Long Xuan had never seen such a thing before, and for some reason, a chilling sensation crept over him.


    There had to be a reason for this strange urrence¡ªit couldn''t be random.


    When he noticed that this person''s progress was disyed to four decimal ces, he was first stunned and then felt a tingling sensation on his scalp.


    This wasn''t the progress of a Gu Master in the Marrow Cleansing stage¡ªit resembled more of a insect''s progress. Could it be that this person''s brain had already been devoured by a insect?


    So, the progress disyed belonged to the insect, not the person. This person was already dead, and it was the insect controlling this corpse. This person was neither dead nor alive, which is why the progress bar appeared in the center of his forehead rather than above his head.


    Long Xuan''s eyes widened in shock as this thought horrified him, sending chills down his spine.


    What was this? Could it be that this was an infiltrator nted by an external n within the Long n? But this method of infiltration was far too terrifying!


    He quickly examined this person''s face and eyes, noticing that the man wore a faint smile and had bright, spirited eyes.


    From his appearance, he seemed like a living person, and his eyes didn''t resemble those of a corpse. But this person was indeed dead. If it weren''t for Long Xuan''s unique abilities, he would never have imagined that this was actually a corpse.


    This insect was incredibly adept at disguising itself. Not only had it acquired the person''s memories, but it had also likely inherited all of his abilities. No one could detect its deception. If not for Long Xuan''s special ability, he might have been fooled as well.


    Long Xuan felt a deep apprehension toward this insect. Who sent this insect? What were their intentions in infiltrating the Long family? And what purpose did they have in participating in this Gu Battle Tournament?


    It was certainly unlikely to be anything good. Long Xuan''s eyes darted around. Any trouble in the Long family would only bring him harm, not benefit. This was something he couldn''t just stand by and ignore.


    However, he couldn''t think of a way to expose this person without revealing his own secrets.


    As he furrowed his brow in contemtion, the battle between his clone and the other person had already ended. It was this Long Chen who conceded, leaving Long Xuan''s clone unable to gauge his true strength. It seemed that this person was also participating in the Gu Battle Tournament just to secure a spot in the top twenty, much like Long Xuan, who wasn''t concerned about rankings.


    As he watched the man''s departing figure, Long Xuan deliberated before heading toward the one who had been shouting the loudest¡ªLong Lie.


    At this moment, Long Lie was showing off his peak-grade Gu insect, the (Fiery)Lie Gu. A crowd of onlookers surrounded him, all showing expressions of envy. Long Lie''sughter was unceasing, and his heart was filled with immense satisfaction.


    Long Xuan walked over, patted him on the shoulder, and gave him a meaningful look before heading toward a secluded corner.


    Long Lie was momentarily stunned, unsure why Long Xuan had called him over, but he still followed.


    Once they were away from the crowd, Long Xuan looked at him and got straight to the point: "I discovered a spy from another n who has infiltrated our n. I overheard that he intends to harm our n''s Sacred Tree, but I couldn''t catch the details, and I have no evidence of his collusion with the enemy."


    "Without evidence, can the n forcibly investigate someone just based on a report?"


    Even though he didn''t know what this insect was up to, since it risked exposure by participating in the Gu Battle Tournament without being fixated on rankings, its objective was most likely rted to the Sacred Tree. Long Xuan didn''t believe that the lie he had concocted would wrongfully use him.


    Hearing this, Long Lie instantly showed a serious expression, realizing the gravity of the situation.


    "No evidence? Without evidence, doing anything would be against the rules. Besides, for a clever spy, it''s very difficult to find anything incriminating."


    "Don¡¯t end up failing to bring him down, and instead, get yourself used of making a false report. That would only drag you down," Long Lie said sternly.


    "Of course, I understand that. That''s why I came to you. My point is, I won''t take the risk, but you should report him. Even if it turns out to be a false report, the n won''t do anything to a Spiritual Sea stage Gu Master like you," Long Xuan said.


    Long Lie slowly turned his head toward him, eyes wide with bewilderment. Well, well, so this is the reason he called me over. He knew there was nothing good about being summoned so mysteriously.


    He''s cunning, hiding away while pushing me to the forefront. How is he so devious, with a mind full of schemes?


    "Don''t say I''m setting you up. If you really seed in reporting him, you''ll have done a great service and could receive a huge contribution. This might not be a bad thing for you¡ªit could even be a good thing," Long Xuan coaxed.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 123: Long Chao

    "Good Thing? Why don''t you go do it yourself?" Long Lie red at him with irritation.


    He was in a difficult situation. The matter concerned the sacred tree of the family, a significant issue that couldn''t be taken lightly. They had to err on the side of caution, believing in its importance even if there was uncertainty.


    If he knew about a potential threat and failed to report it, leading to harm to the family''s sacred tree, he would be a true sinner within the family.


    It was as if he was being roasted over a fire; there was no way out. Even if he knew it was a trap, he had to charge headfirst into it.


    At this moment, he could only hope that the family would be wise. Even if nothing was found, they should still take precautions, especially when washing the eyes, and they should have experts watching him closely.


    However, he thought that the higher-ups in the family weren''t fools. With his warning, whether or not this person was a traitor, they would undoubtedly take extra precautions.


    Even if he was used of making a false usation, it would be worth it if it meant protecting the sacred tree.


    After all, a false usation wasn''t a capital crime. In the face of the family''s greater good, he ultimately decided to risk it all and stand up.


    "Who is this person?" Long Lie looked at Long Xuan and asked sternly."It''s Long Chen. I suspect he has been taken over by someone. His brain needs to be thoroughly examined," Long Xuan whispered.


    Seeing that Long Lie had agreed, Long Xuan knew that he had sessfully distanced himself from the situation and would face no further risk. After this, he decided not to concern himself with it any longer. This would be the only time he would help. If, after his warning, the family still lost the sacred tree, then he truly had no more power to help.


    "Him? That doesn''t seem like him at all."


    Long Lie frowned slightly, but recalling Long Xuan''s suspicion that he might have been taken over, particrly in the brain area, he put aside his doubts and immediately headed towards the high tform of the Gu Battle Tournament.


    At this moment, Long Wanli had just announced a halftime break. The family elders were preparing to leave the stage when Long Lie suddenly ascended the tform. Under the surprised gazes of the elders, he walked to Long Wanli''s side and whispered something in his ear. Soon, Long Wanli''s expression turned grave.


    Although his voice was low, the elders present were all Spiritual Sea stage experts with keen hearing, and they could clearly hear what was said. Very quickly, their expressions changed.


    The Fourth Elder frowned first and said, "Long Chen? That doesn''t seem right. He made significant contributions to the family justst year."


    The Tenth Elder snorted and said, "Long Lie has no enmity with him, and no reason to falsely use him. Which traitor would wear the word ''traitor'' on their face? The less someone looks like a traitor, the more likely they are one."


    "Although there is no evidence, I believe what Long Lie says. I think there''s a strong possibility this is true. Why don''t we just arrest him and let me interrogate him personally?"


    "No! We can''t alert the enemy!" The Great Elder raised his hand to stop him and said, "Arresting him without solid evidence is ast resort. What if nothinges of the interrogation? It would only alert the enemy."


    "Since their target is the sacred tree, we might as well turn the tables on them. Let''s set up a trap around the sacred tree and wait for them to fall into it," the Great Elder narrowed his eyes, revealing a cunning expression.


    ...


    Meanwhile, in a secret chamber, Long Chen was sitting across from someone, sipping tea. He said, "Even though I lost a match, I think I''m still secure in the top twenty. If it weren''t for all the concerns, I wouldn''t have lost that match. Hmph, do they really think I''m afraid of that swarm of bees?"


    Long Chao looked at him and said, "Anyway, your task after entering the Holy Land is to kill everyone for me, then create the illusion that the sacred tree was taken. The ranking doesn''t matter to you. Just blend into the top twenty; being too high-profile mightplicate things."


    "Naturally," Long Chen smiled. "But you''re really ruthless. To get all the Divine Dragon Milk Sap, you''re willing to go to such extremes. The family hasn''t treated you poorly."


    "This will cause the Long family to lose arge number of geniuses. The n will fall into decline. This is your family¡ªcan you really go through with it?"


    Long Chao''s eyes were devoid of any emotion as he said, "Those who achieve great things don''t fuss over minor details. I don''t want to do this either, but if I don''t, there won''t be enough Divine Dragon Milk. Without enough, I can''t ensure the perfect evolution transformation of the Evil Dragon Emperor''s Eye."


    "Even if I could defeat Long Ziyan and take the first ce in the Gu Battle Tournament, the amount of Divine Dragon Milk I would receive wouldn''t be nearly enough. This is my only choice."


    Long Chao''s expression suddenly became somewhat ferocious. "I have no choice. My Evil Dragon Emperor''s Eye is a peak-grade Gu insect, carrying an illusion technique that is a soul seed¡ªthe strongest illusion in the Far West. But the Evil Dragon Emperor''s Eye must undergo perfect evolution for the soul seed to affect everyone."


    "Such a powerful illusion technique¡ªhow could I let it go to waste if it can''t be used to its full potential? No, I have to use external forces to eliminate allpetitors and monopolize the Divine Dragon Wood!" Long Chao''s emotions became agitated, and his voice suddenly grew louder.


    Indeed, he was willing to betray his family, even ughtering arge number of the family''s geniuses, all for the sake of obtaining more Divine Dragon Milk. For this one small reason, he had be so deranged that he wouldmit such heinous acts.


    He would invite external enemies into the family''s sacrednd, using them to kill all the geniuses. Then, he would emerge as the only survivor, severely injured and near death, thereby monopolizing all the Divine Dragon Milk. The family would think that the Divine Dragon Milk had long been taken by the enemy and would never suspect it was with him. This was his perfect n.


    To grow stronger, he was willing to sacrifice the family''s well-being in exchange for all the Divine Dragon Milk¡ªtruly insane.


    Of course, the foreign forces wouldn''t help him for free. There was a condition.


    That condition was the Gu form for the Sou Gu. Obviously, anyone with a bit of sense could see the immense benefits hidden within the form.


    But the Sou Gu form wouldn''t be traded directly through Long Chao. If it were that simple, they could just capture a Spirit Gathering stage Gu Master from the Long family and torture them for the information¡ªwouldn''t that be easier? After all, the Sou Gu had long been widely used within the Long family.


    In fact, every n had ways to prevent their unique Gu forms from being leaked. The Long n''s method was to ce a restriction on the souls of all its members, ensuring that no one could pass on the family''s secret Gu forms. If they tried, the restriction would destroy their soul, killing them instantly.


    So whether by offering great rewards or torturing someone at random, it was impossible to obtain the Long family''s secret Gu forms.


    The only way was to use force to break into the Long family''s Library Tower and seize them.


    But this required an insider to first sabotage the protective Formation around the family. This was the secret deal between Long Chao and the Hun n.


    Hearing Long Chao''s words, Long Chen did not show any disdain. Instead, he nodded in approval and said, "Exactly! Those who achieve great things don''t concern themselves with minor details. To aplish something big, one must be ruthless. You''re doing the right thing."


    "Just make sure you don''t mess up when the timees. If anything goes wrong on your end and causes significant losses to our n, don''t me us for offering you up as a scapegoat," Long Chen suddenly spoke with a sharp tone.


    "Hmph! There''s absolutely no way anything will go wrong on my side. If something does go wrong, it will only be on your end. I warn you, the Long n''s Ancestor went out a month ago to seek cooperation with the Western Long n. While there''s no Gu King stationed here, this is your only chance."


    "You should be aware of how many Gu Kings the Western Long n has. Once our two ns unite, you''ll never have another opportunity to strike. This is your only chance," Long Chao reminded.


    "Our n will not make any mistakes. We n to first dispatch arge number of experts to raid the various mountain peaks of the Long n, which will inevitably draw out many of their experts to assist."


    "At that moment, I will create chaos in the holynd. They will think they''ve fallen for a trick to lure the tiger away from the mountain and will send their few remaining experts to the sacrednd."


    "But what they won''t know is that our real target is not the Sacred Tree, but the Tower of Scriptures. After two diversions, their rear defenses will be thin, and with gaps in the formations, the fall of the Tower of Scriptures is inevitable¡ªno surprises will ur!"


    "And what about the sacrednd? There are at least twenty Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators there, along with at least one Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivator. Are you sure you can handle so many people by yourself?" Long Chao asked suspiciously.


    "Hmph! Don''t underestimate the power of my Brain Gu n. The strength of our Brain Gu is entirely dependent on the strength of the host body."


    "Although this host body isn''t very strong, only at the Marrow Cleansing stage of Gu cultivation..."


    "But in my Insect bag, I have four corpses of Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators, and four of my siblings are controlling them."


    "By the time my Hun n raids the outskirts of the Long n, arge number of their Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators will surely be drawn away. My four Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators are enough to bathe the sacrednd in blood."


    "Then, when I pierce your heart with a sword, you can just use the Little Strong Gu to feign death. No one else will leave alive," said the Brain Gu inside Long Chen''s body, full of confidence.


    Hearing its n, Long Chao let out a long breath and felt that such a wless n could not possibly fail.


    "Good. Remember, the Sou Gu recipe is the most important secret of the Long n and is definitely kept on the top floor of the Tower of Scriptures, the ninth floor. Go directly to the ninth floor to find the receipt, and leave immediately after you get it. Don''t be greedy, and don''t waste time on the lower floors. The Tower of Scriptures isn''t far from the sacrednd."


    ¡­


    Time passed quickly, and by the afternoon, the second half of the Gu Battle Tournament officially began.


    Long Xuan arrivedte again and jumped onto the same tree, looking out into the distance.


    He was anxious to know the oue of the matter¡ªwhether Long Lie had sessfully reported it or if he was instead punished for false usations.


    When he saw Long Chen appearing unharmed, his heart sank.


    Could it be that the n didn''t take his words seriously? He frowned.


    But when he noticed the n''s high-ranking members casting a few subtle nces at Long Chen, he knew the matter was resolved and sighed in relief.


    As long as the n paid attention to him and grew cautious, he wouldn''t need to worry about it anymore. He could now focus on eating and drinking.


    He shifted his attention to the Gu Battle Tournament in front of him, effectively putting the matter behind him.


    The second half of the tournament still had many rounds to go, and it would continue until sunset.


    After such a long time, he finally understood the rules of the Gu Battle Tournament. Yes, it wasn''t until now that he paid attention to the rules; otherwise, he wouldn''t have been so surprised when he didn''t see any drawing of lots.


    The rules of this Gu Battle Tournament were simple: win a match and earn ten points, draw a match and earn five points, lose a match and earn no points.


    The ranking of the tournament is based on the total points, with the highest score determining the champion, who would receive the most Divine Dragon Milk.


    However, the tournament did not have a set number of rounds; it was entirely time-based and had to end by sunset.


    This meant that the faster the battles, the more matches could be fought, and the higher the total points.


    If there were too many drawn-out battles, many participants might not even get to fight several rounds, and the champion''s score might not be very high.


    As for who fights whom, it''s entirely random, handled by the n, with no way for participants to intervene.


    If you''re unlucky, you might repeatedly run into the top ten contenders, and you''ll just have to ept your bad luck. Every Gu Battle Tournament has its share of unfortunate souls who are strong but fail to make the top twenty.


    In the first half, Long Xuan fought ten rounds, winning seven and losing three, earning a total of seventy points. He chose to forfeit the three matches he found difficult, but it wasn''t because he couldn''t win. If he unleashed all his best Gu insects, who among them could be his match?


    But there was no point in doing so; it would only expose his trump cards without any real benefit.


    He wasn''t the only one who liked to concede. In fact, many others would simply concede when facing a likely unbeatable opponent, speeding up the matches significantly. As a result, Long Xuan had already fought ten rounds in just half a day.


    Long Xuan estimated that he could still fight ten rounds in the second half. Relying solely on the seventy points from the first half wasn''t enough to guarantee sess. He would likely need to win seven more rounds in the second half to be safe.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 124: Unintentionally Creating a New Profession

    Just as he was deep in thought, a familiar name mentioned by Long Wanli suddenly reached his ears, interrupting his thoughts and snapping him back to attention.


    "Now, Long Xuan, Long Panpan, take the number 1 Gu pit."


    Hearing this familiar name, Long Xuan was momentarily stunned¡ªwhat a coincidence that he was the first one to go up again.


    Being the first to appear really drew too much attention, and he truly disliked being the center of focus.


    He slowly walked to the Gu pit and saw that his opponent was a sweet and cute female Gu cultivator named Long Panpan, whom he had actually heard of before.


    After all, she was the second most beautiful woman in the Long family, her beauty only second to Long Ziyan. One was of the cold and aloof type, the other was of the cute type. Both were extremely popr in the Long family and were prominent figures among the younger generation. It was hard not to notice her name.


    Moreover, because she was the second most beautiful woman in the n, all the spectators rushed to the number one Gu pit, once again gathering everyone''s attention on it.


    Long Xuan''s face was also drawn into everyone''s gaze, making the attention-shy him feel very ufortable.


    "Panpan! Go for it! Beat him up!"Hearing the cheers for Long Panpan from the entire crowd, Long Xuan''s face darkened.


    When he saw Long Panpan remove the insect armor from her Earth Master Gu and rece it with one engraved with an anti-flight formation, and then give him a sweet smile, Long Xuan''s face darkened even more.


    Goodness, it''s actually an anti-flight formation! This thing is a perfect counter to his bee swarm! It seems that during the halftime break, many people had already found ways to counter him.


    In such a short time, it was naturally impossible to instantly create an insect armor that could counter him.


    However, a new profession had already emerged in the Long n called the Insect Armor Master. The Insect Armor Master is a highly lucrative and special profession, even surpassing Alchemists in earning potential. This profession''s method of making money is to forge various insect armors for insects.


    A powerful Insect Armor Master can forge extremely strong insect armor bybining inscription patterns and formation patterns, making them highly sought after.


    Do not think that the only clients for Insect Armor Masters are Earth Masters. Earth Masters can wear insect armor in battle because they meet two key criteria:rge surface area and great strength.


    It can be said that as long as an insect meets these two conditions, it can wear insect armor.


    Althoughrge-sized Gu insects are rare, they do exist in this world, and it''s certainly not just Earth Masters that are suitable for wearing armor.


    There are many other types of Gu that meet the criteria, but their strength, size, and cost-effectiveness are far inferior to that of the Earth Master Gu, though they still meet the conditions to wear armor.


    The idea of putting armor on Gu insects that Long Xuan came up with was something impossible to keep secret; anyone could easily copy it just by looking at it once.


    As a result, the practice of armoring Gu insects began to trend in this region, and the trend was even growing more intense.


    Moreover, this trend was spreading at an astonishing speed to surrounding areas, bing the most beloved battle method for all Gu cultivators. It can be said that thisbat style is now in vogue.


    Insect armor is a new thing, but where there is demand, a profession specializing in making insect armor is naturally born, and some even use it as a way to make a living.


    Under this trend, Insect Armor Masters sprang up like mushrooms after rain, bing increasingly popr. Centered around the Long family, Insect Armor Masters were spreading at an incredible rate to surrounding areas, even infecting major regions.


    Insect Armor Master has be the hottest special profession of the moment, with a trend of sweeping the world, and is bing one of the most profitable special professions of the time, attracting many Gu cultivators with a talent for making insect armor.


    Many people were eager to switch professions to be Insect Armor Masters, to catch this new wave and seize this opportunity that could send them soaring to the skies.


    Long Xuan is truly amazing¡ªhe actually created a new special profession in this world. He became the founding master of the Insect Armor Master profession, the progenitor of this school.


    But he would eventually be harmed by what he had created; now, someone was already trying to use insect armor to deal with him.


    The insect armor had limited space and could often only carry one formation, so most people would choose to engrave offensive formations on the insect armor. In the first half, he didn¡¯t encounter any insect armor with an anti-flight formation.


    But during the halftime break, Long Panpan had enough time to buy an insect armor equipped with an anti-flight formation from a Long n Insect Armor Master to counter him.


    Every Insect Armor Master has a pile of insect armor ready to sell; they''re already made, so she just bought one directly, without needing time to make it herself.


    If she could buy an insect armor that counters him from an Insect Armor Master, then others could too.


    So in the second half, Long Panpan would definitely not be the only one with an anti-flight insect armor. The opponents he faced afterward might all have one, especially since cement was so cheap.


    Long Xuan''s scalp tingled, and he felt immense pressure. He was counting on his bee swarm to survive, but if his bee swarm were neutralized, how could he continue fighting?


    There was no choice. Since anti-flight insect armor had be widespread, he couldn''t just admit defeat in this tough battle. He had to ovee this, or else he might as well surrender for the rest of the matches¡ªthere would be no point in fighting.


    Seeing Long Panpan looking at him with a mocking smile, Long Xuan got angry. How dare she bully the founder of the Insect Armor Master profession? He must make her cry.


    Originally, he was toozy to n a strategy and didn¡¯t want to think too much during a Gu duel, but now he was being forced to use his brain, and it was clear he had no choice.


    The essence of Gu battle is half dependent on the strength of the Gu and half on the strategies of the Gu cultivator. Now it seems that he must follow the rules of the game and use his high IQ to n strategies for his bee swarm.


    Long Xuan frantically activated his sharp mind, and in just a few seconds, with his intelligence, he devised a strategy for the bee swarm to disregard the anti-flight formation.


    After transmitting his idea to the Queen Bee, Bing Bing, via his soul, Bing Bing widened her eyes at Long Xuan, wondering how he could be so clever. How did hee up with such a cunning n? It was truly brilliant.


    After giving Long Xuan a shocked look, Bing Bing led the bee swarm to fly above the number one Gu pit. Long Panpan looked at the bees filling the sky, her smile still sweet.


    However, just as she was about to activate the Earth Master Gu''s anti-flight formation, something happened that left her utterly bewildered.


    The bee swarm suddenly scattered, flying above the other Gu pits.


    Long Panpan was stunned on the spot, her small mouth slowly opening wide.


    It wasn''t just Long Panpan who was confused¡ªeveryone watching was equally baffled. They were dumbfounded, their expressions strange as they looked up at the sky. The entire arena fell silent.


    Long Xuan sneered. Did she really think she could outwit him? She was still too inexperienced. He was the ancestor of trickery.


    This brings up an important rule of the Gu Battle Tournament: If a Gu insect leaves the Gu pit, it is considered out of bounds and a loss.


    However, the ground can be divided by the pit to determine boundaries, but how do you judge if a flying Gu insect is out of bounds? There''s no way to set a boundary in the sky, so only if a Gu insectnds outside the pit on the ground is it considered out of bounds.


    So Long Xuan had this crafty idea: since there''s no boundary in the sky, why not fly over the other Gu pits?


    If she dared to use the anti-flight formation, it would only bring down the flying Gu insects of the otherpetitors, turning it into a two-against-one situation, which certainly wouldn''t be allowed.


    So Long Panpan was left dumbfounded. She had the anti-flight formation in hand, but she couldn¡¯t use it, nor could she leave it unused.


    If she didn¡¯t use it, she¡¯d get beaten up. But if she did use it, it would interfere with the otherpetitors, and they''d surelye after her.


    Her head was spinning, and she stood there with her mouth wide open, unable to close it.


    "Despicable! You¡¯re really despicable!"


    "If you have the guts, bring them back here!" Long Panpan, frustrated, jumped up and down, pointing at Long Xuan and shouting in exasperation.


    "Heh, go ahead and activate your anti-flight formation! Why aren''t you doing it?" Long Xuan smiled provocatively.


    "Oh my! This is just too shameless! So despicable!"


    "This is too despicable! Is it really okay to bully a pretty girl like this?"


    "Great strategy! Why didn¡¯t I think of this method to counter the anti-flight formation? Truly a clever n, excellent tactics!"


    At this moment, all the Gu cultivators in the arena were in an uproar, discussing the scene loudly. Some were watching with amused smiles, while others cursed Long Xuan¡¯s despicableness and sympathized with Long Panpan, causing a chaotic uproar among the crowd.


    At the same time, the elders on the high tform couldn¡¯t help but twitch their mouths, exchanging nces, their expressions full of surprise, unable to maintain theirposure.


    "This seems a bit like cheating. Is this really allowed?" The fourth elder asked, his mouth twitching.


    "At least ording to the rules, flying Gu insects are only considered out of bounds if theynd outside the Gu pit¡¯s boundary. His strategy adheres to thepetition''s rules," the first elder replied with a bitter smile.


    "He¡¯s exploiting a loophole in the rules. He really is something, able toe up with such sneaky tricks. I like this kid," the second elder said with a smile of approval.


    "Using the rules to your advantage is also a form of intelligence. The fun of Gu battle lies in outsmarting stronger opponents. Since he hasn¡¯t broken any rules, we have no reason to stop him."


    "However, in the next Gu battle Tournament, we¡¯ll definitely need to set a boundary in the sky." Long Wanli looked up at the sky, revealing a helpless expression. How were they supposed to draw a boundary in the sky? This kid had truly given him a colossal problem.


    Seeing that the elders on the high tform didn¡¯t intervene, Long Xuan hesitated no more and immediately ordered BingBing tounch an attack.


    In an instant, following the Queen Bee Bing Bing¡¯smand, all the ice bees aimed at the number one Gu pit and unleashed a barrage, raining stingers down like a shower, covering the entire pit with no room to dodge. Everyone watching felt their scalps tingle.


    Meanwhile, Long Xuan¡¯s Earth Master Gu also charged into the pit under the rain of stingers and started pummeling the Earth Master Gu¡¯s descendants within.


    Long Panpan''s face turned pale, and she quickly waved her hand and shouted, "Stop! Stop! I surrender!"


    She looked like she was about to cry.


    Seeing her tearful face, Long Xuan had no choice but to order the attack to stop and tossed a bottle of pills towards her, then walked away coolly.


    At this moment, not only was she on the verge of tears, but everyone who had already purchased the anti-flight insect armor looked like they were about to cry as well. It was over; the anti-flight insect armor was a wasted purchase.


    This anti-flight insect armor not only failed to counter the bee swarm, but this strategy would also be learned by others, rendering the anti-flight formation useless in all subsequent Gu battles. The anti-flight insect armor was nowpletely worthless.


    ........................................................................


    Read extra chapters on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 125: Meeting the Sacred Tree

    The uing matches became much easier. Perhaps everyone was intimidated by him, as every opponent who was matched against him chose to forfeit directly, saving him quite a bit of effort.


    However, no matter how easy it was for him, it couldn¡¯tpare to how easy it was for Long Ziyan. In the first half of thepetition, she simply stood there and effortlessly secured the first ce. Unexpectedly, in the second half, she continued to stand there without even lifting a finger, yet still remained firmly in first ce.


    Whenever anyone was matched against her, they would curse their bad luck and then immediately surrender. Her first-ce win was incredibly easy. However, although it seemed easy, it was actually quite tiring¡ªstanding for so long made her tired.


    The Gu Battle Tournament proceeded quickly, and it didn''t feel like much time had passed before the sky began to darken, with the sun about to set. By this time, the tournament was nearing its end.


    At this point, Long Xuan had won seven out of ten matches in the second half, with a total score of 140 points, more than enough to ce him in the top twenty.


    As for the matches he lost, they were ones he deliberately forfeited. Without using peak-grade Gu insects, it was impossible for him to sweep all his opponents.


    For example, there was Long Ziyan, who still hadn''t moved from her spot. When Long Xuan was matched against her, he also chose to surrender immediately, just like everyone else. Without using peak-grade Gu insects, there was no way he could be her opponent. It was something he didn''t even need to think about¡ªwho knows how many peak-grade Gu insects this little rich girl has.


    Throughout the entire tournament, she never once had to make a move. No one could force her to reveal her trump card, and all of her Gu insects remain unknown. Long Xuan did not dare to take that risk.


    When the Gu Battle Tournament finally concluded, as expected, Long Ziyan, with 200 points from twenty consecutive victories, firmly upied the top of the leaderboard and became the champion of this year''s tournament.As for who came in second ce, Long Xuan didn¡¯t even need to think about it¡ªit was naturally the perpetual runner-up, Long Qilin.


    He only lost to Long Ziyan in one match, winning neen in total, with a final score of 190 points, cing him second.


    He was born at the wrong time, encountering Long Ziyan was truly a tragedy. He would forever be overshadowed by her, and thebel of "perpetual runner-up" was one he could never shake off.


    However, he had long since grown ustomed to this disappointment. He stood there, expressionless, without any emotional fluctuation.


    The sixteenth ce was taken by Long Panpan, who had left a deep impression on him. As for the others, he didn''t pay much attention to them¡ªthey were just background characters, and he couldn¡¯t be bothered to remember their names.


    As for himself, due to deliberately losing several matches to conceal his strength, he ranked eleventh, a position that was neither too high nor too low.


    After the tournament ended, in order to save time, there were no borate ceremonies or awards presentations. Long Wanli called the top twenty contestants onto the high tform and then led them to the holynd where the Sacred Tree grew.


    All the winners were very excited, closely following behind him. As they passed through the crowd, they stood tall with pride on their faces.


    The Gu Battle Tournament had a high degree of prestige. Although luck yed a role, those who made it into the top twenty were generally considered the most talented among the family, and they had every reason to be proud.


    Long Xuan did not walk beside Long Ziyan or Long Qilin; instead, he hung back at the end of the group, deep in thought.


    Even now, he still hadn''t figured out a way to secretly take away a branch of the Sacred Divine Dragon Tree.


    He was at aplete loss. He knew nothing about the situation in the sacrednd and had no information at all.


    In such a state of ignorance, what good n could he possiblye up with?


    At this moment, he could only y it by ear and see what kind of chaos Long Chen would stir up. As long as the Long family was in turmoil, he might have a chance.


    It wasn¡¯t long before Long Wanli led the group to the most spiritually rich ce in the n¡¯s territory.


    The most spiritually rich ce in the family was naturally at the very center of the family¡¯s domain. The concentration of spiritual energy in the air was highest at the center of the Long n''s domain, gradually decreasing the further one went from it.


    The concentration of spiritual energy in this world was never uniform. Some ces had a high concentration, while others had low.


    This mountainous region had a high concentration of spiritual energy, far surpassing other mountain ranges. It was said that this ce used to be the territory of demonic cultivators, who tightly controlled this treasurednd.


    But after the Long family migrated to the extreme west, they had no ce to settle. After a long period of searching for a suitable location, they set their sights on this area and used the pretext of a missing child tounch a war against the demonic cultivators living here.


    Although the Long n was new to the area, their strength was not to be underestimated. The demonic cultivators on the mountain fought a bitter battle with the Long n''s Gu cultivators for three days and three nights. In the end, the demonic cultivators were outmatched, their formations were broken by the Long n''s Gu cultivators, and all the demonic cultivators living here were ughtered.


    The Long n then took over this treasurednd and made it their home, building extensively. This is how the Long family, now one of the seven great ns, came into being.


    This was the history of the Long family¡¯s rise. It¡¯s said that the child who went missing was never found.


    The Long family established their residence in the area with the highest concentration of spiritual energy in the mountain region. At the very center of this area, where the spiritual energy was most concentrated, they nted the family''s Sacred Tree, the Divine Dragon Wood.


    The Divine Dragon Wood holds significant symbolic and spiritual meaning for the Long n. Every year on the day of eye-cleansing, the entire n gathers here to kneel and pay homage to the Sacred Tree. At the same time, the n offers many sacrifices to the Sacred Tree, and a grand sacrificial ceremony is held, with aplex set of rituals.


    However, this tradition takes ce after the eye-cleansing ritual, which urs in the evening.


    Thus, the importance of the Sacred Tree to the Long family is evident. Given its significance, it is naturally heavily guarded by stationed experts, making it no easy task to obtain.


    Long Xuan nced at the tall walls surrounding the Sacred Tree and once again felt the daunting difficulty of this mission. Whether or not he could seed, he had no confidence at all.


    "Listen carefully! The Dragon''s Tear will be personally prepared by me. The longer the Dragon''s Tear is left unused, the weaker its spiritual effect. It¡¯s best to use it as quickly as possible.


    Anyone with the Evil Dragon Emperor Eye must undergo the eye-cleansing ritual on the spot. Those without the Evil Dragon Emperor Eye might not be able to withstand the medicinal power of the Dragon''s Tear. In that case, you may take it back and use it slowly."


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan''s expression subtly changed.


    He knew that Long Wanli''s words were directed at him. Everyone present had the Evil Dragon Emperor Eye, except for him¡ªhe was the only exception.


    Anyone without the Evil Dragon Emperor Eye wouldn''t even be participating in this Gu Battle Tournament. Anyone participating this year certainly had the Evil Dragon Emperor Eye in previous years.


    Although his Eye Of Heavenly Secret looked very simr to the Evil Dragon Emperor Eye, it was clear that it couldn''t fool Long Wanli.


    Long Wanli wouldn''t have said this in previous years, but because of the new addition of Long Xuan this year, he mentioned it. Then, amidst some puzzled nces from the crowd, he walked towards the gate of the surrounding wall.


    At the gate, two Gu cultivators at the peak of Marrow Cleansing stood guard on either side. Seeing the family head approaching with people in tow, they respectfully saluted and then opened the gate, allowing everyone to enter.


    As Long Xuan entered within the surrounding wall, a peculiar, towering tree immediately came into view.


    The tree was entirely dark red, with sparse leaves, but its trunk grew in a twisted and coiled manner, resembling a spiraling dragon,pletely unlike the upright and straight growth of other trees.


    Perhaps it was due to this strange appearance that the tree was named the Divine Dragon Wood? The name seemed fitting¡ªwhen ignoring the details, the tree indeed resembled a dragon from a distance.


    A tree with such a unique appearance was undoubtedly extraordinary. Just by looking at it, one could tell that its grade was high; it must be an extremely rare and exceptional spiritual herb.


    Instinctively, Long Xuan used his "Golden Finger" ability, looked up at the tree''s crown, and soon a striking number appeared in his vision.


    [¡Þ].


    Seeing this strange symbol, Long Xuan gasped and felt a chill in his teeth.


    Goodness! The progress was infinite. He couldn''t help but widen his eyes.


    He knew all too well what this symbol represented. It indicated that this tree was immortal, possessing an endless lifespan.


    In this world, there are only two types of spiritual herbs that can break the lifespan limit: Earth-grade spiritual herbs or the legendary Heaven-grade spiritual herbs.


    Long Xuan¡¯s heart pounded wildly. No wonder this tree held such a high status in the Long family, was so heavily guarded, and had be the sacred tree protected by the family for generations¡ªit was an invaluable treasure.


    Now he finally understood. The grade of this tree was so high that it was terrifying; it was enough to be considered a family heirloom by any n and passed down through generations.


    At this moment, an elderly man sat beneath the tree. His clothes were somewhat shabby, and his beard was long, but his eyes were bright and sharp.


    This person didn¡¯t bother to conceal his aura at all. His peak Spiritual Sea cultivation was fully exposed, making him awe-inspiring.


    Goodness! There were two peak Marrow Cleansing experts guarding the outside, and inside there was even a peak Spiritual Sea master sitting here.


    Just how important was this tree to the Long family that they would allocate so many powerful resources to guard it? Long Xuan was astonished.


    Seeing someone enter, the old man immediately stopped meditating, looked up at the neers, and slowly stood up.


    ¡°Senior Brother, it''s been so many years that you''ve been trapped in this ce¡ªit must have been hard for you.¡±


    Long Wanli was the first to speak, looking at the old man with an apologetic gaze.


    ¡°Hard? What¡¯s so hard about it? Where isn¡¯t suitable for sitting and cultivating? Is cultivation even something hard?¡±


    ¡°I think this ce is great. The spiritual energy is the richest, and there¡¯s no one to disturb me. I can cultivate here withplete focus, without being distracted by worldly matters. That¡¯s why my progress has been so rapid¡ªI''m already touching the threshold of the Gu King.¡±


    ¡°And what about you? As the family head, you¡¯re burdened with too many trivial matters, wasting much of your cultivation time.¡±


    ¡°Among us brothers, your talent was clearly the best; you should have been the first to break through to the Gu King. But after bing the family head, you¡¯ve had less and less time for cultivation, while I, the one with the poorest aptitude, managed to reach the Gu King bottleneck first.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m very content now. It may seem like this ce is a cage, but in truth, the one trapped is you¡ªyou just don¡¯t realize it.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve already seen through the truth. I¡¯m toozy topete with you for the position of family head anymore. Whoever bes the head is a fool, always worn out like a dog with a bunch of trivial matters, things even a dog wouldn¡¯t want to deal with.¡±


    ¡°Speaking of which, I should thank you. If you hadn¡¯t manipted the drawing of lots, how would I have had the chance to live in this prime cultivation spot? I wouldn¡¯t have had the opportunity to touch the Gu King bottleneck so quickly.¡±

 Chapter 126: Long Xuans Devious Plan

    "You know? How did you guess?" Long Wanli''s expression froze as he looked at him in disbelief.


    Years ago, the two of thempeted for the position of family head. At the time, they were both the most outstanding geniuses in the family, each with many supporters. The previous family head feared that thepetition would lead to internal strife, so he decided to use a lottery to determine who would be the family head.


    Whoever drew the bamboo slip with the word "Long" written on it would be the head, and the loser would have to guard the sacred tree for fifty years, allowing time to cool off.


    This was equivalent to house arrest, and it was a n devised by the former family head to prevent internal conflict by separating the two for an extended period.


    Long Wanli couldn''t bear the thought of being trapped, so he resorted to trickery, recing all the bamboo slips with nk ones.


    He let Long Buhui draw first, knowing that no matter what, he would pick a nk slip.


    With a nk slip in hand, everyone would assume the remaining slip had the character on it. So, when Long Buhui saw that his slip was nk, he didn¡¯t even bother watching Long Wanli draw and directly went to the sacred ground to guard the sacred tree, where he remained for fifty years.


    Using this dishonorable method, Long Wanli sessfully imed the position of family head. Although the family prospered under his leadership, he always felt guilty towards Long Buhui.


    He originally thought that this secret would never be discovered, but to his surprise, Long Buhui had known all along, leaving him stunned."Hmph! If you hadn''t done anything wrong, why would you always look at me with such guilt? Your obvious mistake made it easy to guess!"


    ...


    Meanwhile, outside the Long family, arge group of Gu cultivators from the Hun n were attacking the Long family''s various mountain strongholds from four directions: east, west, north and south.


    In no time, battles erupted on the outskirts of the Long family¡¯s territory, and distress signals flew from all directions toward the family''s centralpound.


    At the northernmost point of the Long n''s territory, six Hun n Gu cultivators in the Marrow Cleansing stage stopped in their tracks, staring at the vast formation before them in surprise.


    "This is such arge area. The person here must be extremely wealthy. There must be a vast herb garden inside, filled with high-grade spiritual herbs. Otherwise, there would be no need for such arge formation," one of them said, his eyes gleaming with greed.


    "Hehe! It looks like we''ve found a big target. The wealth inside must be astonishing. If we don''t go in and plunder it, when will we?" Another cultivator, also filled with greed, suggested to the others.


    "Fourth Brother, don''t be reckless. Although you are skilled in formations, this one is vast, so it¡¯s likely not easy to break," cautioned the most cautious of the six.


    "Hmph! Is it necessary to be so cautious? Even the Nine Dragons Formation guarding the Long family couldn¡¯t stop me. What chance does this small outer formation have? I''ll break it with ease!"


    "Exactly! With Fourth Brother''s expertise in formations, there¡¯s no need to be so careful. Remember our mission¡ªwe must act swiftly. I''ve also heard that the Long n has developed something called cement. Although formations made with this material cover arge area, they are fragile and easy to break. Don¡¯t be fooled by this formation''s appearance; it''s just for show!"


    "Hahaha... Exactly! Formations made with that trash material are nothing. Watch me break it with ease!"


    The Gu cultivator, known as Fourth Brother,ughed loudly and flew straight into the formation.


    The other Gu cultivators, upon hearing that the formation was made with cement, also showed disdain and, without hesitation, followed him inside.


    The most cautious of the group sighed but eventually dismissed his concerns and enteredst.


    ...


    The distress signalsing from all directions finally broke the awkward silence between Long Wanli and Long Buhui. Long Wanli retrieved a small house from his insect-rearing bag, pulled out a stack of letters from inside, and casually nced at their contents, his expression slowly changing.


    In the past, he might have sent arge number of experts to support the defenses.


    But now, knowing in advance that something would happen today, these incidents seemed too much like a ploy to lure him away.


    After a moment of thought, he decided to send only a small portion of the family''s forces to support the various mountain peaks, leaving most to stay and guard the centralpound.


    "What¡¯s going on? What happened?" Long Buhui, noticing the change in Long Wanli''s expression, immediately walked over, reached into the small house, pulled out a letter, and, after scanning its contents, flew into a rage.


    "How bold! A demonic cultivator dares to raid the Long family? They must have forgotten how we made our fortune¡ªby killing!"


    "My term as guardian ends today. After all these years, my body is rusting. I''ve been wanting to stretch my muscles for a while now. I¡¯ll go out and kill them all!"


    Long Buhui rolled up his sleeves, ready to rush out.


    "Wait! Be careful not to fall into their trap!" Long Wanli quickly called him back, giving him a meaningful look.


    Long Buhui paused, showing a thoughtful expression before retreating.


    Seeing that the family hadn¡¯t taken the bait, Long Chao and Long Chen exchanged nces, their expressions slightly changing.


    Long Chao shook his head, deciding to abandon the n. But Long Chen, with a determined look, felt there was no turning back. The other attacks had already begun, and he couldn¡¯t halt the n now.


    Seeing that Long Wanli was unlikely to send more experts, Long Chen hesitated no longer. He had to create chaos to draw more Long n experts to his location.


    He immediately took off his insect-rearing bag from his waist and scattered its contents on the ground. Suddenly, twenty Gu cultivators appeared in the center of the courtyard, four of whom exuded the aura of the Spiritual Sea stage.


    Upon seeing twenty people suddenly appear in the middle of the courtyard, all the Long n Gu cultivators were stunned.


    "Can the insect-rearing bag even hold people?" This was the first time they had ever seen such a thing.


    Long Xuan was also startled by the sudden appearance of these people. "Is this some kind of grand illusion? How did they manage to fit people into an insect-rearing bag and bring them here?"


    "Not good!"


    The Long n Gu cultivators quickly realized the situation and immediately distanced themselves from these unexpected guests.


    However, Long Chao reacted a moment toote and was pierced through the heart by Long Chen''s sword, copsing to the ground.


    "Long Chen! What on earth are you doing?"


    Many were shocked by the sudden turn of events. None of the Long n Gu cultivators in the Marrow Cleansing stage had received any prior information, so they werepletely confused by what was happening.


    Only Long Wanli''s expression remained unchanged, as if he had anticipated this all along. He watched their actions with a calm demeanor, showing no signs of rm.


    "Kill them! Make it quick!"


    Long Chen didn''t waste time with unnecessary words. After shaking off the blood from his sword, he led a group of experts to attack in all directions.


    But just then, another unexpected event urred.


    Suddenly, from all directions, five elders of the Long n in the Spiritual Sea stage emerged with ferocious smiles and charged at the invading Hun n Gu cultivators.


    Seeing these fierce faces, Long Chen''s expression changed drastically, and a chill ran through his heart.


    "Damn it!"


    Realizing that arge number of strong opponents had been lying in wait, Long Chen knew he had fallen into a trap. The information had likely been leaked in advance, and since he wasn''t the one who leaked it, it could only have been Long Chao.


    "Damn it! I knew you were unreliable! You''vepletely screwed me over! Die!"


    Long Chen kicked Long Chao''s body hard, sending him flying.


    "Retreat! Whoever can escape, do it!"


    Long Chen shouted as he turned and began to break through to the outside.


    "Hahaha..." Long Buhuiughed heartily. "You think you can escape? You¡¯re all staying right here!"


    After being confined here for fifty years, his body had grown rusty, and he was eager for a fight to loosen up his muscles. So, when the chance for a battle arose, he was the most excited.


    Cracking his knuckles, he charged forward enthusiastically.


    Family head Long Wanli also put away his insect-rearing bag''s small house, then sneered and joined the fight.


    With the addition of these two powerful allies, the Long n now had seven Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators, making it seven against four, an overwhelming advantage with no chance of losing.


    At this moment, the Long n Gu cultivators in the Marrow Cleansing stage finally snapped out of their shock. Their faces filled with anger, they released their Gu insects and charged at the enemy Marrow Cleansing stage cultivators.


    The Long n''s Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators outnumbered the enemies and were also the best of their level, making it impossible for their battlefield to suffer a disadvantage.


    The chaotic battle erupted instantly, turning the scene intoplete disorder. Hearing themotion inside, the two peak Marrow Cleansing stage guards outside also rushed in angrily to join the fray, further worsening the situation for the Hun n Gu cultivators.


    Seeing this, Long Xuan''s eyes flickered with a cunning idea. He quickly shouted, "Move the battle farther away, don¡¯t let them get desperate and destroy the sacred tree!"


    At his reminder, Long Lie, who was blocking the doorway, suddenly changed his expression. He then deliberately left an opening for the enemy to escape.


    The Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators from the Hun n wouldn¡¯t miss such a rare opportunity, so they all fled through the opening.


    "Stop them!"


    "Quick, chase them!"


    "Don¡¯t let them escape!"


    All the Long n Gu cultivators also ran through the doorway in pursuit. Soon, only a few corpses were left on the ground, with no one alive in sight.


    Even Long Xuan, with a look of anger, ran out in pursuit, leaving no one behind.


    The previously lively sacred ground suddenly became quiet, so quiet that you could hear a pin drop, as if nothing had just happened.


    But the silence didn¡¯tst long. Soon, a furry rabbit jumped out of the ground, looking excitedly at the tall Divine Dragon Tree before it. ''This is excellent material for alchemy!''


    The rabbit eagerly leapt onto the tree, bit off four thick branches with its sharp teeth, stored them in a storage pouch, and then jumped back into the ground, fleeing quickly.


    With that, the sacred ground fell silent once more. However, the majestic Divine Dragon Tree was now in a terrible state, with milky white sap continuously dripping from the broken branches, creating a soft, rhythmic sound as it hit the ground.

 Chapter 127: The Tragic Fate of Long Chao

    While changes were unfolding elsewhere, a group of unexpected visitors arrived at Long Xuan''s Little Strong Peak. A spirit boat stopped before the magical formation, and on board were six Gu cultivators exuding the aura of the Spiritual Sea stage.


    ¡°What an enormous trapping formation, covering such a wide area. This is the first time I¡¯ve seen something like this. We might have to take a detour,¡± said an elder at the front of the spirit boat.


    ¡°Detouring would waste too much time. We don¡¯t have much time to spare. Can¡¯t we just leap over it from the sky?¡± another elder on the boat suggested, walking toward the bow.


    The elder who spoke first shook his head and replied, ¡°If it were that easy, I wouldn¡¯t have stopped. Powerful formations likely include anti-flight arrays.¡±


    ¡°Moreover, I can sense that this trapping formation is square-shaped, likely stacking multiple worlds together. Going up or moving sideways will take the same amount of time.¡±


    Another elder, bing impatient, eximed, ¡°Detouring is a waste of time! A formation thisrge must have a cement foundation; it shouldn¡¯t withstand a direct attack. I¡¯ll break it in a few breaths. You all wait here and see how I shatter this small formation in seconds!¡±


    With that, the elder charged into the formation alone, his figure quickly disappearing from everyone¡¯s sight.


    The elders on the boat waited quietly, but after a long time, he still hadn¡¯t returned. Their expressions gradually changed, and they could no longer sit still.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t he say he¡¯d be back in a few breaths? How many breaths have passed? Useless! Getting trapped by a small formation, I¡¯m going in to drag him out. You all wait here,¡± another impatient elder dered, unable to restrain himself any longer. He left a sentence behind before flying into the formation.However, after an unknown number of breaths passed, there was still no movement from within the formation. At this point, the people on the boat couldn¡¯t remain calm any longer.


    ¡°Why is it taking so long? How much time has passed? We don¡¯t have much time to waste!¡± an elder couldn¡¯t help but grumble.


    ¡°It¡¯s likely something happened. It seems this formation has some tricks. We underestimated it. I¡¯ll go in and bring them out! I¡¯ll be back soon.¡±


    With that, the elder prepared to jump off the boat.


    However, the elder standing at the bow hurriedly stopped him, urgently saying, ¡°Don¡¯t! Don¡¯t send anyone else in!¡±


    ¡°This formation is not simple.¡± The elder¡¯s face changed drastically.


    ¡°Take the detour! Quickly!¡±


    Without giving the others a chance to react, the elder hastily steered the spirit boat away¡­


    Although this elder was rational, they had already wasted a lot of time in this ce. Now, it was toote to do anything else.


    As expected, when they finally flew the spirit boat to the Long family, ready tounch a fierce attack on the treasure house, the battle at the Holy Land had long ended, with all the invaderspletely wiped out.


    At this moment, the Long family¡¯s experts weren¡¯t held up by anything. The strategy to lure them away had lost its effectiveness. If this group were to charge in now, wouldn¡¯t it be walking right into a trap?


    So, just after the Long family had dealt with one group of invaders, they noticed a small boat flying in from a distance, arrivingte, heading straight for the treasure house.


    Everyone was baffled, not understanding why these people wereing in waves. What kind of strategy was this?


    No one could figure it out, but seeing only a few people daring tounch a direct assault on the Long family, how could they not swallow them whole?


    Everyone grinned ferociously and surrounded the group.


    The oue was predictable. When the people on the boat realized something was wrong, it was toote. Just as they turned the boat around to retreat, a bolt of lightning struck them down.


    Soon after, a swarm of Long family Gu cultivators swarmed them. The battle ended quickly, and those few Hun family Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators died miserably.


    ¡°They shouldn¡¯t be sending anyone else, right? This is already the third group!¡± Long Lie said with a strange expression, looking into the distance.


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to say. These people like to fight with fewer against more. There might really be a fourth or even a fifth group. We should stay vignt and keep an eye on the sky,¡± Long Buhui said, looking at the sky with some uncertainty.


    ¡°Long Lie, we really owe you this time. Although these fools were a bitcking in intelligence, if it weren¡¯t for your intelligence, it would¡¯ve been quite troublesome if so many Spiritual Sea stage experts had suddenly rushed into the Holy Land. You¡¯ve done a great service this time,¡± Long Wanli said seriously, looking at Long Lie.


    However, Long Lie seemed distracted, frowning as he said, ¡°I wonder where these people came from? They don¡¯t seem like a local force. The previous group was weak, but this group was unexpectedly strong.¡±


    The others also fell into contemtion. These sudden arrivals were too strange. Their techniques were unfamiliar, and they had never encountered them before, let alone had any enmity. They couldn¡¯t understand how they had provoked this force.


    At this moment, a Long family Gu cultivator came over, holding arge, plump insect, and respectfully said, ¡°Patriarch, we found this in the brains of those corpses.¡±


    ¡°It seems that the brains of those people werepletely eaten by this thing. These creatures were controlling those bodies in battle.¡±


    Long Wanli immediately approached, and upon seeing therge insect, his face changed drastically, revealing a serious expression.


    ¡°It¡¯s a Brain Gu, without a doubt. These people must be from the Hun n of the Western Lands.¡±


    Long Wanli frowned deeply, clearly understanding how troublesome this n could be.


    The Great Elder walked over and said with a wry smile, ¡°If it¡¯s that family, then we¡¯re in trouble. The Hun family is one of the strongest ns in the Western Lands. They can refine Brain Gu to control the corpses of many powerful beings, including humans, spirit beasts, and other races. They often raid major tombs, using Brain Gu to control the corpses of many powerful beings.¡±


    ¡°As a result, the high-level forces of this Gu cultivation family in the Spiritual Sea stage and above are numerous. However, thebat power of a corpse controlled by Brain Gu is far inferior to when it was alive.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why you found thest group easy to deal with but found this group troublesome. The reason the previous group was able to escape from the insect bag was that those people were essentially insects, not humans.¡±


    ¡°Moreover, the Brain Gu is as intelligent as humans. After devouring a person¡¯s brain, it can obtain all of their memories and abilities. Once it infiltrates other families as a spy, it¡¯s almost impossible to detect.¡±


    ¡°Long Chen fell into this trap because his brain was eaten by this thing. It was pure luck that we noticed something was off with him.¡±


    The Second Elder then said, ¡°It¡¯s true that the Hun family has many high-level Gu cultivators, but we don¡¯t need to fear them. A strong dragon can¡¯t suppress a local snake. The Western Lands are too far from here; they can¡¯tunch arge-scale invasion.¡±


    "Moreover, it is said that they are currently at war with the Gui n, so they don''t have the energy to bother with us. During this time, we can form an alliance with the Long n of the Western Lands, and then we won''t have to fear them at all."


    Long Wanli, however, did not look any less worried and said, "Although that may be true, without absolute strength, there is no absolute safety. We cannot entrust the family''s safety to the assumption of security."


    "The family should aim to have a second Gu King. With two Gu Kings guarding us, unless the Hun n leaves one of their Gu Kings behind to guard their own home, we would be absolutely safe."


    Long Wanli''s suggestion caused the n''s high-ranking members to fall into deep thought.


    In recent years, the family had been developing rapidly, and their annual ie was reaching new highs. The wealth they had umted was already enough to cultivate another Gu King.


    Thinking this over, all the elders felt tempted. The benefits of having a second Gu King in the family were obvious.


    For any family, the most important asset is always the power at the level of a Gu King. Having one more Gu King is an immense attraction for any n.


    Moreover, with the Long n''s increasing wealth and the many coveted items in their possession, they indeed needed more Gu Kings to protect them.


    The First Elder, moved by this, said, "Our n should indeed start the process of cultivating a second Gu King. Even without the threat of external enemies, this n must proceed."


    "However, should we pay a high price to trade for the breakthrough elixir, or should we have Long Ao refine it? Although he has already be a third-grade alchemist, he is still inexperienced, and it¡¯s uncertain whether he can refine a breakthrough elixir, which is one of the most challenging types of elixirs to make."


    The Second Elder, stroking his beard, said, "Then we can only first ask Long Ao how confident he is. But among us, only Long Buhui seems to have touched the threshold of the Gu King, correct?"


    The Second Elder looked towards Long Buhui, and the others also turned their gazes on him.


    Everyone understood that, barring any unexpected events, the second Gu King of the n would be him. He would be another pir of the Long n.


    Long Buhui, feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the attention, hurriedly waved his hand and humbly smiled, saying, "No, no! I haven''t made many contributions to the n; I''m not suitable for this. It really wouldn''t be appropriate. You should consider someone else."


    Although he knew in his heart that the opportunity to break through to the Gu King was undoubtedly his, and he was so excited he could almost burst, he still had to appear humble on the surface, declining a few times before reluctantly epting.


    "Buhui, don''t be so modest. You''ve done great service to the n by guarding the Sacred Tree for so many years. Your merits are more than enough. The Gu King position is yours, so don''t refuse."


    The First Elderughed heartily, patting him on the shoulder.


    Long Buhui shook his head, and just as he was about to humbly decline again, someone suddenly shouted, "Oh no! Something has happened to the Sacred Tree!"


    At that moment, the faces of all the n''s high-ranking members changed. They rushed madly towards the sacrednd.


    All the ordinary Gu Masters of the n also turned pale and hurriedly followed.


    In no time, the previously quiet sacrednd became noisy again. Arge group of people charged in madly, and when they saw the state of the Sacred Tree, their eyes nearly popped out of their heads, and they were furious beyond belief.


    No one understood the importance of the Sacred Tree to the Long n members.


    "Who did this? Who the hell did this?" The First Elder hurried to the Sacred Tree, emotionally stroking its broken branches, tears streaming down his face.


    "Those bastards from the Hun n dared to harm our Sacred Tree like this! I swear, I will never coexist with them!" Long Lie roared in agitation.


    Long Buhui''s face was grim as he tried to suppress his anger. He had guarded the Sacred Tree for fifty years without incident, only for something to happen on thisst day. He was almost bursting with rage.


    The Second Elder took a deep breath, patted Long Lie on the shoulder, and said with a sharp look in his eyes, "Don''t be rash. It might not be the Hun n. If it were them, why not destroy the whole tree or take it all away? Why damage just a small part? I suspect someone else is behind this."


    A fierce glint shed in the Second Elder''s eyes.


    "You mean..." Long Buhui asked, deep in thought.


    "Hmph! If it wasn''t the Hun n, then it must have been done by someone from within our ranks."


    "The barrier protecting the Sacred Tree was breached. Not only was the formation here damaged, but the family-protecting formation was also sabotaged."


    "Who could silently destroy our family-protecting formation besides an insider? Indeed, even a thousand precautions can''t prevent betrayal from within. Traitors are the hardest to guard against."


    The Second Elder''s face twisted with anger. He was on the verge of passing out from rage, his eyes filled with fury.


    Long Wanli, his face dark with anger, looked around and shouted furiously, "Who? Who the hell did this? Who was thest to leave? Step forward!"


    At these words, the Gu Masters of the Long n who had just entered looked at each other, bewildered.


    Long Xuan also wore an expression of anger, looking around as well.


    He had no reason to panic. To avoid suspicion, he hadn''t been thest to leave. Moreover, it was Long Xuan who had stolen the branch of the Sacred Tree, so what did it have to do with his Fire Clone? Let them investigate all they want.


    Just then, the unconscious Long Chao was finally revived by someone. He opened his eyes in a daze and groggily asked, "Huh? What happened?"


    In the next moment, everyone turned their gazes to him, their expressions strange.


    If anyone had been thest to leave, it was undoubtedly him. He had never left and had been alone there for who knows how long.


    ........................................................................


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 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 n-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 bing increasingly strange.


    Anyone with the Little Strong Gu couldn''t hide it from his eyes. Long Xuan wasn''t trying to wrongfully use 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 n, that would be strange.


    Since he indeed seemed to be colluding with the Hun n, they might as well let him take the me. For someone who betrays from within, there¡¯s no need to feel any guilt about ruining them.


    At this moment, Long Chao waspletely 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 cor, 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 Wanliughed angrily, "Well, well! You¡¯ve truly surprised me!"


    "First, you used the Little Strong Gu to fake your death. Then, after everyone left, you nned 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 n. Also, investigate whether he secretly harmed Long Chen!"


    Immediately, two burly members of the Long n, 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 be 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 n 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 exnations.


    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 n 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 n? 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 n, ording to the n 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 byrvae. 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 urred, causing a great uproar within the entire n.


    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 reced with contribution points.


    The uing sacrificial ceremony would be held as scheduled, but the offerings were even greater. Arge number of cattle and sheep were ughtered, 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 drankva before, so seeing one that drank blood didn¡¯t surprise him at all.


    However, this meant that if he wanted to nt the Divine Dragon Wood, he would probably need to raise arge number of cattle and sheep at home. Building arge pasture might be his next task.


    Building a pasture would require arge piece ofnd and ample grazing area. Hisnd was notoriously vast, so it could indeed amodate a pasture.


    In this way, it wasn¡¯t so bad. In the future, he would have fresh beef andmb 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 n was solemnly worshipping the Sacred Tree, he was thinking about food, his worship far from devout.


    He had no idea what the n 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 rtionship 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 nting 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 n 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 n to bring the enemy upon us."


    "We found his letters on the corpses of the Hun n 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 n¡¯s storage bags, he would still be denying his collusion with the foreign n."


    Long Wanli mmed 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 usualposure 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 n."


    "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 n 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 n¡¯s history. There were even times when the n 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 arge scale. With the diminished materials, the Evil Dragon Emperor Eye has rarely awakened its heaven-defying abilities, so such incidents haven¡¯t urred anymore."


    "I never expected that during my time as the n leader, such a thing would still happen. It¡¯s my fault for rxing my vignce in this regard, despite being well-versed in n 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 n¡¯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 ck Dragon Pill. The ck Dragon Pill is the most suitable for advancing the Long n¡¯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 n 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.


    ......


    ........................................................................


    Read ahead on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 129: Meeting Long Panpan Again

    The next day, just as the sky began to brighten, Long Xuan opened his tired eyes and looked at the branches he had already nted in the high-grade Spiritual Soil. His eyes revealed a glimmer of excitement.


    Clearly, he had sacrificed sleep and worked through the night to conduct his research.


    But in the end, his efforts paid off. Through repeated experiments in the Origin Realm, and with the help of his golden finger, he actually managed to develop the technique for propagating spiritual trees through cuttings.


    At this moment, he had sessfully nted four branches of the Divine Dragon Wood in the southeast, northwest, and northeast of Little Strong Peak. As soon as the progress was made, Long Xuan knew that these four trees would definitely take root and thrive. His technique for cuttings was a sess.


    Through continuous experimentation and research in the Origin Realm, he discovered that low-grade spiritual herbs would be deprived of nutrients from the surrounding soil and spiritual energy from the sky when nted near Earth-grade spiritual herbs.


    Therefore, Earth-grade spiritual herbs must be nted at a considerable distance from each other. They cannot be nted too closely together, or the nutrients in the soil won''t be sufficient.


    Furthermore, if low-grade spiritual herbs are nted near Earth-grade spiritual herbs, they will also be deprived of nutrients and will not survive.


    This led to the conclusion that, despite having developed the technique for cuttings, it was still impossible to cultivate Earth-grade spiritual herbs on arge scale. He could only nt a few of them.


    Cultivating Earth-grade spiritual herbs requires too muchnd.However, Long Xuan was satisfied with just nting four Divine Dragon Woods. Four trees were more than enough for his needs, and there was no need to nt more.


    Excitedly, Long Xuan folded up the paper on which he had written the cutting technique and stored it in a small box.


    Although the research time for the cutting technique was short¡ªhe had only taken one night to seed¡ªthere was no doubt that the cutting technique was yet another great invention in this world. If it were to be revealed, it would be a revolutionary breakthrough.


    Earth-grade and Heaven-grade spiritual herbs, while possessing endless longevity, are extremely difficult to reproduce. The world is fair; where there is a heaven-defying aspect, there must be a limitation.


    However, with this technique, even the most difficult-to-reproduce Earth-grade and Heaven-grade spiritual herbs could be propagated. This was an astonishing, even heaven-defying breakthrough.


    Imagine, if the Long n were to cultivate many Divine Dragon Woods, then all of the Long n''s Gu cultivators'' Evil Dragon Emperor Eyes could undergo a perfect Evolution. There would no longer be a need for them to fight tooth and nail at the Gu Battle Tournament for a single eye-cleansing spot.


    It¡¯s no exaggeration to say that, despite being only a few sheets of paper, this technique is worth billions.


    He could never reveal this technique to anyone and must keep it sealed forever, using it secretly by himself.


    If such a powerful technique were to be exposed, it would undoubtedly bring about cmity, potentially even triggering chaos across thend.


    No matter how much money this technique could fetch, Long Xuan would never dare to trade it, not even with his own n.


    Now that the Divine Dragon Woods had been sessfully nted, it was time to prepare arge amount of blood to water them.


    To cultivate four Divine Dragon Woods, he needed to establish a vast pasture, and this had to be done immediately¡ªit couldn¡¯t be dyed.


    As soon as the sky brightened, he went down the mountain again, preparing to trade for arge number of herbivorous spirit beasts, such as cattle and sheep.


    Although he hadn¡¯t slept all night, he was full of energy and had no intention of resting. Instead, he busied himself once more.


    Long Xuan headed straight for the Long n¡¯s marketce. The marketce was another trading venue within the n, where arge number of Long n disciples would set up stalls every day to trade various treasures from their storage bags.


    The marketce was a ce for the Long n¡¯s Gu cultivators to barter with each other.


    The biggest difference between the marketce and the Treasure Pavilion was that the treasures in the Treasure Pavilion belonged to the n, while the items at the marketce stalls were all privately owned.


    Since he wanted to establish a pasture and trade for arge number of spirit beasts, he needed to trade with the Long n¡¯s Gu cultivators who operated pastures. Therefore, the marketce was the most suitable ce to go.


    As soon as Long Xuan entered the marketce, he felt as though he had entered a bustling bazaar. The noise was loud, and the sounds of haggling were constant¡ªit was very lively.


    The only difference was that the stall owners and traders in the marketce were all Gu cultivators of the Long n, members of the same family. This reduced the sense of caution and added a touch of familiarity.


    Long Xuan didn¡¯t immediately start trading for young animals¡ªthere were plenty of them, so there was no rush. He decided to stroll around first to see if there were any other treasures he needed.


    Before long, he stopped in front of a stall selling fish. The water tank was filled with spirit fish of various colors, swimming back and forth.


    It was easy to see that the stall owner ran a family business¡ªa fish pond¡ªmaking a living by selling spirit fish to earn cultivation resources.


    The reason Long Xuan stopped at this stall wasn¡¯t that he thought he could find a bargain, but because he remembered that his Little Strong Peak had a spiritual spring. The spring was rich in spiritual energy, making it ideal for raising spirit fish.


    If spirit fish were to live in the spiritual spring, nourished by abundant spiritual energy, they would certainly grow quickly, be fat and delicious, and make for an exceptional delicacy.


    Since the spiritual spring was currently unused, he thought it might be a good idea to use it for raising some spirit fish. Since he already had a pasture, he might as well set up a fish pond too, so that he could enjoy fresh spirit fish in the future.


    He missed the fish stew from his previous life and imagined that the spirit fish in this world, nourished by the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, would taste even more delicious.


    So Long Xuan Immediately Decides to Buy Some Fish Fry to Start a Fish Pond


    "So, how much are these fish? Do you have any high-grade ones? What''s the most delicious fish species?" Long Xuan asked the stall owner.


    As he took a closer look, he realized that the stall owner was someone he knew well¡ªthough not exactly well, but someone who had left a deep impression on him. The stall owner was none other than Long Panpan, whom he had once given a stern talking to.


    At this moment, Long Panpan was sitting on a piece of white cloth in a "duck sitting" posture. She raised her head and gave him a brief, nk stare before quickly returning to normal. Clearly, she also had a deep impression of this man.


    "So, it''s you! You''re actually choosing spirit fish based on how tasty they are? Looks like you''re quite the foodie."


    "But you''vee to the right person. The most delicious fish in the world is definitely the Golden Dragon Fish. It''s said that the meat of the Golden Dragon Fish has the delicacy of a dragon''s flesh, and eating it is like eating dragon meat. That''s why it''s highly sought after by foodies, and its price has skyrocketed."


    "However, any creature with the word ''dragon'' in its name isn''t ordinary. The Golden Dragon Fish is extremely rare and hard to find. Even if you find one, it''s difficult to farm. The Golden Dragon Fish is a very delicate spirit fish, and very few people know how to raise them."


    "Because of its rarity, the Golden Dragon Fish is considered a luxury item in this world¡ªit''s highly priced, but there''s no market for it. Even with a lot of spirit stones, it''s hard to buy one."


    "You really dide to the right person. My sister manages the family''s fishing industry, and this morning, the fleet just caught five Golden Dragon Fish. They''re still alive, and fresh fish is the most delicious when cooked."


    "But, sorry to say, I''m a foodie too, and I n to keep the Golden Dragon Fish for lunch¡ªit''s not for sale!"


    Long Xuan was taken aback. If you''re not selling, why are you babbling on about it? Isn''t that just teasing?


    There were plenty of stalls selling spirit fish, and he didn''t have to buy from this one. But she had just described the Golden Dragon Fish as a rare delicacy with a taste simr to dragon meat, which piqued his curiosity.


    What does legendary dragon meat taste like? His cravings were instantly aroused.


    It seemed that she was the only one who had Golden Dragon Fish, and after arousing his curiosity, she frustratingly said it wasn''t for sale.


    She''s doing this on purpose! This little minx is infuriating.


    Long Xuan thought for a moment. He was indeed quite interested in the Golden Dragon Fish¡ªnot only because it was the most delicious but also because very few people knew how to farm them. That was the key.


    His various abilities were perfect for research, and figuring out how to farm Golden Dragon Fish wouldn¡¯t be difficult for him.


    He liked raising things that others couldn''t; if everyone could raise them, there was no point in putting in the effort to raise them in his spirit spring. The spirit spring should be used for high-quality fish, not for raisingmon fish that everyone had.


    Having made up his mind, he immediately said, "You im you''re not selling, yet you spent all that time introducing the Golden Dragon Fish to me? Since you''ve gone into such detail, you must want to sell, but you''re just trying to raise the price."


    "I won''t waste words. I picked up quite a bit of mid-grade Spirit Soil from the Empress''s Tomb and gave half to the Long Qilin. I still have the other half left."


    "If you give me a pair of Golden Dragon Fish, one male and one female, the mid-grade Spirit Soil is yours."


    Long Xuan knew exactly how to strike at the heart of the matter. He was aware that Long Panpan needed mid-grade Spirit Soil¡ªindeed, every Long n Gu cultivator who worked with Earth Master Gu needed it.


    Mid-grade Spirit Soil was extremely rare in this barren region. An Earth Master Gu that evolved using mid-grade Spirit Soil would undoubtedly be far stronger than most of its kind within the n.


    So, mid-grade Spirit Soil had a deadly appeal to every Long n Gu cultivator.


    As expected, upon hearing that Long Xuan was willing to trade mid-grade Spirit Soil for the Golden Dragon Fish, Long Panpan''s eyes lit up with joy.


    Long Xuan had actually underestimated the importance of mid-grade Spirit Soil to her.


    Mid-grade Spirit Soil does more than just strengthen Earth Master Gu. It¡¯s well known that Earth Master Gu is a Gu insect that the family heavily supports, and every year the n holds various Earth Master Gupetitions with astonishing rewards.


    If her Earth Master Gu could undergo the strongest evolution, it could easily outperform others in the n, making it easy to win the top prize in the Earth Master Gupetition¡ªa huge contribution reward.


    And since the Earth Master Gupetition is held every year, it would be like a steady stream of ie¡ªa stable financial path for her.


    So, in her mind, mid-grade Spirit Soil was equivalent to arge amount of contribution points. She was determined to obtain it, no matter the cost.


    Long Panpan immediately licked her lips in excitement and said, "Are you sure you want to trade your mid-grade Spirit Soil for my Golden Dragon Fish? No regrets?"


    Long Xuan had high-grade Spirit Gathering Soil, so he didn¡¯t care about this bit of mid-grade soil. He quickly replied, "Of course I won''t regret it. If you agree, we can make the trade right now."


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 130: Feeding the Fish

    "Alright! We have a deal! Now, give me the Spirit Soil," Long Panpan said with a smile as she tossed a storage bag towards Long Xuan. However, Long Xuan failed to notice the cunning glint in her eyes.


    Long Xuan happened to have the middle-grade Spirit Soil with him. After cing all the Spirit Soil into the storage bag that Long Panpan had thrown to him, he looked up only to find that she had already swiftly packed up her stall, even faster than he could.


    After throwing a fish-keeping bag filled with water towards Long Xuan, Long Panpan quickly snatched the storage bag filled with Spirit Soil from his hand.


    "The deal is done. Let''s not bother each other afterward."


    With that, she quickly left.


    Long Xuan was momentarily stunned, sensing something amiss. He immediately opened the fish-keeping bag and found that the Golden Dragon Fish inside were merely finger-sized baby fish. His nose twitched in anger.


    Long Panpan had just mentioned having Golden Dragon Fish for lunch, so he instinctively assumed that the fish wererge, or at least big enough for a te. But it turned out she wanted to eat these tiny finger-sized fish. They were so small that they wouldn''t even be enough to make a sauce, let alone fill a gap in her teeth. Was she really nning to eat this for lunch? Even if she was on a diet, this was too extreme!


    He had been hunting geese all day, only to have one peck out his eye¡ªhe had been careless.


    Fortunately, she hadn''t gone too far; there were five Golden Dragon Fish in the bag, not just two. With five fish, their breeding rate would be faster.After buying the fish fry, Long Xuan went on to purchasembs and calves, of course, focusing on the best-tasting breeds. He needed arge quantity, so he purchased an unknown number of Beast-Taming Bags to carry them all.


    Soon, however, he assigned this arduous task to his clone, while he quickly rushed back to the mountain. Golden Dragon Fish are difficult to raise, and he feared that if he dyed too long, they might die. He urgently needed to return and put them into the Spirit Spring.


    Upon returning to the Spirit Spring, Long Xuan immediately opened the fish-keeping bag and poured all the finger-sized Golden Dragon Fish into the spring, sshing water everywhere.


    The moment the Golden Dragon Fish entered the Spirit Spring, their previously sluggish appearance vanished, and they instantly became lively, swimming happily in the spring, full of vitality.


    It seemed they were quite satisfied with their new home, perhaps even more so than their original habitat.


    Long Xuan paused, realizing that they might not need his care anymore. Putting the Golden Dragon Fish into the Spirit Spring seemed to be enough; there was no need for him to study how to raise them further.


    The only thing he needed to do was to quickly research the fastest-growing fish feed to help them gain weight as quickly as possible, so that by next year, he could enjoy the meaty, sulent Golden Dragon Fish.


    The flesh of the Golden Dragon Fish was said to be as delicious as the legendary dragon meat, and he couldn''t wait to taste it.


    Long Xuan quickly walked to his insect breeding room, grabbed a bag of Spirit Insects, and returned to the Spirit Spring.


    His herb garden was vast and produced countless Spirit Insects, all kept in the insect breeding room. He selected some that weren''t too valuable to feed the fish.


    For now, he couldn''t figure out the perfect fish feed, but fish certainly eat insects, so he decided to start with some less valuable Spirit Insects to tide them over.


    He squatted by the Spirit Spring, tossing insect after insect into the water. The sharp-eyed Golden Dragon Fish immediately swam over excitedly, franticallypeting for the fallen Spirit Insects.


    The water sshed wildly, with constant plopping sounds, and chaos erupted in the spring.


    Long Xuan watched with great interest. Although he could have simply dumped all the Spirit Insects from the breeding bag into the water at once, he preferred tossing them in one by one, enjoying the sight of the fishpeting for each insect. The joy of feeding the fish was something only he could understand.


    Just as he was thoroughly enjoying feeding the fish, the insect breeding bag suddenly moved. He took out a letter from the bag, nced at it, and revealed a slightly surprised expression. It turned out that the house Elder Long''s Sou Gu built could connect with the Pyramid Small House?


    Although the materials used for the Pyramid Small House built by his Sou Gu weren''t the most expensive, they were far superior to a simple straw hut.


    He put away the letter and finally emptied the remaining Spirit Insects from the breeding bag into the water.


    This time, there was no need for the fish to fight over food. The five Golden Dragon Fish looked excited as they frantically chased the fallen insects, as if they were enjoying a buffet, each eating to their heart''s content.


    Given their appetite, it seemed they wouldn''t die living in the Spirit Spring, so Long Xuan felt at ease and left the spring to head towards Elder Long''s Red Jade Peak.


    Upon reaching the conspicuous straw hut on Red Jade Peak, he walked straight in¡ªthere was no need to knock, as there wasn''t even a door.


    Long Xuan couldn''t imagine how much debt Long Ao must have been in. Even with the earnings of a third-grade alchemist, he still hadn''t paid it off, and his Sou Gu had to suffer along with him.


    Thinking of Sou Gu, Long Xuan hurriedly looked towards it in the straw hut. He saw a house made of third-grade waste pills had appeared inside at some point, with the Sou Gu staying inside, poking its head out to look around.


    Unexpectedly, even Elder Long had a moment of inspiration, using third-grade waste pills to build a house for the Sou Gu. It was a clever way to recycle waste.


    While waste pills might be useless to humans, they were still full of energy and made for excellent building materials for insects.


    However, using third-grade waste pills for building could only be considered middle-grade materials, cing the house at the middle level among the Sou Gu family''s dwellings. This species had be incrediblypetitive.


    Noticing Long Xuan''s arrival, Elder Long turned to him and said, "The letter exins why I called you. The n has entrusted me to refine the third-grade ck Dragon Pill."


    "The difficulty of refining the ck Dragon Pill is extremely high, and you have a keen sense when ites to controlling the heat, so I need your assistance."


    Long Xuan showed no surprise, as he had long known that the family intended to cultivate a second Gu King. It was highly likely that they would have Elder Long refine the Breakthrough Pill.


    To be honest, Elder Long was a genius in alchemy, though not an unparalleled one. He had the ability to take on the challenge of refining the ck Dragon Pill, but since it would be his first attempt, he would inevitably consume a vast amount of materials.


    However, the family must have already prepared themselves mentally to waste arge quantity of materials. At this moment, the room was likely piled high with third-grade spiritual herbs.


    "How confident are you?" Long Xuan asked.


    "It''s hard to say. Alchemy depends entirely on the amount of materials avable. As long as there are enough materials, you will eventually seed. It just depends on how many resources the family is willing to invest," Elder Long replied after a moment of contemtion.


    "Time is tight, so let''s start refining the pill. The first attempt will definitely fail, so there''s no need to worry. Focus on gaining experience."


    With that, Elder Long took out a massive alchemy furnace and ced it on the ground, then tossed a pill form to Long Xuan.


    Long Xuan quickly caught it and nced over the form at lightning speed.


    The ck Dragon Pill required a total of 1,200 ingredients. Needless to say, refining the ck Dragon Pill would undoubtedly be extremely time-consuming.


    But this was to be expected. This was a rare third-grade pill form, belonging to high-grade spiritual pills. How could it possibly be refined in a short period of time?


    The higher the grade of the spiritual pill, the longer the refining time required¡ªthis is thew of nature.


    However, the pill yield seemed to defy logic. With so many ingredients going into the furnace, only one pill would emerge. Isn''t that far too little?


    It''s important to note that failed pills aremon in alchemy, which is why the pill yield rate is discussed.


    With only one pill expected toe out, there was a high likelihood it would be a failed pill, which wouldn''t be much different from aplete failure, indirectly increasing the chances of failure in refining the ck Dragon Pill.


    Long Xuan couldn''t help but frown and asked, "So many spiritual herbs go into the furnace, yet only one spiritual pilles out? Doesn''t that vite thew of conservation of mass?"


    Elder Long nced at him and replied, "Where did you hear such a thing, thew of conservation of mass? In all my years, I''ve never heard of it. By that logic, the Giantification Technique wouldn''t exist either, would it?"


    "You must understand that alchemy is the process of removing impurities and extracting the essence. The essence is already minimal, and refining high-grade spiritual pills requires extracting the essence from the essence. Most of the essence will be burned away, leaving very little of the refined essence."


    "If it can be condensed into a single spiritual pill, that''s already quite good. How many do you expect? Hundreds from one Cauldron, to create hundreds of Gu Kings for the family?"


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan seemed to grasp the concept and finally understood the reasoning. In other words, future tenth-grade spiritual pills might require tens of thousands of materials, yet only a few pills would be produced. This was reasonable, absolutely reasonable.


    He then looked at the pill form''s description of the ck Dragon Pill and found that it only had a 10% breakthrough rate. If a Gu cultivator with the Long family¡¯s bloodline consumed it, there would be a 20% breakthrough rate.


    However, even a 20% breakthrough rate was still far too low, wasn''t it?


    He still remembered that raw consumption of the Spirit Surge Grass had the same 20% breakthrough rate, but in Elder Long''s opinion, it wasn''t sufficient for the Ten Absolute Physique to break through.


    Now, the breakthrough rate of the ck Dragon Pill was also 20%, which meant that in the future, when he became a peak-stage Spiritual Sea Gu cultivator, the ck Dragon Pill would likely be useless to him.


    When Elder Long had sent a message asking for his assistance in refining the ck Dragon Pill, Long Xuan had been excited, thinking he could score an awesome pill form for free.


    But now it seemed that he had gotten nothing but disappointment. The ck Dragon Pill was useless to him. Once he became a peak-stage Spiritual Sea Gu cultivator, he would most likely have to create a Breakthrough Pill form with a higher sess rate on his own. It seemed that he would have to continue down the path of self-creation.


    After briefly reviewing the ck Dragon Pill form, Long Xuan began assisting Elder Long with the refinement process.


    He was still very interested in participating in the refinement of a third-grade spiritual pill. Understanding the process of refining high-grade spiritual pills in advance would be a valuable experience and would greatly benefit him when he eventually stepped into the realm of a third-grade alchemist.


    Before long, a loud bang echoed from within the alchemy furnace, and the sound of an explosion was deafening. Arge amount of ck smoke billowed out, causing the elder and the youth to cough incessantly in the thick smoke.


    The Sou Gu hurriedly shut the doors and windows to keep the ck smoke out.


    "What happened? Where did it go wrong?"


    <em>Cough, cough!</em> "I don''t know! Maybe your hand shook! Didn''t you say the first attempt would definitely fail, so there was no need to be nervous?"


    ...


    Clearly, Elder Long had no experience in refining the Xuanlong Pill and was fumbling through the process. The things that Long Xuan could learn from him were limited.

 Chapter 131: The Li Family

    Despite Long Xuan''s innate talent in controlling mes and being able to monitor the progress of alchemy, refining high-grade spiritual pills requires more than just good fire control. Every aspect must be perfect; any mistake in any step can lead toplete failure, turning a furnace full of expensive spiritual herbs into waste.


    Even with Long Xuan secretly assisting, batch after batch of the ck Dragon Pill ended up ruined. In just a few months, the two of them wasted countless precious spiritual herbs, nearly exhausting half of the family''s wealth.


    It was only then that Long Xuan truly realized how costly it was to refine high-grade boundary-breaking pills¡ªan endeavor that seemed like a bottomless pit.


    Cultivating a Gu King within the family is no easy task. Without suffering great losses, it''s impossible to gather the resources needed to nurture one.


    If one were to purchase such pills on the outside, it might be even more costly.


    And if you can spend a fortune to buy one directly, that''s fine, but the problem is that items that can help break through to the Gu King level have a 90% chance of attracting robbers.


    In the worst case, the boundary-breaking pill you''ve just acquired could be snatched away, and losing the pill is just one issue¡ªyou might also lose many of your family''s experts, which could leave the family in a state of decline.


    There are countless such examples, having happened many times before.


    The reason the Long family became one of the Seven Great Families of the Far West was precisely because one of the former Seven Great Families, the Li family, purchased a Gu King Pill at an auction in the Western Lands. To ensure nothing went wrong, they took every precaution, sending 80% of their family''s experts to escort it.Their caution was warranted, but the forces targeting the Gu King Pill were not just a few¡ªwave after wave of enemies came, endlessly.


    In the end, all the Li family experts sent to escort the Gu King Pill were wiped out, and the Gu King Pill was also lost, leaving the Li family severely weakened.


    To acquire this Gu King Pill, the Li family had sold off arge portion of their assets, depleting their resources, which further exacerbated their plight.


    Without resources, the cultivation speed of their geniuses slowed down significantly. Without the growth of their geniuses, the family could never recover, leading to a vicious cycle. The Li family then fell into decline, no longer able to maintain their status as one of the Seven Great Families or defend their vast territory. This fertilend attracted countless hungry wolves.


    In the end, to avoid the crisis of extermination¡ªand fearing the Long family might lose another child ande looking for them¡ªthe Li family proactively handed over all their territory to the Long family at a low price.


    After inheriting the Li family''s vast territory, the Long family rapidly developed, quickly ascending to be one of the Seven Great Families, with their family fortune soaring.


    This was a lesson learned from the past, and the Long family deeply understood it.


    Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, Long Wanli would never dare to purchase pills on the outside. Otherwise, the tide of fortune might turn, and the same fate could befall his family next year.


    Based on this consideration, the Long family spared no effort in supporting Long Ao in refining the ck Dragon Pill, focusing the entire family''s strength on this task.


    What does it mean to focus the entire family''s strength? It means concentrating all the family''s wealth to assist in alchemy, even at the cost of exhausting all their resources to sessfully refine a single ck Dragon Pill. With so many resources, even if by luck, they were bound to seed eventually.


    Thus, even though the old dragon and Long Ao continuously wasted materials, a steady stream of materials kepting in without hesitation¡ªthe family was trulymitted.


    With the family''s relentless support, finally, on the afternoon of the third month, the lid of the pill furnace suddenly flew open, and a rich fragrance of the pill filled the entire room in an instant.


    The two of them inhaled the dense aroma of the third-grade pill, their eyes revealing extreme excitement, their faces flushed with joy.


    Even the Sou Gu gently opened the door, sniffing the third-grade pill''s aroma, looking at the ck Dragon Pill with excitement.


    Who knows what that excited gaze meant? Maybe it wanted to use the ck Dragon Pill to build a house.


    After all, it was an excellent building material.


    Long Ao stared at the golden spiritual pill inside the furnace with bloodshot eyes, breathing rapidly, on the verge of madness from excitement.


    Finally, he couldn''t hold back any longer and burst into crazedughter, "Hahaha¡­ It¡¯s done! It¡¯s done! I finally seeded!"


    His maniacalughter was deafening, echoing far and wide. The family¡¯s top leaders had already been waiting outside the room for days. Upon hearing hisughter, they all showed ecstatic expressions and rushed inside like madmen.


    "Is it finally done? Is this the ck Dragon Pill?"


    "Let me see! Don¡¯t touch it! Do you think you can handle it?"


    "Haha! I didn¡¯t expect it to seed. To witness the ancestral ck Dragon Pill with my own eyes, my life isplete."


    ...


    Long Xuan watched as a group of old men rushed in like lunatics, dancing around the pill cauldron in excitement,pletely losing their usual dignity.


    Some wereughing hysterically, while others had tears streaming down their faces.


    Despite everyone being in a state of madness, no one dared to touch the golden pill that shone with a golden light. They didn¡¯t dare to reach out and touch it, as if afraid to desecrate the treasure.


    Long Wanli''s Eyes Turn Red


    Long Wanli''s eyes were slightly red as he finally approached the great contributor to the family, Long Ao. With a tone that carried a hint of gratitude, he said, "Brother Ao, you''ve worked hard these past few months. The contribution you''ve made to the family will never be forgotten."


    Long Ao, somewhat overwhelmed by the praise, quickly waved his hand and smiled, "It wasn''t hard! It wasn''t hard! The family head is too kind."


    "This sess is half due to my disciple. I truly dare not take all the credit. I, Long Ao, am still quite ipetent, having wasted so many of the family''s materials. The family must have spent a lot during this period, right? How much did I actually consume?" Long Ao asked nervously.


    He had been so focused on alchemy that he no longer remembered how many materials he had wasted, only that it was a lot.


    The pressure in his heart was immense, fearing that he had let the family down by consuming all the resources without producing the Xuanlong Pill. If that had happened, he wouldn''t have been able to forgive himself, even in death.


    Fortunately, the ck Dragon Pill was finallypleted, and the heavy stone weighing on his heart was lifted, allowing him to feel a sense of relief. However, he now began to worry about how much of the family''s resources he had wasted, bing anxious once again.


    Long Wanliughed and said, "You''re overthinking it, there''s no need. To be honest, your sess far exceeded my expectations."


    "I initially thought you would need to consume at least half of the family''s resources to produce the ck Dragon Pill, so I prepared an entire warehouse of materials for you."


    "Who would have thought that you managed to refine the ck Dragon Pill using only one-tenth of the stock? This truly exceeded my expectations¡ªI was overly cautious and underestimated your alchemy skills, Brother Ao."


    "Really? Hahaha..." Upon hearing this, Long Ao finally released thest bit of worry in his heart andughed heartily. He then added, "It wasn''t wasted. Although I only used one-tenth of the materials to refine the ck Dragon Pill, don''t trade away the remaining ny percent."


    "The first step is always the hardest. Now that I''ve sessfully refined the first ck Dragon Pill, it will be much easier to refine the next one, without needing to mobilize the entire family''s resources."


    "From now on, I have the ability to refine the ck Dragon Pill. As long as you give me time, there will be a second, even a third ck Dragon Pill in our family!"


    Upon hearing this, Long Wanli''s eyes immediately lit up, as if he could see a group of Gu Kings passing before him.


    He knew all too well what Long Ao''s words meant¡ªthey meant that he could continuously refine the ck Dragon Pill. From now on, the Long family would no longer have to risk purchasing the ck Dragon Pill from outside; the family''s Gu Kings would be produced continuously.


    "Our Long n is about to rise! Truly, the heavens are blessing our family!" The Grand Elder said with tears in his eyes.


    "Long Buhui! This ck Dragon Pill is yours. Do not disappoint us!"


    In the end, it was Long Wanli who carefully took out the ck Dragon Pill, ced it into a pill bottle, and handed it to Long Buhui.


    If there was anyone who was the most excited at this moment, it was undoubtedly Long Buhui.


    He was the direct beneficiary; this ck Dragon Pill was refined specifically for him. As long as he consumed this pill, he would have a chance to break through to the Gu King level and be the top powerhouse in this region. Who else here could be more excited than him?


    Long Buhui''s face was flushed, and his heart was pounding wildly. Faced with the ck Dragon Pill just within reach, he couldn''t remain calm; he was on the verge of losing control from excitement.


    His hands trembled as he took the pill bottle. Although the ck Dragon Pill was light, at this moment, it felt as if it weighed a thousand pounds. This pill carried the hopes of the entire family, and it weighed heavily on his heart, creating an invisible pressure.


    At this moment, he began to feel the same kind of anxious pressure that Long Ao had felt. What if he failed to break through? What if he wasted this precious pill and let the entire family down?


    An invisible pressure weighed down on him, making it hard for him to breathe. He didn''t want to disappoint the family, but the more he thought this, the greater the pressure became.


    Seeing this, Long Ao, understanding how he felt, said empathetically, "Brother Buhui, there''s no need for so much pressure. After all, the ck Dragon Pill only has a 20% sess rate. Failure is quite normal."


    "If breaking through to Gu King were easy, how could it be that each of the Seven Great Families has only one or two Gu Kings?"


    "But you''re different from others. If they fail, it''s over. But you still have a chance, because I now have the ability to refine the ck Dragon Pill."


    "If one ck Dragon Pill isn''t enough, then two. If two don''t work, then three. Our family now has the resources for this, so you don''t need to worry about failure or feel any pressure."


    "That''s right!" The Grand Elder also came over tofort him, "Even if you fail to break through, no one in the family will me you. You don''t need to feel any psychological pressure."


    "The more pressure you feel, the more likely you are to fail. You must adjust your mindset. To be a Gu King, you must have a strong mental state; don''t be overly cautious."


    Their words clearly had an effect. Long Buhui nodded heavily, adjusted his mindset, and his eyes regained their confidence. "Rest assured! I can''t guarantee a 100% chance of breaking through to Gu King this time, but I will do my utmost, and I will not let ack of mental resilience lead to failure."


    Long Buhui clenched his fists tightly.


    Seeing Long Buhui''s determined state, everyone smiled and nodded in relief.


    At that moment, the voice of the ancestor suddenly came from the sky, "Next, I will be Buhui''s protector. Unless the family faces a life-and-death crisis, no one is to disturb him. Buhui,e to me now."


    ...

 Chapter 132: Creating a Unique Body Technique

    The Long family was on the verge of weing their second Gu King, and the entire n¡¯s atmosphere had turned solemn. Conversations on the streets had significantly dwindled, and the once lively Long family estate had finally quieted down.


    Long Xuan had finally finished his work and found some leisure time. Upon returning to his cozy little home, he realized he had nothing to do for the moment.


    The Heavenly Dream Silkworm was still spinning silk, but the production was not yet sufficient to make a piece of clothing. The n to create the Heavenly Dream Soul Armor would have to wait for a long time.


    The transformation of the Eye of Heaven¡¯s Secrets also required a considerable amount of time, as the four Divine Dragon Trees needed to grow for many years before they could produce a continuous supply of Divine Dragon Milk Sap. He couldn''t rush this process either.


    He had tried all possible methods to evolve the Water Bear Gu, but it seemed unrted to consuming any particr substance, leaving him without a clue. It would likely require future opportunities, and sitting idly by wouldn''t help.


    All his clones were currently meditating around the Spirit Spring. Practicing near the Spirit Spring had significantly elerated their cultivation progress, and his clones were on the verge of reaching the middle stage of Marrow Cleansing. ording to his estimation, it was only a few months away, and all he needed was patience.


    As for how to utilize these few months, he thought about how his ''Purgatory True Demon Technique'' did not yet have a matching body technique. So, he decided to take advantage of this time to develop aplementary body technique.


    The Gates of Life and Death technique wasn¡¯t purely a body technique and wasn''t particrly useful in regrbat, so it was imperative to develop a practical matching body technique.


    Ever since he became a prodigious talent of the Long n, he had been granted ess to learn various secret techniques within the family. Over the years, he had his clones take turns studying in the n¡¯s Library Tower, and now he had almost mastered all of Long n''s exclusive body techniques. With this umted knowledge, he was ready to create his own body technique.A year ago, the family had assigned him a task to participate in a ring match against the Feng n. At that time, he was at a critical point in his creation process and didn''t want to be distracted, so he sent his Fire Clone to handle it. He didn¡¯t take the opponent seriously at all.


    He didn¡¯t give the Fire Clone any Peak-grade Gu, nor even Second-Team Gu. The Fire Clone simply relied on the various exclusive body techniques learned from the Library Tower and efficiently defeated the opponent.


    The Long n¡¯s exclusive body techniques were powerful, definitely top-tier, making them the strongest body technique family in the Far West. Only the Feng n could rival them in body techniques.


    But Long Xuan still felt that it wasn¡¯t enough. He felt that it wasn¡¯t strong enough, and more importantly, these techniques weren¡¯t perfectlypatible with his cultivation method. The degree ofpatibility was not high, so the techniques couldn¡¯t fully unleash their power.


    He nned to create an even stronger body technique that would have a 100%patibility rate with his cultivation method. How could the Purgatory True Demon Technique, such a powerful body refining technique, not have a pure and matching body technique?


    As for inspiration, it didn¡¯t take long for him to find it.


    Most body refining techniques could only strengthen the surface of the body, and they couldn¡¯t train the internal organs. However, the Long n¡¯s "Reverse Dragon Art" could strengthen the internal organs.


    After drawing from the Reverse Dragon Art, his Purgatory True Demon Technique also gained the ability to train the internal organs, and each level of the technique would collectively strengthen all the internal organs.


    This was the advantage of this cultivation method, and fully utilizing this advantage would allow him to create a body technique with 100%patibility.


    The first idea he had was to concentrate all the strength of his body into his fist for a powerful explosion, or to focus all his strength into his fingers, thereby breaking through a single point.


    His entire body¡¯s strength included the power from his internal organs, which gave him an advantage over others as he could mobilize strength from more parts of his body.


    His Purgatory True Demon Technique was already the top cultivation method. After undergoing extreme body refining training, like swimming in magma, the strength of his body was terrifying, even among those at the same cultivation level. He could easily outss other body refining experts by a wide margin.


    His physical strength was already overwhelming, and if he concentrated all that strength into a single point, the resulting power would be unimaginable. Long Xuan couldn¡¯t even fathom how terrifying it would be.


    Frankly, if he sessfully developed this body technique, it would far surpass all the exclusive body techniques of the Long n, easily making it the Peak body technique in the Far West.


    It was worth spending a massive amount of time researching and developing this body technique.


    He quickly came up with a name for this technique: <em>Steel Fist</em>.


    If the strength was concentrated at the fingertips, it would be called <em>Steel Finger</em>.


    Finger techniques could break through at a single point, andpared to a fist, fingers are smaller, so the concentrated strength would naturally be more focused, theoretically making it the most powerful.


    However, fingers are much more fragile than fists.


    So, whether "Steel Finger" or "Steel Fist" was stronger was hard to say.


    But developing these two moves alone wasn¡¯t enough. If Steel Fist was considered external force, used for striking the surface and causing external injuries to the enemy, then he also wanted to develop an internal force technique that could bypass surface defenses, utilizing skillful force to cause an explosion of power within the opponent¡¯s body, directly targeting their internal organs.


    Since he could mobilize strength from various parts of his body, if the strength from different parts was not synchronized, this internal force technique could have multipleyers, constituting a multiyered internal force.


    Eachyer of internal force would prate the opponent¡¯s body,yer byyer, and explode within, making it seem as though a single punch hadnded, yet the opponent had suffered from multiple blows.


    Facing multiple punches at once, how could the opponent possibly defend against them?


    He named this technique Steel Fist. Steel Fist would make it extremely difficult for the opponent to defend against, as eachyer of internal force would bypass surface defenses and directly target internal organs.


    Even if the opponent wore thick iron armor, Steel Fist would bypass the surface and attack the internal organs directly.


    Speaking of which, internal force was a concept from his previous life, and he wasn¡¯t sure if this world had the same concept.


    If not, then his Steel Fist would bepletely unique in this world. He would once again introduce a new concept to this world.


    Since no one knew about this type of technique, they would have no idea how to counter it.


    The most terrifying thing is always the unknown. Without understanding, anyone who faced Steel Fist would undoubtedly suffer greatly.


    Long Xuan was extremely satisfied with the threeplementary body techniques he had devised.


    Although they seemed like three distinct techniques, they were essentially variations of a single method¡ªeach technique involved focusing the body¡¯s entire strength into a specific point.


    The variations in how this concentrated strength was applied created the three distinct techniques.


    In essence, these three techniques were fundamentally the same, allowing Long Xuan to study them as one unified technique, developing them simultaneously.


    A smile tugged at the corners of Long Xuan¡¯s mouth. Just thinking about the terrifying effects of these techniques filled him with motivation, making him eager to immediately start developing theseplementary body techniques.


    Once these techniques were perfected, the Purgatory True Demon Technique would be like a tiger with wings, bing an unstoppable force with its newfound offensive capabilities.


    Who in the future would dare challenge him in physicalbat? Long Xuan brimmed with confidence, filled with disdain for any potential opponents.


    He hurriedly sat back in the pavilion, quickly grabbing paper and pen, and began working on developing theplementary body techniques.


    The Long family was renowned for their body techniques and excelled in the maniption of strength. After mastering all the body techniques of the Long n, Long Xuan had gained a deep understanding of the maniption of force, bing proficient in this field.


    Therefore, this time, he didn¡¯t encounter any writer¡¯s block. He had already found solutions to all the challenges in the Long n¡¯s archives, making this creation process exceptionally smooth, allowing him toplete it in one go.


    The sound of the pen scratching against the paper filled the pavilion, uninterrupted...


    ¡­


    Three months flew by in the blink of an eye. It was now midday, and on the road leading to the Long family¡¯s estate, a cyan-colored dragon boat was speeding along, carrying three passengers: an elderly man, a young man, and a young woman.


    The young man had a handsome appearance and fair skin, but his face bore an expression of arrogance, though his eyes asionally nced at the young woman beside him.


    The young woman was stunningly beautiful, with skin fairer than snow and a pair of bright, intelligent eyes. She was engrossed in a book on formations.


    The elderly man radiated the aura of a peak Spiritual Sea cultivator, dressed in luxurious clothing that marked him as someone of high status.


    The handsome young man asionally nced down from the boat, gradually showing a look of disdain. ¡°This ce is so deste, isn¡¯t it? It seems like there aren¡¯t even a few Gu Kings here. I¡¯m starting to regreting to visit these poor rtives.¡±


    The elderly man¡¯s face darkened, immediately turning stern as he said, ¡°Long Biao, mind your words. Have I not taught you that disasteres from the mouth? If you dare to say such things when we meet them, don¡¯t me me for breaking your legs.¡±


    The beautiful young woman nced at him, her expression impatient as she said, ¡°We didn¡¯t n to bring you in the first ce. You insisted on tagging along. If you dislike this ce so much, just go back yourself. That way, you won¡¯t embarrass uster.¡±


    Hearing the young woman speak, the arrogance on Long Biao¡¯s face vanished, reced by a look of ttery. ¡°Ruo Xue, I was just worried you might suffering to this ce.¡±


    ¡°I forgot to ask earlier, what are you doing in this poor ce? Even if something is happening, there¡¯s no need for a Fifth Elder toe here personally, right?¡±


    It seemed that this young man didn¡¯t even know what the people on this boat were nning to do; he had just followed them onto the boat.


    ¡°Stop calling this ce poor. Don¡¯t you realize that to the people in the Central Region, the Western Lands are also a poor ce? You¡¯re like a frog in a well, ignorant and arrogant, truly foolish.¡±


    Long Ruo Xue frowned, giving him an irritated look.


    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± the Fifth Elder Long Qian said at this moment. ¡°This world is incredibly vast. Our Long family may be one of the top ten families in the Western Lands, but that¡¯s just within this region.¡±


    ¡°Once we leave the Western Lands, we are nothing. There are countless forces in this world stronger than our family. In thoserger regions, our n wouldn¡¯t even rank among the lower-tier powers.¡±


    ¡°As we move toward the center of the world, we¡¯ll encounter many countries, each with a number of experts that far surpasses our n a thousand times over.¡±


    ¡°Long Biao, you must curb your arrogance. Dragon pride is majestic; insect pride is foolish. If you don¡¯t change this mentality, you¡¯ll suffer greatly sooner orter, and your future won¡¯t be promising.¡±


    ¡°The reason I¡¯vee here personally is because of a recently discovered Spirit Metal ore vein.¡±


    ¡°Our n and the Bai family discovered this Spirit Metal ore vein together, and we n to divide it through twelve matches between our geniuses. For every match we win, we gain one-twelfth of the ore vein¡¯s ownership. If we don¡¯t win any matches, the Spirit Metal ore vein will have nothing to do with us.¡±


    ¡°The Bai family is also one of the top ten families in the Western Lands, with a foundation no weaker than ours. We have no advantage inpeting against them in these matches.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m here personally visiting the Long family in the Far West¡ªto seek outside help.¡±


    ¡°Our families have now formed a full alliance, so borrowing a few geniuses shouldn¡¯t be a problem.¡±


    ¡°If we canbine the top talents from both families, we¡¯ll have a significant advantage in these matches, potentially even iming seven or eight-tenths of the Spirit Metal ore vein for ourselves.¡±

 Chapter 133: The Origins of the Far West Long Clan

    Upon hearing this, Long Biao''s expression became even more disdainful. "A remote backwater, what''s a poor rtive''s household going to produce in terms of genius?"


    The upper echelons of the family have truly lost their minds, he thought. They don''t trust the geniuses within our own family but instead pin their hopes on outsiders. He couldn''tprehend it.


    "And besides, in a fair and justpetition, you go outside and bring in external help? Isn''t that shameless? Isn''t that cheating? I''m not stooping to that level."


    "Can they really do that? Are you sure we can bring in outside help for this kind ofpetition? Isn''t that just cheating? That''s way too dishonest!"


    Long Biao''s eyes widened in disbelief as he asked.


    "Heh!" Long Qian chuckled smugly. "You young ones don''t know this, but the Far West Long n is actually a split-off from the Western Long n."


    "Two hundred years ago, the number of Gu cultivators in our n had swelled to its peak. But don''t think that more Gu cultivators in a family is necessarily better."


    "Sure, having more Gu cultivators increases the potential for war, but every situation has its limits. The more people there are, the more resources they consume. Sooner orter, the burden will exceed what the family can bear."


    "At that time, the Long n faced just such a situation. There were too many Gu cultivators, and the n''s resources were no longer sufficient to go around.""In those days, resources were scarce, and everyone had to make do with less. This led to skyrocketing prices within the n, and tensions grew increasingly severe."


    "If resources were distributed equally, no one would ever be a Gu King. But if they were concentrated on a few, those left out would certainly not ept it quietly, and it would cause trouble."


    "As internal conflicts escted, the only options were to either start a war to divert the tensions or to split the family."


    "The family voted and ultimately decided to split."


    "But all the fertilends had long been taken. Those who split off could only head to remote areas to clear newnd or use force to upy a small area."


    "No one wanted to develop in barrennds, so the family used strong-arm tactics to force arge group of people out."


    "And those who were forced out back then are the ancestors of today''s Far West Long n."


    "Of course, those sent to barrennds harbored resentment. Add to that the great distance between the two locations¡ªcrossing the dangerous Ten Thousand Great Mountains or taking a long detour by sea¡ªmade travel very difficult."


    "After two hundred years, the two sides gradually lost contact, effectively bing two separate forces. It wasn''t until recently, when the old hatred had faded, that they reestablished rtions."


    "So strictly speaking, the Far West Long n is part of our Western Long n. We share the same bloodline, and their names are still on our family genealogy. Doesn''t that make us the same force?"


    "Did our n break the rules? If you don''t believe me, check the genealogy or even do a blood test. Who said we brought in outside help? We just found a few long-lost blood rtives and brought them back to the family. What''s wrong with that? Heh!"


    Long Qian revealed a sly smile, looking quite shameless.


    Long Ruoxue covered her face. She couldn''t bear to watch; it was so shameless. Was it really okay to bully the Bai n like this? She silently mourned for the Bai n in her heart.


    If the Bai n knew that the Long n was nning to bring in external help, who knows what kind of expression they would make? It would probably be quite a sight!


    "Are you really that confident in the geniuses of the Far West Long n? Are you so sure that a genius from a poor ce can be stronger than our own family''s geniuses? The upper echelons of the family reallyck confidence in their own geniuses," Long Biao sneered again.


    "The so-called geniuses in our n are all arrogant fools like you, with no sense of reality. How could the family have confidence?"


    Long Qian nced at him impatiently before continuing, "Don''t underestimate those who split off from the n. Over the past two hundred years, they''ve developed very well, with their power growing steadily, producing many experts and geniuses."


    "ording to the n''s observations, the Far West Long n has at least four geniuses who could rece the four weakest candidates in our n, with at least four others pending."


    "In other words, in this uing genius tournament between our n and the Bai n, at least half of our participants will be from the Far West Long n. With the strongest geniuses from both ns united, our chances of victory are greatly increased."


    "I''m even considering bringing in more external help to rece you because you just don''t inspire confidence."


    Long Qian looked at him with a doubtful expression, as if he wasn''t joking.


    Long Biao scoffed, his face full of defiance. He had made up his mind that when they arrived, he would challenge the strongest genius of the Far West Long n to prove that the family''s decision was wrong.


    "Don''t look so defiant. Based on the information we have, the Far West Long n has two geniuses who are unbeatable in their realm, far surpassing any of our family''s geniuses. The toughest opponents from the Bai n will have to be handled by these two. You all should just focus on the weakest ones!"


    Long Qian could see what Long Biao was thinking and decided to add fuel to the fire to provoke him further.


    In his view, Long Biao had grown up in toofortable an environment, which had led to his arrogant and conceited nature. A defeat might do him good, tempering his arrogance and possibly correcting his inted ego.


    ...


    The ship flew rapidly through the sky until it neared a mountain range rich in spiritual energy, where it finally began to slow down. After flying for a while longer, it slowly descended vertically near a cluster of buildings.


    It seemed that the people inside had already received the news, as arge group came out to greet them with smiles on their faces.


    Long Wanli Spoke First with a Beaming Smile


    Long Wanli was the first to speak, smiling broadly, "So it''s Brother Qian visiting! It''s been years since west met, and I hadn''t expected that you would now hold such a high position as one of the Five Elders of your n, and even be a renowned formation master in the Western Lands. Time truly flies."


    Long Qian also smiled and responded politely, "That doesn''tpare to you. You are now the head of your entire n, a position far superior to mine."


    "The fact that your n is flourishing under your leadership speaks volumes about your abilities. I am far from being your equal."


    "Let''s not dwell on the past. I am here today because I have an important request."


    "My n is preparing to hold a Genius Tournament with the Bai n to decide the ownership of a mineral vein. Each side will field twelve geniuses, three from each stage: early, middle,te, and peak Marrow Cleansing."


    "Although my n doesn''tck geniuses, we want to ensure our victory. Therefore, I havee to request the help of a few of your n''s geniuses."


    "As long as your n''s geniuses can secure the victory for us in the tournament, our n will surely reward you with precious treasures."


    Upon hearing this, Long Wanli and the elders behind him finally understood the purpose of Long Qian''s visit. After exchanging nces, Long Wanli smiled and said, "You truly came at the perfect time."


    "Today happens to be the day of our n''s tournament, where all our geniuses gather topete in the arena. The tournament has just begun, so you can watch and assess the talents of our n, making it easier to select whom you need."


    "Please,e inside. Let''s go in and talk. We shouldn''t keep those geniuses waiting."


    Long Wanli made way, gesturing with a weing hand.


    "Hahaha!" Long Qianughed heartily, "It seems our two ns share the same timing for our tournaments. I nned my visit precisely for this reason."


    "I''ll take this opportunity to see firsthand the depth of your n''s talents. Although we''ve done some research, what''s written on paper can''tpare to seeing it with our own eyes."


    Long Qian chuckled and stepped forward, with Long Ruoxue and Long Biao immediately following behind. However, Long Biao still walked with his head held high, maintaining an arrogant demeanor.


    "That''s right, seeing is believing. It''s only proper to inspect things personally. Someone, quickly prepare seats on the high tform!"


    With a group of people surrounding him, Long Qian slowly made his way to the high tform overlooking the tournament arena. Long Wanli arranged for him to sit beside him. As for the two juniors he brought along, they could only stand behind him. Even though they were guests, their status was still too different to be treated as equals.


    The n elders sat on either side of the two, with no change in their seating arrangement, except that an additional chair was ced between them.


    As the two entered and took their seats, their conversation never ceased, with smiles and polite exchanges flowing constantly.


    At this point, Long Qian finally directed his attention to the geniuses on the arena below, which was the main purpose of his visit. The n tournament was the ultimate test of a genius''s strength, and those who earned rankings here were considered the most outstanding geniuses in the entire n.


    At that moment, the two figures on the arena turned out to be Long Yan and Long Bao, a pair of rivals. One was tall and thin, the other short and fat, and they were fiercely battling it out with earth masters d in metallic insect armor.


    It was a battle of Gu against Gu and man against man. On one side of the arena, the Gu insect were engaged in chaoticbat, while on the other side, it was a showdown between the two men.


    However, in the Gu insect battle, Long Yan had a significant advantage, while in the physical fight, Long Bao was clearly dominating.


    Long Bao was simply too massive; getting hit by him was excruciating. Long Yan''s face was pale, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn''t budge this mountain of a man. At this point, he could only dodge and evade, barely holding on.


    But this didn''t mean he was at a disadvantage overall. In Gu cultivation, the battle isn''t just between people but also between the Gu. And in the Gu insect battlefield, he currently held a considerable upper hand.


    His strategy was to stall, dying until his Gu secured victory, so they could then assist him in subduing this fat giant.


    However, Long Bao wasn''t foolish. He knew his weaknesses and that dragging the fight out would only be to his detriment. Thus, he increased his attack speed, aiming to defeat his opponent as quickly as possible before the Gu battle was decided. If the fight dragged on, he knew he would be the one to lose.


    Long Yan tried every possible method to dy time, even using verbal distractions, leaving no stone unturned.


    Meanwhile, Long Bao did everything he could to end the fight quickly, his attacks growing faster and faster. Their fighting styles wereplete opposites, with each other''s weaknesses counterbncing the other''s strengths. This made the oue of the battle highly uncertain, and it was hard to say who would ultimately win.


    The spectators around the arena were thoroughly entertained, cheering and shouting encouragement. The close and unpredictable nature of the match made it all the more thrilling.


    Watching the battle below, Long Qian''s eyes lit up. Although these two weren''t the top-tier fighters, they were definitely capable of recing the two candidates already chosen by the n.


    Long Qian had a keen eye. Nearly everyone who entered the ancient tomb back then had perished, with only a handful surviving. These two were among the rare survivors.


    For someone to survive such a deadly scenario, they had to have some real skills. It was just that their talent had been overshadowed by the monstrous abilities of Long Ziyan, which was why they weren''t well-known.

 Chapter 134: Talent Selection

    "What''s this? Have these two caught your eye?"


    "One of them is named Long Bao, and the other is Long Yan. Long Bao is the chubby one. Both of them are among the top ten geniuses in our n in terms of talent."


    Seeing the obvious change in Long Qian''s expression, Long Wanli asked with a smile.


    Long Qian had no intention of hiding his thoughts. He gently nodded and smiled, "Given the abilities of these two, they would be considered rare geniuses even in the Western Lands."


    "However, although theirbat power is sufficient, it may not be enough to guarantee a win against the geniuses of the Bai n."


    "But if I personally design insects armor for these two, I think winning two rounds should be assured."


    A gleam of light shed in Long Qian''s eyes, as he believed that two matches were already in the bag.


    He was well aware of the terrifying power of the Earth Masters, as he himself was an insects armor master. How could he not understand the formidable nature of Earth Masters?


    The Long n of the Western Lands had recently acquired these Earth Masters'', but only after paying a heavy price.The two ns decided to unite because of a technology exchange. The Long n of the Western Lands even emptied their coffers to pay the difference, thus forming an alliance.


    From now on, both ns would advance and retreat together. If the Hun n attacked the Far West Long n, the Long n of the Western Lands would go to any lengths to help, as they had already tasted the benefits of these technologies and wouldn''t allow other forces to steal them.


    This was also why Long Wanli held nothing back.


    Of course, in order to obtain those new techniques, the Long n of the Western Lands almost depleted their entire fortune.


    But the higher-ups of the Long n were discerning and recognized the immense value of those techniques. So even if it meant emptying their coffers, they were willing. The two ns were entirely on the same page.


    You couldn''t me Long Wanli for being ruthless¡ªLong Xuan, that kid, had amassed too many contribution points and was constantly clearing out the n''s treasury. No matter how wealthy the Long n was, they couldn''t withstand him.


    The treasury had beenpletely emptied by him, leading many n members to mistakenly believe the n had be poor. Long Wanli had no choice but to seize this opportunity to ruthlessly exploit the Long n of the Western Lands, quickly replenishing the treasury with the wealth plundered.


    "What? Brother Qian, you¡¯re also an insect armor master?" Long Wanli asked in surprise as he looked at Long Qian beside him.


    "Haha! It''s just a side job, a side job. insect armor is in such high demand on the market now; selling it is extremely profitable. I''m just taking the opportunity to earn some extra money."


    "Right now, craftingrge-scale Gu insects has be a trend in the Western Lands. Whoever can dominate the market first will make a fortune. Once the market is saturated, it¡¯ll be toote for others to enter the business."


    "But where is the founding master of these insect armor techniques? I''d like to pay my respects. Many who are entering the field are looking to honor the founding master but don''t know who to honor, so they have to use a statue of the Earth Master as a substitute," Long Qian suddenly asked.


    Upon hearing this, the two geniuses behind him perked up their ears. Obviously, the Far West Long n had done an excellent job of keeping secrets, as almost no one knew who the mysterious inventor of these techniques was. They were all curious.


    "Haha! Brother Qian, there''s no need to ask about that. The identity of that person will be announced by our n, but not yet. A tree that stands out in the forest is sure to be blown down by the wind. When he truly grows strong, our n will personally create a statue for him and enshrine it permanently," Long Wanli replied with a smile.


    Long Qian looked disappointed but still nodded in understanding and turned his gaze back to the arena.


    He noticed that the two had already finished their battle, but the oue was unexpected.


    Long Yan''s Earth Master had pushed Long Bao''s Earth Master off the stage first, then quickly moved to support its owner.


    Seeing the Earth Master charging at him, Long Bao''s face changed drastically. In a sh, he instinctively grabbed Long Yan''s arm and rolled off the stage together.


    Since it happened so suddenly and so quickly, no one could tell who hit the ground first. The referee had to stop the argument between the two and dere it a draw before quickly arranging the next match.


    Witnessing this, Long Qian stroked his beard and smiled, "He was clever. If he had reacted a momentter, he would have undoubtedly lost."


    "These two are excellent. I''ll take them. But why haven''t I seen your n''s top genius? Where is she?"


    Long Qian searched frantically around the arena for Long Ziyan. He had long heard of the top genius of the Far West Long n.


    He hadpared her to others and found that Long Ziyan, a heaven-grade talent with a ninth-grade bloodline, also possessed the rare Nine Yin Body and was said to be born with a Sword Bone. With these four factorsbined, herbat strength was unrivaled, capable of overwhelming all the geniuses of the Bai n in the Western Lands.


    So, she was his main target on this trip, and he couldn''t afford to let her slip away.


    Not seeing her, he frowned slightly, feeling a sense of urgency. He hoped she wasn''t off on some distant mission, or else the twelfth share of the Metal ore vein he was counting on would be lost. That loss would be enormous.


    Long Wanli gave a bitter smile and sighed helplessly, "You don''t know, but against any opponent, she only needs half a move to win, so no one wants to fight her anymore. Everyone who faces her chooses to surrender, so she stands still for a match and bes the champion."


    "She said standing around was a waste of time, and she''d rather note if she had to waste a day like that. So, she just stopped showing up and only signs up for the tournament."


    "We might as well exempt her from the trials and just let her take the championship while lying at home. After all, there''s no dispute about her winning the title."


    Upon hearing this, both Long Qian and the two geniuses behind him couldn''t help but twitch their mouths. They were truly impressed that a genius could reach such a level.


    "Where is the Ten Absolute Body Physique genius? Why haven''t I seen him?"


    Long Qian frantically began searching through the crowd for the Ten Absolute Physique genius.


    The Ten Absolute Bodies is said to be invincible among peers, and the arena battles with the Bai n''s geniuses are matched by rank, so his match is a guaranteed win. It means securing another twelfth share of the mineral vein.


    Rumor has it that during his match with the Feng n, he didn''t even summon his Gu insect and still managed to knock his opponent off the stage with just a few moves. Hisbat prowess is terrifying.


    So, this Ten Absolute Physique genius is another target that Long Qian is determined to take with him.


    Long Wanli and the elders on both sides wore even more bitter smiles. Long Wanli said helplessly, "You may not know this, but his contribution points are so numerous that he no longer cares about the rewards from the n tournament."


    "So, he doesn''t bother to participate in the tournament anymore, iming that he wants to give younger members a chance and show humility. Therefore, he simply doesn''t show up."


    Upon hearing this, Long Qian and the two geniuses behind him couldn''t help but twitch their mouths once again,pletely losing control of their expressions. Were all the geniuses of the Far West Long n this unique in character? They were genuinely shocked that such an important event like the n tournament could be skipped so casually.


    "And what about Long Chao? His personality can''t be that unique, can it?" Long Qian could no longer contain himself and hurriedly asked about another genius he had his eye on.


    Long Chao''s Evil Dragon Emperor Eye had awakened its soul-seed ability, one of the most terrifying illusions in the world. With proper use of this illusion, he could also be invincible among peers, securing yet another twelfth share of the mineral vein.


    So, Long Chao was the third target he was determined to take, followed by Long Qilin.


    However, upon hearing this name, Long Wanli and the elders'' faces darkened, their smiles vanishing.


    Long Wanli''s expression turned serious as he said, "Don''t mention that person. His personality is indeed unique, but family scandals should not be aired in public. I won''t say more, but he is already dead, so you won''t be able to take him."


    Noticing their obvious change in expression, Long Qian realized he had touched on a taboo subject and didn''t press further.


    However, he couldn''t help but feel a deep sense of regret. He had just lost another twelfth share of the mineral vein, and the loss pained him.


    "Don''t ask about Long Qilin either. He happens to be absent as well. He usually attends, but this time he''s out collecting materials for his Suo Gu, so he missed it. It''s truly a coincidence," Long Wanli shook his head helplessly.


    That silly boy was really addicted to building houses for his Suo Gu, even more diligent than when building his own house.


    "Is he also a fan of watching Suo Gu build houses? It''s a disease, and this illness is spreading wildly in the Long n of the Western Lands with no cure in sight," Long Qian shook his head and smiled bitterly.


    "But if he has such a hobby, that''s easy to handle. As long as he wins a match for our n, I''ll give him arge amount of Spirit Metal as building material. Spirit Metal is top-quality material for house building!" Long Qianughed.


    The remaining matches of the n tournament were unremarkable. Until the tournament ended, Long Qian didn''t find any other geniuses that caught his eye.


    There were still some talented individuals, like Long Panpan, whose Earth Master''s Evolution effects were excellent, but such geniuses weren''t guaranteed to win.


    The Bai n was one of the top ten ns in the Western Lands, with geniuses aplenty. Finding a monster capable of consistently outshining the Bai n''s geniuses wasn''t easy¡ªit was simply that his standards were too high.


    In the end, he decided to select Long Ziyan, Long Xuan, Long Qilin, Long Bao, and Long Yan as definite choices. The other geniuses would remain undecided until he gathered more detailed information. This concerned arge Spirit Metal mine, significant enough to impact the n''s fortune, so he couldn''t be careless.


    Meanwhile, Long Biao, who stood behind him, was feeling very ufortable. He had intended to find an opportunity to showcase his skills in the arena, to show the difference between geniuses from big and small ces.


    But who would have thought that the strongest geniuses of the Long n would be so unique in character, skipping the n tournament altogether?


    And yet, Long Biao had his pride. He didn''t want to step into the ring just to bully weaker opponents; even if he won, no one would think he was strong.


    So, he remained motionless until the end of the tournament, not even attempting to jump into the arena to participate.


    Now that the tournament was finally over, he couldn''t wait to speak up: "I''vee today to challenge your n''s Long Xuan in a battle between geniuses. I hope your n will allow it."


    "Nonsense! We are guests here; how dare you cause trouble? Get down immediately!"


    Long Qian stood up and scolded loudly, clearly angry.


    Of course, this was all part of his n. He intended for Long Biao to suffer a crushing defeat to curb his arrogance, so his current outburst was just an act.


    Long Wanli, on the other hand, remained calm. In his view, Long Biao had little chance of winning. A little sparring between the geniuses of the two ns was not a bad thing. While the Long n of the Western Lands might have more powerful individuals, did they really think they had more geniuses?


    He was confident in this generation of geniuses in his n, who were more than capable of earning him the respect he deserved in front of the main n.

 Chapter 135: Long Wanlis Conspiracy

    Long Wanli also had the desire topete, so he smiled and said, "No problem! It''s normal for geniuses to have a bit of pride. Let''s just consider this a friendly spar between our two ns."


    "However, the ce where he resides is quite far from here. To save time, let''s take the dragon boats and visit him personally," Long Wanli suggested.


    "That''s the right thing to do. It''s not reasonable to challenge someone and make theme all the way here. Lets go him personally, so we don''t waste his cultivation time."


    And so, two green dragon boats, carrying a group of people, flew towards Long Xuan''s Little Strong Peak at an astonishing speed.


    Long Xuan waspletely unaware of all this, still sitting in the cold, lofty pavilion, practicing his body technique with intense focus,pletely immersed in a state of self-forgetfulness.


    At this point, he had progressed his body technique to 30%, and he could now sessfully concentrate 30% of his total strength on a single point, unleashing immense destructive power.


    He had already conducted experiments and found that even just 30% of his total strength was not something that someone at the same level could easily withstand. The power of this move was far greater than he had imagined.


    However, the research time was still short, and he had not yet sessfully developed the hidden force.


    But during this period, his clone had already pushed his cultivation to the mid-stage of the Marrow Cleansing realm, allowing him to wake up one day and find that he had inexplicably broken through,pletely unaware of it.Since his clone often went to the Long n¡¯s library to study diligently, the n was aware that he had broken through to the mid-stage of the Marrow Cleansing realm.


    This was also the reason why Long Wanli had immense confidence in him. After the Ten Absolute Body breaks through to the mid-stage, only those at the peak of the Marrow Cleansing realm can suppress it. There was no way that Long Biao, who was at the same level, could be his opponent.


    While Long Xuan waspletely unaware, arge group of uninvited guests had already arrived outside his grand formation, blocked by the Rubik''s Cube Formation.


    "This is a formation designed by our n¡¯s genius. The formation has only one life gate, and the concealment of this life gate is such that no one can find it. It¡¯s said that no formation master in the world can break it. What do you think, Brother Qian?" Long Wanli asked with a sly smile as he looked at Long Qian, his eyes revealing his ill intentions.


    Long Qian did not respond immediately. He stared at the formation intently, with his right hand supporting his chin, asionally nodding in amazement. He was a famous formation master from the Western Lands, so how could he not see the extraordinary nature of this formation?


    This was a formation he had never heard of or seen before, and he couldn¡¯t understand it at all, which only piqued his interest and curiosity even more.


    What interests a formation master the most? It''s always the formations that stump them. The more difficult the formation, the more excited they be.


    It¡¯s like someone who is interested in mathematics; they enjoy challenging high-difficulty problems and tend to have a masochistic tendency.


    The Rubik''s Cube Formation, which doesn¡¯t belong to the concepts of this world, was enough to arouse his interest.


    His disciple, Long Ruoxue, had the same expression. She quickly closed the formation book in her hand and walked over with great interest to study the formation. The more she looked, the more fascinated she became, with wisdom shining in her eyes.


    "Interesting, interesting. This formation uses barriers to stitch together many small worlds, forming a massive mazeposed of these small worlds."


    "This is the first time such a mind-blowing idea has appeared in this world. Before this, such arge-scale formation couldn¡¯t be realized because it would upy too much space, and the cost of the formation base would be too high for any power to bear."


    "But with the advent of cement technology, the idea of a world maze has be possible. This is the charm of cement technology; it has made many impossible formations possible."


    "Unfortunately, if the cement were just a bit stronger, it would be even better. Stronger cement would be enough to spark a revolution in formations worldwide, leading to the emergence of all kinds of unprecedented dangerous formations. The power of formations in this world would collectively increase by more than one level. It¡¯s truly a pity," Long Ruoxue sighed.


    However, Long Biao dismissed the formation with disdain, saying, "So you''re saying that this formation couldn¡¯t be realized with conventional materials. Even though it can be realized with cement, the formation base is too fragile and can be destroyed by brute force. In that case, isn''t this formation utterly useless?"


    Long Biao''s thoughts echoed those of many others. Many of the Long n''s Gu cultivators knew this formation was extraordinary, but they didn¡¯t take it seriously, thinking that this seemingly extraordinary formation was nothing more than a paper tiger.


    Even the upper echelons of the Long n held this view, which was exactly the effect Long Xuan had intended when he introduced cement technology.


    It seems that the effect was very sessful. Everyone was sessfully deceived by him, so they didn¡¯t pay much attention to this formation.


    "You can''t say that," Long Ruoxue replied impatiently, giving him a nce. "This is abination formation that merges trapping, illusion, and defense formations. Do you have any idea how many formations need to be stitched together to cover such a vast area? And to do so without any ws is an incredibly terrifying feat."


    "And you probably can''t imagine that the formations used to stitch this grand formation together are all basic formations. That makes it even more terrifying."


    "This person managed to stump us both using nothing but thebination of countless basic formations. My master is a third-grade formation master, and this is simply an unbelievable achievement. Do you know how much wisdom it takes to aplish this?"


    "Exactly," Long Qian said with a bitter smile. "I never thought I would one day be stumped by basic formations. Althoughbining formations can achieve many terrifying functions as long as one¡¯s imagination is broad enough, to achieve such functions using only basic formations and to stump a third-grade formation master is incredibly difficult. It also shows this person¡¯s immense wisdom."


    A sh of light crossed Long Qian''s eyes. Far from underestimating the formation due to Long Biao''s words, his interest was piqued even more.


    "Although this is abination of basic formations, it is the most exquisite formation I have seen in my life. It would be a great regret if I didn¡¯t personally experience it. However, there is no formation in this world that I cannot break. Let me go inside and meet this genius formation master."


    Long Qian suddenly turned his head to look at Long Ruoxue and said, "Ruoxue, there are always people better than us. The fact that this person can use basic formations to such a masterful degree shows that his talent in formations surpasses yours."


    "Follow me into the formation. You may learn a lot from this formation, and it will also help you understand the importance of the basics¡ªeverything returns to its root."


    Hearing his words, the n elders were taken aback. Was he really going to break into the formation? He seemed so eager!


    At this moment, Long Wanli spoke up again, "I have studied this formation for some time. It''s quite brain-taxing, and so far, no one has been able to find their way out. It''s said that only a god can break this formation."


    "If you can''t break it, don''t resort to brute force. If you damage the formation base, your only option will be to find the life gate and walk out, or the formation master will have to guide you out."


    Upon hearing this, Long Qian immediately felt underestimated and turned his head, saying, "You''re underestimating me too much. Do you really think a third-grade formation master like me would need brute force to break a formation? That would be an embarrassment. Your words are an insult to me. Even if I starve or die of exhaustion inside, I will never break the formation by force!"


    "Ruoxue! Let''s go! I want to see what formation dares to im that no formation master in the world can break it. Such arrogance!"


    With those words, Long Qian no longer listened to any advice and flew straight into the formation. Long Ruoxue, her eyes shing with excitement, quickly followed him.


    Unexpectedly, Long Biao, after curling his lips in disdain, also followed behind Long Ruoxue and entered the formation.


    Watching the three of them leave, Long Wanli revealed a sly, conspiratorial smile. "What a formation fanatic. The moment he sees a clever formation, he has to go in and explore."


    "I was deliberately goading him just now to eliminate the possibility of him using brute force to break the formation. Without brute force, he won''t be able to find his way out of this formation for the rest of his life."


    "Finding the life gate in this formation is a pipe dream. As I said, only a god can break this formation. Unless he¡¯s a god, he¡¯ll tire himself out before he finds that life gate."


    "Do you know why I lured him here? Do you know why I tempted him to enter just now?"


    "My goal is to trap him here. When he can''t get out, I''ll deliberately show a w and let him out. With his level of expertise, how could he not realize it? So, he''ll owe me a favor."


    "Tsk tsk! A favor from a third-grade formation master is worth a lot. I have to make good use of it."


    Long Wanli''s smile grew even more cunning, exuding as much treachery as possible.


    Upon hearing this, the n elders widened their eyes and stared at him in astonishment. They were shocked by his maneuver. So, this was his true motive¡ªto deceive someone into owing him a favor? How shameless could he be? What would Long Qian do if he knew Long Wanli had schemed against him like this? He might die of anger.


    The n elders showed expressions of sympathy, but at the same time, they were rmed by the power of this formation. Was it really that terrifying? Could it truly trap even a third-grade formation master? Long Wanli seemed to have a very high opinion of this formation.


    "n leader, how are you so familiar with this formation?" one of the ten elders suddenly asked, showing his cleverness.


    An embarrassed look briefly shed in Long Wanli''s eyes. Should he tell them that he was trapped by this damned formation for three days and three nights when he first came to negotiate the cement technology?


    No one knew better than him, as a victim, how bizarre this formation could be.


    ...


    "We¡¯vee to this marsnd world again. Here¡¯s the mark I left."


    Long Ruoxue frowned deeply as she looked at the suddenly erected branch on the ground.


    At this moment, Long Qian furrowed his brows even more, looking around with a bewildered gaze, his thoughts growing increasingly muddled.


    "It''s really strange. This location should clearly be the marsnd world, filled with poisonous gas and miasma. How did it suddenly turn into a world of ice? It''s so cold that it could freeze a person to death."


    "What¡¯s even more baffling is that this terrain is clearly one we¡¯ve walked through before, yet it somehow mysteriously reappeared in front of us. What is going on?"


    Long Qian''s mind waspletely confounded. The more he thought about it, the more confused he became. He had studied formations his entire life, but this was the first time he had encountered such an eerie formation.


    After pondering for a moment with her own wisdom, Long Ruoxue slowly said, "This world maze is quite interesting. It contains various terrains with harsh environments, but all these terrains can be shuffled and reassembled."


    "That¡¯s why the path we¡¯ve walked may change at any time. We could have just walked through a world ofva, and right after we leave, it¡¯s reced by a desert world."


    "So, leaving marks on the path in such a maze is useless. Once the worlds are shuffled, we¡¯ll bepletely trapped in this world maze. It''s truly a mind-blowing concept."


    Long Ruoxue''s eyes sparkled with wisdom as she confidently said, "However, although these worlds are reassembled periodically, there must be a pattern. If we find that pattern, we can find our way out."

 Chapter 136: The Emperor’s New Clothes

    "That''s right! I was thinking the same thing. Leaving any marks in this maze is useless, as not only can the path behind us change at any moment, but the way forward can also change at any time. We''re just like headless flies, running around aimlessly."


    "This is also the terrifying aspect of this formation. A constantly changing maze is enough to trap and kill the majority of people."


    "Even more frightening is that the trap formation designed by the master of this array is so exquisitely crafted that, with my eye as a Third-grade Formation Master, I still can''t find a single w."


    "In theory, the morebinations in a formation, the more ws it should have. Yet here, with such a vast area and countless formations, I can''t find a single w. This is truly terrifying."


    "Without ws, and without considering breaking the formation through brute force, we can only follow the rules of this world."


    "There¡¯s a high possibility that there is only one exit, and this only exit must be hidden very deeply. We must find this exit to get out."


    "This exit is probably not hidden within a certain world; we need to understand the pattern of the world''s changes to find it. However, figuring out this pattern is no easy task."


    "It seems I was too confident. This grand formation is far more troublesome than I imagined and is definitely not easy to break. If I, Long Qian, were to be trapped here by a basic formation today, wouldn''t I be aughingstock? That would indeed be a disgrace."


    Long Qian revealed a bitter smile. He had been careless. If he had known earlier, he wouldn¡¯t have rushed in recklessly. Now it seems that even if he manages to find that exit, it will still take quite some time.And for a Third-grade Formation Master like him to spend so much time breaking a basic formation is equally disgraceful.


    "How much longer will it take for us to get out of here?" At this moment, Long Biao walked over with a pained expression.


    He had stubbornly followed them in, and now he was suffering for it.


    The environments in these various worlds were increasingly harshva fields that could roast a person alive, and ice worlds that could freeze someone to death. As a pampered young master, he had never suffered like this. Not long after entering, he could no longer endure it.


    Especially since he had boarded the ship in haste and hadn¡¯t prepared anything. Who would have thought to bring warm clothes?


    Now, after entering the ice world, wearing only thin clothes, he was frozen to the point of shivering uncontrobly, hugging his shoulders tightly like a dead dog.


    If he had known that entering here would lead to such suffering, he wouldn¡¯t havee in even if it killed him. But now it was toote for regrets; he was destined to pay a heavy price for his rashness.


    Seeing him in such a pitiful state, Long Qian was exasperated and impatiently said, "Did I ask you toe in? You insisted oning in to seek death!"


    "If you''re cold, endure it! If the path ahead leads to ava field, you¡¯ll warm up. If the next world is still an ice world, and the one after that is still an ice world, then you can just freeze to death here! No one will collect your corpse!"


    Saying this, he strode forward without paying him any more attention.


    Long Ruoxue immediately followed, taking out a piece of paper and writing and drawing on it, obviously trying to map out the area to understand the pattern here.


    ¡­¡­


    In the blink of an eye, two days had passed.


    The people outside the array were still waiting, and the Ten n Elders were finally bing impatient.


    "Why aren¡¯t they out yet? We''ve been waiting for two days! He''s a dignified Third-grade Formation Master. Could he really be trapped inside by a mere basic formation?"


    "Heh!" The Great Elder stroked his beard and chuckled, "It seems Long Qian has indeed hit a snag. To be trapped by such a small basic formation for so long¡ªhe''s really lost face this time, hasn''t he?"


    The Second Elder hesitated and said, "It''s been so long. Could something really have happened in there? Maybe we should let him out. If he really got hurt, it would be hard for us to exin."


    Long Wanliughed, "There''s no need to worry about him. It''s just a trap formation, without any killing intent. It won¡¯t kill anyone in a short time."


    "But the environment there is harsh, and staying in too long would indeed be miserable. I''m not worried about him, but those two juniors who went in with him will have a tough time. The harsh environment there is not something a Marrow Cleansing Stage Gu cultivator can easily endure."


    "However, two days is still a bit short; we should at least give him seven days to break the formation."


    The Great Elder smiled bitterly and said, "The problem now is that we don¡¯t know the exact time of their match with the Bai n. If we miss that time, it could be disastrous."


    "So we should release them as soon as possible to avoid dying something important."


    Long Wanli suddenly realized, yes, the timing of the match is crucial and cannot be dyed.


    He quickly wrote a letter at the fastest speed possible and handed it to the Suo Gu that crawled out from his insect rearing bag.


    ¡­¡­


    What they didn¡¯t know was that at this moment, Long Xuan was admiring his newly crafted clothing, looking at himself repeatedly in arge mirror.


    If there were outsiders present, they would undoubtedly be curious about where his clothes were. At this moment, he was clearly stark naked, not a single thread on him¡ªwhere were these clothes?


    There was a faint dark energy flowing over his body, quickly disappearing without a trace.


    It was clearly an invisible outfit. No, to be precise, he wasn¡¯t wearing anything at all, which was quite shocking.


    His newly woven Heavenly Dream Soul Armor had already fused into his skin, so it was as if he wasn¡¯t wearing anything.


    Long Xuan stood in front of the mirror for a long time, only admiring his own majestic figure. But in the end, he was left with nothing to admire¡ªthere was no clothing to be seen.


    Could this be the Emperor''s New Clothes in the legend? Long Xuan waspletely astonished.


    After countless days and nights of hard work by the Heavenly Dream Silkworm, he had finally gathered enough material for a single outfit.


    Overjoyed, he immediately paused his body technique research and rushed to create the Heavenly Dream Soul Armor.


    He had visited Long Ziyan''s home a few times and had learned a decent tailoring skill.


    Creating the Heavenly Dream Soul Armor was something only he could do. How could he trust it to someone else? Otherwise, the existence of the heaven-defying Soul Silk would be exposed.


    This was his secret, an important trump card that he had to keep hidden, absolutely not something anyone else could know.


    So, this tailoring task had to bepleted by him personally.


    Today, he had just finished making the Heavenly Dream Soul Armor, and immediately put it on, rushing to the mirror in excitement.


    However, because he had designed the *Heavenly Dream Soul Armor to merge with his body, the moment he put it on, it instantly fused into his skin, leaving him with nothing to admire.


    Although he couldn¡¯t see the Heavenly Dream Soul Armor, he couldpletely feel its presence.


    He could sense that his entire body, every part, was now covered with a thinyer of energy.


    Even his eyeballs were enveloped by ayer of mysterious energy, yet it did not affect his vision at all.


    Thus, the eyes, a weak point for all living beings, were no longer a vulnerability for him. If anyone wanted to attack his eyes, they would first have to break through the Heavenly Dream Soul Armor''s defense.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 137: Experimental Steel Fist

    "Hmm? Who''s trespassing again?"


    Just as he was engrossed in studying the Heaven Dream Soul Armor, his brow suddenly furrowed slightly, and he looked outside.


    At that moment, he finally noticed that someone had once again intruded into his Rubik¡¯s Cube Formation.


    A young man seemed to have gone mad and was furiously attacking his Formation. It was precisely because of this person''s frantic actions that he became aware of the anomaly within the Rubik¡¯s Cube Formation.


    "Oh! There''s actually a Spiritual Sea stage expert. I can''t afford to provoke him; better lock him up for a while."


    As this thought crossed his mind, a Sou Gu entered from outside, carrying a letter in its mouth. The Sou Gu, seeing the man without a stitch of clothing, hurriedly covered its eyes, fearing it might get eye problems.


    "Cover what? It''s not like you''re wearing clothes either. You''re just as naked."


    Long Xuan gave it a disgruntled look, snatched the letter, and immediately became serious upon realizing it was from the head of the family. He quickly read through the contents.


    He understood the general meaning of the letter and soon figured out the identities of the people in the array.When he learned that the Long n of the Western Lands nned to hire external help to deal with the Bai n in the arenapetition, he was momentarily stunned. Isn''t this cheating? The Long n of the Western Lands is too shameless!


    What made him even more speechless was that the Long n of the Western Lands had a good eye, picking him out right away and nning to invite him over.


    His brow furrowed even deeper. The Western Lands¡ªsuch a distant ce from here¡ªit''s an entirely different region, far removed from the Far West.


    Normally, he would send a clone to handle such time-consuming matters on his behalf.


    But this time, he couldn''t use a clone, because the distance between the two regions was simply too great, making memory assimtion highly inconvenient.


    There wouldn''t even be time for memory assimtion. Once the clone left, it was evident it wouldn''t return anytime soon. There were too many variables, and he had no choice but to go personally.


    He hadn''t even finished his body technique, and this unexpected event had disrupted his ns. If there were any other way, he really wouldn''t want to make this trip.


    Oh well! A trip it is. The Western Lands is a region far richer in resources than the Far West, with many strong practitioners and opportunities. It wouldn''t hurt to visit arger region and broaden his horizons¡ªafter all, experience is part of growth.


    He decided to treat it as a journey, hoping to find some treasures in this more resource-rich area. The Western Lands better not disappoint him.


    Having made up his mind, Long Xuan began walking outside.


    Suddenly, he quickly turned back.


    He just realized he was wearing the Emperor¡¯s New Clothes, which weren''t clothes at all. He put on all his clothes properly, selected the items he might need for the journey, hung his spatial ring around his neck, and slowly walked out.


    However, this dy stretched on for an unknown amount of time.


    ¡­


    Just when the high-ranking members outside were nearly losing patience, the barrier in front of them suddenly opened a door, and Long Qian finally walked out, looking utterly exhausted. His spirit was extremely fatigued, with bloodshot eyes as if he hadn¡¯t slept in several nights.


    Long Ruoxue followed closely behind, but the usual wisdom in her eyes was gone, reced with anxiety. She held a thick stack of maps in her hands, all chaotic and different, with no discernible pattern.


    She was on the verge of being driven mad by these maps. Despite racking her brains, she couldn''t find any pattern in them. Was there really a pattern to these chaotic maps?


    Who came up with such a torturous array? She felt an urge to drag out the person who designed this array and give them a good beating.


    "Time is tight. I''m afraid I have to set off immediately. I''ll have to trouble you with the matter of the genius." As soon as he emerged, Long Qian spoke to Long Wanli, as if trying to change the subject.


    "No trouble at all. I''ll make the arrangements right away. You should rest first."


    Long Wanli quickly wrote a few letters and handed them to the Sou Gu, tactfully avoiding any questions about the formation to spare him the embarrassment.


    The content of the letter he sent to Long Xuan was precisely to have Long Xuan intentionally create a w, allowing Long Qian to exit sessfully and save face for this master of third-grade formation.


    Long Xuan did as instructed, but how could Long Qian not see that the Formation master had deliberately let him out? So, he showed no joy after exiting.


    He knew this was certainly arranged by Long Wanli to save him from losing face, and he appreciated the gesture.


    However, if he knew that Long Wanli had intentionally lured him here with words, trapped him in the Formation by exploiting his obsession with formations, and used reverse psychology to prevent him from violently breaking the Formation, leaving himpletely stuck inside¡­


    And if he realized that Long Wanli did all this just to gain a favor from him, who knows how angry he would be? He''d probably be enraged.


    At this moment, Long Xuan finally emerged from the Formation, nced at the few people who had juste out, and walked towards the head of the family.


    "Master, you called for me."


    Long Wanli looked at him and said, "These three are Gu Masters from the Long n of the Western Lands, our rtives in a way. This young man wants to spar with you. Just give him some pointers¡ªit''ll count as a friendly exchange between our two ns."


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan immediately looked at the proud young man, who was standing tall with an arrogant demeanor. He thought to himself, who is this extra? His whole demeanor screamed viin, with a face that looked like it deserved a beating.


    Even though the young man appeared disheveled and exhausted, he still wore a proud expression, ring at Long Xuan with eyes full of battle intent.


    Although he looked young, seemingly under eighteen, this didn''t mean he was actually a minor. If a Gu Master advanced too quickly, their lifespan would extend, and their appearance would age proportionately slower.


    So, Long Xuan immediately recognized that this was a genius who had cultivated at an astonishing speed, capable of rapid progress. However,bat prowess was another matter; just because someone cultivated quickly didn¡¯t necessarily mean they were strong in battle.


    "My name is Long Biao, a genius with Heavenly-grade talent. Please enlighten me!"


    Long Biao walked to the center of the arena, looking at Long Xuan with an arrogant expression.


    Long Xuan nced at him in surprise, realizing that he was indeed a rare genius with Heavenly-grade talent. No wonder his cultivation speed was so fast; Heavenly-grade talent was unrivaled in terms of cultivation speed, making it extremely rare worldwide. It was no wonder he had developed such an arrogant and rude demeanor.


    However, this was the first time Long Xuan had heard of someone introducing their talent during a duel, as if afraid the entire world wouldn¡¯t know they had Heavenly-grade talent.


    "Long Xuan," Long Xuan simply stated his name and said nothing more, keeping his self-introduction short and to the point.


    Long Qian gave Long Xuan an appreciative look. The fact that he had been trapped by abination Formation set up with basic formations by this young man, despite being a third-grade formation master himself, was nothing short of extraordinary. He was thoroughly impressed by this young genius.


    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that he already had a closed-door disciple, Long Ruoxue, and the likelihood that Long Wanli would go to extremes if he tried to steal away this genius, he would have insisted on taking Long Xuan as his disciple. This young man''s talent in formations had truly astonished him.


    "Alright, now that you''ve both introduced yourselves, the duel can officially begin," Long Qian announced with a smile.


    As soon as he finished speaking, Long Biao charged at Long Xuan with incredible speed.


    Seeing that Long Biao was at the mid-stage of the Marrow Cleansing stage, the same level as himself, Long Xuan didn¡¯t take him seriously at all. The Ten Absolute Body Physique was known for being invincible among those of the same level. Anyone at the same level who dared to challenge him was simply courting death, though Long Xuan couldn¡¯t fathom why Long Biao would think otherwise.


    However, Long Xuan didn¡¯t show any disdain on his face; he merely threw a casual punch in Long Biao¡¯s direction.


    This punch was not held back. The Ten Absolute Physique had already been exposed before he transmigrated, and everyone present knew he had the Ten Absolute Physique. If someone with the Ten Absolute Physique struggled in a battle against someone of the same level, it would be too fake, as if he were treating everyone as fools.


    So, he went ahead and used seventy percent of his power, though he didn¡¯t use his strongest ability, opting instead for the unfinished technique he was researching, the Steel Fist.


    The Steel Fist was still a work in progress, with only thirty percent of it developed so far. It could only mobilize thirty percent of his total power, and if it reached thirty percent of its potential, that would already be impressive.


    So, Steel Fist was currently his weakest ability. Using this against an opponent was already holding back significantly.


    Seeing his opponent use a fist technique, Long Biao smirked. With the Evil Dragon Emperor¡¯s Eye, how dare anyone use a physical technique against him? Under the gaze of the Evil Dragon Emperor¡¯s Eye, physical techniques were riddled with ws, and he could easily spot them and exploit them in one strike.


    A crimson eye immediately appeared in the center of Long Biao¡¯s forehead, emitting a strange light as it looked at Long Xuan.


    However, Long Biao''s smirk quickly froze on his face, and he waspletely stunned¡ªthere were no ws! How was that possible?


    His expression changed drastically.


    This hesitation made it toote for him to dodge the punch, so he hurriedly raised his fist to collide with the Steel Fist.


    "Bang!"


    A muffled sound of fists shing echoed in the air.


    Immediately after, Long Biao was sent flying backward, soaring over thirty meters before rolling several times on the ground. He struggled to get up but ultimately passed outpletely.


    Long Xuan was taken aback. He realized he had severely underestimated the power of the Steel Fist. Even as an unfinished technique, it already had this much power? He found it hard to believe.


    He hadn¡¯t yet grasped that gathering all his strength in one spot for an explosive attack would generate power far beyond normal fist strength. With the Ten Absolute Physique amplifying this, the Steel Fist''s power was multiplied several times. His attack power was simply unbeatable by anyone of the same level.


    Let alone a subpar talent like Long Biao; even a true super-genius would have no chance in a head-on collision with him. Anyone daring to sh head-on with someone possessing the Ten Absolute Physique was seeking their own demise.


    Seeing that Long Biao had been knocked out in one blow, Long Qian¡¯s mouth twitched uncontrobly, his face turningpletely ck.


    He knew Long Biao was likely to lose, but he hadn¡¯t expected him to lose so cleanly and swiftly, getting knocked out in just one strike. How embarrassing!


    He was supposed to be a genius with Heavenly-grade talent. No matter how bad it got, it shouldn¡¯t be this pathetic!


    Where was he supposed to put his old face now?


    A genius ranked within the family had been knocked out in one move by an outsider''s genius. Wasn¡¯t that saying that the main family¡¯s geniuses were all inferior, far worse than the branch family¡¯s?


    This was an enormous loss of face. How was he supposed to hold his head high in front of these rtives?


    Long Ruoxue also covered her face in embarrassment, unable to bear watching any longer. She had known it, she had known it, she had known bringing this idiot along would be embarrassing. Today was a day of utter humiliation, and even her own face would be dimmed by this.


    "Ahem! Don¡¯t misunderstand! This Long Biao isn¡¯t among the top ten geniuses in our n. I only brought him along as a favor to Ruoxue. I didn¡¯t expect him to be socking."


    Long Qian gave an awkwardugh, his old face full of embarrassment.


    Long Ruoxue looked at him in disbelief. How could he throw his disciple under the bus like this? What did he mean by bringing him along as a favor to her?


    It was as if he was implying she had a good rtionship with Long Biao, which was embarrassing. Please don¡¯t drag her down like this!


    Long Wanli secretly rejoiced in his heart. He was also puzzled as to why Long Biao was so reckless as to engage in a head-on sh with someone who possessed the Ten Absolute Physique. No wonder his name was Long Biao¡ªhe truly lived up to it![1]


    A heavy silence fell over the scene, with no one knowing how to break the awkward atmosphere.


    Long Biaoy on the ground for a long time, with no one attending to him.


    1. In the context of the name "Long Biao" (Áú±ë), "Biao" likely means "Bold/Fierce" that''s why he truly lived up to his name lol.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 138: The Small Space House of the Suo Gu

    After some time, the geniuses selected by Long Qian all gathered in front of Long Xuan¡¯s mountain peak.


    Long Ziyan, Long Qilin, Long Yan, Long Bao, Long Xuan, and even Long Panpan were present.


    Long Panpan¡¯s Earth Master Gu underwent a significant Evolution after consuming the middle-grade spirit soil gifted by Long Xuan. Confident in the invincibility of the insect armor he crafted, Long Qian included her as well.


    Counting her, there were six people in total on this journey.


    Long Panpan was at the early stage of Marrow Cleansing.


    Long Xuan, Long Yan, and Long Bao were contemporaries, all at the middle stage of Marrow Cleansing.


    Long Qilin was at thete stage of Marrow Cleansing, and Long Ziyan, a genius of monstrous talent, was at the peak of Marrow Cleansing.


    Long Ruoxue from the Western Land Long n was also a peak-stage Marrow Cleansing genius.


    Long Biao was at the middle stage of Marrow Cleansing and was originally one of the twelve selected geniuses for the ring match against the Bai n.However, with too many external reinforcements brought in this time, the family was now teeming with geniuses, and six of the weakest geniuses had to be reced by the external reinforcements.


    Due to Long Biao¡¯s disappointing performance, Long Qian had already decided to rece him, though this matter still required discussion with the family head as it wasn¡¯t a decision he could make alone.


    Once all the geniuses had arrived, Long Qian scanned each of their faces one by one, bing increasingly satisfied as he looked.


    He forgot the earlier awkwardness, retracted his gaze, and slowly smiled. "I believe the family head has already exined the purpose of gathering all of you, so I won¡¯t repeat it."


    "I¡¯ll say just one thing: the Spirit Metal ore vein is of vital importance to our n. Winning each match will bring unimaginable benefits."


    "I promise that whoever wins a match for our n, I will personally reward them with a bag of Spirit Metal, enough to build a Suo Gu small house."


    Upon hearing this, the eyes of all the geniuses, except Long Xuan, lit up with excitement. They had shown little interest just moments before, but now their battle intent surged.


    Clearly, they were all house enthusiasts, obsessed with building houses, and addicted to watching Suo Gu construct them.


    The grade of a Spirit Metal small house was on par with a hundred-year-old Cold Ice Marrow house. How could they not be excited? The thought of it nearly drove them mad with excitement. They had already made up their minds to win this match at any cost, even if it meant revealing their trump cards.


    It was clear that the Western Land Long n was willing to spendvishly to secure more of the Spirit Metal ore vein, offering so much Spirit Metal to entice them¡ªwho could resist such a temptation?


    Long Qian was very pleased with the expressions on the geniuses¡¯ faces. The morale was up; they would fight desperately in the uing battles, with no one holding back their trump cards to preserve their strength.


    He knew that geniuses tend to hide their true capabilities unless there¡¯s a substantial reward. To get a horse to run fast, you have to let it eat grass, and promising generous rewards was a must.


    As for the Spirit Metal, although it was a valuable item, it did not yet belong to the Western Land Long n. Promising what didn¡¯t belong to them cost nothing.


    He was essentially making empty promises, rewarding them with what they would win themselves. Why not?


    At this moment, Long Xuan suddenly thought of something and became spirited. He hurriedly raised his hand and asked, "My Suo Gu is very picky about the shape of materials. May I personally go to the Spirit Metal ore vein to mine it?"


    He suddenly recalled that his golden finger might be able to locate the essence of Spirit Metal.


    Would he be satisfied with just using Spirit Metal to build a house for his Suo Gu? No, he intended to dig up a bag of Spirit Metal essence and use it to build the house.


    Moreover, Spirit Metal essence was incredibly valuable, worth a hundred times more than ordinary Spirit Metal, and was a miraculous substance with countless uses. It was even the best material for making the foundation of an unparalleled killing Formation. He was determined to take this opportunity to dig up several bags of it.


    Long Qian looked at him with a smile and said, "Of course, as long as you can win."


    "Does anyone else have any questions? If not, get on the ship, and we¡¯ll set off immediately."


    Long Qian ced a green dragon boat, identical to the one from the Far West Long n, on the ground. The dragon boat gradually erged until it was big enough to amodate everyone before it stopped growing.


    Once the dragon boat stopped, Long Lie unceremoniously jumped on board first, standing at the bow with his hands behind his back, exuding an air of authority.


    With so many geniuses being borrowed, the family naturally had to send a Spiritual Sea Realm expert to protect them to prevent any unexpected incidents.


    As for why Long Lie was chosen for this protection mission, it wasn¡¯t because of his exceptional capabilities. It was simply because all the Spiritual Sea Stage Gu Masters in the family were elders, and Long Lie was the only idle one.


    So whenever there was a mission that required a Spiritual Sea Realm Gu Master, it was almost always Long Lie who was summoned. He was constantly busy, almost running himself ragged.


    The previous task of escorting the geniuses to the ancient tomb was also due to this reason¡ªthere was no one else avable.


    Now, it was the same. What could be done? As a n elder, serving as someone¡¯s bodyguard was beneath his dignity, so this task had to be entrusted to Long Lie. No one else could do it.


    What choice did Long Lie have? As the unlucky one, he had to ept it and work diligently.


    Long Wanli scanned the faces of the family¡¯s geniuses, showing a look of reluctance. He suddenly took out a small Suo Gu house from his insect-rearing pouch and ced it on the ground.


    His reluctant gaze contained not only his reluctance towards the geniuses but also towards this small Suo Gu house.


    After years of research on the Suo Gu, the Long family had made some progress.


    Although they hadn¡¯t made much headway in developing a Evolution n to allow Suo Gu to transport people, they had discovered that using Space Stones as building materials could enable a Suo Gu small house to possess the ability to teleport living beings.


    This discovery brought them both joy and concern. While they had indirectly developed a method for transporting people, Space Stones were incredibly expensive.


    Space Stones were used to build teleportation formations and were far more valuable than peak-grade spirit stones.


    The materials needed toplement Space Stones were also the world¡¯s top-tier materials. The total construction cost was no less than that of a space teleportation array.


    What made it worse was that Space Stones were extremely rare. Even if you were willing to pay a hefty price, you might not be able to buy them.


    They had been fortunate to discover a low-grade Space Stone in the Empress¡¯s ancient tomb and had used the wealth plundered from the Western Land Long n to obtain another low-grade Space Stone, which allowed them to construct two space small houses.


    But one of the space small houses had to be given to the Western Land Long n.


    Because they couldn¡¯t guarantee that the Gu King from the Hun n wouldn¡¯t attack, they had to ce one of the space small houses at the Western Land Long n as a precaution.


    If the Gu King from the Hun n attacked, the Western Land Long n¡¯s experts could immediately teleport over through the space small house, providing the fastest support possible.


    Otherwise, the Western Land Long n is too far from here, and distant water cannot quench a nearby fire.


    Thus, he had no choice but to let Long Qian take the precious space cabin back to the n to facilitatemunication between the two ns.


    There were simply too few Space Stones. Collecting two in this region had already been the limit, and only two space cabins could be made.


    Using this method to teleport living beings was extremely costly and could not be widely implemented. They needed to find a more cost-effective solution with higher value for money.


    So, their research on evolving the Sou Gu for teleportation continued, though it was hard to say how long it would take. The task was immense and would require a long-termmitment.


    "This is the space cabin our n has developed for teleporting living beings, including people. Take this Sou Gu small house back to your n, and our two ns'' Gu cultivators will be able toe and go freely."


    "However, this thing is extremely expensive, and of course, we can''t just give it to you for free."


    "The talents of our n will secure several more veins of the mine for you, bringing you untold wealth. Considering that you''ll profit so much from our help, asking for a share in the mining rights isn''t too much, is it?"


    Long Wanli ced the Sou Gu small house on the ground and looked at Long Qian.


    Seeing the small house, Long Qian''s eyes widened with excitement. He hurried over, running his hands over it, breathing heavily.


    "Have you really developed a way to teleport people?"


    "Do you realize how much profit this technology could bring our two ns?" he asked, his voice trembling.


    "Of course I know," Long Wanli replied with a bitter smile. "But the cost is nearly unbearable. This thing costs almost as much as a small teleportation Formation."


    "And because of material limitations, our n has reached its limit in making two. There''s no way to extend the teleportation formation business."


    "These two space house can only be used as secret passages for our two ns tomunicate. If there''s ever a war, we can support each other, but they can''t be used formercial purposes."


    Long Qian nodded and said, "I can see that this space cabin is made of top-grade materials, and the total cost is astronomical. Since you used all the materials my n sent over, I''m well aware of its value."


    "But even so, it will still be enough for our two ns to make a fortune."


    "Do you know that some things are dirt cheap in the Western Land, yet here they are worth a fortune?"


    "And some things are dirt cheap here but incredibly expensive in our Western Land."


    "In the past, transportation was inconvenient, with treacherous terrains blocking the way and dangers lurking around every corner. Onlyrge merchant guilds houses could conduct this kind of business, buying low and selling high."


    "But now we have a teleportation gate that can instantly transport goods between the two ces, allowing resources to flow between them."


    "Our two ns can make huge profits by trading goods at high markups. Even with just one teleportation gate, we''ll both be swimming in wealth."


    Long Qian''s eyes burned with excitement, his emotions brimming over.


    Long Wanli had anticipated this reaction and smiled, "Did you think I wouldn''t consider that? I''ve already prepared for it."


    "Our n''s warehouses are stocked with goods, just waiting for you to ce this little house in the Western Land. Then we can start sending goods over continuously."


    "But what about the matter I just mentioned? The cost of this space house is no small thing. Considering the benefits our n''s talents will secure for you, asking for a share of the mining rights isn''t too much, right?"


    Long Qian was stunned and then smiled wryly. "You know, such a big decision isn''t mine to make. I need to report this to the n, and the elders will discuss it."


    "But in my opinion, there shouldn''t be a problem. The profits from this teleportation gate coulde faster than mining. If our n disagrees, wouldn''t you just close the gate on us?"


    "Rest assured, I''ll do my best to persuade them. Leave this matter to me."


    Upon hearing this, Long Wanli smiled triumphantly. It seemed the favor he had secured had worked, and the matter was almost guaranteed to seed.


    Securing mining rights was his goal. Building houses with the Sou Gu small house required a vast amount of high-grade materials, and he needed a mine to supply them. Spirit metal was the perfect building material for this purpose.


    Hearing their conversation, Long Xuan was a bit surprised. Had the n really developed a way to teleport living beings?


    It just showed that geniuses with original talents still existed in the world.


    However, why did this small space house look so much like a doghouse? Wasn''t it too small?


    Would the Gu kings of both ces really have to crawl through this thing? What would that look like?


    If Long Wanli knew what he was thinking, he''d probably roll his eyes. Did he think high-grade materials were free? The bigger the house, the more it cost.


    Enough was enough. Building a mansion would cost a fortune.


    If crawling through a doghouse meant making money, who wouldn''t want to? Sess requires flexibility, and those Gu kings would be eager to crawl through if it meant earning massive resources. A little face wasn''t worth much in the grand scheme.


    After carefully packing the space cabin into his storage bag, Long Qian finally boarded the ship.


    After he boarded, the younger generation followed one by one, waving their hands in farewell as the dragon boat quickly ascended and disappeared from the sight of the n''s high-ranking members.


    Long Wanli waved towards the sky for a long time before finally lowering his hand and sighing, "Who knows how long it will be before they return? I''ll miss them."


    "Hehe," the Great Elder chuckled while stroking his beard. "Didn''t you just give them a space house? They can teleport back in no time."


    "True, but once the two ces are connected, we should visit them ourselves. It''s been a long time since we''ve returned to the Western Land. It''s time to go back and take a look. I miss it."


    Long Wanli''s eyes grew distant, filled with anticipation.


    ...

 Chapter 139: Discovering Infinite Progress

    At this moment, on the rapidly flying dragon boat heading east, Long Xuan habitually took his seat at the stern.


    Soon, a familiar fragrance drifted over, and Long Ziyan, who shared the same habit, sat down to his right.


    She quietly read a book, flipping through yet another ancient theological text, having just switched to a new one.


    Long Xuan, adhering to the principle of "many skills are not a burden," had long taken the time to teach himself divine script with the help of a clone, so he could understand the content of her book.


    However, after ncing at it for a moment, he lost interest. The book recorded the history of a certain period¡ªdry and dull. Although ancient stories could sometimes be of great use, the vast majority were utterly useless.


    At that moment, another breeze passed by, and Long Ruoxue confidently sat on his left, resting her chin on her hand as she looked at him. She straightforwardly asked, "The formation you designed is quite ingenious. To think that you used only basic formations to trap a third-grade formation master¡ªimpressive. I still haven''t figured out the pattern of that world maze."


    "So far, it''s the only grand formation that has left mepletely baffled. Could you lend me the formation diagram? I can trade it for a long-lost formation diagram."


    Before Long Xuan could answer, Long Qian stepped in and sternly reprimanded, "Nonsense! Do you think you can casually inquire about someone¡¯s protective formation diagram? Have you forgotten the unwritten rules of the Gu world?"


    In the Gu world, there¡¯s an unwritten rule: you cannot ask for someone¡¯s protective formation diagram, no matter how close you are to them.Once the formation diagram is given to someone, that person can freely enter and exit the protective formation. If the diagram is passed on, more people could enter the formation.


    Therefore, every master of a cave would never give away their protective formation diagram, no matter how familiar they are with the person asking.


    It¡¯s best not to mention this at all. Asking a cave master about the secrets of their protective formation is taboo, and intelligent guests never bring it up. This has be an unspoken rule.


    Long Ruoxue knew the rule, but her curiosity got the better of her. Without uncovering the maze''s secret, she couldn¡¯t eat or sleep well¡ªshe was a well-known formation fanatic.


    Long Xuan smiled at her and said, "Buddha says, ''It cannot be said! It cannot be said!''"


    Of course, he wouldn¡¯t give her the formation diagram. Even if she offered something of immense value in exchange, it wouldn''t be enough. He hadn¡¯t given it to Di Xin when asked, let alone her.


    ...


    Two monthster.


    On the dragon boat, Long Qilin asionally poked his head out, looking down. This was his first long journey, and he was in high spirits, making him the most active on the boat.


    "Why are we flying so low? And why are we following the coastline? Isn¡¯t it longer to fly along the coast?" Long Qilin asked in confusion.


    The Far West Land on the map is a crescent-shaped penins connecting to the Western Land, with the narrow part covered by a forest.


    This forest is the Ten Thousand Mountains, filled with countless fierce spirit beasts. Traveling through the Ten Thousand Mountains is extremely dangerous, even for a Gu King, who wouldn''t have absolute confidence.


    Since this path is impassable, the only option is to take the sea route. However, Long Qilin didn¡¯t expect that instead of flying straight across the ocean, they would fly low along the coast, which puzzled him.


    Long Qian approached with a smile and exined, "It''s simple. High-altitude flying makes us an obvious target, making it easy for flying spirit beasts to attack. So, in this area, we can only fly low, even though it still carries risks."


    "The reason we¡¯re not crossing the ocean directly is because of the many concerns. The deep sea is home to many fierce spirit beasts, even more challenging than those onnd."


    "We¡¯re on a small boat, and its small size limits the number of inscriptions we can engrave, so its defense iscking. If a spirit beast so much as brushes against it, the boat would be destroyed."


    "If the boat breaks in the middle of the ocean, our fate would be sealed¡ªwe''d be buried at sea."


    "Although the world''s top-tier boats can fly, many sea creatures can fly as well, such as flood dragon-type spirit beasts. If a small boat is targeted by a sea flood dragon, it¡¯s a dead end."


    "So, small boats can''t enter the deep sea. Onlyrge boats can sail there. Large boats have enough inscriptions and formations to withstand attacks from sea creatures."


    "The more formidablerge boats are equipped with killing formations, capable of even capturing sea flood dragons. The sea flood dragon is a treasure, and hauling it back tond can fetch a sky-high price."


    "This is also a lucrative trade route. Some forces make vast fortunes by hunting sea flood dragons in the deep sea."


    "But buildingrge boats isn''t easy. Few forces have the technology to construct them, and none of the forces in the Western Land possessrge boat-building capabilities."


    "This world is one partnd and nine parts ocean, divided into thousands of sea regions on the map."


    "Each sea region has different levels of danger and requires different types of spirit boats. Generally, therger the boat, the more sea regions it can navigate."


    "The most dangerous sea regions can only be traversed by a ninth-grade spirit boat. I wonder which force has the technology to build a ninth-grade spirit boat."


    "Therger the boat, the more resources it consumes. Who knows how many resources a ninth-grade spirit boat would require?"


    "However, the most dangerous sea regions are ces humans can hardly reach, and the more difficult a ce is to ess, the more treasures it holds."


    "Even if a ninth-grade spirit boat costs a fortune to build, it can easily pay for itself by venturing into the most dangerous sea regions."


    Long Qian had a look of longing on his face. Constructingrge boats also involved formations, one of the fields he was researching. He was determined to developrge boat technology for his family, opening a new revenue stream and leaving his mark on the n¡¯s history.


    Hearing his words, Long Xuan instinctively thought about whether he should researchrge boat technology¡ªperhaps transferring the Five Elements Reversal Formation onto arge vessel and freely roaming the ocean.


    However, it was just a passing thought. He had no use forrge boats at the moment, so there was no need to build one. But in the future,rge boats would certainly be included in his self-created ns.


    "Alright, enough of that. We''ve been bumping around for a while; let¡¯s stop and take a break. If anyone needs to use the restroom, do it now. Later, if someone needs to go, I won¡¯t stop just for one person."


    With that, Long Qian steered the dragon boat toward a small ind below.


    Long Lieughed heartily, "Haha, we should have stopped earlier. I¡¯m about to burst. If it weren¡¯t for the girls on board, I¡¯d have just done it standing on the boat."


    "You¡¯re not afraid of wetting your face?"


    Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but roll his eyes at him. He was constantly taking small sips of liquor; how could he not need to relieve himself often? It was a miracle his dder hadn''t burst.


    Not long after, the dragon boatnded. Before it even touched down, everyone eagerly jumped off, unable to bear sitting on the boat any longer¡ªit had been quite ufortable.


    Long Lie was the fastest, clearly desperate.


    "You guys start the fire. I¡¯m going to hunt some game. I¡¯ve been on this boat so long, I¡¯m practically fading away."


    Long Qilin was the second to rush into the depths of the ind, ready to hunt some spirit beasts to bring back for roasting.


    The rest of the people on the boat weren¡¯t idle either. They all ventured deeper into the ind, hoping to find some spiritual herbs or treasures and maybe hunt some game along the way.


    Long Ruoxue remained on the boat, focused on the chaotic map in her hands. It was as if she was possessed, determined to decipher therge formation depicted.


    "I¡¯ll leave the fire-making to you. I¡¯m going to catch some fish."


    Long Xuan didn¡¯t want to be idle either. After removing most of his clothes, he dove straight into the sea.


    At this point, the only person left to make the fire was Long Ziyan. Sighing, she put down her book and went to gather wood.


    After jumping into the water, Long Xuan ordered his clones to start fishing while he, with a clear goal in mind, swam towards the deepest part of the sea.


    The water bear was adept at withstanding pressure and highly resistant to oxygen deprivation, capable of surviving for a long time without oxygen. Especially after bing a Gu, its abilities became even more exaggerated.


    It had the capability to survive in deep-sea environments. The deeper Long Xuan swam, the faster he went, taking advantage of his Star-Stepping technique to ignore the water resistance. In the blink of an eye, he had dived to an incredible depth.


    If Long Qian knew the depth to which he had dived, he would surely be shocked. Diving so deep into the sea required holding one¡¯s breath for a long time and enduring immense water pressure. Even a Gu King wouldn¡¯t be able to survive at such depths.


    Long Xuan had no idea how long he had been diving or how many meters deep he was. His Heavenly Dream Soul Armor was glowing a dark hue due to the intense pressure.


    Finally, just as he was contemting whether to continue diving, he reached the ocean floor.


    Touching the soil beneath his feet, he fell into deep thought.


    The reason he had dived into this bottomless ocean trench was because he saw progress here, symbolized by the infinity sign (¡Þ).


    This symbol indicated that there was an incredible treasure here. Although he didn¡¯t know what it was, it was undoubtedly something valuable, worth the effort to obtain.


    It was precisely because of this treasure that he had sent a soul message to Long Qian, asking to stop for a break. Otherwise, how could the boat have coincidentally stopped at this spot?


    However, it seemed that the treasure wasn¡¯t on the seafloor but buried beneath it, which made things more difficult.


    Excavating in the deep sea, under such terrifying pressure, was extremely challenging, especially since it was pitch dark, and who knew what dangers might lurk there?


    Even if he had his clones do the job, it would take an enormous amount of time, and the people on the boat clearly wouldn¡¯t wait for him that long.


    He scanned the sea floor and found many signs of progress, but all buried deep in various locations.


    Suddenly, Long Xuan¡¯s eyes widened in shock. Could there be a massive ancient tomb buried beneath?


    Although he couldn¡¯t clearly see what was buried below, it definitely wasn¡¯t a mineral vein, which should have shown dense progress signs.


    If the treasure was sparsely distributed below, the likelihood of it being an ancient tomb was very high. Long Xuan¡¯s breathing quickened, and his eyes lit up with excitement.


    After thest tomb robbery, he felt that his abilities were naturally suited for tomb raiding. He could easily take treasures that even a Gu King couldn¡¯t obtain. Now, he was hooked on tomb raiding.


    It couldn¡¯t be helped; the wealth from tomb raiding was too quick. Just finding one tomb was enough to make him rich overnight.


    Moreover, the world¡¯s top treasures rarely appeared at auctions, but in tombs, they could be found rtively easily. He was now genuinely curious about what treasure was buried beneath, indicated by the infinity symbol, and he was eager to dig it up.


    But he was in a tough spot. If he dug a tunnel here, seawater would surely flood in, potentially destroying anything in the tomb, making it even harder to retrieve.


    ........................................................................


    Read extra chapters on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 140: Sword Cultivator

    It seems the only option is to dig a tunnel on the ind, thought Long Xuan, his expression contemtive.


    However, digging from the ind to this location would take an extremely long time. It''s a massive project and certainly not something that can be done right away.


    He nned to remember this location ande back to raid the tomb when he had the time.


    As for the dangers of tomb raiding, he was well aware. Even if the Gu King might perish in this tomb, so what? His entire skillset was practically made for tomb raiding.


    For instance, in the Origin Realm, why not just copy the underground tomb using the Origin Realm? Then he could endlessly challenge the copied version himself.


    This would be like having infinite lives in a game, allowing countless attempts. No matter how difficult the challenge, it would eventually be ovee. This was simply too convenient¡ªwhat tomb could withstand such repeated raids?


    Having made up his mind, Long Xuan began swimming upward. He temporarilymitted this ce to memory, knowing he had plenty of time in the future.


    He wasn¡¯t sure how long he swam, but eventually, he emerged from the water, gasping for air, his eyes filled with excitement.


    At some point, an additional transparent bottle appeared in his hand. Inside the bottle was a small jellyfish.This jellyfish was transparent with a red digestive system inside. Its shape was bell-like, resembling a lighthouse.


    Seeing the jellyfish in the bottle, Long Xuan''s eyes gleamed, and his heart pounded wildly. He hadn¡¯t expected to make such an unexpected discovery while swimming upwards.


    Look at what he had found! By sheer luck, he had stumbled upon the famous immortal jellyfish from his previous life.


    This creature was truly terrifying; its ability was beyond most people¡¯s imagination.


    When other creatures aged and were about to die, this jellyfish could actually revert to a younger state, and it had no limit to how many times it could do so.


    Infinite rejuvenation meant eternal life, making it one of the few creatures that could achieve immortality.


    In a world with countless abilities, what couldpare to immortality?


    Surely anyone, when faced with numerous abilities, would choose the ability to live forever rather than the ability to deal massive damage.


    The ability to live forever was incredibly valuable for research. Long Xuan eagerly took out a pen and paper¡ªCertainly not to study a Gu recipe here.


    He was just anxious to see if the Turritopsis dohrnii jellyfish''s ability could be transferred to a human through Gu refinement.


    With his golden finger giving him hints, all he needed to do was write a single sentence on paper to determine whether the rejuvenation ability could theoretically exist.


    He moved to a rock on the shore and quickly wrote on the paper:


    Rejuvenation Gu


    Main Ingredient: Turritopsis dohrnii


    Ability: Allows the host to revert to a younger state when aging, with no limit on the number of times.


    As soon as he finished writing, the progress appeared on the paper. His face broke into a joyful smile, but that smile quickly froze as his eyes showed shock.


    Wow, the progress was a mere [0.0000001%].


    So many zeros¡ªit was down to several decimal ces! This Gu recipe probably required over a hundred of millions of different materials!


    Long Xuan''s mouth twitched uncontrobly, his fingers trembling.


    He waspletely unsettled at this point.


    How long would this take? It would take years, centuries even! Perhaps until the end of the world!


    "Shit! My bad! My bad!"


    Terrified, Long Xuan hastily tore the paper to shreds and threw it into the water. Whoever wanted to grind this Gu recipe could do so; he certainly wouldn¡¯t.


    Grinding this Gu recipe would be a life-draining task. The time needed wouldn¡¯t just be measured in centuries¡ªgrinding for eight lifetimes might not even be enough to seed. He had no intention of wasting his life on this.


    A Gu recipe requiring hundreds of millions of materials¡ªwhat kind of concept was that? Imagine how long it would take an author to write a 100 million-word novel, and you''d get the idea.


    The more heaven-defying something was, the more restrictions it would have. It would never be easy to obtain.


    He had long suspected that such a heaven-defying ability would require many materials, and he had mentally prepared himself, but this was too exaggerated!


    Even with mental preparation, he was still scared half to death.


    Just for a mere immortality ability, did it really need that many materials? It was absurd.


    He waspletely stunned.


    Although he no longer nned to study the Gu recipe of the Turritopsis dohrnii jellyfish, he didn¡¯t choose to release the jellyfish either.


    Encountering it was fate, so he decided to raise the jellyfish in his Spirit Spring and let it grow with him.


    He wanted to see how many times this immortal jellyfish would rejuvenate over his long life. Who would oust whom? Would he live longer, or would it?


    He stowed away the bottle with the jellyfish, cing it into his insect-rearing pouch. Then, he took off his wet clothes, changed into dry ones, and walked toward the campfire.


    By now, many of his clones had already caught plenty of Spirit Fish. His clones fully replicated his abilities; they could withstand pressure underwater and barely needed to breathe, making them excellent fishermen. Before long, they had caught more than enough fish.


    Long Xuan walked over to the fire and began grilling the Spirit Fish. Those who had gone to the center of the ind to hunt Spirit Beasts hadn¡¯t returned yet. For now, it was just him, Long Ziyan, and Long Ruoxue left here.


    The two beauties, with nothing better to do, were sparring. Their contest was a sight to behold, and Long Xuan watched them with an appreciative gaze.


    Long Ziyan¡¯s usualbat style involved using a sword. The sword qi she emitted was chilling, and its power was immense. Those wounded by it were either dead or severely injured.


    Long Xuan still remembers when he was in the ancient tomb, he was wearing the second-tier Dragon Silkworm Armor, making it nearly impossible for anyone of the same level to break through his defenses.


    At that time, Long Ziyan''s clone was clearly at the peak of the Spirit Gathering realm, yet with a casual strike, she managed to cut through his second-grade Dragon Silkworm Armor, surpassing her level. If not for the Water Bear Gu, he might have been finished by that attack.


    After spending so much time understanding her, Long Xuan realized that she wasn''t purely a Gu practitioner. Because she was born with a Sword Bone, she was extremely suited to bing a Sword Cultivator. Once she became a Sword Cultivator, herbat strength would be ten times that of an ordinary Sword Cultivator.


    Therefore, the path she chose was a rare dual cultivation of Gu and Sword. This path definitely offers strongbat power, but it also requires more time and effortpared to others of the same level.


    It is rumored that Sword Cultivators are the most aggressive of all practitioners in the world. With the blessing of a Sword Bone, their attack power is sufficient to cross great realms and injure enemies. This is also why Long Ziyan could break through the second-grade Dragon Silkworm Armor while only at the Spirit Gathering stage.


    Of course, this only means that Sword Cultivators with a Sword Bone can break the defenses of someone a whole realm higher, but it does not mean they have the ability to fight across great realms. Fighting across great realms is exceedingly rare in this world.


    "No wonder she has a Sword Bone¡ªsuch powerful killing intent! The seemingly invincible Earth Master is as fragile as paper under her sword!" Long Qian said, putting down his prey and walking over to watch the sparring between the two, his expression gradually bing serious.


    Seeing Long Qian sit beside him, Long Xuan curiously asked, "Senior, could you tell me about Sword Cultivators? To be honest, until now, I''ve never encountered practitioners of other paths besides Gu cultivation."


    Although his clone was well-learned, Long Xuan himself knew nothing about Sword Cultivators.


    Having been in this world for so many years, he had never seen a Sword Cultivator, nor had he encountered practitioners of any other professions. He hadn''t found any records about Sword Cultivators in the books either; everything he looked for was simply not there. Naturally, he couldn''t understand what was missing.


    So far, everyone he had met was a Gu practitioner, and other professions seemed to have never appeared in this world, leaving the archives nk.


    "Heh, the realm divisions for Sword Cultivators are the same as those for Gu practitioners. The realm divisions are pretty much consistent across all professions."


    "It''s just that after reaching the Soul Projection stage, Gu practitioners are more often called Gu Kings, while Sword Cultivators are called Sword Kings, Ghost Cultivators are called Ghost Kings, and Body Cultivators are called Martial Kings... and so on."


    "The differences in realm names are minor."


    "However, if you wish to see other practitioners in the Gu Realm, that¡¯s almost impossible. You have to remember why this world is called the Gu Realm. Since it''s called the Gu Realm, it naturally belongs exclusively to Gu practitioners."


    "In this world, everyone cultivates Gu. Sword Cultivators are almost non-existent. Although there are asional records about Sword Cultivators, these records are too few, and the inheritance is iplete."


    "Long Ziyan has chosen an incredibly difficult path in this world. Sword Cultivators don''t have aplete inheritance here, and she can''t find a master to learn from. She has to rely entirely on herself, and self-learning is extremely challenging. It''s a real shame for such a good Sword Bone."


    Long Qian showed a look of regret.


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan had even more questions and asked again, "Since there are records of Sword Cultivators in this world, it means Sword Cultivators once existed, or at least left traces."


    "Why did they all disappear? And what about the other professions? Since they existed before, why have they all vanished now?"


    Long Qian shook his head and replied, "I''m not sure, but many myths and legends are passed down in the Gu Realm, and some of these myths provide exnations."


    "But as you know, most myths are stories made up by humans, fictional tales that have yet to be verified."


    "I''m not certain whether these myths are true. Do you want to hear them?" Long Qian looked at Long Xuan with a smile.


    "Yes, I''m all ears," Long Xuan said, sitting up straight with a look of interest.


    Long Qian nodded and looked into the fire, slowly beginning to tell the tale: "It is said that in a time extremely distant, a vast world called the Deste Realm was split into three thousand pieces by a terrifying entity, which is why it came to be known as the Three Thousand Worlds."


    "And the human race exclusively upied three of these worlds, known as the Human Realm, the Spiritual/Spirit Realm, and the Divine Realm."


    "The entities that ruled these three realms were the gods of the human race. Gods are essentially the highest level of cultivators, for at this level, cultivators can achieve eternal life, and thus people call them gods."


    "However, cultivators who can reach this level are exceedingly rare because the Heavenly Dao limits the number of immortals. Therefore, the prerequisite for bing a god is to first obtain a Divine Position."


    "Divine Positions are also known as Divine Titles, with each power corresponding to one Divine Title."


    "For example, if you cultivate fire, once you reach the highest realm, you be the Fire God. However, there can only ever be one Fire God. Once a Fire God is born, the world will never see another Fire God."


    "Unless the Fire God dies, only then will the world produce a new Fire God."


    "In a situation where all Divine Positions are filled, no matter how talented someone is, they cannot be a god, nor can they achieve eternal life."


    "Unless you discover a new power and create a new Divine Title, your only hope is for an old god to die unexpectedly."

 Chapter 141: The Choice of the Next Peak-Grade Gu Insect

    "So, bing a god is essentially a battle for divine positions. There are far too few divine positions avable, resulting in a very limited number of gods in the world."


    "In the world of gods, there are also divisions into different factions."


    "The gods born in the East are called the Eastern Gods, and they enter the Eastern Court."


    "The gods born in the West are called the Western Gods, and they enter the Western Court."


    "The gods born in the South are called the Southern Gods, and they enter the Southern Court."


    "The gods born in the North are called the Northern Gods, and they enter the Northern Court."


    "At a certain point in time, the world of gods erupted in a world-spanning divine war. This war led to the downfall of countless gods and left numerous divine positions vacant."


    "In the divine war, the Northern Gods exterminated the Eastern Gods, transforming the Northern Court into the Divine Court."


    "The Southern Gods, in turn, wiped out the Western Gods, transforming the Western Court into the Heavenly Court.""From that point on, the three realms were divided between the Divine Court and the Heavenly Court. The Divine Court took the North, and the Heavenly Court took the South, with the River of Heaven as the boundary in the divine world."


    "The two great factions ruled on either side of the river, dividing the three realms equally, maintaining a long period of peace."


    "This is basically how the structure of the divine world was formed. The next person to be a god must choose either to join the Divine Court or the Heavenly Court. There''s no third option."


    "The resources of the three realms have been almostpletely divided between these two factions, making it difficult for any rogue gods to find a way forward."


    "In the Heavenly Court, the ruler of the three realms is the Heavenly Emperor. The strength of the Heavenly Emperor''s divine position depends on the expanse of the heavens under his control¡ªtherger the heavens, the stronger his divine power."


    "That''s why the Heavenly Emperor likes to wage wars across different nes. He has led millions of heavenly soldiers in battles against foreign realms multiple times."


    "At its peak, the Heavenly Court once conquered four different realms and ruled over seven realms, which are the Demon Realm, Heavenly Realm, Ghost Realm, Immortal Realm, Human Realm, Spiritual Realm, and Divine Realm."


    "Thus, at the peak of the human race, they exclusively ruled over the seven realms."


    "Because the Heavenly Emperor acquired more heavens, his divine power was at its strongest during the period when the Heavenly Court dominated the seven realms."


    "In the Divine Court, the ruler of the three realms is the Divine Emperor. The strength of the Divine Emperor''s position is determined by the number of gods he controls¡ªthe more gods under his rule, the stronger his divine power."


    "Therefore, for the Divine Emperor to grow stronger, he must seize more divine positions and control more gods."


    "Since half of the divine positions were taken by the Heavenly Court, the Divine Emperor would have to wage war against the Heavenly Court to acquire more divine positions. This oue was inevitable in history."


    "After a long period of peace, war eventually broke out between the Divine Court and the Heavenly Court, and all the gods of the seven realms were drawn into the conflict."


    "This war shattered the sky, plunged the world into darkness, and led to the downfall of countless gods. The number of vacant divine positions was also incalcble. The human race suffered severe damage, losing control over the Immortal, Demon, Ghost, and Heavenly Realms."


    "The result of this war was mutual destruction, with no clear victor. Over seventy percent of the gods on both sides fell, leading to an extremely prolonged period of recovery."


    "This great war waster known as the War of the Gods, marking the time when the number of gods was at its highest, with powerful high-ranking gods emerging one after another."


    "The sheer scale of power caused catastrophic consequences. The space barriers in the Human Realm were the weakest and could not withstand the destructive power generated by the War of the Gods."


    "In the end, the Human Realm was shattered into three hundred pieces, scattered throughout the Void."


    "The Gu World is one of these fragments of the shattered Human Realm. The Gu World suffered severe damage in that war, with its world''s origin being destroyed, requiring a massive amount of energy to repair."


    "As a result, the world''s spiritual energy in the Gu World began to thin, and the world''s energy began to degrade, from the original primordial energy to spiritual energy. This led to the Gu King stage bing the ultimate limit in this world, with no one able to break through to the fifth realm."


    "Unless one finds a way to the Spiritual Realm, where higher-level energy can be absorbed, there is no way to continue advancing beyond the Gu King realm."


    "The depletion of spiritual energy not only made cultivation difficult but also led to the extinction of a vast amount of materials, turning countless powerful Gu recipes and pill forms into worthless scraps, making the path of cultivation increasingly difficult."


    "There are many other fragments of the Human Realm like the Gu World. Some fragments only have sword cultivators, so they are called the Sword World."


    "Others have only de cultivators, so they are called the de World."


    "There are also fragments with all kinds of professions, where a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend. What such a world is called is unknown."


    "So, this is why you can''t find other professions in the Gu World. The world is simply too small, not because these professions have gone extinct."


    "Of course, this is just a myth that has been passed down, and its truth is unverified. You can treat it as just a story and not take it to heart."


    "Who knows if the Spiritual Realm even exists? All the Gu Kings who have ventured into space cracks to find the Spiritual Realm have had their soulmps extinguished, without exception. Only the soulmp of Empress Yaoguang still burns brightly, but who can say for sure if the world she is in is the Spiritual Realm?"


    Long Xuan showed a thoughtful expression. Whether or not this myth is true, he now understood that in this world, the peak of the Gu King realm is the ultimate limit. No one can break through to a higher realm in this world.


    This is truly a life-threatening situation. Isn''t this forcing all Gu Kings to search for the legendary Spirit Realm?


    Even if it''s likely false, they must treat it as true because it''s their only hope. Otherwise, they can only wait for their lifespan to run out and die trapped in this ce, which no genius would be willing to ept.


    However, it''s still too early to think about these things now. I''m still far from reaching the peak of the Gu King level, so there''s no need to worry about these matters. Let''s take things one step at a time. When the cart reaches the mountain, there will be a way through; when the boat reaches the bridge, it will straighten itself out.


    Long Xuan stopped thinking about this matter and finally focused on thepetition between Long Ziyan and Long Ruoxue.


    The Earth Master, d in metal insect armor, was instantly defeated by a single sword strike from Long Ziyan. Long Ruoxue gritted her teeth and had no choice but to release her peak-grade Gu insect.


    Her peak-grade Gu insect was arge silver mantis, about the size of a human, wielding dual des andpeting in sword techniques with Long Ziyan.


    The mantis practiced a dual-de style, while Long Ziyan used a single-de style. Surprisingly, the mantis''s swordsmanship wasn''t inferior and managed to hold its own against Long Ziyan, a genius with a natural sword bone, without falling behind for a short time.


    The mantis''s evolution pathway seemed to involve fusing with a famous human de, making its naturally grown dual des incredibly hard, which is why Long Ziyan''s sword couldn''t cut through them.


    Considering that even the Earth Master''s defense couldn''t withstand Long Ziyan''s sword, it''s evident how tough the mantis''s fused des must be.


    Long Xuan was curious and asked, "This mantis should be a unique Gu insect of the Long n, right? It''s impressive that it can fuse with a human''s peak-grade spiritual weapon de. I''ve never seen anyone in the Far Western Long n refine such a Gu insect."


    "Heh." Long Qian chuckled and replied, "The secret Gu techniques of the Long n across the world are mostly the same, but there are still differences."


    "For instance, one of the eight strongest secret Gu techniques of the Long n, the de Gu, is only found in the Western Land Long n. In the Far Western region, the materials required for the de Gu don''t exist, so naturally, it can''t be refined."


    "But at the same time, the other unique Gu insects of the Long n from different regions are absent in our Western Land Long n. For example, the Shock Gu, Dragon Roar Eight Sounds Gu, Dragon Roar Phoenix Cry Gu, and Dragon King Gu¡ªall these are absent in our Western Land Long n. This is truly a regrettable thing."


    "Currently, the de Gu is the strongest unique Gu insect in our Western Long n. The de Gu is terrifying because its intelligence andprehension are on par with humans. It is an extremely rare high-intelligence Gu insect."


    "A smart de Gu can learn human swordsmanship and dework, and it is born wielding a de, a natural swordsman. Its talent in swordsmanship far surpasses that of humans."


    "To put it bluntly, if a human and a de Gu were topete in swordsmanship at the same level, the human would almost certainly lose. Even an outstanding swordsman would struggle to withstand a few moves from a de Gu and would most likely be killed with a single strike."


    "So, it''s really not an exaggeration that this de Gu canpete with Long Ziyan, who has a natural sword bone, for so long."


    "The de Gu''s potential is extremely high, and its strength varies based on the swordsmanship it learns. If it can learn a top-tier Heaven-grade sword technique, it would essentially be an invincible existence among peak-grade Gu insects."


    "And if you refine a peak-grade spiritual de or even a famous de for the de Gu, it would be even more terrifying."


    "The de Gu also possesses a special ability called Armor Break. After consuming a certain type of creature, it gains the ability to prate that creature''s defenses. In its presence, those creatures essentially have no defense, no matter how hard their shell is¡ªit would be as fragile as paper, easily cut through."


    "You can see how terrifying it is, given that it can fight Long Ziyan for so long."


    "So I also suggest you refine one. The de Gu is undoubtedly among the top in the ranking of peak-grade Gu insects. Refining one would definitely be worth it."


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan was shocked. What did he mean by this? He was actually allowing him to refine the secret Gu technique of the Western Land Long n? Was it so easy to pass on their secret Gu techniques, so generous?


    Could it be that the Western Earth Long n had some intention of roping him in?


    Long Xuan was confused, but he was indeed tempted. He was very picky, and most peak-grade Gu insects would not catch his eye.


    However, the de Gu''s strength was definitely up to his standards.


    What excited him the most was that the de Gu''s strength would vary depending on the sword techniques it learned.


    What if he created the most powerful sword technique in this world for the de Gu to learn? How strong would it be?


    In his previous life, there were countless powerful sword and de techniques, and he had many ideas about swordsmanship and dework.


    If he could create a highly powerful sword technique for the de Gu, and then create a special weapon for it, refining two peerless famous des, this de Gu would truly be invincible.


    The de Gu has great potential for creative development, making it very suitable for his imagination.


    He had a feeling that the de Gu in his hands would unleash even greater power and break through the limits of its strength.


    There would be two types of de Gu: those of others and the de Gu of Long Xuan.


    Long Xuan immediately decided that as long as the Western Land Long n agreed, his next peak-grade Gu insect would be the de Gu.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 142: Dragon Pill

    "Are you really agreeing to let me learn the secret Gu method of the Western Land Long n? You''re not lying to me, are you?" Long Xuan asked again, in disbelief.


    "Haha! We''re all family. Family learning family secrets¡ªwhy would we need to discuss that?"


    "If you want to refine de Gu, just tell me. Once we reach Western Land, I''ll immediately take you to select the primary materials for refining de Gu."


    "The primary material for refining de Gu is our n''s exclusive spirit insect, which can''t be found anywhere else. However, aside from the main material, you''ll have to collect the rest on your own," Long Qian said with a smile, his expression showing he wasn''t joking.


    "Naturally. Thank you, I, Long Xuan, will remember this favor," Long Xuan said, his heart filled with joy.


    No matter what the Western Land Long n''s intentions were in letting him refine de Gu, as long as they didn''t impose any conditions, he''d ept it dly.


    At this moment, the battle between Long Ziyan and the de Gu was still ongoing. Neither side could gain the upper hand in their swordsmanship, leading to a stalemate with no clear winner in sight.


    Long Ziyan sighed helplessly. If it weren''t for herck of aplete sword cultivation inheritance, and not having another sword cultivator to spar with regrly to improve her skills, how could she be stuck fighting a Gu insect for so long?


    To her, as a human, it was utterly embarrassing to be battling a Gu insect for such an extended time.She suddenly nced at Long Ruoxue, who was watching the show from behind the de Gu, and said, "I haven''t even released my external Gu yet. Although I can''t defeat this de Gu in a short time, I can bypass it and attack you."


    "If you can''t defend against my sword energy, you might as well surrender now!"


    Long Ruoxue''s expression changed as she put away her amused look. She suddenly realized that Long Ziyan hadn''t released a single external Gu.


    She, on the other hand, had already released all her external Gu, including the Earth Master Gu, all of which had been instantly defeated by Long Ziyan''s sword energy.


    Although the de Gu was currently holding its own, if Long Ziyan released her external Gu, no matter if she used Gu insects to restrain the de Gu and then attacked Long Ruoxue herself, or sent a peak-grade Gu insect to attack her, Long Ruoxue knew she was destined to lose.


    She sighed and said, "Alright! I admit defeat. The Western Land Long n has lost to the Far West Long n in two rounds."


    "But I''m not the strongest genius of the Western Land Long n. That Long Biao isn''t considered a genius at all in our n."


    "Currently, the strongest genius of the Western Land Long n is Long Dan. Even though you''re strong, you may not be a match for Long Dan."


    Long Ruoxue retracted the de Gu, sighing inwardly. She had hoped to challenge Long Ziyan during the group''s rest period and win back some face for the Western Land Long n.


    But she hadn''t expected her n to backfire, not only failing to win but also losing another round.


    It was extremely embarrassing for a main family genius to lose two rounds to a branch family genius, causing her to blush slightly.


    She couldn''t understand how so many prodigies could emerge from the branch family in such a barrennd.


    At this moment, she finally understood the family''s deeper intent in seeking external assistance from the Far West Long n. The family''s strategy was brilliant¡ªonce they brought these prodigies back, the Bai n would surely suffer, possibly to the point of questioning their existence.


    "Alright! Now that the warm-up is over,e and eat some grilled fish! The fish is ready!" Long Qian called out to the two of them.


    The two women immediately walked over and sat around the campfire, eating the grilled fish that Long Xuan had prepared.


    He always carried spices with him, even chili, so the fish he grilled was exceptionally vorful. However, both women were rather prideful, and Long Xuan never heard a word of praise from them.


    Before long, the others returned with their prey. These individuals were more talkative, picking up the grilled fish from the rack and eating it with high praise, loudlyplimenting Long Xuan''s grilling skills.


    After everyone finished all the grilled fish and meat, they all let out a satisfied burp, then climbed back into the boat. They raised the dragon boat and continued flying eastward.


    High-level Gu cultivators didn''t need three meals a day. A single full meal could sustain them for a long time, not to mention that everyone had dry rations in their storage bags, so the dragon boat didn''t need tond frequently, saving a lot of unnecessary time.


    Another month passed quickly, and the dragon boat finally arrived in Western Land, entering the territory of the Western Land Long n.


    The total travel time was exactly three months. Don''t think three months is a short time. They were traveling in a third-tier Peak-grade spiritual artifact, controlled by a Spiritual Sea peak Gu cultivator, capable of reaching Gu King speed.


    In other words, they were traveling at the speed of a Gu King, and it still took three months to get from the Far West to Western Land.


    If it were most people traveling, this journey could take years or even decades.


    Even at the speed of a Gu King, Long Qian''s round trip took six months, meaning a round trip required half a year''s time, showing just how vast the distance was between the two ces.


    Under the Eye Of Heaven, they could see a massive ck city standing in the center of a in from afar. Since the dragon boat was flying in this direction, this must be the Western Land Long n''s stronghold.


    This ck city was built from an unknown type of stone, covered with intricate array patterns. This stone must be much harder than cement, and without improving the cement form, it would be difficult to apply cement widely in this world.


    Curious, Long Xuan asked, "Is this the Western Land Long n''s city?"


    Long Qian quickly shook his head with a smile, "How could that be? This strong city is jointly controlled by the ten ns of Western Land, and the city lord is chosen through fairpetition among the families."


    "This city is called ckstone City, named after the ckstone that even Gu Kings find hard to break."


    "Don''t think that stones hard enough to withstand a Gu King are rare materials. In the distant past, Gu Kings were considered low-level Gu cultivators, and ckstone was just garbage material."


    "A ckstone mine happens to be nearby, which is why ckstone City was built here."


    "This city has withstood countless beast tide attacks. It''s because ckstone City is easy to defend and hard to attack, and extremely difficult to break through. Plus, there''s a spiritual vein beneath the city, making the spiritual power concentration here extremely high, which is why the various ns are so eager to cram into this city."


    "This city is so safe that the ns are willing to do whatever it takes to secure a piece ofnd here."


    "This is why the grand scene of the ten strongest ns of the Western Lands gathering in one city hase to be. It also results in this city being filled with experts, with Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators everywhere and Gu Kings asmon as dogs. The majority of the powerful individuals from the Western Lands have converged here. You canpletely imagine how much thend prices in the city have surged.


    "Even though the Long n is incredibly wealthy, we could only afford a small piece ofnd, which is far from enough to amodate all our nsmen.


    "So, the current structure of the Long n in the Western Lands is that the main family resides in ckstone City, while the branch families are scattered across various parts of the Western Lands, managing the Long n''s industries in those areas.


    "The branch families consist of Long n members with impure bloodlines. Their status in the family is not high, but their numbers are vast..."


    Long Qian gave Long Xuan an overview of the Long n in the Western Lands, and his words were also meant for the others to hear.


    As they conversed, the dragon boat slowly descended,nding a certain distance from the city gate.


    Clearly, flying is forbidden within the city; otherwise, the dragon boat would have directly entered the city instead ofnding outside, requiring a fairly long walk to reach the city gate.


    Long Qian walked in front, handed a few mid-grade Spirit Stones to the two Spiritual Sea stage guards at the city gate, and then led the group into the city.


    Upon entering the city, Long Xuan and the other geniuses from the barrennds, who hade from far away, were very interested in the local customs and showed great curiosity towards everything around them.


    What struck Long Xuan the most was the difference in prices. The two regions are separated by vast mountains and oceans, making them entirely different worlds, so how could their prices be the same?


    The biggest price difference was in the resources for Spirit Insects. The various ns of the Western Lands seem to excel at cultivating Spirit Insects, leading to fiercepetition in the Spirit Insect market. As a result, Spirit Insect resources in this region are extremely cheap¡ªthree to even five times cheaper than in the Far West, almost at giveaway prices.


    Seeing this, Long Xuan''s pupils quickly contracted. What does the low cost of Spirit Insect materials mean? It means that the cost of refining Gu in this region is very low, making it easy to refine high-grade Gu.


    This inevitably means that thebat power of Gu cultivators in the Western Lands will far surpass that of those in the Far West.


    At this moment, he finally understood why the Long n was so excited about setting up a teleportation gate between the two regions. If the Long n in the Far West were to bring Spirit Insects from the Western Lands to the Far West to sell, wouldn¡¯t they make a killing?


    Buying low and selling high between the two regions would be an incredibly profitable business.


    Long Qian also thought of this and was eager to establish the space cabin in the family as soon as possible, to quickly build a connection between the two regions, so he hurried along.


    However, the more anxious he became, the more likely he was to be dyed by unexpected events.


    The group had already entered the marketce under the Long n''s jurisdiction and were admiring the dazzling array of treasures along the street when an unexpected conflict suddenly broke out ahead. Two groups of people began to fight, and the area ahead became chaotic, blocking their path forward.


    The two warring factions were easily distinguishable¡ªone wore ck clothing and the other white. Both sides were Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators. The ck-d group had only about ten people, while the white-d group had more than thirty.


    Long Xuan secretly clicked his tongue in surprise. ''Wow, as soon as I arrived, I¡¯m witnessing a brawl involving more than forty Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators. This ce truly lives up to its reputation as a major region, where Marrow Cleansing stage experts are asmon as dirt.''


    Back when he was quietly developing in the marketce in the Extreme West, there were only a handful of Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators in the entire marketce, right?


    Even after joining the family, the number of Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators wasn¡¯trge. The more than forty Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators here already amounted to almost half of the Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators in the entire Far West Long n.


    Although the number of ck-d Gu cultivators was small, their leader was particrly fierce in battle. He could fight ten opponents alone and, astonishingly, was still holding the upper hand. Long Xuan was amazed and took a few more nces at him.


    It should be noted that his opponents were also Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators, including some peak-level ones on par with him, yet he could still overpower them. Hisbat prowess was simply off the charts.


    This person was definitely a genius of a monstrous level, far surpassing the likes of Long Biao, who was a mere weakling byparison.


    Because of his presence, despite the disparity in numbers, the ck-d faction did not fall behind.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 143: Setting the Stage

    "Those dogs from the Bai family! What are they doing on our turf with so many people? I''m going over there to teach them a lesson right now," Long Biao shouted angrily, rolling up his sleeves and preparing to rush forward. However, Long Qian pressed down on his shoulder, his face dark and stern, saying, "Stay put! Let¡¯s see what they¡¯re nning first. If you rush in recklessly now, you¡¯ll only make things worse. Don¡¯t expose my presence."


    Hearing this, Long Xuan finally understood the identities of both parties. Since they were from the Bai family, it made sense that they were dressed in white. Therefore, those dressed in ck must be the Gu cultivators of the Western Land Long n.


    At this moment, Long Xuan could clearly see why the leading youth of the Long n''s Gu cultivators had such exaggeratedbat power.


    His Evil Dragon Emperor Eye could see through all the weaknesses in his opponent''s moves, allowing him to defeat them with a single strike.


    If his opponents couldn''t withstand even one move, there could be no wheel battle, and having more people wouldn''t give them an advantage. For someone like him, fighting against arge group was no challenge at all.


    If not for the prohibition against killing in the market, those knocked to the ground by him would likely never stand up again, and the battle wouldn¡¯t havested this long.


    Long Xuan was astounded, feeling the terror of the Evil Dragon Emperor Eye for the first time. His fear of this eye Gu increased, but soon after, he grew puzzled. Was the Long n''s Evil Dragon Emperor Eye really this powerful?


    From what he knew, due to the widespreadck of materials needed to refine the Evil Dragon Emperor Eye, the current versions were all iplete, with limited power. They could only see through the ws of ordinary abilities, but slightly stronger ones were beyond their reach.


    His own Steel Fist wasn''t fully developed yet and should have been full of ws, but Long Biao couldn¡¯t see any weaknesses, clearly showing the limitations of the Evil Dragon Emperor Eye.But this youth was different. His Evil Dragon Emperor Eye could see through any ability, no matter the technique, allowing him to defeat anyone of the same rank in a single move.


    It must be noted that his opponents were all Gu cultivators from the Bai family, one of the top ten ns of the Western Lands. They certainly didn¡¯tck high-level abilities, so how could an ordinary Evil Dragon Emperor Eye break them so easily?


    Long Xuan immediately asked curiously, "Is this person''s Evil Dragon Emperor Eye aplete version? How can it find ws in any ability?"


    Long Ziyan, standing nearby, also perked up her ears to listen. Her Evil Dragon Emperor Eye was nowhere near as powerful.


    "Heh!" Long Qian chuckled proudly. "It''s not just your Far Western Long n that has unparalleled geniuses; our n has its prodigies too."


    "This person is named Long Dan, the top genius of our n, far beyond a second-rate like Long Biao."


    "His extraordinarybat poweres from possessing an innate spirit Gu, and not just any¡ªone of the top ten innate spirit Gu."


    At this, Long Qian smiled, deliberately keeping them in suspense without continuing.


    However, Long Xuan¡¯s clone enjoyed reading, so he knew what an innate spirit Gu was.


    In this world of spiritual power, all sorts of strange things could happen. Not only could spiritual herbs and spirit beasts be hosts for Gu, but even humans, under certain circumstances, could give birth to parasitic Gu.


    These naturally urring Gu within the human body were called innate spirit Gu.


    Some innate spirit Gu were weak and useless, while others were incredibly powerful, granting their host extraordinarybat power, even making them invincible at the same rank.


    But whether strong or weak, any Gu cultivator would desire to have one.


    This is because innate spirit Gu grow with the strength of the Gu cultivator, without the need to invest vast resources for nurturing. There''s no need to worry about its evolution in the future.


    Innate spirit Gu are the only Gu that can grow independently, without any resource investment. Having one is like getting an ability for free, and who wouldn''t want something free, regardless of its strength?


    The strongest of the innate spirit Gu are known as the top ten innate spirit Gu.


    It¡¯s said that these top ten innate spirit Gu possess endless lifespans, with no power capable of killing them, and they are unique in the world¡ªthere is no second of their kind.


    No one knows the forms of the top ten innate spirit Gu, nor where they hide within the human body.


    But if the host is killed, the Gu will fly out of the corpse and seek a new host, forcibly parasitizing them, regardless of whether the person agrees or not.


    After that person dies, the Gu will repeat this process endlessly, again and again.


    Long Xuan knew what innate spirit Gu were and that the top ten innate spirit Gu were unique, but he didn¡¯t know which specific Gu they were.


    Often, he wondered whether his golden finger might be a type of innate spirit Gu, perhaps even one of the top ten, named the Growth Gu.


    The Growth Gu would manifest ording to the host''s cognition, making his vision appear like a system from his previous life, though in fact it wasn''t really a system at all.


    The original host''s understanding of this world''s primitive mathematics resulted in progress being disyed as a percentage or fraction, without the precision of decimals, severely limiting its potential.


    In a world where mathematics is at a primitive stage, the Growth Gu is practically useless, no matter who possesses it.


    Of course, this was just his spection. He still wasn¡¯t sure about the origin of his golden finger and whether the ability to see the progress of everything really came from an innate spirit Gu.


    After all, his golden finger can¡¯t perform internal vision, so he can¡¯t see what¡¯s inside his own eyes. His clone also can¡¯t replicate his golden finger, so he truly doesn¡¯t know if there are any unknown Gu insects in his eyes.


    However, although he doesn¡¯t know what the Top Ten innate spirit Gu are, this learned senior sister¡¯s eyes shed with a sharp light, and she blurted out, ¡°Limit-breaking Gu! He possesses the Limit-breaking Gu!¡±


    ¡°The ability of the Limit-breaking Gu is to break through limits. This ability can turn low-grade Gu insects into middle-grade ones, and middle-grade Gu insects into high-grade ones.¡±


    ¡°If this ability is applied to a peak-grade Gu insect, it will break through the peak grade¡¯s upper limit, turning it into a terrifying existence that surpasses peak-grade Gu insects.¡±


    ¡°And this ability isn¡¯t limited to Gu insects.¡±


    ¡°Techniques, spiritual arts, physical arts... any ability can be upgraded by one level unconditionally under this power.¡±


    ¡°But at the initial stage, the Limit-breaking Gu can only affect one ability, and this cannot be changed.¡±


    ¡°Long Dan must have used this sole opportunity on the Evil Dragon Emperor''s Eye, transforming his iplete Evil Dragon Emperor''s Eye into aplete one.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why his Evil Dragon Emperor''s Eye is so terrifying, capable of seeing through any ability''s ws!¡±


    Long Qian unexpectedly nced at her, surprised by her insight. He had intended to keep them guessing, but now there was nothing left to say.


    ¡°You¡¯re quite smart, and knowledgeable enough to see through his secret at a nce.¡±


    ¡°But there is one thing you got wrong. Currently, the Evil Dragon Emperor''s Eye is only infinitely close to beingplete; it hasn¡¯t yet reached the level of our ancestor''s Evil Dragon Emperor''s Eye.¡±


    ¡°In this world, there are still some abilities that are too heaven-defying for him to find any ws. The ability to see through all ws is simply too heaven-defying, and perhaps it has already surpassed the scope of a peak-grade Gu insect, something that the Limit-breaking Gu cannot fully restore.¡±


    ¡°However, even at this level, the Evil Dragon Emperor''s Eye is heaven-defying enough. In this region, Long Dan is already invincible among those at the same level.¡±


    ¡°No, the two of you should be exceptions,¡± Long Qian suddenly looked at Long Xuan and Long Ziyan.


    The Ten Absolute Physiques and the Ten Innate Spirit Gu should be equivalent in rank.


    The Ten Absolute Physiques can amplify the power of spiritual arts and internal Gu abilities, essentially breaking the limits of these abilities, simr to what the Limit-breaking Gu does.


    If Long Xuan and Long Dan were to face each other at the same level, Long Qian vaguely felt that the Ten Absolute Physiques would still have the upper hand.


    After all, Long Dan only breaks the limit of one ability, whereas the Ten Absolute Physiques break the limit in all aspects. The im that the Ten Absolute Physiques are invincible at the same level is no joke.


    However, the Ten Absolute Physiques cannot be cultivated in this era. He wasn¡¯t very optimistic about Long Xuan¡¯s future; breaking through the Marrow Cleansing phase was already the limit. In his view, breaking through the Spiritual Sea Stage was absolutely impossible, as there were no pills in this world that could enable the Ten Absolute Physiques to break through to the Spiritual Sea stage.


    Just as they were discussing this, the battlefield suddenly changed.


    Two members of the Bai n who had been knocked to the ground by Long Dan suddenly vomited blood and died, even though the impact wasn¡¯t severe. However, they suddenly died at an astonishing speed.


    After their deaths, someone in the crowd suddenly shouted, ¡°My sons! You died so miserably! How cruel for someone so young! You cannot be allowed to live!¡±


    A powerful aura at the peak of the Spiritual Sea erupted from the crowd, and an old man charged out in a frenzy, brimming with murderous intent as he rushed towards Long Dan at great speed, as if afraid of acting too slowly.


    Seeing this, Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but twitch his mouth, his expression bingplex.


    Those two Bai n Gu cultivators weren¡¯t seriously injured, yet their sudden deaths were highly suspicious. It¡¯s likely they eithermitted suicide or were secretly killed by someone.


    As soon as these two died, a peak Spiritual Sea Gu cultivator from the Bai n jumped out, ready to rely on his higher cultivation level to crush and kill the Long n¡¯s genius.


    If there¡¯s no conspiracy here, he wouldn¡¯t believe it.


    At this point, it was clear to him that this was a trap set by the Bai n for Long Dan.


    The goal was to eliminate one of the Long n¡¯s geniuses before the Genius Arenapetition even began, to increase their chances of winning and securing more mineral veins.


    The Bai n was willing to discard all dignity just to win another round.


    But are the Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators of the Western Lands really so cheap?


    To kill Long Dan legitimately, they didn¡¯t hesitate to exchange lives with their own nsmen. Their ruthlessness was astonishing, even discarding Marrow Cleansing phase experts without hesitation.


    Seeing a powerful Spiritual Sea peak expert charging at him with a fierce expression, Long Dan¡¯s face changed dramatically, truly frightened.


    No matter how much of a genius he was, he couldn¡¯t possibly defeat a peak Spiritual Sea expert across such arge cultivation gap. Once caught by this peak expert, his fate was almost certain death.


    However, a group of Bai n Marrow Cleansing Gu cultivators seemed well-prepared, doing everything in their power to keep him trapped, giving him no chance to escape.


    In the blink of an eye, just as his life hung by a thread, Long Qian, who had been watching the scene from the crowd, finally made his move.


    He flew out from the crowd at lightning speed,shing out with a whip that struck heavily on the old man''s back.


    This blow was merciless, using his full strength. If the old man failed to dodge in time, this whip could cost him half his life.


    ¡°Hmph! It¡¯s not your ce to discipline the genius of my n!¡±


    ¡°A dignified peak Spiritual Sea expert lowering himself to attack a junior¡ªyou old fool, don¡¯t you feel any shame?¡±


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 144: Choosing a Gu insect

    Sensing the whip strikeing from behind, Bai Qianchou''s expression changed drastically. He no longer dared to attack Long Dan and frantically dodged, barely avoiding the deadlysh.


    The whip grazed past him, mming heavily into the ground and tearing a massive trench in the stone pavement. If that strike hadnded on a person, the consequences would have been catastrophic!


    ¡°Damn it, why is he here?¡± Bai Qianchou cursed in his heart, his face uncertain.


    Everything was supposed to go wlessly. With two of his sons dead, it was reasonable for him to attack out of anger for his beloved children. Even others would consider it justified. But who could have anticipated this sudden twist?


    With Long Qian here today, achieving his goal had be much harder.


    ¡°It was your Long family that killed my sons first! A life for a life, debts must be repaid. One life for one life, and in my case, it''s two lives! Even if I kill him today to avenge my sons, who would dare say I¡¯m wrong? Even if this goes to the City Lord, justice is still on my side!¡±


    Bai Qianchou tried to take control of the situation, his eyes reddened with rage as he shouted furiously. Anyone unaware of the truth might really believe he was heartbroken over the loss of his sons.


    ¡°Bah!¡± Long Qian cursed angrily. ¡°You have over a thousand sons? Two deaths and you think it''s a big deal?¡±


    ¡°If you lost a hundred sons, you wouldn¡¯t even blink. Stop pretending.¡±¡°I bet you were happy when they died. It must¡¯ve saved you a lot on food.¡±


    ¡°Honestly, only two? That¡¯s not enough. Want me to help you kill a few more?¡±


    Hearing this, Long Xuan''s mouth twitched uncontrobly. A thousand sons? Is that even real? This guy¡¯s a stud horse or what? How could he father so many children?


    Isn''t that a bit exaggerated?


    Unable to resist, Long Xuan turned to Long Ruoxue and asked, ¡°Does he really have that many sons?¡±


    ¡°A thousand is just the known number. Who knows how many more there are? He practiced a dual cultivation technique. As long as he engages in dual cultivation with women, his cultivation progresses rapidly. Many of these women were forced into it, and he doesn¡¯t even care about the children they bear.¡±


    ¡°So, losing two sons wouldn¡¯t bother him at all. Even if a thousand of them died, he wouldn¡¯t flinch,¡± Long Ruoxue replied with a disgusted expression.


    Long Qian''s words struck a nerve. Bai Qianchou hadn¡¯t been too upset about his sons'' deaths, but Long Qian''s remarks enraged him.


    ¡°You''re asking for death! Killing to repay a life is a matter of justice! Anyone who stands in my way today will die!¡± Bai Qianchou shouted, charging once more at Long Dan.


    ¡°We¡¯ll see if my whip agrees with you,¡± Long Qian sneered as he also rushed forward. The two quickly became locked inbat.


    The battle between Gu cultivators at the Spiritual Sea stage caused a huge disturbance. The shockwaves from the fight injured several nearby Bai family Gu cultivators, who coughed up blood. The crowd quickly retreated in panic.


    Both fighters were of the same realm, evenly matched in strength. The fight was intense, with no clear winner for a while.


    Just as the battle reached a stalemate, Long Lie, who had been watching, suddenly took a swig of wine andughed loudly. Without warning, heunched a sneak attack on Bai Qianchou from behind.


    Bai Qianchou¡¯s face changed. He hadn¡¯t expected there to be another Long family Gu cultivator at the Spiritual Sea stage hidden in the crowd. He could only respond hastily.


    Now it was two against one. Under such pressure, Bai Qianchou quickly found himself overwhelmed. It wasn¡¯t long before he was being pushed to the brink of defeat.


    Killing Bai Qianchou on the street was out of the question. Long Qian remained rational and refrained from striking vital areas. After subduing Bai Qianchou, he began pping him repeatedly.


    As he pped, heughed wildly, clearly enjoying himself. The loud sound of ps echoed through the street, and Bai Qianchou''s face quickly turned red.


    Bai Qianchou was furious to the point of passing out. As a high-ranking elder of the Bai family and a peak Spiritual Sea expert, he was a man of great influence. Now, being pped in public like this was an unbearable humiliation. His dignity was being crushed, and he would undoubtedly be theughingstock of the entire city. He was utterly enraged.


    The onlookers were stunned.


    You shouldn¡¯t p someone in the face. Long Qian¡¯s move was ruthless. Though it didn¡¯t seem like a heavy strike, even if they were caught brawling in public, he wouldn''t face serious punishment. Yet, the psychological damage to his opponent was worse than death.


    ¡°Enough! Stop at once!¡±


    At that moment, a voice boomed from the sky. ¡°Two elders fighting in the streets¡ªhow disgraceful!¡±


    Upon hearing this voice, the three finally stopped.


    Bai Qianchou quickly shouted, ¡°City Lord Master, please seek justice for me! The Long family has gone too far! They killed my sons first, and now they¡¯ve humiliated me with ps! This isn¡¯t just an insult to me; it¡¯s an insult to the entire Bai family!¡±


    ¡°Enough! All of you,e to the City Lord¡¯s residence, and bring your n heads!¡± The authoritative voice echoed from the sky and then vanished.


    The crowd, realizing there was no more entertainment to be had, dispersed. However, the fact that a Bai family elder had been pped in the street was explosive news. It would provide enough gossip to keep people talking for a long time. Many onlookers nned to brag to their friends and rtives about what they had witnessed.


    ¡°Ruoxue, take them back to the family immediately, and while you''re at it, select a peak-grade Silver Moon Mantis for Long Xuan. Things may not be safe outside, so don¡¯t leave the family until the arenapetition begins,¡± Long Qian instructed before heading toward the City Lord¡¯s residence with the other Long family Gu cultivators, including Long Dan, who had narrowly escaped death.


    Long Dan, though calm, knew that since he wasn¡¯t dead yet, things couldn¡¯t get much worse. Brushing off the dust from his clothes, he walked steadily toward the City Lord¡¯s residence.


    Realizing the gravity of the situation, Long Ruoxue wasted no time. She quickly led the group back to the family.


    The Long family market wasn¡¯t far from their residence, and under their swift pace, they soon arrived at the family estate.


    Finally reaching the safety of their family grounds without incident, Long Ruoxue breathed a sigh of relief and said, ¡°Originally, the family head would¡¯vee to greet you, but due to the recent events, that¡¯s no longer possible.¡±


    ¡°The family head has been summoned to the City Lord¡¯s residence. In ckstone City, killing is forbidden. Being used of murder is no small matter, and if the charge can¡¯t be cleared, it could lead to serious trouble.¡±


    ¡°So, for now, I¡¯ll take care of you. Our Westernnd Long n has many interesting ces to visit.¡±


    ¡°But my master instructed me to help you select a Silver Moon Mantis first. Let¡¯s head to the insect chamber to find one!¡±


    With that, Long Ruoxue led them toward the chamber where Silver Moon Mantises were cultivated.


    ¡°Wait, the fifth elder only told Long Xuan to pick a Silver Moon Mantis? He didn¡¯t let Long Ziyan pick one too? Isn¡¯t that a bit biased? She¡¯s born with sword bones and is perfect for bonding with a de Gu,¡± Long Biaomented, possibly in an attempt to impress Long Ziyan.


    Long Ruoxue''s face darkened. She wanted to tear Long Biao¡¯s mouth apart. Was his brain made of water? He clearly spoke without thinking and dared to say anything.


    If the family was gifting Long Xuan a priceless peak-grade spirit insect, it was obviously because they needed his help. Now, thanks to Long Biao¡¯s thoughtlessment, it might look like the family was ying favorites.


    The family now seeks favor from Long Ziyan, how could they let her harbor any ill will?


    Goodness, asking the family to give away another peak-grade Spirit Insect! Do you think peak-grade Spirit Insects are asmon as cabbages? They are priceless treasures, even though the family is vast and wealthy, they don¡¯t have many of them.


    This spendthrift is really too much of a burden.


    Long Ruoxue covered her forehead, speechless to the extreme.


    She nced at Long Ziyan''s expression from the corner of her eye and saw her looking at her with hopeful eyes, causing her heart to sink.


    Earlier, she showed no interest in the de Gu at all, but after hearing Long Biao mention gifting her a Silver Moon Mantis, she instinctively began to wonder if the de Gu could integrate into herbat system.


    The more she thought about it, the more her eyes lit up.


    She hadn''t given it much thought before, but now that she was thinking it over, she realized that the de Gu would be incredibly useful to her. She had to refine one.


    The reason her swordsmanship had progressed so slowly was that this world had no Sword Cultivators, and there were no suitable opponents for her to spar with. Without umtingbat experience, the path of swordsmanship was naturally difficult to walk.


    Given that, if she could train the de Gu to be a Sword Cultivator, and spar with it every day, her path in swordsmanship would be much easier. After all, the de Gu''s understanding of the Dao of des and swords far surpassed that of humans.


    The more she thought about it, the brighter her eyes became, until they were practically glowing.


    Seeing the brightness in her eyes, Long Ruoxue was utterly exasperated.


    This Long Biao is truly a disaster. The family is really suffering because of him this time.


    "It seems our family hasn''t thought this through enough. I''ll ask on your behalf."


    Long Ruoxue, helpless, could only take out paper and pen, quickly writing a letter. She exaggeratedly embellished Long Biao''s words and handed the letter to the Sou Gu to deliver to her master.


    Her heart was bitter. She felt losing one peak-grade Spirit Insect was inevitable. The family would definitely agree because Long Ziyan''s talent was far too extraordinary. She was destined for greatness. Even if they weren¡¯t seeking her favor, the family wouldn¡¯t dare offend a genius of her caliber.


    After sending the letter, she once again red fiercely at Long Biao.


    She suddenly noticed Long Bao, Long Yan, and Long Panpan all looking at her eagerly with expectant eyes, as if they, too, wanted peak-grade Spirit Insects.


    Long Ruoxue immediately felt her scalp tingle.


    "Enough! If we give out any more, our Western Lands Long n will really go bankrupt. If any of you have talent that matches theirs, we¡¯ll gift you a peak-grade Spirit Insect too."


    Upon hearing this, the group immediately deted.


    They were humans, not monsters. How could theypare to those two freaks?


    Under Long Ruoxue¡¯s lead, the group quickly arrived at a massive stone building.


    As expected, this was the insect chamber used to breed Silver Moon Mantises. The Silver Moon Mantis is the main material for the peak-grade de Gu, so the Western Lands Long n focused on cultivating this insect species.


    The ce was built on arge scale, divided into two floors. Inside were arge number of silver-colored mantises, each with a crescent-shaped mark on their foreheads, resembling the moon in the sky. This was likely the reason the species was named Silver Moon Mantis.


    The mantises varied in size. Therger ones were taller than a person, while the smaller ones weren¡¯t even knee-high, their small eyes giving them a particrly cute appearance.


    However, every one of these little cuties asionally swung their sickle-like arms, revealing a fierce nature. Their warlike expressions ruined their cute appearance.


    This was arge-scale base cultivation for the Silver Moon Mantis. Aside from Silver Moon Mantises, there were no other insect species here.


    Many people were taking care of the Silver Moon Mantises. Under their supervision, many mantises were sparring, practicing their de techniques.


    From time to time, des shed in the air with crisp sounds. The speed at which the mantises swung their des was astonishing. Some of them were so fast that their des became nothing more than afterimages, making it nearly impossible to see their movements with the naked eye.


    Long Xuan was surprised and said, "You¡¯re already teaching them de techniques?


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 145: Long Xuans Wild Imagination

    Long Ruoxue smiled as she exined, "The Silver Moon Mantis is a very special species of insect, and its grade depends on itsprehension ability."


    "Just like how there can be a world of difference in intelligence between humans, insects are no exception."


    Her gaze suddenly shifted to Long Biao, filled with deeper meaning, as if this remark was directed at him.


    "The Silver Moon Mantises have varying levels ofprehension. The ones with higherprehension will naturally master stronger de techniques and learn much faster than those with lowerprehension."


    "As time goes on, the gap between them will widen, eventually bing as vast as the sky and earth, almost as if they were two entirely different species."


    "And since the difference is so great, it naturally requires a division of grades."


    "The mantises with the worstprehension are of low-grade quality, while those with the bestprehension are peak-grade quality."


    "Even though there are many Silver Moon Mantises here, more than 90% are low-grade, and less than 10% are peak-grade. In fact, there are only about a dozen peak-grade mantises here."


    "And how do you determine theprehension ability of each Silver Moon Mantis? The only way is to teach them de techniques and observe their learning speed.""That''s why every Silver Moon Mantis here is diligently learning, sparring with others day and night, practicing their de techniques with all their might, afraid that they might be ssified as low-grade."


    "If they fall into the low-grade category, their future owner will be a Gu cultivator of poor aptitude and limited potential, sealing their fate with no hope of bing strong."


    "They are highly intelligent creatures. They fully understand the future that awaits them and know exactly what they need to do to secure a better life. So, every Silver Moon Mantis here works tirelessly, training day and night in fiercepetition. The entire colony is caught in a terrifying spiral of self-improvement."


    Hearing this, Long Xuan grew even more intrigued by these little creatures. This was a group of ambitious insects, each Silver Moon Mantis had a desire for progress, a yearning to be stronger, and they trained diligently with great self-discipline.


    Where could he find such driven creatures? He liked these insects that could cultivate themselves with such effort¡ªit was so much less of a hassle for him.


    "The peak-grade Silver Moon Mantises are on the second floor. There''s no need to look at the ones on the first floor," Long Ruoxue said as she started heading upstairs, followed by the others.


    At this moment, Long Ruoxue received a reply. She pulled out a piece of paper from her insect-bag, nced at the writing on it, then turned to Long Ziyan with a smile, "The family has agreed. You are allowed to pick a peak-grade Silver Moon Mantis as well, but you''re only permitted to choose one."


    "Don¡¯t think that¡¯s too little. The process of refining a de Gu is quite unique. There¡¯s no written Gu form for the de Gu; you have to write the required materials yourself."


    "But you can only have one of each type of spirit insect, except for peak-grade spirit insects. Otherwise, having multiple main materials in the Gu form will result in a failed refinement."


    "In the end, the strength of the de Gu depends on how many types of materials you include. The more materials, the stronger the de Gu will be."


    "However, as the number of materials increases, so does the failure rate, which grows infinitely higher. The number of materials in the de Gu form is directly proportional to the risk of failure."


    "This is where the refiner must decide how to bnce their choices. If you prefer stability, write fewer materials. But if you like to take risks and want to refine an even stronger de Gu, write more materials. However, if you fail, you¡¯ll not only waste a peak-grade Silver Moon Mantis, but you¡¯ll also lose an enormous amount of materials. You must be prepared for the possibility of losing a vast amount of resources."


    "It is said that one of our ancestors sessfully refined a de Gu using one million types of materials. That level of de Gu had armor-piercing abilities that could affect every living creature in this world."


    "But the sess rate for a de Gu with millions of materials is almost zero. The chances are infinitesimally small, requiring a sea of materials to have even a sliver of sess."


    "Although that level of de Gu is extremely powerful, the cost is so exorbitant that it''s simply not worth it."


    "As for de Gu requiring materials numbering in the billions, no one in our n''s history has ever seeded, and perhaps no one has even attempted to refine one."


    "No one knows how powerful such a de Gu would be, or what terrifying changes its armor-piercing ability would undergo."


    "I definitely don¡¯t have the courage to attempt refining a de Gu of that magnitude."


    "My own de Gu form only included around 5,000 materials. At that time, I had to muster all my determination to use so many materials, but fortunately, goddess of luck was on my side, and I seeded in the end."


    "The fewer materials in a de Gu form, the lower the failure rate. After generations of research by our family, it¡¯s been determined that a de Gu with 500 materials has a 100% sess rate."


    "So even if you only have one Silver Moon Mantis, as long as you''re not greedy, you can guarantee the sessful refinement of a de Gu."


    "And if your main material is a peak-grade Silver Moon Mantis, even with only 500 materials, it would still be an incredibly powerful peak-grade Gu insect. There''s no need to take unnecessary risks."


    "Don''t follow my example; focus on stability. Wouldn¡¯t it be satisfying to guarantee a peak-grade Gu insect? There''s no need to gamble, or you¡¯ll have nowhere to cry if you lose."


    Upon hearing this, Long Ziyan remained calm, but Long Xuan''s eyes lit up with excitement, his heart racing.


    The de Gu is an insect without a set form, and the number of materials can be written indefinitely, making its strength limitless. What a creative approach to Gu refinement!


    This method of refining Gu was too interesting and perfectly suited to him. It felt as though this Gu form had been tailor-made for him.


    "Just one question: how many types of spirit insects exist in this world?"


    Long Xuan''s sudden question left everyone stunned. All eyes turned toward him with puzzled expressions


    ¡°You''re asking what that means? Don¡¯t tell me you''re nning to use every type of spirit insect in the world to refine Gu. What on earth are you thinking to do something so crazy? Is the world not big enough for you? How can you be so arrogant?¡±


    Long Ruoxue stared at him with wide eyes, utterly shocked by his words.


    The learned Long Ziyan looked at him and said, ¡°It¡¯s impossible for you to seed. Every region has its own unique species of insects, and you don¡¯t have the time to travel to every region.¡±


    ¡°Moreover, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is so thin that over ny percent of spirit insects have already gone extinct over the long course of history.¡±


    ¡°You would have to go to the Spirit Realm or the Divine Realm to find more species of insects.¡±


    ¡°Even so, the number of insect species in this world is astronomical. But remember, not every insect qualifies to be called a spirit insect. The ordinary insects of the mortal world can¡¯t be used to refine Gu. In the Gu world, there are over a billion types of insects, but only a few million can truly be called spirit insects.¡±


    ¡°If you don''t travel to various regions, in the Western Lands, the best you can do is refine a de Gu of a few hundred thousand tiers, which is the limit. The conditions simply don''t allow for something as crazy as what you''re thinking.¡±


    Hearing this, Long Xuan felt a bit disappointed. She was right¡ªthis world¡¯s spiritual energy was too thin, and countless species of spirit insects had gone extinct. If he wanted to achieve his dream, his only option was to search for the legendary Spirit Realm.


    A de Gu of a few hundred thousand tiers was already his limit. Still, even collecting materials from hundreds of thousands of types would be an astronomical expense.


    Another bankrupt Gu recipe¡ªLong Xuan winced. Was this going to cost him his life savings again? It seemed like he would have to figure out how to make a fortune quickly.


    ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about that anymore. Let¡¯s pick a Silver Moon Mantis first. There are only about ten peak-grade Silver Moon Mantises, so there''s not much choice. Who wants to pick first?¡± Long Ruoxue suddenly asked.


    By now, the group had reached the far end of the second floor. Upon entering, Long Xuan immediately noticed that the number of Silver Moon Mantises here was far fewer than on the first floor, but the quality was significantly higher.


    The second floor appeared to house high-grade and top-grade Silver Moon Mantises, with the most insightful ones gathered here.


    These Silver Moon Mantises were diligently practicing their de techniques. Even though they had already reached great heights, they still relentlessly pursued greater strength, training tirelessly.


    However, one particr Silver Moon Mantis caught his attention. It seemed isted from the group, standing there all alone. None of its kind wanted to spar with it, leaving it in a pitiful and lonely state.


    The reason Long Xuan noticed it immediately wasn¡¯t because it looked pitiful, but because it appeared so bizarre. This Silver Moon Mantis was born with ten des.


    Incredible! It was born with eight more des than the others. Two hands can barely handle four des¡ªlet alone ten. Who could possibly fight against it?


    This Silver Moon Mantis was invincible.


    Seeing this Silver Moon Mantis, Long Xuan instantly thought of the "Ten-de Style" from his previous life. This mantis was perfect for developing such a style.


    Whether it¡¯s a one-de or two-de style, could anything be more terrifying than a ten-de style?


    Long Xuan was aplete novice when it came to de techniques, but in his mind, he believed that multiple des would always win against fewer des.


    Naturally, he thought that multi-de styles would triumph over fewer-de styles. The more des, the stronger.


    Normal people only had two hands, which meant at most a two-de style, but his mantis had a ten-de style. Wouldn''t that make it invincible in the human world?


    He immediately took a liking to this mantis and decided to choose it.


    This world probably didn¡¯t have the concept of a ten-de style, and naturally, no ten-de techniques existed. But that was fine¡ªif there were no ten-de techniques, he would create one himself.


    He already had a rough outline in mind.


    The first form: de-Breaking Form.


    Used to break through all sword techniques in the world.


    The second form: Saber-Breaking Form.


    Used to counter single-de, dual-de, willow-leaf saber, ghost-head saber,rge machete, horse-ying saber, and other saber techniques.


    The third form: Spear-Breaking Form.


    Used to counter spears, halberds, pikes, quarterstaffs, wolf-tooth clubs, waxwood poles, monk¡¯s spades, and other long weapons.


    The fourth form: Whip-Breaking Form.


    Used to counter steel whips, cudgels, daggers, axes, battle-axes, iron cards, octagonal hammers, and iron maces.


    The fifth form: Rope-Breaking Form.


    Used to counter long ropes, short whips, three-section staffs, chain spears, iron chains, fishings, flying hammers, and meteor hammers.


    The sixth form: Palm-Breaking Form.


    Used to counter all kinds of hand-to-handbat techniques, including fist techniques, finger strikes, w skills, palm strikes, and grappling techniques.


    The seventh form: Arrow-Breaking Form.


    Used to counter all kinds of projectile weapons.


    The eighth form: Spirit-Breaking Form.


    Used to counter all kinds of spiritual martial techniques.


    The ninth form: Armor-Breaking Form.


    Used to counter all types of soft and hard armors.


    The tenth form: Shield-Breaking Form.


    Used to counter all kinds of shields.


    Didn¡¯t this mantis have ten des? Then it could use one form for each de, and with all ten forms unleashed, nothing could withstand it. Which opponent could stand against it?


    Anyone facing these ten des would be instantly defeated, with no chance to defend.


    This de technique was ruthless. He would name it the "Ten Absolute de Technique," or simply "Ten Absolutes des" for short.


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 Chapter 146: The Night Talk with the Family Head

    At this moment, Long Xuan''s eyes couldn''t focus on any other mantis, and he immediately said, "No need to choose anymore, I feel a connection with this one. I''ll take it!"


    Long Xuan pointed at the mantis with ten arms.


    His words not only surprised Long Ruoxue but also the ten-armed mantis itself. It didn''t expect anyone would choose it, and soon, a look of joy appeared in its eyes.


    "Are you sure you want to choose it? This Silver Moon Mantis was born with eight extra armspared to a normal one, making it a deformity."


    "It has been rejected by the other Silver Moon Mantises and despised by all the Gu cultivators in the Long family. No one wants it."


    "Who knows what might happen when refining a Gu with a deformed mantis? No one dares to take that risk," Long Ruoxue kindly reminded him.


    In this world, not only humans can be born with deformities, but so can insects. It¡¯s not umon for an insect to have extra limbs or even multiple heads.


    However, a deformed body is never a good thing. She had never seen a deformed person be powerful, so she didn''t have high hopes for this inherently deformed Silver Moon Mantis, and she didn''t rmend Long Xuan to choose it.


    She didn''t know that Long Xuan, who was new to the Dao of the de, had chosen this mantis for the simple reason that the more des, the better. In his mind, a multi-ded style was certainly stronger than a single-de style.If she knew that this was his reasoning, she would definitelyugh out loud. If everyone thought like him, then wouldn¡¯t everyone be choosing dual-ded styles, and no one would opt for the weaker single-de style?


    Of course, Long Xuan didn¡¯t reveal his reasoning. He continued, "My mind is made up. No need to persuade me. I want this freak!"


    "I think you''re the freak here. Fine! Since you''re determined to choose this deformed one, I won''t stop you. Just take it away. I hope you won¡¯t regret your choiceter," Long Ruoxue said.


    The Silver Moon Mantis was indeed an intelligent spiritual insect, fully capable of understanding human speech.


    When it heard that it had been chosen, the mantis immediately disyed an expression of extreme joy and quickly ran toward Long Xuan.


    For the Silver Moon Mantis, humans were the key to bing stronger. All Silver Moon Mantises longed to be chosen by humans, especially a deformed one that nobody wanted. Its desire to be selected was even greater.


    Long Xuan fondly patted its head and said with a smile, "I''ll name you (Xiao yue)Little Moon. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll train you into a great Gu insect."


    As soon as he finished speaking, he quickly put the ten-armed mantis into his insect-rearing bag, as if afraid something might happen if he dyed.


    Seeing this, Long Ruoxue sighed inwardly. Although he made a wrong choice, it wasn¡¯t entirely bad. After all, no one wanted this deformed creature, and the family had already decided to dispose of it. Having it chosen now would save the family a Peak-grade spiritual insect.


    She suddenly looked at Long Ziyan and smiled. "Long Xuan has made his choice. Now, it¡¯s your turn."


    "Even though they¡¯re all peak-grade spiritual insects, their levels of insight can differ significantly, and the gap between them might be huge."


    "Whether you can pick the Silver Moon Mantis with the best insight depends entirely on your judgment."


    Long Ziyan nodded, her face full of interest, and she walked over with a smile toward the dozen or so peak-grade Silver Moon Mantises.


    These peak-grade Silver Moon Mantises already knew someone was about to pick them, so they all eagerly gathered around, looking at Long Ziyan with hopeful eyes, wishing to be chosen.


    Long Ruoxue was shocked at this moment. It was the first time she had seen Silver Moon Mantises favor someone so much.


    Silver Moon Mantises were intelligent spiritual insects, aware that they could soar to new heights only if they followed the right master.


    peak-grade Silver Moon Mantises were even more selective, and they were quite picky in choosing their masters.


    Only the wealthiest and most talented Gu cultivators could win their favor.


    Whenever someone came to pick a peak-grade Silver Moon Mantis, having a few approach them was already good. Most would turn their backs in disdain, as if following this person would lead to a dead-end.


    But when Long Ziyan approached, all the peak-grade Silver Moon Mantises rushed over, their eyes full of excitement and ttery, as if following Long Ziyan would surely lead to a bright future.


    They all favored Long Ziyan and hoped to be chosen by her. This was the first time Long Ruoxue had encountered such a situation, and the first time she had seen a Gu cultivator so adored by Silver Moon Mantises. When she had picked hers, she certainly didn¡¯t receive such a warm reception.


    What magic did Long Ziyan possess to make them love her to this extent? How had she captivated all the peak-grade Silver Moon Mantises?


    Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but sigh. Was this a jackpot moment? Long Ziyan was so charming that even insects couldn¡¯t resist her.


    "Sword Bone! It¡¯s the Sword Bone! They can sense the Sword Bone in Long Ziyan''s body, which is why they think she¡¯s the perfect master for them. Long Ziyan is going to have all the Silver Moon Mantises fighting over her!" Long Ruoxue suddenly guessed, eximing in surprise.


    With a smile on her face, Long Ziyan looked at one Silver Moon Mantis, then another, overwhelmed by choices. She didn¡¯t know which one to pick.


    Even though there were only a dozen peak-grade Silver Moon Mantises, making the selection small, she was still paralyzed by indecision.


    Finally, she patted a Silver Moon Mantis on the head and smiled, "I feel a connection with this one. I¡¯ll choose it."


    Long Ruoxue¡¯s eyes showed a hint of difort. Unbelievable. The Silver Moon Mantis with the highest insight had been chosen by her in an instant. She really had a good eye.


    Long Ruoxue felt a pang of regret. She had also wanted that Silver Moon Mantis King, but it hadpletely ignored her, disdaining her as if her "temple" was too small. In the end, she had settled for a slightly inferior one. Was she really that much worse than Long Ziyan?


    "Alright, you have a good eye. The Silver Moon Mantis King has been chosen by you. Those old folks sure are generous. I thought they would hide it away, but they actually left it in the group. Now that it¡¯s been picked, they''ll be heartbroken."


    "Since you both have made your choices, let''s leave. I¡¯ll take you to see other areas now."


    With that, Long Ruoxue turned and headed downstairs.


    The group slowly followed her.


    The Silver Moon Mantis King, looking smug among its kind, waved goodbye to its peers and eagerly followed Long Ziyan down the stairs.


    ...


    Time flew by, and it was already evening. The main residence was still lit.


    The head of the family, Long Yuanshan, and Long Qian were sitting across from each other at a table, having a long conversation.


    "Master, all those geniuses have been settled. Given what happened today, I''ve assigned three peak-grade Spirit Sea experts to guard them. There shouldn''t be any issues," Long Qian said.


    "However, Long Ziyan took the Silver Moon Mantis King. What were they thinking? Didn¡¯t they hide that Silver Moon Mantis King beforehand?" Long Qian asked, puzzled.


    The Silver Moon Mantis King was the king of the Silver Moon Mantis n, far superior to a normal peak-grade Silver Moon Mantis, with a value at least ten times greater.


    Unfortunately, the Silver Moon Mantis King was extremely proud and looked down on everyone. It never found a ce suitable for it, and no one had been able to take it away sessfully.


    After all, it was a highly intelligent spirit insect. Forcing it away would likely cause loyalty issues, so it had always been left alone.


    Unexpectedly, a moment of carelessness allowed an outsider genius to take it away, resulting in a huge loss. Thinking about it now made them feel the pain.


    Long Yuanshan showed a hint of embarrassment but quickly restrained himself. Earlier, when Long Dan had an incident, he had rushed to the city lord''s residence, forgetting about the Silver Moon Mantis King. It was only after the oversight that the King was lost.


    Now, he was also deeply pained. That Silver Moon Mantis King was supposed to be reserved for Long Dan.


    His face darkened with anger, and he said furiously, "It¡¯s all because of Long Biao! If he hadn''t insisted that Long Ziyan pick one as well, and even brought up the nonsense about favoritism towards males, this wouldn''t have happened!"


    "This whole mess is his fault! That wasteful idiot! I''ll deal with him when I get the chance!"


    "As you suggested, remove his name from the genius tournament. He doesn¡¯t need to participate."


    Long Yuanshan''s beard quivered with rage as he pushed all the me for his negligence onto Long Biao, which made him feel a little better.


    "But luckily, Long Xuan took the least valuable Silver Moon Mantis, so at least we¡¯ve mitigated some losses. Are you sure it was him? There can''t be any mistakes," Long Yuanshan suddenly asked seriously, looking at Long Qian.


    "There¡¯s no chance of error!" Long Qian said confidently. "I spoke with Long Wanli. Although he remained tight-lipped about who invented those "Gu" recipes, from what he said, I¡¯ve already narrowed down the target."


    "Long Wanli mentioned that the wood that stands out in the forest will be blown down by the wind. He said that this person¡¯s identity would be revealed only after he has grown stronger."


    "From this, I can tell that this person is still not very advanced in cultivation and is a younger generation prodigy. The range of possibilities bes quite small."


    "Long Wanli also said that Long Xuan didn¡¯t participate in the npetitions because he had earned so many contribution points that he looked down on the n''spetition rewards. No normal person could have umted so many contribution points that even the n¡¯s high rewards would seem unappealing."


    "Based on this statement, it¡¯s highly likely that Long Xuan is that person. I¡¯m almost certain of it."


    "I believe there¡¯s no mistake. That¡¯s why I n to have him refine our n''s de Gu. Not only can we earn some goodwill, but it will also keep him here for a long time."


    "Refining the de Gu is no simple task. Even if it seeds, the de Gu will still need to learn a vast amount of de techniques, and only our n has such an extensive collection of techniques."


    "Because of the de Gu, our n has the mostplete collection of de techniques in the entire Western Lands. There is no rival. If he doesn¡¯t stay here to learn de techniques, where else could he go?"


    "He won''t be able to leave for at least three years. Once he stays for that long, everything will fall into ce."


    A gleam of cunning shed in Long Qian''s eyes.


    "If that¡¯s the case, then it¡¯s very likely him," Long Yuanshan nodded. "You¡¯ve done well. This is a clever n. The de Gu will keep him here for a long time."


    "But does he really have the ability to modify the Dragon Blood Battle Gu recipe? I still can¡¯t be sure. Researching Gu recipes consumes an enormous amount of resources, and if it fails, our n will suffer greatly."


    Long Qian sighed, "Who can guarantee sess in such matters? Whether he can modify the Dragon Blood Battle Gu recipe is uncertain."


    "But I believe that if even he can¡¯t do it, then no one else can."


    ........................................................................


    Read extra chapters on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 147: Long Qians Late-Night Visit

    ¡°This is true. In terms of creating Gu recipe, this person is an absolute genius. If our n truly ns tounch this project, then he is the only candidate.¡±


    Long Yuanshan continuously tapped his fingers on the table, and the room was filled with the sound of light tapping.


    Finally, his fingers stopped. It seemed as if he had made up his mind, and his gaze became firm as he spoke in a deep voice: ¡°Since he is the most suitable candidate, if we miss this opportunity, the chances of failure for this n in the future will only increase.¡±


    ¡°In that case, we must not hesitate. We must take the gamble, even if we fail, it doesn¡¯t matter.¡±


    ¡°If we don¡¯t have enough resources, then we will borrow. Our n is about to control the majority of the Spirit Metal mines and has opened a trade route to the extreme westernnds. With Gu like the Suo Gu, a money-making machine, wealth will flow in continuously, and we will quickly recover.¡±


    ¡°Go ask him now and see how confident he is in modifying the Dragonblood Battle Gu recipe.¡±


    ¡°If he seeds, I will reward him with 200 million contribution points and give him a dragon tattoo!¡±


    Long Yuanshan mmed a thick Gu method book onto the table and then pushed it in front of Long Qian.


    Long Qian nodded, collected the Gu method, and pushed open the door to leave....


    Meanwhile, in a clean attic, Long Xuan was examining a little creature that wasn¡¯t even as tall as his leg. He couldn¡¯t get enough of it, constantly touching the ten des growing on it.


    To be honest, the creature¡¯s natural des were surprisingly sharp. They could easily slice through mortal weapons, and the cuts were smooth.


    However, it was still far from the level of cutting hair with a breeze. After all, it was only a spiritual insect, not yet a Gu insect.


    Only after it consumed a vast number of spiritual insects and transformed into a Gu insect would its strength undergo a qualitative leap.


    However, the thought of turning it into a Gu insect gave Long Xuan a headache.


    Its Gu method was unique. You could fill it with any material, and the more materials you added, the stronger it would be. But the more materials you added, the lower the sess rate.


    Anyone else would likely agonize for a long time, unable to decide whether to pursue stability or strength, as this choice was extremely difficult.


    With Long Xuan¡¯s ambition, though, he would fill it to the maximum. The more materials, the better. Whatever materials existed in this world, he would add them.


    After all, he had a cheat ability. As long as he prepared one set of materials, he would definitely seed in making the Gu.


    But in this world of the Gu realm, where spiritual energy was exhausted, most spiritual insects had gone extinct. Realizing his ambition was impossible.


    And he didn¡¯t want to wait. After thinking for a long time, he finally decided to let Xiao Yue(Little moon) consume hundreds of thousands of materials for the time being. Afte he go to the Spirit Realm, he would use some method to revert it to a spiritual insect and then refine it into a Gu insect with even more materials.


    He didn¡¯t know if there was a way in this world to devolve a Gu insect back into a spiritual insect, but even if there wasn¡¯t, he had the ability to create one himself.


    He had already figured it out: if you could imagine a power, no matter how strange or absurd, it could 100% be realized in this world. It all depended on how much you were willing to pay.


    But even letting it consume hundreds of thousands of materials for the time being was astronomical. Without revealing those things he couldn¡¯t afford to expose, he couldn¡¯t even afford it by selling his blood or kidneys.


    Tsk, tsk. A Gu method with hundreds of thousands of materials¡ªjust thinking about it was terrifying.


    Anyone who saw such a Gu recipe would be shocked. This wasn¡¯t a Gu recipe; it was a book, a book with at least a million words. Just reading it would take a long time.


    Right now, he waspletely at a loss. How could he earn that much wealth in such a short time? This really gave him a huge headache.


    Why was this little thing so expensive? It might as well kill me now.


    Just as he was feeling overwhelmed, a knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.


    ¡°Long Xuan, are you asleep?¡±


    Long Qian¡¯s voice came from outside the door.


    It was a rhetorical question. The lights in the room were still on, so how could the person inside be asleep?


    ¡°No, I¡¯m not asleep. Pleasee in, Senior!¡±


    Long Xuan put Little moon away, sat upright at the table, and looked toward the door.


    Long Qian smiled as he pushed the door open and then walked over to sit across from Long Xuan.


    ¡°Senior, visiting sote at night, may I ask what brings you here?¡± Long Xuan asked in confusion.


    ¡°Hehe! It¡¯ste now, so I¡¯ll keep it brief. As the spiritual energy in the Gu realm continues to thin out, countless spiritual insect materials have gone extinct, making many of our n¡¯s Gu methods unusable.¡±


    ¡°So, our n is preparing tounch a project to rece all the extinct materials in the Dragonblood Battle Gu method with materials that still exist in this world.¡±


    ¡°Modifying a Gu method is no easy task. It requires countless experiments and a staggering amount of materials to test and fail.¡±


    ¡°The Dragonblood Battle Gu is one of our n¡¯s most powerful unique Gu methods. If we sessfully rece the extinct materials, our n¡¯s overallbat strength will make a qualitative leap. It¡¯s not impossible that we might be the strongest n in the westernnds because of it.¡±


    ¡°If you can sessfully rece the extinct materials in the Dragonblood Battle Gu, you will have made a great contribution to our n. The n will reward you with 200 million contribution points, and you¡¯ll also receive a hidden dragon tattoo as an additional reward.¡±


    "Take a look at this Gu recipe. I''ve circled the extinct materials on it. See how confident you are in recing those marked materials."


    Long Qian stated his intention clearly and handed a Gu form to Long Xuan, his eyes filled with expectation.


    Long Xuan, somewhat bewildered, took the Gu recipe and quickly scanned it, unable to suppress the twitching of his lips.


    Goodness, the form contains over ten thousand materials. Is this really a Gu recipe? This looks more like an entire book!


    When he was in the Far West, he had never seen a Gu form with so many materials.


    Even all of his peak-grade Gu insectsbined had never required over ten thousand materials. It was downright terrifying.


    Without even thinking, just by looking at the number of materials, Long Xuan already knew that this Gu recipe was absolutely terrifying.


    A Gu recipe that could make the Long n of the Western Lands so desperate to modify it had to be incredibly powerful.


    They were willing to exhaust the entire n''s resources to alter this Gu recipe, showing just how strong it was and how important it was¡ªworth going bankrupt for.


    "Ten thousand materials in a single Gu recipe!" Long Xuan eximed in shock.


    "Only ten thousand? Calm down! That''s considered few for our n."


    Long Qian, showing a proud smile, continued, "Our n has an even stronger exclusive Gu recipe called ''Dragon Transformation Gu,'' which requires a staggering one million different materials. Now that''s truly terrifying."


    "The Dragon Blood Battle Gu can transform one into a half-dragon, causing dragon spikes, a dragon tail, dragon scales, and other dragon traits to grow on the body."


    "Once a Long n Gu cultivator undergoes half-dragon transformation, they gain the strength and defense of a dragon. Theirbat power bes ridiculously exaggerated, allowing them to easily fight across ranks and ughter their peers as easily as killing chickens, even being able to take on a group of peers alone."


    "Because the Dragon Blood Battle Gu is so incredibly terrifying, it requires ten thousand materials to sessfully refine it."


    "But even the Dragon Blood Battle Gu is like a childpared to the Dragon Transformation Gu. The Dragon Blood Battle Gu can only achieve half-dragon transformation, whereas the Dragon Transformation Gu allows the Long n Gu cultivators to fully transform into a divine dragon, gainingbat power identical to a divine dragon, or even stronger."


    "Once a Long n Gu cultivator transforms into a dragon, forget about killing peers¡ªwithin that realm, they are invincible. No matter how manye, they will die. No amount of ants can contend with a divine dragon. That is true invincibility. Because the Dragon Transformation Gu is so overpowered, it requires one million materials to limit it."


    Long Qian revealed a proud smile.


    "However, the Dragon Transformation Gu was eventually lost to history due to the extinction of many of its required materials, causing our n to decline and lose the glory of our ancestors."


    "If we say that the extinct materials for the Dragon Blood Battle Gu might still be receable, the Dragon Transformation Gu, however, can never be recreated in the Gu world."


    "Refining the Dragon Transformation Gu requires precious dragon materials, but divine dragons have been extinct for countless millennia."


    "Without divine dragons in this world, the Dragon Transformation Gu recipe is just waste paper, never to be reactivated."


    Long Qian showed a look of extreme regret.


    If the ancestral Gu recipe, including the full version of the Evil Dragon Emperor''s Eye, could be used again, the Long n would never be stuck in this tiny ce. They would have long ago ughtered their way across the entire Gu world.


    No matter which n, they would all kneel before the Long n Gu cultivators.


    Hearing this, Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but twitch his lips again. A Gu recipe with ten thousand materials isn¡¯t even the limit? There¡¯s actually another one with one million materials? That¡¯s outrageous! What kind of monster came up with such a ridiculous Gu form?


    It¡¯s absurd. No wonder it requires so many materials to limit it. No wonder the Long n would go to any lengths to revive the Dragon Blood Battle Gu form¡ªits power is simply too absurd. The n can''t resist the temptation, willing to empty their coffers to restore the glory of the Dragon Blood Battle Gu.


    What on earth is the background of this Long n? How many more absurd exclusive Gu recipe do they have that I don¡¯t know about?


    Luckily, even the heavens couldn¡¯t tolerate this, allowing some of these overpowered Gu recipe'' materials to go extinct, preventing this n from using their most powerful exclusive Gu recipe. Otherwise, the world wouldn¡¯t be able to contain this family.


    Who could ever fight against abination of Dragon Transformation Gu and the full version of the Evil Dragon Emperor''s Eye? Just thinking about it gave Long Xuan chills, and he shuddered. Such a terrifying existence was too outrageous¡ªeven he wouldn¡¯t stand a chance, he thought, smacking his lips.


    But soon he became excited. It was like being handed a pillow when you''re drowsy.


    He had just been worrying about how to gather the hundreds of thousands of materials needed to refine the de Gu, and now, someone had obediently delivered them to him.


    His research on Gu recipe didn¡¯t require any materials to be consumed, so wouldn¡¯t all the materials the n sent for his experiments end up in his pocket?


    Researching Gu recipe consumes vast amounts of resources, so no matter how much he asked for, it would be justified.


    And since it¡¯s for experimenting with Gu recipe, naturally, he would need to collect different types of Gu insects for continuous testing. It wouldn¡¯t be excessive for him to ask for various types of Gu insects, right?


    In that case, he just had to sit still, and the n would gather all the materials needed for refining the de Gu for him.


    Long Xuan''s eyes gleamed with excitement. The more he thought about it, the more thrilled he became.


    It was so unbelievably simple. He couldn¡¯t believe that the hundreds of thousands of materials that had been troubling him could be so easily collected, making him feel like he was dreaming. Was there really such a thing as a free lunch?


    His sess rate for modifying the Dragon Blood Battle Gu recipe was one hundred percent, and it would cost him nothing. Whatever amount of materials the n gave him, he¡¯d take. How could he not seize this amazing opportunity? It would be foolish not to take advantage of it.


    This deal was too good to pass up. Only a fool wouldn¡¯t take it.

 Chapter 148: The Secret of the Long Clan in the Western Lands

    Long Xuan collected himself and sighed, "Honestly, I feel quite ashamed. To tell you the truth, I only have a 50% chance of sessfully recing the missing materials for the Dragon Blood Battle Gu. Moreover, the experiment will require a massive amount of materials, so you''d better be mentally prepared."


    "And I don¡¯t like being monitored. When I¡¯m working on the Gu recipe, I can¡¯t have anyone overseeing me. If you trust me, then let me do it. If you don¡¯t, then find someone else."


    Upon hearing this, Long Qian¡¯s eyes lit up. A 50% sess rate? That was incredibly high, far beyond his expectations.


    With such a high probability of sess, it became something they absolutely had to pursue.


    "A 50% sess rate is already quite high. As for your concern about not liking supervision, don''t worry. If I trust someone, I don¡¯t doubt them, and if I doubt them, I won¡¯t use them. I fully trust your character and believe you won''t resort to any corrupt practices!"


    Long Qian, overjoyed, agreed to Long Xuan¡¯s conditions without hesitation.


    Seeing how much trust Long Qian ced in him, Long Xuan felt a bit guilty. He had trusted the wrong person¡ªhe wasn¡¯t just nning to be corrupt; he intended to take everything. Whatever materials came in, he would consume it all.


    Yet despite embezzling all the research funds, Long Xuan would still manage to produce results and give the family a satisfactory answer. Isn¡¯t that impressive?


    "Let¡¯s settle this. For now, take your time to rest and prepare for the battle. After the tournament, we¡¯ll proceed with researching the Dragon Blood Battle Gu recipe. The family also needs time to gather the remaining materials for it," Long Qian said excitedly as he stood up."Rest assured, I¡¯m bound to win this tournament. Take care!" Long Xuan also stood up to see him off.


    Only after watching Long Qian walk far away did Long Xuan close the door and return to his room, a smile of excitement appearing on his face.


    It seemed thating to the Western Lands was the right move. He had barely arrived and already made such a huge gain.


    For him, the birth of the Ten-Armed de Gu was now on a countdown. He just needed to wait patiently. The matter of materials was no longer his concern.


    Returning to his seat, Long Xuan picked up pen and paper with practiced ease, hovering the pen over the nk sheet.


    The process of refining the de Gu was special. It belonged to a universal Gu recipe, meaning that any materials written down would work.


    So, this time, there was no need for him to create a new Gu recipe, saving him quite a bit of effort.


    In fact, he felt that there wasn¡¯t even a need to write down the recipe at all. Others might carefully select materials for the Saber Gu recipe, but he didn¡¯t need to, because his goal was to capture all kinds of insects¡ªall of them.


    Since he intended to capture every species of spirit insect, why bother with a recipe? Just catch them all. Writing a recipe would be redundant.


    However, creating the "Ten Absolute de Technique" was something that required his full attention.


    The "Ten Absolute de Technique" was not something easily created, yet it had to be done. He had no idea how long it would take toe up with such a de technique, and the thought of it made him feel a bit stressed.


    After jotting down the outline he had in mind, Long Xuan¡¯s pen suddenly froze in midair, his expression confused and nk.


    Unsurprisingly, as soon as he started, he got writer''s block again.


    He had no clue how to create a de technique that could break all sword techniques in the world.


    Nor did he know how to create a de technique that could counter all others.


    This was way too difficult! He couldn¡¯t think of a thing!


    How could anyone know how to break everything in the world?


    You ask me, and who should I ask? The vige chief?


    Long Xuan was at his wit''s end. To think that he was still aplete novice when it came to saber techniques. He had no understanding of them, so how could he even begin to create a technique?


    Especially a top-tier technique, which was the most ambitious concept imaginable. There was no way a novice like him coulde up with it.


    He hadn¡¯t even learned to crawl, but he was already trying to run. His ambitions had outpaced his ability, leaving him stuck and unable to move forward. His mind waspletely nk, and after a long while, he couldn¡¯te up with a single word.


    If someone who had never touched a de could create a de technique, that would truly be a miracle.


    de techniques, unlike spiritual techniques, martial arts, or cultivation methods, were all about skill. They required insight and continuous practice with others to gain experience. How could you just rely on words toe up with something like that?


    Insight was something that couldn¡¯t be conveyed with mere words. Many de techniques even required diagrams, and drawing diagrams was even harder to fake.


    How could he possibly create a de technique at this point? Long Xuan realized that his ideas were too far-fetched, beyond his current abilities. This was something he simply couldn''t handle.


    Taking a deep breath, Long Xuan decided to go with his usual approach. When he hit a creative block, he¡¯d go out and seek inspiration. In the past, whenever he was stuck, he would always get ideas from Elder Long. Now that Elder Long wasn¡¯t around, he would have to find another way.


    It was a stroke of luck, really. The Western Lands¡¯ Long n had arranged for him to stay near the Library Tower. If that wasn¡¯t inviting a thief into the house, what was? This was like an opportunity sent from the heavens.


    Such generosity couldn¡¯t be refused. If he didn¡¯t check out what was inside the Library Tower, then staying in such a prime location would be wasted.


    Long Xuan chuckled andy down on his bed, closing his eyes as he activated his Origin realm, copying everything inside the Library Tower.


    After a while, Long Xuan¡¯s consciousness appeared in a ce identical to the Library Tower. Gazing at the countless bookshelves around him, his smile grew even wider.


    There were so many de, Saber and sword techniques! His eyes sparkled as he looked around.


    The Long n possessed the Evil Dragon Emperor¡¯s Eye, which liked to break swords with one strike. So naturally, they loved collecting sword techniques and were a n of sword users.


    The Long n also had de Gu, which required de techniques to enhance the Gu¡¯s power, so they also loved collecting de techniques and were a n of de users.


    The Long n excelled in both swords and sabers, and when it came to their collection of saber and sword techniques, few forces could match them.


    After all, they were the main n. Even the Far West Long n¡¯s collection paled inparison to the Western Lands Long n¡¯s.


    To Long Xuan, it felt like he had entered a massive treasure trove, filled with endless knowledge for him to take. And it was all free¡ªhe could learn whatever he wanted.


    At the moment, he was on the first floor of the Library Tower, where everything was dedicated to saber and sword techniques. The vast number of techniques filled shelf after shelf, stretching as far as the eye could see.


    However, having too many techniques wasn¡¯t necessarily a good thing, as it made choosing difficult. Long Xuan didn¡¯t know where to start, feeling conflicted as he gazed upon the sea of books. The sheer quantity was overwhelming, making it hard to muster the desire to master them all.


    The initial excitement of seeing so many books soon gave way to hisziness. He no longer felt the motivation to learn all of them.


    Luckily, he had clones. He might not want to study, but his clones loved to learn. So, he decided to let his clones do all the studying, while he reaped the benefits of their work.


    Just as Long Xuan was about to ck off, his expression suddenly froze. He walked toward a wall, gently knocking on it. A hollow sound echoed from within. There was a hidden door here, concealing something unknown.


    Since he had already copied the entire Library Tower and could ess with bird eye-like view, there was no way a secret chamber could escape his notice.


    He was startled. There was actually a hidden door here. Where could this secret door lead, and what treasures were concealed inside?


    After his initial shock, Long Xuan felt anticipation rising within him. Something stored in a secret chamber must be extremely important. Otherwise, why hide it so securely?


    Any secret chamber is bound to contain something extraordinary; this is a rule of thumb.


    Long Xuan''s face lit up with excitement, ready to explore and find out for himself.


    Here, he didn''t need to be cautious. Using the Five Elements Jade, he destroyed the door and discovered a spiral staircase leading downward.


    Long Xuan was momentarily stunned. Could the library tower actually have a basement level?


    Given how secretively the staircase was designed, whatever was stored on the basement floor must be extraordinary.


    His curiosity piqued, Long Xuan couldn¡¯t be bothered to guess what it might be. He grabbed antern and eagerly jumped down.


    It wasn¡¯t long before his eyes brightened¡ªhe had arrived at yet another area filled with bookshelves.


    Bookshelves were everywhere. A sea of books stretched before him, even more than on the first floor.


    However, these books were special. They were incredibly thick, resembling dictionaries¡ªcountless dictionaries.


    Long Xuan showed a hint of disappointment. To think the basement contained more books, and piled up ones at that! But then again, this <em>was</em> a library tower. What else would it hold other than books?


    Still, items be more valuable when they are rare. With so many books here, it was unlikely they were all world-shaking secret techniques. Their value was probably no different from the books on the upper floors.


    This was far from what he had expected. He had imagined that there might be some heaven-defying treasure below. But this?


    Feeling disappointed, Long Xuan casually picked up a book from the nearest shelf, flipped through a few pages, and skimmed it.


    But as he read, his eyes suddenly widened, revealing a look of excitement. He waspletely hooked.


    Just a moment ago, he had been uninterested, but now his spirits had risen in an instant. Whatever was in this book, it had surprised him immensely.


    He quickly put the book down and dashed to another bookshelf, pulling out another book and flipping through a few pages before putting it down again. He continued flipping through book after book, his breath bing more rapid, his eyes glowing brighter and brighter. He was thoroughly exhrated.


    Good stuff. This was absolutely good stuff. He retracted his earlier thoughts¡ªthese books in the basement were indeed heaven-defying treasures. He had truly stumbled upon a treasure trove!


    As for the contents of these books, no one would have imagined.


    In an ancient era, theplete version of the "Evil Dragon Emperor''s Eye" could shatter any ability in the world, defeating all enemies.


    As a result, the ancestors of the Long n knew the methods to break any ability.


    And because they were bored, those ancestors wrote down all the methods for breaking various abilities in books. Over time, the number of books grew, until they eventually formed massive volumes, resembling dictionaries.


    They even categorized the books meticulously. There were entire volumes dedicated to techniques for breaking different sword arts, divided into many volumes from (1) to (10). Almost every sword technique in the world could be found in the index.


    There were also volumes dedicated to breaking palm techniques, also divided into multiple volumes. In their indices, nearly every palm technique in the world was listed.


    The same was true for various spirit techniques, cultivation methods, body refining techniques, illusion arts, and Gu insects. The methods for breaking these were all written down andpiled into books for permanent safekeeping.


    In short, this ce contained methods to counter every ability in existence¡ªan ultimate guide to breaking all techniques. You could find the names of any peerless skill in the world listed in the indices of these books.


    This was nothing short of a vast treasure trove, gathering the collective wisdom of countless Long n ancestors. It was the most valuable legacy they had left for future generations, and the knowledge here was priceless.


    At this point, Long Xuan finally understood why this ce had been so tightly sealed and never opened to the n members.


    This was something that could invite disaster. If you knew how to break the abilities of any major power, how could they ever feel secure? How could they tolerate your existence?


    Thus, this ce had to remain sealed forever. The fewer people who knew about it, the safer the n would be. Among the Long n, probably fewer than five people knew of this ce''s existence.


    For Long Xuan to have identally found this ce¡ªit was fate.


    He had just been at a loss over how to create the Ten Absolute de Technique, and now, here he was, thrown into this treasure trove.


    In this treasure trove, he could find the methods to break any ability in the world, including techniques to counter various spear arts and hammer arts. Even obscure weapons'' techniques were included, with methods for breaking them all recorded in these books.


    Now, would it be difficult for him to summarize these methods, integrate them, and create his own Ten Absolute de Technique, capable of breaking all techniques? Not at all. In fact, he was already feeling inspired.


    The only problem was that it would take a long time to read through all these books.


    But no matter¡ªit was time for his clones to handle this.


    Excited, Long Xuan immediately summoned all five of his clones.


    "Learn! Learn everything thoroughly!" hemanded.


    The clones emerged and, upon seeing the mountain of books before them, were instantly overwhelmed.


    They were all dumbfounded, feeling dizzy at the sight.


    "My goodness, how long will this take? The original body is really too much," they muttered.


    "You too! Learn it all, even if it kills you!" Long Xuan said, pulling the consciousness of his Silver Moon Mantis into the mix and throwing it into the first-floor section full of sword techniques.


    "From now on, you''ll self-study here and be a master through self-learning!"


    "I believe in you!" he encouraged.


    The Silver Moon Mantis looked around at its unfamiliar surroundings, its expression filled with confusion.


    But as soon as it saw the countless sword techniques, it became excited and rushed to the nearest bookshelf, quickly pulling out a sword technique book to read.


    The Silver Moon Mantis was known for its diligence and discipline, as all Silver Moon Mantises were obsessed with cultivation and driven to be stronger.


    Especially this one, which had been ostracized by its entire species since birth. Its desire for strength was even more intense, and no Silver Moon Mantis worked harder than it did.


    So, now that it had ended up in a ce full of sword techniques, it was overjoyed. It had no aversion to reading and was filled with enthusiasm. It couldn¡¯t wait to start reading.


    It had its eyes set on mastering all the sword techniques here. Its eyes gleamed with ambition.


    ........................................................................


    Read extra chapters on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 149: Heavenly Grade Spiritual Herb

    Half a month passed in the blink of an eye. During this time, all the geniuses were actively preparing for the uing battles. Only Long Xuan remained confined to his room, lying on his bed all day, seeminglyzy and sleeping soundly.


    In reality, his consciousness was immersed in the illusionary space, tirelessly studying the fist techniques stored in the Long n''s library tower from the Western Lands. He secretly learned the top-grade techniques at the fastest possible pace.


    Although half a month doesn''t seem long, Long Xuan benefited immensely. Inspired by the knowledge he gained from the library, he quickly mastered the "Steel Fist" technique.


    Of course, he was only able to use a portion of it, havingpleted just over 30% of the progress. He was still far from mastering it fully.


    However, today was not a day for him to continue training, as the arena match against the Bai n was scheduled to begin today.


    Long Xuan had no choice but to end his seclusion, get out of the Original Realm, wash up briefly, and head out to join the others.


    The twelve candidates for this arena match had already been selected¡ªsix from the Far West Long n and six from the Western Lands Long n.


    Long Xuan had already met Long Ruoxue and Long Dan, but the other four were unfamiliar faces he hadn''t seen before.


    As soon as Long Xuan arrived, he asked, "Why haven''t I seen Long Biao?"With an unnatural expression, Long Ruoxue replied, "I heard he identally stepped on and killed the patriarch¡¯s pet ant. The patriarch was furious, beat him up, and put him in confinement."


    Hearing this, Long Xuan couldn''t help but twitch the corners of his mouth. Killing an ant? And someone kept an ant as a pet? He had never heard of such a thing before. Is that even something that can be a pet?


    ¡°He was supposed to go, but you, Long Bao, and Long Yan are all at the mid-stage of Marrow Cleansing."


    "And there are only three slots for mid-stage Marrow Cleansing. If he doesn¡¯t withdraw, one of you will have to give up your spot," Long Ruoxue quietly exined again.


    With this, Long Xuan immediately understood.


    The others also had odd expressions on their faces.


    "So, does that mean we took his spot? I feel bad about that," Long Bao said.


    "You seem to feel just fine!" Long Yan rolled his eyes at him.


    "If he can''t go, it only means he''s not as strong as you. The Spirit Metal Mine is crucial, and the family can''t afford any leniency. If there''s anyone to me, it''s him for being too weak!" Long Dan said disdainfully, giving Long Bao a sidelong nce.


    "Exactly, this isn''t about taking anyone¡¯s spot. Everyonepetes fairly based on their own strength. You don¡¯t need to feel guilty. Since everyone¡¯s here, let¡¯s head out!"


    The Family Head arrived with arge group, not pausing, and directly headed for the gate.


    There were quite a lot of people apanying them, most likely just going to watch the spectacle or cheer them on. Not only were most of the higher-ups attending, but many Long n Gu cultivators of lower realms were also preparing to watch the event.


    Watching a spectacle is in everyone¡¯s nature, especially when this matter concerns the future of the Long n. The n¡¯s future cultivation resources would depend on the oue of today¡¯s battle. Winning meant a life of luxury from now on. Everyone was nervous and ready to witness this n-defining event with their own eyes.


    Since so many people from the Long n were going, it was safe to assume that members from other ns would alsoe to watch the excitement. The number of Gu cultivator families in ckstone City was countless.


    With such a major event between the Long and Bai ns, it¡¯s likely that every Gu cultivator family in the city, including the Ten ns of the Western Lands, would send people to witness it. The venue would surely be packed.


    The match between the two ns would take ce in the city center¡¯s main square. The ground there was t and spacious, covered with sturdy stone tiles, and a temporary arena had already been set up in the middle.


    The city lord would personally oversee the event to maintain order. He would act as both a witness and referee for the arena match, ensuring that both sides abided by the rules regardless of the oue.


    Once the group left the gates, they marched grandly toward the central square. The younger generation of geniuses walked at the back of the group, with Long Xuan, ever low-key, trailing behind all the geniuses, following Long Ziyan closely.


    Every Long n Gu cultivator had a confident smile on their face, full of optimism about the uing match.


    After all, with the help of so many external experts, how could they not be confident? Their confidence was overflowing.


    Long Xuan was the most confident. With the Ten Absolute Physique, defeating opponents of the same realm was a breeze, so easy that he felt uninterested. He even considered having his clone fight in his ce, as he had done many times before.


    A clone could easily handle someone of the same realm. It wasn¡¯t necessary for his main body to take action personally.


    Just as he was thinking this, his Insect Bag suddenly stirred.


    Long Xuan¡¯s face showed surprise. He left a clone behind and quietly walked off.


    Even though he was walking at the very back of the group and was not very noticeable, Long Yuanshan still spotted his movements.


    "Is the one that stayed behind the main body or a clone?" Long Yuanshan asked, turning his head hesitantly.


    "Uh, it should be the main body. It looks like he sent a clone out to take care of something," Long Qian replied, unsure.


    "Oh! I''m the main body. The one that just left was my clone. I gave him some tasks. He¡¯ll be back soon," the Fire Clone said.


    ...


    After walking far enough, Long Xuan found a secluded spot and pulled out a small, furry creature from his Insect Bag.


    This small furry creature was none other than the Jade Rabbit. Since he was about to go on a long trip and his clone couldn¡¯t be too far away, he had to bring all his clones with him.


    Without his clones watching over it, he feared this rabbit might uproot all his spiritual herbs to refine into pills. He had always been skeptical of the rabbit¡¯s character.


    To be safe, he decided to bring the Jade Rabbit along as well.


    "Did you really sense the aura of a Heavenly Grade Spiritual Herb?"


    Long Xuan lowered his voice and asked excitedly, his heart racing a bit.


    The reason he had separated from the crowd was that this rabbit imed to have sensed the aura of a Heavenly Grade Spiritual Herb.


    Since the rabbit itself was a spiritual herb, it wasn¡¯t surprising that it could sense the presence of a Heavenly Grade one.


    Upon hearing that there was a Heavenly Grade Spiritual Herb nearby, Long Xuan¡¯s spirits were instantly lifted, and he hurriedly ran out of the crowd.


    The rabbit quickly nodded, its eyes gleaming with excitement. Heavenly Grade Spiritual Herbs are peak-tier ingredients for refining pills, and since the rabbit loved alchemy, it was naturally excited. Its desire for the herb was even greater than Long Xuan¡¯s.


    The rabbit urgently pointed forward and squeaked anxiously.


    Long Xuan had no doubts and, following the rabbit''s guidance, swiftly pursued forward.


    At the same time, he activated his "Eye of Heaven¡¯s Secret," frantically searching for the shadow of that peak-grade spirit herb.


    Under the Eye of Heaven¡¯s Secret, if there was any peak-grade spirit herb nearby, it would be impossible to escape his gaze.


    However, he was soon disappointed. He had scanned every inch ahead, but there was no trace of that peak-grade spirit herb.


    The progress of a peak-grade spirit herb shows as "¡Þ", a symbol so striking that it would be impossible to miss if it appeared.


    Yet after searching around, he found nothing.


    This could only mean one thing: the peak-grade spirit herb wasn¡¯t kept in some room but was being carried by someone.


    Moreover, the spirit herb was probably stored inside a storage bag, so it was normal that he couldn¡¯t see its progress.


    However, if the spirit herb was hidden inside a storage bag, the fact that this rabbit could still sense its aura was quite remarkable. Its sensitivity to spirit herbs was extraordinary.


    Since he couldn¡¯t locate it, he had to rely on the rabbit, whose keen perception of spirit herbs made it an expert in tracking them.


    The rabbit didn''t disappoint him. After scanning the crowd, it pointed at a distant figure, masked in ck.


    Long Xuan was overjoyed and quickly gazed toward the person the rabbit had indicated.


    The rabbit urged him repeatedly, pressing him to seize the peak-grade spirit herb quickly.


    But when Long Xuan looked at the individual, his expression instantly stiffened, and his smile froze on his face.


    Good grief, the person was at the peak of the Gu King stage! The rabbit actually wanted him to rob someone at the Gu King peak. Wasn¡¯t this just asking for death?


    Long Xuan''s face darkened.


    "That¡¯s a Gu King at the peak! You¡¯re actually suggesting I rob a Gu King! Are you trying to get me killed so you can quickly find another owner?"


    He flicked the rabbit''s forehead sharply.


    The rabbit cried out in pain, covering its head and letting out a squeak.


    Long Xuan looked again at the Gu King and noticed he was walking toward the Qian n Auction House.


    Seeing this, Long Xuan frowned slightly.


    Then, something shocking happened. The Gu King, in front of everyone, took out a strange tree that resembled a human from his storage bag and casually ced it in front of the auction manager.


    As soon as the item appeared, the auction house was thrown into chaos, with gasps of surprise echoing throughout.


    "It''s the Living Wood!"


    Not only did the manager exim this name, but Long Xuan also immediately thought of it.


    Wood clone had once seen this spirit herb in an illustrated book. Due to its peculiar appearance resembling a human, it had left asting impression on him.


    Peak-grade spirit herbs are exceedingly rare, and few know their exact uses. However, even if you didn¡¯t know how to use Living Wood, just eating a piece of its bark could extend your life by 500 years.


    Who could resist the temptation of gaining 500 years of life? Even a Gu King couldn¡¯t remain calm in the face of such a treasure.


    This item was enough to incite the greed of all Gu Kings and even spark a massive war among them to seize it. Such a conflict would be entirely expected.


    Once this appeared at auction, there was no need to imagine; soon, ckstone City would be flooded with Gu Kings from all around.


    With so many powerful individuals gathering in one ce, who knew what kind of disaster this might trigger?


    ckstone City was likely on the brink of chaos!


    Long Xuan''s pupils contracted as he sensed the whiff of a conspiracy.


    This person had openly taken out the peak-grade spirit herb, the Living Wood, without hiding it. His actions were so tant, yet his face remained hidden behind a ck mask.


    Such contradictory behavior¡ªhigh profile in action but low profile in appearance¡ªmade it hard for Long Xuan to believe there wasn''t something fishy going on.


    It was obvious this person wanted the news of the Living Wood to spread as quickly as possible, while he remained hidden. But what was his true goal?


    What was his purpose in gathering so many Gu Kings in ckstone City by using the Living Wood as bait? Long Xuan squinted his eyes, his thoughts drifting toward arger conspiracy, perhaps a major one.


    No sane person would ever bring the Living Wood to auction. The bark alone could extend life by 500 years. No matter how many spirit stones it could fetch, selling it at an auction would never be worthwhile.


    Spirit stones in this world were only useful for purchasing cheap items, not for obtaining priceless treasures. In such a situation, no matter how many spirit stones you acquired, what use would they be?


    And don¡¯t tell him that the peak Gu King expert was short on spirit stones. A peak Gu King was among the highest-ranking experts here¡ªhow could theyck spirit stones?


    If Long Xuan were in his ce, even if there was an unavoidable reason to auction the Living Wood, he would sell only the bark, not the entire tree.


    The value of such an invaluable treasure didn¡¯t lie in its price but in how much the buyer was willing to spend.


    The buyer would exhaust all their resources to buy the Living Wood, just as they would for its bark. Whether the auction sold the bark or the entire Living Wood, the final price would be simr.


    If Long Xuan were in his shoes, he would peel off the bark, divide it into countless pieces, auction them at different ces, and then keep the Living Wood in a Herb garden to let the bark regenerate infinitely. That way, it would provide him with a continuous flow of wealth.


    This would be the way to maximize profits.


    Selling the entire Living Wood at once would be like killing the goose thatid the golden eggs. It was a fool''s move.


    Long Xuan didn¡¯t believe that someone capable of reaching the peak of the Gu King realm would be so foolish. Using such a treasure to gather Gu Kings here must have ulterior motives.


    Dark currents were bound to surge in ckstone City soon, and Long Xuan knew he had to be extra cautious.


    After giving the mysterious figure onest deep nce, he ignored the anxious rabbit and quickly left.


    It was a joke¡ªthis item was no longer something he could easily obtain. With countless Gu Kings already eyeing it, he would be crazy to try to snatch it from under their noses.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 150: The Bai Clans Conspiracy

    At this moment, the central square was already packed with people.


    Various Gu cultivators from all the ns in the city gathered here, and the noise of the crowd was overwhelming. The heads of the Ten Great ns of the Western Land had all arrived, sitting in the closest seats to the arena, apanied by many Spiritual Sea stage experts from their respective families.


    They were here to witness the event or, more urately, to watch the spectacle and act as witnesses to this wager.


    The members of the Long and Bai ns had already entered the arena, sitting opposite each other on the east and west sides, their eyes filled with provocation, as if ready to sh at any moment.


    The schrly-looking City Lord Yan Pohjun sat on the north side of the arena. After taking a sip from the tea on the table, he spoke in a deep voice, ¡°Since both sides are here, let¡¯s not waste any more time.¡±


    ¡°Today, the Long n and the Bai n willpete through martialbat to determine the ownership of a Spirit Metal ore vein.¡±


    ¡°And as the City Lord of ckstone City, it is my duty to maintain the peace in the city. Therefore, I havee here to act as a witness. Whoever loses must ept the oue, without seeking revenge or provoking conflict for any reason. If anyone breaks this rule, they will be disrespecting me, Yan Pohjun!¡±


    Yan Pohjun mmed the table heavily, releasing the powerful aura of a peak-grade Gu King, suppressing the entire scene.


    In that instant, the whole square fell silent. Under the immense pressure of his aura, many people''s faces changed slightly, revealing signs of fear.ckstone City was filled with powerful experts, and the number of Gu Kings was countless. However, there was only one peak-grade Gu King in the entire city¡ªYan Pohjun. In fact, there were probably fewer than ten peak-grade Gu Kings in the entire Western Land.


    Once at the Gu King level, each advancement became incredibly difficult. Out of hundreds of Gu Kings, only a rare few could cultivate to the peak-grade Gu King level.


    As one of the few peak-grade Gu Kings, Yan Pohjun was almost certainly the strongest person in ckstone City. When he spoke, no one dared to defy him.


    After the crowd fell silent, Yan Pohjun surveyed the scene with a stern gaze before continuing, ¡°I have reviewed the lists of participants submitted by both the Long n and Bai n. To save time, I will randomly assign opponents for all twelve matches. Do you have any objections?¡±


    ¡°I have no objections. I trust the City Lord¡¯s character. Let the City Lord make the random assignments,¡± Bai n Head Bai Zhan responded immediately, without hesitation.


    ¡°I have no objections either. We¡¯ll follow the City Lord¡¯s arrangements,¡± Long Yuanshan responded quickly as well.


    How could they dare to object? Saying they had objections at this point would be questioning the City Lord¡¯s authority and humiliating him in public. The consequences would be dire, possibly even leading to their defeat in thispetition. They weren¡¯t fools.


    ¡°Good! Then for the first match, Long Yun will face Bai Changfeng. Both of you, step onto the arena now!¡±


    City Lord Yan Pohjun was swift and decisive, immediately announcing the start of the first match without wasting a word.


    Everyone¡¯s spirits were lifted as they focused on the Long n and Bai n camps.


    ¡°Go Long Yun! Beat that Bai scum!¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re rooting for you! Don¡¯t let us down!¡±


    ...


    Many Gu cultivators from the Long n cheered on a beautiful young woman, and the crowd was filled with shouts of encouragement.


    The girl named Long Yun felt the pressure mount but quickly clenched her fists, her gaze bing determined. She jumped confidently onto the arena.


    Opposite her, Bai Changfeng, a young genius from the Bai n, also leaped onto the stage. Both of them emitted the aura of early-stage Marrow Cleansing cultivators. To have broken through to the Marrow Cleansing stage at such a young age, they were undoubtedly rare talents within their respective ns.


    ¡°Bai Changfeng, early-stage Marrow Cleansing. Please advise me!¡±


    Bai Changfeng¡¯s voice sounded polite, but his face bore a sinister expression, with a vicious glint in his eyes, his malice unhidden.


    Long Yun immediately grew cautious and replied politely, ¡°Long Yun, early-stage Marrow Cleansing. Please advise me as well.¡±


    City Lord Yan Pohjun then announced, ¡°Begin!¡±


    As soon as the City Lord finished speaking, Bai Changfeng rushed at Long Yun with blinding speed, moving as if he were a gust of wind¡ªspeed that seemed beyond what an early-stage Marrow Cleansing cultivator should possess.


    At this speed, Long Yun was instantly suppressed. Under Bai Changfeng¡¯s assault, she was barely able to defend herself and had no power to counterattack.


    She quickly realized that she was no match for him, but remembering the hopeful gazes of her nsmen, she couldn¡¯t bring herself to say the words ¡°I surrender.¡±


    If she were to be defeated as soon as she stepped onto the arena, how could she face her n again? Thus, she gritted her teeth and held on, her eyes filled with stubborn determination.


    Seeing this, the Gu cultivators from the Bai n cheered loudly, while those from the Long n remained silent, with the higher-ups frowning deeply.


    ¡°Something isn¡¯t right. Bai Changfeng is strong, but he shouldn¡¯t be this strong. He shouldn¡¯t be able to overpower Long Yun like this,¡± Long Qian muttered, frowning in confusion.


    ¡°It¡¯s indeed strange. Long Yun is a dual-attribute Earth-grade genius from our n, while Bai Changfeng, though talented, isn¡¯t even among the top five geniuses of the Bai n. Even if Long Yun were having an off day, she shouldn¡¯t be gettingpletely dominated like this.¡±


    Long Yuanshan also frowned in puzzlement, unable to understand the situation.


    Only Long Xuan, standing behind them, wore a thoughtful expression.


    He sensed a very familiar aura from Bai Changfeng.


    He had studied many techniques that temporarily increased power at the cost of burning something within the body. So, he could naturally detect such an aura.


    In his opinion, Bai Changfeng was definitely burning something inside his body, which was why his power had surged in a short period, allowing him to suppress Long Yun in battle.


    However, others were not like him. When he used this kind of self-harming forbidden technique, nothing serious would happen to him.


    But it was different for others. Once someone else used a simr forbidden technique, their power might skyrocket for a short time, but it would cause irreversible damage to the body. Using it just once would essentially cripple them.


    It seemed like this person had crippled his potential. In other words, although he gained a temporary surge in power, the price he paid was that his cultivation would never advance for the rest of his life.


    At this moment, Long Xuan waspletely shocked. Was this Bai n insane? For the sake of a mere Spirit Metal mine vein, they didn¡¯t hesitate to cripple their own genius? This was madness! Was it really worth it?


    ¡°He must have used some kind of forbidden technique, or maybe took some drug!¡± Long Xuan pretended to casually remark.


    Long Yuanshan¡¯s expression froze, and he suddenly burst out in anger, ¡°It¡¯s the Berserk Pill! He took the Berserk Pill!¡±


    ¡°The Berserk Pill can boost a person''sbat strength by more than double. The greater their potential, the higher the multiplier. Itsts for a day, but the price is that their cultivation will never advance again,pletely ruining a genius!¡±


    ¡°Bai Zhan ns to have all the Bai family¡¯s geniuses take the Berserk Pill to win all twelve matches in the arena.¡±


    ¡°But by doing this, he¡¯ll cause a break in this generation¡¯s genius talent. He¡¯s willing to sacrifice an entire generation just to seize all the Spirit Metal mine veins. How ruthless!¡±


    ¡°Is it really worth it for him to do this?¡±


    Long Yuanshan mmed the table in fury. He was utterly shocked. Bai Zhan was clearly insane, sacrificing a whole generation of talent for a single Spirit Metal mine vein. Did he not understand how severe the consequences of breaking a generation of geniuses could be?


    Long Qian¡¯s expression was bitter. What he thought would be an easy sweep had turned into such an unexpected situation. Bai Zhan was indeed a madman, using such unscrupulous methods. How ruthless.


    He said bitterly, ¡°Whether it¡¯s worth it or not, we don¡¯t know, but to Bai Zhan, it certainly is. The benefits of the Spirit Metal mine veins are enormous. He might not even lose out.¡±


    ¡°Moreover, he might not cripple all the geniuses of this generation. I think he¡¯ll preserve the top three, or top two. Even without taking the Berserk Pill, the top three have a high chance of winning. If he protects the three strongest geniuses, the Bai family¡¯s talent won¡¯t bepletely lost.¡±


    ¡°So, what do we do now? We¡¯re definitely going to lose the first match!¡±


    Long Yuanshan narrowed his eyes, took a deep breath, and said, ¡°There¡¯s nothing we can do. We can¡¯t force our geniuses to take the Berserk Pill just to win.¡±


    ¡°However, the overall quality of our twelve geniuses is much higher than that of the Bai family. Even if Bai¡¯s strongest geniuses take the Berserk Pill, they still might not be able to defeat all our geniuses.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to say who will win more, but our gains will likely fall short of expectations. We originally expected to dominate eight or nine tenths of the mine veins, if not all.¡±


    ¡°But now, we might only get half, or even less. Bai Zhan¡¯s move really caught me off guard!¡± Long Yuanshan said with an ugly expression.


    At that moment, the battle on the stage had already concluded. Long Yun was sent flying off the stage, crashing heavily onto the ground, covered in blood, unconscious.


    ¡°Hmph! Useless,pletely pathetic,¡± Bai Changfeng nced disdainfully at the unconscious Long Yun, then jumped off the stage and walked towards the Bai family¡¯s camp.


    ¡°Quick, help her!¡±


    A group of Long family Gu cultivators rushed over, hurriedly carrying Long Yun away. They pried her mouth open and quickly fed her healing pills.


    Long Qian ced his fingers on her pulse and swiftly examined her body with his soul power, his face growing grim.


    ¡°Her dantian is crippled. She will never be able to gather a Spiritual Sea in this position again. From now on, she¡¯ll be stuck at the Marrow Cleansing stage.¡±


    Upon hearing this, all the Long family¡¯s Gu cultivators were furious, ring at the Bai family¡¯s direction with eyes full of rage.


    Long Yuanshan mmed the table again, his gaze murderous as he looked toward the Bai family.


    ¡°These wolves! How ruthless! They went all out in what was supposed to be a friendly sparring match. Since they¡¯ve been so merciless, don¡¯t me me for being ruthless too!¡±


    Long Yuanshan turned to the group of angry geniuses behind him and shouted, ¡°From now on, I want all of you to strike hard. Cripple every opponent you face, and don¡¯t hold back if you kill them!¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ...


    The Long family geniuses all nodded in unison, their eyes filled with murderous intent as they looked toward the Bai family.


    The geniuses from the Far West Long family exchanged nces with each other, realizing that the uing battles were going to be life-and-death struggles. What was supposed to be a fairpetition had now turned into a deathmatch. If they weren¡¯t careful, they might end up losing their own lives in the process¡ªthey were, after all, here as external reinforcements.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 151: Stirring Up Anger

    Long Xuan felt a tightening in his heart. Would the City Lord not stop this situation?


    He nced at the indifferent City Lord, then at the patriarchs of the other eight families of the Ten ns. All of them had schadenfreude expressions, leisurely sipping tea and enjoying the show. They were all here to uphold justice, yet none of them spoke up.


    Long Xuan immediately understood. All the families tacitly agreed to this situation.


    If the geniuses of the Long and Bai families ended up seriously injuring each other out of anger, the remaining eight families would be the ones to benefit.


    The Ten ns of the Western Lands constantlypeted for resources, so they were rivals. If the geniuses of the Long and Bai families were crippled inrge numbers, fewer Gu Kings would emerge from their ns in the future. This would be a great advantage for theirpetitors, who were more than happy to see such an oue.


    Even the City Lord was from one of the Ten ns of the Western Lands¡ªthe Yan family. As long as his bottom line wasn''t crossed, he would naturally prioritize the interests of his own family.


    Thus, no one would step in to stop the battle between the Long and Bai ns. It was clear that both families would fight to a bitter end, and no one would act as a mediator.


    In the Bai family camp, Bai Zhan looked surprised. He had not given any order to cripple the Long family''s geniuses. The conflict between the two families was only over interests, without any deep-seated hatred.


    Moreover, doing so would bring no benefit to the Bai family. If you cripple someone else''s genius, they''ll retaliate in kind. Both sides would end up in a lose-lose situation, benefiting the other families.Those geniuses who had already taken the Berserk Pills were expendable, and he didn''t care about them. However, the three most talented geniuses hadn''t taken the Berserk Pills, and all of them had the potential to break through to the level of Gu King. If any of them were crippled, he would feel immense pain.


    ¡°This is bing difficult,¡± sighed the elder of the Bai family. ¡°Bai Changfeng believes himself to be a cripple now, so in his despair, he¡¯s adopting a mindset of ¡®If I can¡¯t have it, no one can,¡¯ nning to drag a Long family genius down with him.¡±


    ¡°If he goes crazy like this, the Long family will definitely retaliate harshly. The uing matches will be tough, and we may lose many of our geniuses because of that fool Bai Changfeng.¡± The elder smiled bitterly.


    Bai Zhan''s eyes sharpened, and he took a deep breath. "Even if I try to exin, it¡¯s toote. Now that we''ve started this, it will only escte into a bloody life-and-death battle."


    ¡°As for the other geniuses, it doesn''t matter if they get crippled. They¡¯ve already taken the Berserk Pills, and even if the Long family geniuses don¡¯t cripple them, they would have self-destructed eventually.¡±


    ¡°We just need to protect the top three. Since most of our geniuses are already crippled, we¡¯re not afraid of life-and-death duels anymore. In the long run, the Long family will suffer more. Hmph.¡±


    At that moment, the City Lord Yan Pojun¡¯s voice echoed through the arena: ¡°The Bai family wins the first match.¡±


    ¡°Second match: Bai Shi versus Long Xuan. Both contestants, please step up quickly!¡±


    Bai Zhan suddenly tensed up. Bai Shi was a genius of the Heavenly Grade, second only to the top genius of their generation. He hadn¡¯t taken the Berserk Pill. Could something go wrong in this match?


    It shouldn¡¯t. Bai Shi was up against Long Xuan, a name he had never heard before, likely an unknown figure. If Bai Shi, with his Heavenly Grade talent, was facing someone so insignificant, the oue was surely secure.


    Thinking this, Bai Zhan rxed.


    On the opposite side, Long Yuanshan''s eyes lit up when he heard the name Bai Shi. He immediately turned to Long Xuan and said, ¡°Long Xuan, don¡¯t give this man a chance to surrender. The moment you step onto the stage, cripple him as fast as you can.¡±


    ¡°This person is an extraordinary genius with Heavenly Grade talent, a prized figure nurtured with all the resources of the Bai family. Bai Zhan, no matter how mad he is, would never let him take the Berserk Pill. You must cripple him for me.¡±


    Long Xuan nodded and leaped onto the stage.


    Although he had no personal grievance against Bai Shi, since the n leader had spoken, he had to follow orders. Showing mercy now would only offend the Long family of the Western Lands.


    He would be staying with the Long family for quite some time, and he couldn¡¯t afford to make enemies of them.


    Thus, he could only silently apologize to Bai Shi and steeled his gaze.


    When Bai Shi jumped onto the stage, he shouted, ¡°Stone Transformation Gu!¡±


    Instantly, his skin began to harden, forming a thickyer of stone armor. His body visibly grewrger.


    ¡°I know the Long family excels at body techniques and has exceptional physical strength. That¡¯s why I borrowed the Stone Transformation Gu from the Shi family to counter your n¡¯s melee Gu cultivators.¡±


    ¡°At the same level, no matter how strong your Long family¡¯s Gu cultivators are, they can¡¯t break through the defense of the Stone Transformation Gu. Instead, they¡¯ll only hurt themselves.¡±


    ¡°So, you can still surrender. Otherwise, you¡¯ll end up being carried away like thest one!¡± Bai Shi said with a sneer, underestimating Long Xuan, whom he assumed to be a nobody.


    Long Xuan didn¡¯t respond. As soon as the City Lord called for the match to begin, he dashed toward his opponent at top speed, aiming to end the fight quickly.


    ¡°Hmph! Fool!¡± Bai Shi snorted coldly and charged toward Long Xuan as well.


    When he saw Long Xuan¡¯s fisting at him, Bai Shi didn¡¯t even try to dodge. Instead, heunched his own punch at Long Xuan.


    Underestimating Long Xuan, Bai Shi believed that no matter how strong a Long family Gu cultivator was, they couldn¡¯t break his Stone Transformation Gu defense. Confident in his defense, he opted for a strategy of trading blows to quickly overpower his opponent.


    However, what if his opponent¡¯s attack could bypass his incredible defense?


    Seeing that Bai Shi wasn¡¯t dodging, Long Xuan was momentarily stunned. Was he courting death by leaving himself unguarded? Without hesitation, Long Xuan¡¯s fist, boosted by his Star-Stepping technique, struck Bai Shi¡¯s chest, unleashing a surge of dark force into his body.


    Bai Shi¡¯s face initially showed disdain, but just as he was about tond his punch, his eyes widened. A massive force surged through his stone armor and into his body.


    ¡°Pfft!¡±


    Bai Shi spat out a mouthful of blood, shockingly mixed with fragments of his heart.


    Despite his stone armor remaining intact, he staggered back several steps.


    Long Xuan seized the opportunity, following up with a powerful kick to Bai Shi¡¯s dantian, pouring more dark energy into his body.


    The force not only shattered his dantian but also wreaked havoc on his internal organs.


    Bai Shi was sent flying off the stage, rolling several times before stopping at the feet of the Bai family Gu cultivators. After spitting out another mouthful of blood,ced with pieces of his organs, he passed out.


    At this point, Bai Shi¡¯s condition was far worse than Long Yun¡¯s, with injuries that were much more severe.


    The Bai family¡¯s high-ranking members all stood up, disbelief etched on their faces. They rushed over to support Bai Shi.


    Two strikes. Just two strikes had crippled the second top genius of the Bai family. Not only was the Bai family shocked, but all the Gu cultivators present were equally stunned. Countless eyes turned toward Long Xuan¡¯s unfamiliar face, now filled with fear.


    Even the other family heads were looking at this previously unknown genius with serious expressions.


    ¡°Patriarch, Bai Shi is crippled. He¡¯ll never break through to the Spiritual Sea Realm in this lifetime,¡± a Bai family Gu cultivator said, full of grief and anger.


    This was the Bai family¡¯s second most talented genius, their hope for the future. With his Heavenly Grade talent, he was destined to be a Gu King. The Bai family had poured countless resources into him, and now all of it had gone to waste.


    The Bai family Gu cultivators were furious, ring at the Long family with eyes full of rage.


    ¡°What a ruthless heart! To show such brutality in a fair match!¡±


    ¡°So young, yet already so vicious!¡±


    The Bai family was in an uproar, their Gu cultivators shouting angrily, all on the verge of breaking down.


    Bai Zhan crushed the teacup in his hand and mmed the table, standing up with a terrifyingly dark expression. He roared in anger, ¡°Who is that person? Where did hee from? Why have I never seen him before?¡±


    He clutched his chest in pain¡ªheartache, pure heartache. A genius of Bai Shi¡¯s caliber being crippled was like a knife to his heart.


    In contrast, the Long family was celebrating. Cheers andughter filled their ranks, with many of their Gu cultivatorsughing heartily.


    ¡°Well done! That kick was absolutely perfect! Hahaha...¡±


    Long Qianughed wildly, pping Long Xuan on the shoulder as he stepped off the stage.


    Even Long Yuanshan wore a satisfied expression. It felt so gratifying. He couldn¡¯t help butugh out loud, hisughter only intensifying the Bai family¡¯s anger even further.


    "Haha! Fists and kicks have no eyes. Didn''t your Bai n also cripple a Long n genius earlier? Consider it even now. I think we should continue thepetition without dy."


    The one speaking was the head of the Hun n. The Hun n was also one of the ten great ns of the Western Lands, known for having the most powerful Gu cultivators. At this moment, he wore a smile, watching the spectacle with schadenfreude.


    This drama was bing more and more exciting. The Long n and Bai n were now thoroughly enraged. Who knew how many more geniuses would fall in the uing arena matches?


    The more geniuses the rivals lost, the happier he became. He wished for the two ns to keep fighting, the more geniuses they crippled, the better. It would be best if they were all destroyed, so that in the future, the ns would fall from their positions in the top ten due to ack of talent. That would truly be marvelous, and he revealed a gleeful smile.


    The heads of the other ns also disyed looks of anticipation, eager to see how the situation would unfold. They feared the drama wasn''t big enough.


    Just as he finished speaking, the voice of the city lord rang out across the venue.


    "The second match, Long n wins!"


    "Now, let the third match begin! Bai Jian versus Long Ziyan. Will both contestants pleasee to the stage!"


    Long Yuanshan''s spirits lifted again. He quickly turned to Long Ziyan and said, "Bai Jian is the Bai n¡¯s third-ranked genius in terms of talent, also a peak-grade talent like you, and he¡¯s also skilled with the sword. However, your innate sword bones are his natural counter."


    "After what happened today, there''s no way this will end peacefully. Even if we show restraint, the Bai n certainly won''t. Holding back on a life-and-death stage is being cruel to yourself."


    "Bai Jian will definitely be ruthless towards you, so when you''re on stage, don''t hesitate. Use your fastest sword strike to cripple him. Don''t give him any chance to use any underhanded tricks. Only by doing this can you ensure your safety. Understand?"


    Long Yuanshan looked at the young figure who had already jumped onto the stage, his gaze turning vicious.


    This genius was also the Bai n¡¯s pride, and there was no way they would feed him the Berserk Pill.


    If the Bai n lost two of their top three geniuses consecutively, wouldn¡¯t Bai Zhan feel immense pain? Long Yuanshan snorted coldly to himself.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 152: Bai Zhan’s Collapse

    After Long Ziyan nodded, she stepped onto the arena.


    Seeing this unfamiliar face, Bai Zhan was taken aback. Who was she? Another face he had never seen before.


    At this moment, he no longer thought that unknown figures were weak. He had already sensed that something was amiss.


    "Something''s off! Why are all the geniuses from the Long n that are appearing unfamiliar? This isn''t normal. Look at the geniuses standing behind Long Yuanshan; half of them are people we don''t recognize," said the elder of the Bai n gravely.


    Upon hearing this, Bai Zhan also looked towards the geniuses behind Long Yuanshan. When he saw that half of them were unfamiliar faces, his heart skipped a beat. He had a vague guess of what was going on.


    Just at that moment, the City Lord shouted "Begin!" and in the next instant, Long Ziyan charged at her opponent at lightning speed. A sh of sword light appeared in her hand, and the sword in Bai Jian''s hand was instantly cut in half. His entire body was sent flying off the stage,nding heavily on the ground below.


    Looking at his abdomen, a patch of blood had already started seeping through, as if something had been gouged out. Bai Jian clutched his wound, writhing on the ground in agony, screaming in pain.


    The upper ranks of the Bai n stood up once more, their faces extremely grim. Another genius had been destroyed, and this one was even defeated in an instant. A genius ranked third in the Bai n had no power to resist in front of this woman. They were utterly shocked.


    "Who! Who are these people? Where did theye from?""Damn it! Long Yuanshan dares to y dirty with me!" Bai Zhan roared in fury, crushing the teacup in his hand and mming the table hard, nearly driven mad with anger.


    He could no longer sit still. He stood up swiftly, his eyes practically zing with fire.


    If he couldn''t figure out that the Long n had brought in external aid, then he would truly be a fool. These geniuses, who had appeared from nowhere, were definitely not from the Western Earth Long n.


    He was about to explode with anger. He never expected the Long n would resort to such despicable tactics. It was utterly shameless.


    Bai Jian was the third-ranked genius of the Bai n, and now he had been crippled. The pain, the overwhelming pain, pierced his heart. Two peerless geniuses lost in quick session¡ªit was as if his heart was bleeding.


    "Damn it! The Long n has no martial ethics, bringing in external geniuses to deal with us. It''s truly despicable! I''ll go seek justice from the City Lord right now," the n elder said with a darkened face as he prepared to march towards the City Lord.


    Bai Zhan''s face was gloomy as he replied, "It''s useless. The names of those strangers are in the City Lord''s hands. Do you really think he can''t see that those geniuses aren¡¯t from the Long n?"


    "Just like us, the Long n dares to pull this off because they aren''t afraid of usining. They must have some exnation to brush it off."


    "And even if the City Lord knows the truth, as long as the Long n has a usible exnation, he''ll turn a blind eye."


    "Because this will deplete the strength of both our ns, why wouldn¡¯t he want that?"


    Hearing this, the elder felt a sudden urge to cough up blood.


    The Bai n had relied on the City Lord''s psychology to use forbidden methods during the tournament. However, they had never expected that the Bai n would end up suffering for the same reason.


    "Damn it! If it weren''t for Bai Changfeng stirring things up, we wouldn''t be in this mess. Now we''re in big trouble! He''s the sinner of our n. The Bai n has beenpletely ruined by him!"


    The elder copsed into his chair, looking suddenly much older.


    In contrast to the despair on the Bai n''s side, the Long n was filled with joyousughter.


    "Well done! That strike was just beautiful, absolutely beautiful!" Long Qian pped wildly, hisughter piercing the ears of the Bai n¡¯s Gu cultivators, who red at him furiously.


    At that moment, the City Lord''s voice rang out again: "The third match, victory to the Long n!"


    "Now, the fourth match will begin. Long Dan versus Bai Youran. Both geniuses, please enter the arena quickly."


    As soon as the words were spoken, Long Dan eagerly jumped onto the stage, casting a provocative nce in the direction of the Bai n. His expression was full of confidence, clearly showing he was more than ready for this match.


    The geniuses from the Western Earth Long n had cleanly and decisively won thest two battles, drawing much attention, which had ignited hispetitive spirit. He intended to deliver an impressive victory himself, determined not to fall short of the Long n''s reputation.


    Hearing the names of the two contestants, Bai Zhan''s heart tightened. He clenched his fists, and his face darkened.


    Bai Youran was the Bai n''s top genius, a talent not seen in a hundred years, and the chosen sessor for the position of n Head. He was also thest genius who hadn''t consumed the Berserk Pill.


    The City Lord had called out three geniuses who hadn¡¯t taken the Berserk Pill in a row. Could you still say it wasn''t intentional?


    The first two had been destroyed by him, and now Bai Youran was facing Long Dan, the toughest opponent possible. Random assignment, they called it? Nonsense! He wasn¡¯t going to stop until every genius of the Bai n was destroyed.


    Bai Zhan''s breathing grew heavier, his expression twisted with fury.


    "Patriarch! I have no certainty of winning against him."


    Bai Youran did not immediately step onto the stage. Standing next to Bai Zhan, he hesitated, his expression full of doubt.


    He had to admit, he was genuinely afraid at this moment. Judging by the current situation, it seemed that no matter who went up to the arena from either n, one would end up crippled.


    He had enough self-awareness to know that his chances of victory against that monster, who possessed an innate Spirit Gu, were exceedingly slim. Who wouldn''t be afraid when faced with a life-or-death decision?


    Bai Youran''s fear of battle was understandable¡ªit was only human.


    Bai Zhan let out a heavy sigh and said helplessly, "You are thest genius of this generation in the family. If you are crippled, our n''s line of geniuses will bepletely cut off, and the consequences would be unimaginable."


    "Our n must preserve at least one seed from this generation. You don''t need to go up."


    "This is my fault. I was too impulsive and didn''t think things through. As the patriarch, I can''t escape responsibility for the consequences."


    At that moment, Bai Zhan appeared much older. The Bai n had suffered too great a loss this time. The difference between this generation of geniuses and having none at all was now almost nonexistent.


    And despite such a huge sacrifice, they hadn¡¯t achieved the expected return. Looking at the situation now, the Long n had yed dirty, inviting a group of absurdly powerful external geniuses. Even with their own geniuses using berserk pills, there was no hope of iming all the mines. As it stood, the sacrifices of the Bai n''s geniuses were meaningless.


    "We concede this match!"


    Bai Zhan, ultimatelycking the courage to continue this round, chose to surrender to prevent theplete extinction of this generation of geniuses.


    His surrender left Long Dan frustrated. The fighting spirit he had just built up dissipated instantly. After cursing "Coward!" in anger, he walked off the stage reluctantly.


    The other n leaders showed expressions of regret. They were so close¡ªif Long Dan had crippled thisst genius, the Bai n¡¯s entire generation of geniuses would have been wiped out. What a pity.


    Atst, Bai Zhan breathed a sigh of relief, feeling as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. His expression suddenly darkened, and he turned to the remaining Bai n geniuses, speaking viciously, "In the next matches, fight with everything you¡¯ve got! Even if you drag them down with you, cripple all of the Long n''s geniuses!"


    At this point, all three geniuses who hadn¡¯t taken berserk pills had finished their fights. The remaining contestants were all those who had consumed berserk pills and had already been crippled.


    Bai Zhan had no reservations left. Losing any of their already crippled geniuses in exchange for one of the Long n''s geniuses would be a win. From now on, he had only one goal: kill! His eyes were filled with unbridled killing intent.


    The City Lord, seeing that Bai Zhan dared not bet thest genius of his n, briefly showed a sh of disappointment, then announced solemnly, "For the fourth match, the Bai n concedes. Victory to the Long n."


    "The fifth match: Bai Xue versus Long Bao."


    With those words, Bai Xue and Long Bao walked toward the stage.


    Below, the Long n''s team cheered for Long Bao, making him feel the pressure.


    As soon as the City Lord shouted "Begin," Bai Xue charged at Long Bao with crazed eyes. From her posture, it was clear she intended to fight to the death.


    When a person decides to risk their life, theirbat strength increases by a third. Long Bao was now in trouble.


    After exchanging a few blows, Long Bao realized he wasn''t a match for this berserk-pill-empowered woman. He quickly dropped to the ground and rolled off the stage with ease.


    This was no joke¡ªhe had been brought in as external support. Why would he risk his life for this fight? As soon as he realized the situation was bad, he chose to surrender without hesitation, not giving his opponent a chance to strike hard. He was very slippery.


    Bai Xue red at him viciously but reluctantly walked off the stage. Her opponent had fled too quickly, not giving her a chance to do anything, leaving her feeling extremely frustrated.


    Even though she had won the match, there was no trace of joy on her face. The Gu cultivators of the Bai n were all equally sullen, with no joy in their victory. Bai Zhan''s expression was as if he had swallowed a fly, thoroughly ufortable.


    The following matches had mixed results. However, it was clear that Long Yuanshan wasn''t a reckless person. If his own genius had the advantage, it was all well and good.


    But if his genius was no match for a Bai n genius, he would immediately raise his hand and concede, not giving the Bai n any opportunity to strike hard.


    Surrendering was something only he could personally dere, as he feared that his geniuses might be too prideful to admit defeat and would endure until they were beaten to death, leading to a tragedy like what happened with Long Yun. Thus, as the n leader, he had no choice but to pull them out forcefully.


    As for the geniuses from the Far West Long n, he didn¡¯t need to worry about them. They all valued their lives highly and cared more about their survival than anyone else.


    Following Long Bao, Long Yan also surrendered eagerly after just one exchange with his opponent, jumping off the stage faster than a rabbit.


    As for Long Qilin, he was far stronger than both Long Bao and Long Yan in the same realm. Even when faced with a Bai n genius on berserk pills, he managed to hold his own.


    In the end, he used the Ascending Dragon Gu, suddenly elevating his cultivation from thete stage of the Marrow Cleansing realm to the peak stage, catching his opponent off guard. With this advantage, Long Qilin easily overpowered his opponent and calmly walked off the stage.


    The Bai n¡¯s Gu cultivators were frustrated to the point of vomiting blood. They had crippled arge number of their own geniuses, but the Long n had lost only one. The unfairness gnawed at their hearts.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 153: Long Panpan’s Plot

    At this point, thepetition had already gone through eleven rounds, with just one final round left.


    The geniuses of the Far West Long n had won three rounds and lost two.


    The geniuses of the Western Land Long n had won three rounds and lost three.


    Overall, it was six wins and five losses.


    As for the Bai n, they had five wins and six losses.


    The Long n had won one more match than the Bai n.


    The heads of the other ns watching thepetition were thoroughly entertained. Even though the Long n had been cunning in thest few matches, and none of their geniuses had been crippled, the Bai n had lost eleven of their top geniuses.


    Moreover, these eleven were the best talents of their generation. After this battle, it was clear that the Bai n''s line of geniuses had essentially been cut off. The direct consequence of this was a greatly reduced chance of producing a Gu King in this generation, which might lead to the Bai n losing their position among the Ten Great ns of the Western Territories.


    At this moment, the final match of the tournament was about to begin, and everyone showed signs of anticipation.The City Lord¡¯s voice once again rang out in the arena: "For this final match, there¡¯s no need for me to call out names. Juste up on your own!"


    The crowd from the Long n immediately looked towards the cutest girl in their group.


    ¡°Panpan! Good luck. If things start to look bad, just surrender. We won¡¯t me you!¡±


    ¡°Panpan, your priority is your safety. If you¡¯re not a match for the opponent, make sure to surrender immediately!¡±


    ¡°Exactly! Safety first. Don¡¯t get hurt!¡±


    ...


    The crowd chattered among themselves, surrounding Long Panpan in the center.


    Long Xuan couldn''t help but twitch his mouth. Every other member of the Long n was expected to win when they went up, but when it came to Long Panpan, everyone was hoping she''d surrender.


    Goodness! Isn¡¯t this a bit of a double standard? From the looks of it, Long Panpan''s adorable appearance had captured everyone''s hearts, and none of them wanted her to get hurt.


    Looks truly are justice. It seems that no matter which world, those with good looks are always favored.


    Long Ziyan was too cold, making everyone afraid to approach her. On the other hand, the lively and cute Long Panpan had be the beloved of the group the moment she arrived.


    However, don''t be fooled by her cute exterior. This girl was quite sneaky. Last time, when Long Xuan was buying a Golden Dragon Fish, he had been duped by her.


    Although her strength was weaker than Long Yan and Long Bao in the same realm, her craftiness made up for it. Long Xuan felt that she might not lose this final match, and he couldn¡¯t help but show a look of anticipation.


    On the Bai n''s side, a dark cloud hung over all of them.


    Bai Zhan turned his head towards a young man behind him and said, ¡°This is thest match. Be quick. Don¡¯t give her a chance to surrender. Use your full strength and cripple her. This is ourst opportunity, and it¡¯s also our final shred of dignity.¡±


    Bai Chen nodded, showing a cruel expression towards the girl before leaping onto the arena first.


    Long Panpan finally broke free from the overly enthusiastic Long n members and walked towards the arena with a smile. However, as she looked at Bai Chen, a subtle and devious glint appeared in her eyes, one so faint it was almost undetectable.


    But Long Xuan noticed it, and his expression turned odd. He knew it! He knew that this Long Panpan, despite her innocent facade, was quite scheming. Clearly, she was up to something again.


    Long Xuan grew curious, wondering what kind of trickery she had in mind this time.


    Long Panpan walked towards the arena slowly, and as soon as her first foot touched the stage, her aura suddenly surged. In the blink of an eye, her cultivation jumped from the early stage of Marrow Cleansing to the mid-stage.


    She paused for a moment, with an expression of feigned surprise.


    ¡°I¡¯m terribly sorry, I just happened to break through at thest moment. Shall we begin now?¡±


    By this time, Long Panpan had fully stepped onto the stage. She looked yfully at her opponent in front of her.


    Mid-stage Marrow Cleansing versus early-stage Marrow Cleansing¡ªshe had a guaranteed win.


    Bai Chen waspletely stunned. His expression was no longer calm.


    Your so-calledst-minute breakthrough?


    Most people break through during the battle itself, but you just stepped onto the stage and instantly broke through. What impable timing! Who are you trying to fool?


    It was clear that she had been suppressing her cultivation, waiting for the moment she stepped onto the stage to "break through." Then she put on a shocked face, pretending it was idental.


    He almost died from anger.


    How is this even a fight anymore?


    She¡¯s in the mid-stage of Marrow Cleansing, while he¡¯s in the early stage. How was he supposed to fight her?


    Bai Zhan feltpletely numb. The rest of the Bai n¡¯s Gu Masters were also dumbfounded, and then one by one, they began cursing in frustration.


    ¡°You Long n are so shameless! Bringing in external help was bad enough, but now you want to overwhelm us with superior cultivation? That¡¯s just bullying!¡±


    ¡°Suppressing your cultivation only to break through at thest moment? You Long n sure know how to y this game. Do you think we¡¯re all idiots? Are you going to im she wasn¡¯t intentionally holding back?¡±


    ¡°Shameless! Absolutely shameless! I have never seen someone as brazen as her. This match doesn¡¯t count!¡±


    All the Bai n¡¯s Gu Masters were fuming, standing up in unison and filling the air with curses.


    The Long n¡¯s Gu Masters hadn¡¯t expected Long Panpan to pull off such a trick either. After a brief pause, they nodded in approval, then stood up and began arguing back with the Bai n.


    Even though they weren¡¯t in the right, there was no way they would lose in terms of morale. They had no justification, but they would still argue their case.


    ¡°My Panpan had a breakthrough during the battle! So what? Bite me if you can!¡±


    ¡°Exactly, who said you can¡¯t have a breakthrough during a fight? Can anyone really control when it happens?¡±


    ¡°Exactly! My Panpan is a genius, and it¡¯s perfectly normal for geniuses to break through in the middle of a battle, don¡¯t you understand?¡±


    The members of the Long family, all Gu cultivators, were incredibly skilled at making excuses, shamelessly lying without batting an eye.


    The Bai family¡¯s Gu cultivators were all fuming. Yes, it¡¯smon for geniuses to have breakthroughs in battle, but did Long Panpan even fight earlier? She hadn¡¯t even exchanged blows before suddenly breaking through! How can you call that a battle breakthrough? Are you trying to fool idiots?


    Other ns watching could only twitch their lips in disbelief. You can y the game like that? They were certainly witnessing something new today.


    It was obvious that the Long family was cheating, but thepetition rules didn¡¯t explicitly forbid breakthroughs during battle, so it was up to the city lord¡¯s judgment. Everything now depended on the city lord¡¯s decision.


    However, since both ns had been ying dirty in every previous round, and all those actions had been permitted, there was no reason why this one shouldn¡¯t be allowed.


    As long as no surface rules were broken, all actions would be permissible in this tournament.


    The city lord, after thinking it over, dered, ¡°The match begins now.¡±


    He paid no attention to the already enraged Bai family members.


    ¡°Damn it! You win this round! We admit defeat! The Bai family concedes this time, but we¡¯ll get our revenge in the future!¡±


    Bai Zhan, his face turning green, red at the Long family and announced his surrender before leading his team away. All the Bai family¡¯s Gu cultivators hung their heads, with dark expressions and gloomy faces.


    Behind them, the victorious cheers of the Long family¡¯s Gu cultivators rang out, as piercing as ever.


    ¡°We won a total of seven matches and imed seven out of twelve Spirit Metal ore veins. It¡¯s still not enough!¡±


    Long Yuanshan sighed, not entirely satisfied with the result.


    Long Qianughed, ¡°It¡¯s already plenty. The Bai family only secured five out of twelve, and most of their current generation of geniuses has been wiped out. They¡¯re in a much worse state than we are.¡±


    ¡°But we¡¯ve made a serious enemy now. Making enemies with a powerful n is never a good thing.¡±


    Long Yuanshan sighed helplessly, ¡°It couldn¡¯t be helped. They crippled our family¡¯s genius first; how could we not retaliate?¡±


    ¡°If we had chosen to endure it this time and not retaliated, we would have given other major ns the impression that we¡¯re easy to bully. In the long run, that wouldn¡¯t be a good thing either.¡±


    ¡°Between two evils, you choose the lesser one. Even though I know the other major ns are waiting for us and the Bai family to fight until both sides are wounded, ready to watch the show, we still had no choice but to make an enemy of the Bai family.¡±


    ¡°As head of the family, I have to consider too many things. A single sentence can determine the fate of the entire n. It¡¯s not an easy burden to bear.¡± Long Yuanshan sighed deeply, his face showing signs of fatigue.


    This two-n tournament, which had shaken the entire city, had finallye to an end. There were only twelve matches in total, and it didn¡¯t take much time.


    Especially since every match either ended in a one-hit knockout or a quick surrender, thepetition proceeded even faster.


    Many spectators hade to watch the excitement, but it ended so quickly that they all left unsatisfied.


    As the tournament concluded and people began to disperse, the Gu cultivators from the major ns sitting in the front also prepared to leave.


    However, at that moment, an explosive piece of news suddenly spread through the crowd.


    The Qian Auction House was nning to auction off the legendary Living Wood in three months. This news was earth-shattering. Everyone who heard it froze for a moment, then their eyes gleamed with intense greed, and their breathing quickened.


    That was Living Wood, a legendary treasure! Just by eating the bark, one could extend their lifespan by five hundred years. The allure of such a treasure was simply too overwhelming, and not even a Gu King could resist.


    What¡¯s more, the value of an entire Living Wood tree went far beyond merely extending one¡¯s life by five hundred years. Just nurturing it could generate endless wealth. For any faction, this treasure was worth obtaining at any cost.


    Long Yuanshan clenched his fists suddenly. Even he, the family head who could remain unshaken in the face of anything, couldn¡¯t help but show a rare moment of excitement upon hearing this news.


    ¡°Patriarch, calm down. The Living Wood is clearly something that can generate far more wealth if kept, so selling it would be a huge loss. Whoever is selling it must be a fool. Let¡¯s investigate the situation first.¡±


    ¡°Even if there¡¯s no conspiracy and the Living Wood is real, it would be incredibly difficult for our Long family to obtain it. If we lose too many powerful n members in the process, it wouldn¡¯t be worth it.¡± Long Qian said gravely, his expression serious.


    ¡°I¡¯m only excited because several of our n¡¯s elders are nearing the end of their lifespan. If we could get just a few pieces of Living Wood bark, those Gu King elders could live for at least another five hundred years.¡±


    ¡°But those Gu King-level elders aren¡¯t ones I can easilymand.¡±


    ¡°With their lifespans running out, they might risk participating in the fight for the Living Wood. Whether that will be a good or bad thing for the n is beyond my control.¡± Long Yuanshan smiled bitterly.


    ¡°But you¡¯re right. Only a fool would auction off such a treasure as the Living Wood.¡±


    ¡°The Living Wood has eternal life. If kept in the n and passed down through generations, its value would be billions of times greater than its auction price. Auctioning it off would be a massive loss.¡±


    ¡°Also, advertising the auction for three months is too long. That¡¯s more than enough time to attract all the Gu Kings in the ckstone City region, and even those from beyond could make it using special methods.¡±


    ¡°With so many Gu Kings gathering here, who knows what kind of disaster might unfold?¡±


    ¡°Whether it¡¯s intentional or not, if someone deliberately gathers all these Gu Kings in one ce, what are they nning? There must be some sort of earth-shattering conspiracy behind this.¡±


    ¡°Warn all our n members to stay indoors more often. ckstone City will soon be crawling with powerful experts, and I fear a storm ising.¡±


    Long Yuanshan¡¯s expression grew thoughtful, and his gaze became increasingly grave..


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 154: The Great Heaven Ancestor, Shi Haojun

    At this moment, Long Xuan revealed a thoughtful expression. He wasn¡¯t entirely sure whether this person¡¯s scheme was targeting ckstone City, or if ckstone City was merely being used as a distraction.


    If it was a conspiracy aimed at ckstone City, then they couldn¡¯t stay there any longer¡ªthey had to return at the fastest possible speed.


    Thus, he needed to quickly figure out this person''s identity and their motives.


    After thinking for a while, he finally said, "My clone identally caught a glimpse of this person''s face just now."


    Even though the person had worn a mask the entire time, with only a pair of eyes visible, their appearance couldn¡¯t escape Long Xuan¡¯s Eye Of Heavenly Secret.


    Long Xuan could only hope that his n could deduce the person''s true identity based on his description. Once they knew who he was, guessing his purpose would be much easier.


    Hearing this, the two people who were speaking froze in ce and stopped their conversation, turning to look at him. Long Yuanshan asked anxiously, "Quick, tell us! What does he look like?"


    At this moment, his thoughts were aligned with Long Xuan''s: as long as they could identify this person, it wouldn''t be difficult to guess the purpose behind auctioning the Living Wood. This information was crucial.


    "This person is very handsome, with a strong and burly build. The only distinctive feature is a faint scar on his right cheek.""Oh, and one more thing¡ªthis person is at the peak of Gu King stage," Long Xuan added.


    The mention of a Gu King peak stage practitioner greatly narrowed the range of suspects. There weren¡¯t many Gu masters who had reached this level.


    "A scar on his right cheek... and at the peak of Gu King?" Long Yuanshan¡¯s eyes suddenly widened, his expression filled with shock.


    "Could it be him?"


    Long Qian¡¯s face grew serious, and he said in a heavy tone, "It should be him. There¡¯s no mistake."


    Hearing this, Long Xuan grew impatient. Why did they keep saying "him, him, him"? How was he supposed to know who "he" was? Couldn¡¯t they just say the person¡¯s name? It was driving him mad with suspense.


    Thankfully, Long Dan was just as curious and voiced the question that was on his mind: "Who is he?"


    Many of the younger Long n Gu practitioners perked up their ears, while the older Gu practitioners exchanged knowing nces, clearly aware of who this person was.


    Long Qian cleared his throat and said, "Let me exin. Based on Long Xuan¡¯s description, this person should be none other than the Great Heaven Ancestor, Shi Haojun."


    "Shi Haojun was the number one genius of the Shi n, one of the Ten Great ns of the Western Lands. Fifty years ago, he was also the top genius of the Western Lands and the strongest in ckstone City."


    "In the Gu cultivation world, he was practically a monstrous talent. It took him less than a century to reach the peak of Gu King, a talent so rare that it could be said to appear once in a thousand years. He was unmatched in his era."


    "The reason for his immense strength is partly due to his unique constitution¡ªhe was born with a Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart. This is an incredibly rare organ, on the same level as natural dual pupils or sword bones."


    "The most terrifying thing about the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart is that it allows the person to hear the thoughts of those around them. This ability is absolutely terrifying."


    "Think about it¡ªif you were facing someone like him, he could directly hear your thoughts, know your next move, and prepare a counter to it in advance."


    "How could you possibly win against an opponent like that? All your strategies, all your trump cards would be known to him. Winning would be impossible."


    "With this unbeatable ability, he defeated all challengers in the Western Lands and quickly became the number one powerhouse, earning the title of Great Heaven Ancestor. Because of him, the Shi n¡¯s influence skyrocketed, and their fame reached its peak."


    As Long Qian recalled the events of fifty years ago, his tone was filled with nostalgia. The younger Long n Gu practitioners were intrigued, eager to hear the rest of the story, while Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but feel astonished.


    To hear the thoughts of one¡¯s opponent, to know every move and every trump card, and even how to counter them... that was just too much! He had never seen such an overpowered ability before. How could anyone stand a chance against that? It was practically cheating!


    Faced with a Gu Cultivator who possessed such a shameless ability, Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but feel a deep sense of caution. He silently vowed to keep his distance from this person at all costs, lest his own thoughts be overheard.


    "What happened next? If he¡¯s still alive, why did he disappear? Why hasn¡¯t he returned to ckstone City?" Long Ruoxue, equally curious, asked impatiently.


    "I think I¡¯ve already figured out his reason for auctioning the Living Wood," Long Yuanshan sighed heavily and continued, "This story goes back fifty years."


    "At that time, a catastrophic gue broke out in ckmoon City, the likes of which had never been seen before. Even Gu Kings could be infected by this terrifying gue. Many people in ckmoon City died, and the bodies piled up like mountains. If a cure wasn¡¯t found soon, ckmoon City would be nothing but ruins."


    "ckmoon City was a massive city with a poption of over five million, and many Gu Kings resided there. They had the ability to break through the quarantine, so if no help arrived and those infected Gu Kings started roaming around, the consequences would be unimaginable."


    "ckstone City had no choice but to exhaust all its resources to provide aid."


    "However, this gue was far too sinister. It appeared without any warning, as if it hade out of nowhere, and even its origin couldn¡¯t be traced. The toxicity was ridiculously strong, and not a single doctor or alchemist in the city could find a cure."


    "In the end, they discovered that only the blood of Shi Rui, Shi Haojun¡¯s newly-wedded wife, could neutralize the gue. Shi Rui had a Body Immune to All Poisons, capable of nullifying any toxin. She was also a peerless genius in her own right."


    "Shi Rui was kind-hearted and went to ckmoon City every day to treat the infected using her blood. But kind-hearted people often don¡¯t get rewarded for their goodness."


    "How could one person¡¯s blood save an entire city of five million people?"


    "I still remember thest time she returned to the city. Her face was deathly pale, and she barely had any blood left in her body."


    At this point, everyone listening felt a pang in their hearts, deeply moved by the kindness of this woman and filled with sorrow for her suffering.


    "And what happened in the end? What happened to her?" Long Ruoxue asked, her voice trembling with emotion.


    "Sigh," Long Yuanshan let out a heavy sigh and said, "She knew that her blood was running low, but every day, the people of ck Moon City whom she had cured woulde to ask her to return and save their loved ones."


    "She couldn''t resist the constant pressure, and unable to bear the moral burden, she forced herself to ignore her difort and followed those people back once more."


    "That time, she never returned."


    Hearing this, everyone was shocked. The thought that her blood had beenpletely drained arose in everyone¡¯s mind.


    "Was her blood drained? But even if all her blood was drained, it wouldn''t have been enough to save everyone. However, since ck Moon City still exists today, it must mean she saved everyone," Long Dan couldn''t help but ask.


    "You''re right, her blood alone wasn''t enough to save everyone. It¡¯s said that after returning to ckstone City, she saved dozens more people before fainting from severe blood loss."


    "But those people didn¡¯t stop. While she was unconscious, they forcibly drained all of her blood."


    At this point, a trace of terror flickered in Long Yuanshan¡¯s eyes as he coldly said, "Even after draining all her blood, it wasn''t enough to save many people. In the end, they cut her into countless pieces, and only then did they manage to save the entire city."


    At that moment, everyone felt a chill down their spine, their skin prickling with goosebumps.


    Long Ruoxue disyed a horrified expression, her stomach churning with nausea, and she felt an overwhelming urge to vomit.


    "In the face of death, what choice would you make?"


    "ck Moon City had both good and bad people, but even the monks within the city, when faced with the test of life and death, chose survival," Long Yuanshan sighed softly.


    "And in the end? Did the Shi family avenge Shi Rui?" Long Ruoxue asked anxiously, her fists clenched.


    "Heh, with the involvement of all five million people in the city, how could the Shi family seek revenge? Could they wipe out an entire city?"


    "Moreover, the Shi family didn¡¯t have the strength to fight a city. So, after eptingpensation from ck Moon City, the matter was left unresolved."


    "Shi Haojun couldn''t ept it and severed ties with his family, seeking vengeance for his wife on his own."


    "But no matter how much of a genius he was, how could he fight an entire city by himself? In the end, the Gu Kings of ck Moon City joined forces to seriously injure him, and he fled."


    "After that, he disappeared without a trace. No one has heard of him since. I never expected that, fifty yearster, he would appear in ckstone City again."


    Long Yuanshan gave a bitter smile. "You probably don¡¯t need me to tell you what his intention is this time."


    "If I¡¯m not mistaken, his n is to lure most of the Gu Kings of ck Moon City to ckstone City through the auction of the Living Wood, which they won¡¯t be able to resist."


    "At that time, ck Moon City will be left unguarded by Gu Kings, and he likely ns to massacre the city."


    Everyone was once again shocked¡ªthis was an earth-shattering revtion. ck Moon City, a massive city with a poption of five million¡ªhow many would perish in such a massacre?


    "Should we warn ck Moon City and let them prepare in advance?"


    Immediately, one of the Long family¡¯s Gu cultivators suggested from the crowd.


    Long Yuanshan nced at him and said sternly, "Haven¡¯t you learned from Shi Rui¡¯s fate? Some good deeds shouldn¡¯t be done, and it¡¯s better not to meddle in this."


    "Do you realize how much disaster you¡¯d bring upon the n by doing this?"


    "If our family were to ruin his n, he would surely hold a grudge against us. He can hear people¡¯s thoughts¡ªhow hard would it be for him to find out who spoiled his n?"


    "Shi Haojun is a terrifying individual. If he seeks revenge, it¡¯s something our Long n cannot withstand."


    "So, do nothing extra. Act as if none of this ever happened. From now on, keep this to yourselves and tell no one. Understand?" Long Yuanshan looked sternly at the group of geniuses.


    Hearing this, the Gu cultivator who had suggested warning ck Moon City broke into a cold sweat.


    He hadn¡¯t realized that his well-intentioned warning could bring such disaster to the family. He felt a wave of fear wash over him for his earlier misjudgment.


    Today¡¯s events had taught him a valuable lesson¡ªone that he would remember for a long time. He would never dare to recklessly do a "good deed" again.


    "Ry my orders: From now on, no Long family Gu cultivator is to go to ck Moon City. Those who are currently conducting business in ck Moon City must quietly withdraw within three months."


    "Don¡¯t tell them why, just have them leave discreetly and in batches. Make sure they¡¯re all out within three months."


    After saying this, Long Yuanshan finally led the group of Gu cultivators out.


    By now, the central za was empty, and all the Gu cultivators from other ns had long left, leaving only the Long family cultivators chatting among themselves.


    At this point, leaving wasn¡¯t urgent.


    The group of geniuses exchanged nces and quickly followed. However, none of them dared to discuss the matter further on their way out, keeping their mouths tightly shut for fear of identally leaking the information and bringing disaster to the family.


    Long Xuan was also mixed in with the group. Since Shi Haojun¡¯s target was ck Moon City and not ckstone City, he felt relieved.


    ........................................................................


    Read extra chapters on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 155: Initiating the Research on the Dragon Blood Battle Gu Project

    After everyone returned to the Long n mansion, they were greeted by the cheers of all the family members. Everyone already knew about the family¡¯s overwhelming victory over the Bai family, so naturally, every face showed a look of excitement, and the entire Long family was lively and bustling.


    As the main contributors to the family''s victory, a dozen geniuses were surrounded by the crowd, being asked about their well-being, and praised continuously.


    ¡°Silence!¡±


    Long Yuanshan¡¯s stern voice rang out, immediately quieting the restless crowd. Intimidated by the authority of the patriarch, the scene finally calmed down.


    ncing at Long Yun, who looked disheartened, Long Yuanshan sighed heavily and said, ¡°Take her away. The family will take care of her for the rest of her life. From now on, she doesn¡¯t need to do anything.¡±


    ¡°Today, our n has achieved a great victory. Although we didn¡¯t win all the Spirit Metal veins, we obtained most of them, which is worth celebrating. Starting tomorrow, we will hold a grand feast to celebrate. Everyone, you may leave now.¡±


    ¡°Long Xuan, follow me.¡±


    Long Yuanshan, somewhatcking in enthusiasm, dispersed the crowd and left with Long Xuan.


    Long Xuan thought for a moment and guessed that the patriarch was probably summoning him regarding the research on the Dragon Blood Battle Gu Recipe.Now that the arenapetition with the Bai family was over and there was nothing to distract him, it was time to officially prioritize this matter.


    Once this project began, his de Gu would also move forward.


    Long Xuan smiled and quickly followed the patriarch.


    ...


    After Long Yuanshan led Long Xuan to a hidden secret chamber, he got straight to the point: ¡°I believe you¡¯ve already guessed why I called you here. The family has convened a meeting of the elders and decided to officiallyunch the project to restore the Dragon Blood Battle Gu recipe.¡±


    ¡°The family will put its full resources behind your research on the Dragon Blood Battle Gu recipe. Whatever materials you need, the family will spare no effort to provide them.¡±


    ¡°However, during your research, you¡¯ll need to leave all your storage equipment outside. I hope you understand¡ªthis is not something I can decide alone.¡±


    ¡°Of course, I understand,¡± Long Xuan nodded. ¡°It¡¯s only natural. After all, researching a Gu recipe consumes an enormous amount of resources. Anyone would need precautions. Should we start now?¡±


    Long Yuanshan replied, ¡°We can begin right now. If you need any materials, just use the Suo Gu to send a message. Suo Gu is the most discreetmunication channel.¡±


    ¡°Whatever you need, just use the Suo Gu tomunicate. You don¡¯t need to leave this ce. Your daily needs, including three meals a day, will be delivered on time, so you won¡¯t have to worry about anything else.¡±


    With that, Long Yuanshan took off his storage bag and dumped a pile of stones on the ground¡ªthere were at least hundreds.


    ¡°The primary material for the Dragon Blood Battle Gu recipe is the Peak-grade Spirit Insect, the Divine Dragon Insect. This insect is a parasite born from the family¡¯s sacred tree, the Divine Dragon Tree, and is incredibly hard to obtain.¡±


    ¡°You must use your intelligence to research the form. Don¡¯t blindly try everything; the materials are limited,¡± Long Yuanshan reminded him again.


    Looking at the pile of stones on the ground, each containing a part of the Peak-grade Spirit Insect, Long Xuan¡¯s face twitched uncontrobly.


    ¡°Is this what you call ¡®incredibly hard to obtain¡¯? It seems pretty plentiful to me. Does the patriarch have a misunderstanding about the meaning of ¡®incredibly hard¡¯?¡±


    Seeing his expression, Long Yuanshan smiled wryly and said, ¡°The Divine Dragon Insect is indeed difficult to obtain, but after collecting them for so many years, we¡¯ve umted a significant amount.¡±


    ¡°Ever since the Dragon Blood Battle Gu recipe was discarded due to theck of materials, the Divine Dragon Insect has had no use.¡±


    ¡°As a result, the number of Divine Dragon Insects has only increased over the countless years, amassing a vast quantity.¡±


    ¡°And this is just a small portion. There are many more.¡±


    ¡°The Divine Dragon Insects kept multiplying, and these creatures consume a lot of food. They almost drained the family¡¯s resources. Even though they¡¯re useless, they¡¯re still Peak-grade Spirit Insects, so we couldn¡¯t bear to throw them away. Out of necessity, we had to freeze them into fossils in extremely cold conditions.¡±


    ¡°Once they became fossils, they finally quieted down and stopped consuming the family¡¯s food.¡±


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan¡¯s mouth twitched again. Disliking the Divine Dragon Insects for their excessive eating, and freezing them into fossils¡ªwasn¡¯t that a bit extreme? But it was indeed a clever solution.


    ¡°So, for each experiment, just cut a piece of fossil. Don¡¯t awaken all of them at once¡ªit would waste too much food.¡±


    ¡°If you run out of fossils, just send me a message. Even if the family¡¯s entire stock is depleted, I can borrow more from other rtives.¡±


    ¡°You can start your research here. I¡¯ll go discuss matters concerning ck Moon City with the other elders. If you need anything, send a message using Suo Gu.¡±


    With that, Long Yuanshan finally left, leaving Long Xuan alone in the secret chamber, surrounded by stones that held a bunch of unfortunate creatures.


    Long Xuan walked over and patted the top fossil, reflecting on how unexpected it was that the main material for the Dragon Blood Battle Gu woulde from the Peak-grade Spirit Insect born from the Divine Dragon Tree.


    And over countless millennia, the Western Long n had umted a vast number of Divine Dragon Insects.


    Thinking about this, he wondered if the four Divine Dragon Trees he nted would also give birth to a group of ravenous creatures in the future.


    Now, he no longer found these Divine Dragon Insects cute. If they ever naturally appeared in his Divine Dragon Trees, he would have to use the Divine ice me to freeze them into fossils as well.


    With his n''s weak foundation, how could he afford to support a group of freeloaders?


    Moreover, those high-quality spirit insects collected from the medicinal herb garden were now being raised in his insect chamber, consuming a significant amount of food. Once he returned, he would use the Divine ice me to freeze them all into fossils.


    Speaking of which, the portal between the Western Land Long n and the Far West Long n had long been established, and people from both sides had begun visiting each other. He could return anytime and instantly.


    Just now, during their conversation on the road, Long Qilin, Long Panpan, Long Yan, and Long Bao nned to teleport back today.


    As for the Western Land Long n¡¯s promised reward of Spirit Metal, there was no rush for now.


    After all, the Spirit Metal vein was not yet in their possession, and it would take time to mobilize arge number of mortals to mine it. The journey alone would take a while.


    They were toozy to wait and were feeling homesick, so they were preparing to return today.


    At this moment, only Long Xuan and Long Ziyan remained.


    Long Xuan needed to study the recipe for the Dragon Blood Battle Gu, so he couldn¡¯t leave in the short term. The Silver Moon Mantis also needed to learn de techniques here, and it could only improve by sparring with its kin.


    Although this secret room was a bit far from the Tower of Books, it didn¡¯t matter. He had already used the Origin Realm to copy the Tower of Books and stored the copied illusionary world in the Eye of Heaven¡¯s Will. Even if the distance was far, he could still enter it offline.


    The only downside was that it couldn''t be updated in real-time. If there were any new changes in the Tower of Books, or a new book was added, it wouldn¡¯t be synchronized with his illusionary space. He would have to make time to go near the Tower of Books to download the updates.


    As for Long Ziyan¡¯s reason for staying, it was naturally to learn swordsmanship here as well. The Silver Moon Mantis she had freeloaded also needed to learn de techniques here, which made it hard for her to leave.


    She also needed a massive amount of time to refine the de Gu, so she wouldn¡¯t be leaving anytime soon.


    It was just unclear how many materials she nned to use to refine the de Gu. Long Xuan couldn''t help but wonder.


    However, thinking about how she insisted on perfecting even her Gu house, she probably wouldn¡¯t just refine a de Gu with five hundred materials. That wouldn¡¯t fit her personality.


    Long Xuan took out the Dragon Blood Battle Gu recipe that Long Qian had given him and finally began to study it seriously.


    Creating a new Gu recipe was difficult, but recing a small portion of the materials in the recipe? That was not hard at all for him.


    For such matters, he only needed to find simr materials. The workload was a hundred times less than creating a new Gu recipe from scratch.


    This business was simply too easy, effortless even. He didn¡¯t need to put in much effort to easily obtain the massive amount of materials needed to refine the de Gu. He had truly struck it rich this time, and even now, there was still a faint smile on his face.


    A monthter, Long Xuan put down the Gu recipe with a slight smile on his lips. The task had gone as expected, and in just one month, he had reced all the extinct materials in the Dragon Blood Battle Gu recipe with ones that were still avable.


    However, there were now a hundred more materials than in the original recipe. He wasn¡¯t sure if the new recipe was stronger or weaker.


    But one should never assume that a recipe with more materials was necessarily stronger than one with fewer materials. That was definitely not a sure thing.


    Up to now, all of his peak-grade Gu worms had fewer materials than the Dragon Blood Battle Gu, but he didn¡¯t believe that his peak-grade Gu insect were any weaker than the Dragon Blood Battle Gu.


    The strength of a Gu didn¡¯t juste from its innate quality but also from how a Gu cultivator developed and used it. A powerful evolution path could even defy fate.


    Moreover, each Gu recipe had different failure rates, and the cost of a recipe with more materials wasn¡¯t necessarily higher than one with fewer materials.


    After organizing and storing the Gu recipe, Long Xuan found himself with nothing to do for the moment.


    The Dragon Blood Battle Gu recipe had been sessfully improved, but he didn¡¯t dare submit it just yet.


    The time frame was simply too short. A Gu recipe with over ten thousand materials was an enormous undertaking. Who would believe hepleted the task in just a month? There was no guarantee that others wouldn¡¯t be suspicious.


    He had to drag it out for a few years,pleting the task only with difficulty. That would be more believable.


    No normal person could rece the lost materials in the Dragon Blood Battle Gu recipe in just a month.


    The most important reason to dy was that the longer he dragged it out, the more materials he could embezzle. That was the key point.


    If he submitted it now, how could he continue embezzling? How could he gather enough materials to refine the de Gu? He hadn¡¯t stayed here long enough yet.


    Every day, arge amount of materials was being sent into this enormous secret chamber. Now that the recipe wasplete, all the materials were essentially going into his pocket.


    There were already countless insect-rearing bags on the ground, each containing a type of spirit insect.


    To prevent one spirit insect from devouring another, each insect-rearing bag only contained one type of insect, resulting in bags scattered all over the ce.


    However, taking so many spirit insects out of here would definitely be difficult. After much thought, Long Xuan decided not to risk smuggling the insect resources out. He would simply refine the de Gu right here.


    Once the de Gu was sessfully refined, he would leave.

 Chapter 156: Treasure Acquisition

    As for how to spend the next few years, Long Xuan decided to first conquer the ancient tomb. The tomb had already been sessfully copied by his Origin Realm, and it was currently stored within the Eye of Heaven. He could enter and y the "level-clearing game" at any time.


    After clearing the levels, he would then send his clone to retrieve the treasure from the real-world tomb. With a clone already knowing the strategy, retrieving the treasure would be effortless, saving him another trip.


    Afterward, he would use his clone to research the Ten Absolute de Technique based on the knowledge he gained from the hidden chamber in the Library Tower.


    Once he mastered the Ten Absolute de Technique, the de Gu would be ready. The de Gu could immediately learn the Ten Absolute de Technique, enabling him to soar to new heights.


    By then, his de Gu would be invincible, and no human would stand a chance against his de Gu in de/sword techniques.


    Long Xuan did not hesitate. With a single thought, he appeared on the small ind he had visited earlier. In front of him was an extinguished fire pit, left by him and his group. The memories were still fresh.


    He recalled the discovery of the jellyfish here, and as he thought about it, a sh of inspiration struck him. He furrowed his brows, realizing something.


    Had he been too naive in thinking he could conquer the tomb using this method? Maybe not.


    His Origin realm could only copy inanimate objects. Strong living beings couldn''t be replicated unless their consciousness was pulled into the Origin realm. Unfortunately, the Eye of Heavenly Secret was ineffective against Gu insects that were far superior to it.This presented a dilemma.


    Even if he sessfully bypassed all the tomb¡¯s traps and mechanisms, what about the living creatures still guarding the real tomb?


    The thought of live guardians in the tomb gave Long Xuan a headache.


    But since the tomb had already been copied, how could he not go and check it out?


    Regardless of whether there were living creatures guarding the tomb in reality, he decided to first explore the illusionary version of the tomb.


    He quickly made his decision and began calcting the exact location to dig.


    Digging a tunnel into a tomb was a technical skill. Getting the location precisely right wasn''t easy. A wrong dig could waste a lot of time.


    After some time, Long Xuan calcted the correct spot to dig. However, just as he was about to pull in the consciousness of a Earth Master to start digging, he noticed arge hole not far away. It was well-hidden, covered by branches and difficult to spot.


    He was taken aback. Could it be that the tomb had already been robbed? Had he arrived toote?


    No, that couldn¡¯t be. He had seen infinite progress, indicating there were still treasures underground. Even if the tomb had been looted, it couldn''t have been emptiedpletely. Some treasures must remain.


    He took a deep breath and summoned a me in his palm, quickly running towards the robber''s tunnel.


    Every situation has its pros and cons. Even if the tomb had been robbed, it might not be a bad thing. Perhaps there was a silver lining.


    Originally, he was worried that he couldn¡¯t deal with the living creatures in the tomb using his Origin Realm¡¯s methods. But now, he didn¡¯t have to worry. If the tomb had been looted, then the living creatures guarding it would either be dead or significantly reduced.


    In his view, this was undoubtedly a good thing.


    Otherwise, if there were a Gu King guarding the tomb, he wouldn¡¯t be able to take the tomb''s treasures, no matter how many times he attempted to clear it.


    Given his cautious nature, even if it meant leaving behind most of the treasures, he would prioritize absolute safety. He only needed the tomb¡¯s most valuable treasure; losing the rest didn¡¯t matter.


    ording to his original n, he was going to reveal the tomb¡¯s location and lure a group of Gu Kings inside to clear out the high-level creatures for him. Afterward, he would take the most valuable treasure.


    If he implemented that n, he would still lose most of the treasure, simr to the current situation.


    So, the fact that the tomb had already been looted didn¡¯t affect his mood at all. He no longer needed to go to the trouble of finding a group of Gu Kings to act as cannon fodder.


    The tomb was deep. Tombs in this world were always like this because powerful Gu practitioners had the ability to move mountains and create vast structures. As a result, most of the tombs in this world were deeply buried and difficult to locate.


    Long Xuan walked for a long time before he finally reached the bottom. Looking down, he saw a long, grayish-white passageway. The passage was very long, and under the dim wall lights, he couldn¡¯t see where it ended.


    Thanks to his countless lives, he didn¡¯t need to be cautious like usual and boldly jumped down.


    The tomb passage was quiet. After jumping down, the only sounds were his footsteps and faint breathing. The longstingmps on the stone walls indicated progress, which left Long Xuan slightly disappointed.


    He had seen the progress below and thought there would be treasures, but they were just longstingmps.


    Though the longstingmps could burn for over ten thousand years without extinguishing, they weren¡¯t very valuable. Even if they had some worth, he no longer cared for them.


    He looked closely at the murals on the walls and noticed they had been violently erased, likely by tomb robbers. Only a few iplete characters could be seen on the stone walls.


    From those few iplete characters, Long Xuan roughly deduced that it wasn¡¯t some cultivation technique but a powerful Gu Recipe.


    He couldn¡¯t help but be amazed. The tomb passage stretched endlessly, lined with murals that were too numerous to count. What kind of Gu Recipe required such an extensive mural? How many words were needed to cover so many stone walls?


    He was stunned. Roughly estimating, the materials needed for this Gu Recipe were in the millions¡ªat the very least. This was a conservative estimate.


    If some materials needed to be used in hundreds of oveppingyers, the total material count could reach tens of millions. He dared not even think about such a number, as it was simply too terrifying.


    The concept of a Gu technique requiring tens of millions of materials is unimaginable. Can it even be called a Gu technique? With the possibility of failure, what kind of existence could sessfully refine such a Gu insect? He genuinely admired this feat.


    He couldn''t even begin to imagine how powerful the Gu insect refined from so many materials would be. Without a doubt, such a Gu insect would possess world-ending strength, far beyond anyone''sprehension. Once refined, the Gu would be invincible in the world.


    Unfortunately, this heaven-defying Gu technique had been destroyed by the tomb raider. What a selfish person¡ªhe took this immensely powerful technique for himself and ensured that no one else could learn it bypletely ruining all the carvings on the stone walls. Now, the only person in the world who had mastered this technique was probably him.


    But who could have learned such a heaven-defying Gu technique? It couldn¡¯t have been some unknown figure.


    The owner of this tomb, possessing such a technique, must have been an immensely powerful figure in life, and his tomb would undoubtedly be incredibly dangerous¡ªfar beyond what ordinary people could raid.


    The person who sessfully raided this tomb must also be an extraordinary individual. To escape unharmed from such a deadly tomb, there couldn¡¯t be many in the Western Lands capable of such a feat.


    Long Xuan¡¯s eyes showed a thoughtful look. However, he didn¡¯t know many of the extraordinary figures of the Western Lands, and it was impossible for him to guess who this person might be, so he decided to stop pondering.


    At this moment, he felt lucky that this tomb had already been raided by this extraordinary person, clearing away most of the danger for him.


    Otherwise, just judging by the length of the Gu technique inscribed on the stone walls, Long Xuan could tell that such a dangerous tomb was far beyond what someone of his level in the Marrow cleansing stage could handle¡ªeven with the cheating capabilities of his Origin Realm.


    However, although the raider had sessfully looted the tomb and escaped unharmed, it appeared that their eyes weren¡¯t sharp enough¡ªthey missed a treasure! And not just any treasure, but a heaven-defying one with infinite potential.


    Long Xuan smiled and continued walking toward the deepest part of the tomb.


    Even though the tomb had already been raided, the idea that there would be no danger left was unrealistic. Long Xuan assessed the situation based on his perception of progress, skillfully avoiding all the traps and mechanisms. Without wasting a single life, he carefully made his way into various burial chambers.


    Each of therge chambers had already been thoroughly looted, and the murals on the walls had all been destroyed, leaving nothing for future explorers to gain. The raider showed no mercy, as though determined not to let anyone else benefit even slightly.


    Still, a few scraps of low-value junk were left on the ground. Too low in value to bother picking up, these remnants further confirmed that the tomb raider was no ordinary person.


    However, Long Xuan¡¯s personality was different from the raider¡¯s. In his eyes, even a mosquito¡¯s leg was still meat¡ªnot to be wasted. No matter how vast his fortune became, he believed in the spirit of plucking everyst feather. So, he began collecting everything he could find.


    Without hesitation, he stuffed all the leftover junk into his storage bag. But he quickly dumped it all back out. It suddenly urred to him that this was an illusionary tomb. What use was there in collecting treasures from an illusion? He had truly lost his mind for a moment.


    But it wasn¡¯t his fault¡ªthis illusion was simply too realistic.


    After wandering through more than ten burial chambers, Long Xuan finally discovered arge chamber whose murals were still intact. Excited, he rushed forward to carefully examine the carved images and inscriptions on the walls.


    Ever since hisst tomb-raiding adventure with Long Ziyan, he had developed a growing interest in reading ancient tomb murals, and this chamber¡¯s murals immediately piqued his curiosity.


    The text on the walls was written entirely in the divine script. Thankfully, due to Long Ziyan¡¯s influence, one of his diligent clones had learned this script in his spare time, so he was able to understand it. Otherwise, the murals would have been iprehensible to him.


    Seeing that the inscriptions were in divine script only made Long Xuan more excited. Anything recorded in divine script was sure to be ancient and incredibly valuable. If the text on the walls contained a technique, a technique written in divine script was bound to be heaven-defying.


    With high expectations, Long Xuan found the beginning of the text and started reading each word carefully.


    But as he continued reading, he soon realized something was off. The content on the walls was indeed a technique, and it was an incredibly powerful one, called the "Yin Harvesting Technique."


    However, this technique was a dual-cultivation method, and not just any dual-cultivation method¡ªit was an evil technique that involved absorbing Yin energy to strengthen Yang. The person whose Yin was harvested would be drained to death, making this an unequal method that favored men but harmed women.


    From this technique alone, Long Xuan could tell that the tomb¡¯s owner was an evil cultivator who must havemitted countless atrocities during his lifetime.


    Although the technique was evil, it was undeniably powerful. Even a person with poor talent could achieve rapid progress using it, and it even had the added benefit of increasing the sess rate of breaking through to higher realms by 10%.


    The most astonishing feature was that if one practiced this technique with a female of the same n, it could enhance the purity of one¡¯s bloodline, though the improvement was capped at one grade.


    Bloodline purity is incredibly difficult to enhance. Even a one-grade improvement could be game-changing.


    If a person with a lower-purity bloodline practiced this technique, the result might be negligible. But for someone with a ninth-grade bloodline, this technique could elevate their bloodline to the tenth grade¡ªa once-in-a-millennium phenomenon. The difference between a ninth- and tenth-grade bloodline is enormous, further demonstrating how heaven-defying this dual-cultivation technique was.


    As expected, a technique recorded in divine script was extraordinary, and this one did not disappoint.


    Long Xuan¡¯s eyes brightened with various wild ideas forming in his mind. His old habit was kicking in¡ªwhenever he saw something, he would instinctively want to create his own version of it.


    Even with a dual-cultivation technique, he couldn¡¯t help but consider whether he could create his own, incorporating eighteen positions¡ªno, eighteen forms.


    It wouldn¡¯t take too much time either. All he needed to do was modify this "Yin Harvesting Technique" to make it an equal "Yin-Yang Complementary Technique," benefiting both men and women alike.


    Creating a new technique from scratch is difficult, but modifying an existing one is much simpler. It wouldn¡¯t take him long at all, and he believed this n was feasible¡ªit was worth a try.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 157: Long Xuans Calculations

    This idea was not something Long Xuan thought of out of thin air; he was considering it for his lifelong happiness.


    Ever since he had rtions with Long Ziyan, he assumed, given the conservative nature of women in this world, that the two would definitely be dual-cultivation partners.


    He actively pursued her, persistently chasing after her. Every time during the "Sou Gu days", he would send a letter via the Sou Gu, but even now, he still hadn''t managed to melt this iceberg.


    Now, he could only resort to unconventional strategies, and this was an excellent opportunity.


    It was important to know that Long Ziyan possessed a ninth-grade bloodline, just one step away from bing a tenth-grade bloodline owner¡ªa rare urrence in ten thousand years.


    For her, the benefits of upgrading her bloodline by one grade would be immense. No one would desire it more than she would.


    The temptation to enhance her bloodline purity by one grade was almost fatal to a ninth-grade bloodline holder. Could Long Ziyan resist such temptation?


    She was pure and reserved, and perhaps would stay true to herself, but she had already been intimate with him once. What difference would a second time make? With this mindset, she might just give inpletely.


    Long Xuan''s eyes glinted with thought, filled with calction......


    Afterward, Long Xuan wandered through countless tomb chambers but found no more treasures or useful murals. Gradually, he grew impatient and decided to skip the smaller chambers and head straight to the innermost sleeping pce.


    ording to his estimation, the treasure with infinite progress was definitely stored in the sleeping pce, and it was highly unlikely to appear in the smaller chambers.


    However, the path to the sleeping pce was bound to be the most dangerous. No matter how cautious he was, he still made a mistake, likely due to hisck of knowledge. Suddenly, a loud rumble echoed, and the tomb passage copsed, burying him alive.


    Refusing to lose, Long Xuan shamelessly pulled the plug, causing the screen to go ck. Before he could die, he exited the illusion.


    Taking a deep breath, he patted his frightened chest and re-entered the illusion to continue clearing the level.


    Of course, the reason for the ident this time was purely because he hadn''t used a clone to scout ahead. If this had been real life, his cautious nature would definitely have used a clone first. It wouldn''t be easy for him to get into trouble.


    However, since this was his own illusion and there was no danger to his life, and all his clones were busy studying diligently, he decided not to disturb them.


    This time, he would take matters into his own hands and treat it like ying an AR(Augmented Reality) game. To him, the game was quite exciting.


    Thus, after constantly risking his life and wasting a total of ten lives, he finally seeded in entering the sleeping pce.


    The sleeping pce was spacious, with a floor of glossy jade and chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, making the entire pce brightly lit.


    Under the lights, he could easily see the murals on the walls around the sleeping pce.


    The murals had no words but depicted scenes of war, as if two forces were attacking another. The battle scenes were earth-shattering and divine, far from ordinary Gu cultivators'' battles.


    However, without any textual descriptions, Long Xuan had no idea about the background of this battle, when it urred, or the causes and oues. He didn''t know which forces were involved in the fight.


    The entire war remained a mystery to him, and the murals left him utterly confused. After memorizing their contents, he stopped paying attention.


    The most eye-catching object in the sleeping pce was therge coffin in the center and therge hole beside it.


    The coffin lid had long been thrown aside, and the inside was empty. Both the body and burial items had vanished, clearly stolen by grave robbers.


    Long Xuan paid no further attention to it and instead focused on therge hole.


    As he walked over, it seemed the dangers in the sleeping pce had already been dealt with by the grave robber. He reached the center of the pce without encountering any threats and stood next to therge hole with ease.


    Upon closer inspection of the hole, he was momentarily stunned. When he had dug up the Fire Dragon Fruit Tree, he had left simr traces.


    Based on this, he could deduce that a tree had once been buried in this hole, but it had clearly been taken by the grave robber.


    How could a tree ced in the center of the sleeping pce be ordinary? This tree must have been of an extremely high grade, its value far surpassing all the treasures in the other tomb chambers.


    Thus, a fourth-grade spirit herb could be ruled out. Fifth to tenth-grade spirit herbs don''t grow in this world, so the answer was clear.


    Long Xuan''s eyes widened. A Earth-grade Spirit Tree, or perhaps even a Heaven-grade Spirit Tree, must have been buried here. Who had gotten this treasure?


    Suddenly, Long Xuan thought of the Living Wood. Could that Living Wood havee from this ancient tomb? Heaven-grade spirit herbs were incredibly rare, and he couldn''t help but suspect it.


    Could the grave robber be Shi Haojun? Long Xuan''s eyes flickered.


    He had already deduced that the grave robber must be a monstrous genius, and Shi Haojun certainly fit that description.


    Although he had no evidence at the moment, Long Xuan believed his guess had a high probability of being correct.


    However, the identity of the grave robber no longer mattered to him, and he had no interest in investigating further.


    The priority now was to find the treasure with infinite progress.


    Finally, he broke open a section of the wall and retrieved a stone from a hiddenpartment, revealing a slight smile.


    It seemed that the treasure the tomb raider had missed was indeed this object.


    As expected, it was just as he had anticipated: the guardian treasure of this ancient tomb was indeed a fossil.


    Since entering the tomb''s illusion, he had noticed there was no progress indicator, which led him to suspect that the guardian treasure might be a fossil.


    The fossil contained a living creature, and the Origin Realm couldn¡¯t replicate living beings, so how could he see any progress?


    What kind of living being within the fossil would disy an infinite symbol and have a value significant enough to be the tomb''s guardian treasure, hidden so carefully? This all indicated that the creature inside was extraordinary. Long Xuan¡¯s face revealed an eager look, as he couldn''t wait to uncover the truth.


    However, for now, his curiosity couldn¡¯t be satisfied. The Origin Realm couldn¡¯t replicate living beings, so even if he cut open the fossil, there would be nothing inside.


    He would have to send a clone to the real world¡¯s ancient tomb to retrieve the fossil, so only then could he discover what was hidden within.


    For now, he had to suppress his curiosity and slowly exit the tomb¡¯s illusion.


    At this point, the ancient tomb waspletely conquered by him. When the time came, all he had to do was send his clone with the strategy he had written to retrieve the treasure¡ªsimple as that.


    After exiting the tomb¡¯s illusion, he immediately took out a pen and paper, eager to begin modifying the Harvesting Yin Technique.


    Modifying a technique didn¡¯t take too long, so he decided to ce the revision of the Harvesting Yin Technique before creating his own <em>Ten Absolute de Technique</em>.


    Two monthster, Long Xuan closed the book, writing fourrge characters on the cover: <em>Yin-Yang Compendium</em>, as the corners of his mouth slowly curved upward.


    Thus, the <em>Harvesting Yin Technique</em> had beenpletely modified, and the name was changed to "Yin-Yang Compendium".


    Although it only took two months toplete, the effort he poured into it was significant. Modifying a technique is easier than creating one from scratch, but only rtively speaking¡ªit''s still no simple task.


    Due to his incredible understanding and wisdom, he could aplish this in two months. If it were anyone else, even with his cheat abilities, they wouldn¡¯t be able to modify such a profound technique in such a short time.


    After the modifications, the technique had many differencespared to the original. The most significant change was transforming the process from harvesting yin to replenish yang into yin-yang mutual reinforcement, making dual cultivation beneficial for both partners, which was a necessary adjustment.


    However, such a change caused a ripple effect throughout the technique.


    For instance, the effect of raising one''s bloodline grade by one level: in the original technique, an extreme act of harvesting yin to replenish yang only required doing it once, but with the more bnced yin-yang mutual reinforcement, it would take at least a hundred times to seed. This was a significant downside.


    In the end, Long Xuan also created many new forms within the technique, studying a total of eighteen. These were never seen before in this conservative world, marking the creation of a powerful legacy unlike anything in existence.


    However, most of the eighteen forms he researched had nothing to do with the technique.


    In other words, whether or not these forms were added made no difference to the technique¡ªthey were purely ornamental.


    Yet they were written in such an esoteric manner that the average person would have a hard time noticing any inconsistencies.


    Thus, a very strange technique waspleted by him in this way.


    Interestingly, he wrote this technique using a very obscure divine script, not themonnguage of the world. It was unclear what his true intentions were or what scheme he was hiding in his heart.


    He didn¡¯t sign his name on this technique. Afterpleting it, he put the manual away and eagerly walked out.


    Though it seemed as if he was engaged in studying the form for Dragonblood battle gu insect, he was not actually confined and still had a great deal of freedom.


    After leaving the secret chamber, he immediately headed toward the ce where Long Ziyan resided.


    A short timeter, after knocking on the door of a certain pavilion, a clear voice came from within: "Come in."


    Long Xuan adjusted his attire, straightened his back, and confidently pushed the door open.


    Today, Long Ziyan wasn¡¯t practicing swordsmanship but was sitting upright at her desk, writing something. Hearing the door open, she didn¡¯t even turn her head and asked directly, "What do you want?"


    Long Xuan instinctively nced at what she was writing and was quickly stunned.


    She was writing a Recipe for de gu. By now, she had filled an unknown number of sheets of paper, each filled densely with materials. Roughly estimating, she had probably listed tens of thousands of materials in the form for de gu insect.


    As expected, creating a gu insect from five hundred materials was not enough to match her personality; she had to challenge the highest difficulty.


    But she only had one peak-grade Silver Moon Mantis insect, and without any cheat abilities of her own, the failure rate would be incredibly high with so many materials. Wasn¡¯t she worried about losing everything in vain?


    If she ruined such a precious Silver Moon Mantis King, it would indeed be a pity.


    Was such a high-stakes gamble really worth it?

 Chapter 158: Success

    "You¡¯re actually nning to refine a de Gu with over ten thousand materials! Calm down! Don¡¯t act on impulse; you must think this through carefully, senior sister!"


    Long Xuan quickly walked over, trying to stop Long Ziyan from making this reckless move, fearing that she might lose everything and end up heartbroken.


    Long Ziyan finally turned to look at him, rolling her eyes dramatically.


    "You''re someone who wants to refine a Gu using all the spiritual insects in the world, and you''re telling me to calm down? Don¡¯t you think your advice is a bit unconvincing?"


    Long Xuanughed awkwardly, "Last time, I was just joking. Even if I had the guts, I wouldn¡¯t have the resources. A ten-thousand-material de Gu can only be sessfully refined by someone with immense luck. You mustn¡¯t be rash¡ªimpulsiveness is the devil!"


    Long Ziyan turned back and continued writing down the de Gu recipe on the table, sighing, "I know this is risky. A de Gu made from ten thousand materials has an extremely low sess rate, and the chances of losing are just too high."


    "But this isn¡¯t about what I want; it''s what the Gu wants. I want it to decide its own fate, so I¡¯ve given it the choice."


    "I didn¡¯t expect it to be so arrogant and self-important, insisting on a ten-thousand-material recipe. No one can persuade it otherwise."


    "I never thought it would challenge a ten-thousand-level recipe either, but as its master, I respect its decision.""I¡¯ll prepare the ten thousand materials for it. Whether it soars to the skies or falls to the ground after this, it will be up to its own fate."


    "But considering it¡¯s the king of the Silver Moon Mantis n, I doubt the failure rate will be as high as we think. You don¡¯t need to be so pessimistic."


    Suddenly, Long Ziyan added, "Anyway, let¡¯s get back to business. Why did youe to see me?"


    Hearing this, Long Xuan finally let go of the previous topic and said seriously, "Here¡¯s the thing. I recently came across a divine scripture, but I can¡¯t read the sacred script. I don¡¯t understand what¡¯s written in it, so I wanted you to help me trante it."


    Upon hearing this, Long Ziyan''s eyes lit up immediately, and she turned her head, showing a keen interest.


    She loved studying theology, especially reading books written in divine script. A new ancient theology book was enough to capture her full attention.


    "Quick, take it out and let me see. I¡¯ll trante it for free," Long Ziyan urged.


    Long Xuan nodded and ced a cultivation technique book on the table, saying seriously, "I¡¯m not in a rush. You can finish writing the Gu recipe first. Whenever you finish tranting, just use the Sou Gu to notify me."


    "I¡¯ve got other things to do, so I¡¯ll take my leave." With that, Long Xuan turned and walked out.


    "Take care, I won¡¯t see you off."


    Hearing Long Ziyan''s crisp voice from behind made Long Xuan feel a slight sense of guilt.


    After returning to his residence, Long Xuan became restless. He had intended to work on the Ten Absolute de Technique, but he was in no state to do so. After half a day, he hadn¡¯t written a single word.


    He had too much on his mind, and with his thoughts in disarray, how could he focus on creating anything?


    He wondered, what if it doesn¡¯t work out again this time? It¡¯s unlikely she would turn to someone else. After all, she gave herself to him the first time. If not him, then who? Besides, she has such a small social circle; he¡¯s her only male friend.


    But what if she resists temptation and refuses to practice the Yin-Yang Compendium?


    If she would rather give up the chance to be stronger than be with him, it would mean she has no feelings for him at all. In that case, there would be no point in holding on any longer; pursuing her relentlessly would just be meaningless.


    Long Xuan decided that if things didn¡¯t work out this time, he would simply give up. After all, there are plenty of other flowers in the world¡ªwhy fixate on just one?


    On the third night of being deeply troubled by these thoughts, Long Xuan suddenly woke up from a dream.


    He saw a figure standing by his bedside. Despite the dim light, he immediately recognized it as Long Ziyan. His heart stirred¡ªcould it be...?


    At that moment, the graceful figure spoke:


    "Having seen the vast ocean, no other waters canpare;


    Apart from the clouds of Mount Wu, no other clouds are worth mentioning."


    "Passing through the clusters of flowers, I am toozy to look back;


    Half because of my devotion to the Dao, and half because of you."


    "I love this poem very much. You gave it to me during the Sou Gu Festival, and I never responded. Now, I¡¯m here to tell you in person... I agree."


    ...


    The erotic dream left no trace. When Long Xuan woke from his dream and smelled the fragrance lingering on his pillow, he couldn¡¯t help but smile mischievously. Finally, he had seeded.


    ...


    Today was the day of the Qian Auction House¡¯s sale of the Living Wood. This auction had been building anticipation for three months, drawing wealthyndowners from all over. At this moment, the city was teeming with Gu Kings, and the atmosphere was at its peak.


    The Qian''s Chamber of Commerce wasn¡¯t going to miss such a prime opportunity. With so many Gu Kings gathered from all over, when else would they strike to earn big profits?


    Thus, the Qian''s Chamber of Commerce nned to use this momentum to make this thergest auction in a thousand years, aiming to break the record for sales revenue.


    Therefore, over the past three months, the Qian''s Chamber of Commerce has not been idle. Treasures from the Qian n''s branches across various locations have been transported to ckstone City.


    At this moment, the Qian n Auction House in ckstone City is already filled with precious items. The treasures are piled up like mountains, and the quality of this auction will be astonishingly high. Every auction item is a rare treasure, and there won''t be anything cheap.


    The others aren''t fools either; they know that ckstone City is now full of wealthy individuals, making it a prime opportunity to make a fortune. As a result, many people have brought their treasures to the Qian n Auction House for consignment sales.


    Under such circumstances, the quality of the auction items for this event has risen even higher. Numerous rare treasures that are usually hard toe by are now so plentiful that they''re practically fighting for attention.


    Items that would typically serve as the grand finale of an auction might not even qualify for this one¡ªit¡¯s that extravagant.


    The scale of this high-grade auction has practically driven the entire city mad. Even Long Xuan couldn''t resist attending such a grand event, nning to go and witness the spectacle, broaden his horizons.


    So, he got up early, quickly washed up, and without even having time for breakfast, set out hand-in-hand with Long Ziyan towards the Qian n Auction House.


    Due to the sheer number of treasures being auctioned, the event is scheduled tost a full day¡ªand even then, it might not be enough.


    As a result, the Qian n Auction House divided this grand auction into three sessions: upper, middle, and lower.


    The first session takes ce from morning until noon, the second from noon until afternoon, and the third from afternoon until evening.


    The treasures have been categorized by their value.


    The treasures that the Gu Kings need are reserved for thetter half of the auction, which is a Gu King-exclusive session that only they can attend.


    The treasures needed by Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators have been ced in the middle session, a Spiritual Sea stage exclusive auction that only top-tier Spiritual Sea stage experts can participate in.


    The upper session is exclusively for Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators. The treasures auctioned in this session are specifically what Marrow Cleansing stage cultivators need.


    In this world, allrge-scale auctions are conducted in segmented sessions.


    If Gu cultivators of all realms were crammed into one hall, would anyone at a lower realm dare to bid on something that caught a Gu King¡¯s eye? Who would dare to risk their life bypeting with a Gu King?


    Take, for example, the Break Sea Pill, which can help a peak Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivator break through to the Spiritual Sea stage. The Break Sea Pill could fetch a sky-high price among peak Marrow Cleansing stage cultivators.


    But for a Gu King, the Break Sea Pill is useless. A Gu King could easily snatch it up at its starting price andter resell it elsewhere for a profit.


    If Gu Kings were allowed to do this¡ªbuying up all the lower-grade items they don¡¯t need at rock-bottom prices and then reselling them at higher prices elsewhere¡ªthe auction house would end up losing a fortune.


    That¡¯s why segmented auctions based on realm are a necessity. Long Xuan, for one, loves this rule. At the upper session, where all the participants are fellow Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators, he can bid freely without having to worry about offending a higher realm cultivator.


    Just imagine if a Gu King were bidding on the same item as him. Long Xuan knew he wouldn¡¯t dare raise the price, no matter how much he needed the treasure.


    Even though the most valuable treasures in this auction are undoubtedly reserved for the Gu King-exclusive session, he didn¡¯t feel regret.


    After all, even if he were qualified to bid on those items, he wouldn''t darepete with the Gu Kings. Since those treasures were destined not to belong to him, he naturally didn''t care.


    When Long Xuan and Long Ziyan arrived at the scene, they couldn¡¯t help but be shocked by what they saw.


    There were simply too many people. It was a massive crowd¡ªpeople as far as the eye could see. Even more astonishing, every person was radiating the aura of a Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivator.


    Less than 10% of these Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators were from the city itself; the rest hade from surrounding regions.


    Given how long this event had been publicized, gathering this many people wasn''t surprising at all. ckstone City had likely made a fortune just from the entrance fees in recent days, and all the inns were undoubtedly full, with many people likely sleeping in the streets.


    Even the people from the Qian n were dumbfounded by the sight. Despite the auction being limited to Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators, the number of participants was still overwhelming¡ªso many that the auction hall couldn¡¯t possibly amodate them all, even if everyone stood.


    In the end, Qian Duoduo wiped the sweat from his forehead and shouted to the crowd, "Anyone who wishes to participate in the auction must pay a deposit of 8 million spirit stones. The deposit will be fully refunded after the auction ends."


    "Those who can''t afford it, please understand. The auction venue is limited in space and cannot amodate so many people."


    He had to admire his own quick thinking. For the vast majority of people, 8 million spirit stones was an astronomical amount¡ªsomething they couldn¡¯te up with.


    Anyone who could produce 8 million spirit stones was undoubtedly wealthy and had the purchasing power to participate.


    In this way, they could effectively weed out those who were merely taking up space without intending to bid.


    Most of the poor rogue cultivators were only there to watch the excitement. They didn¡¯t have the wealth topete in the bidding.


    So, even though this measure would block the majority from entering, it wouldn¡¯t reduce the auction¡¯s final sales at all.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 159: This is My Dao Companion

    As soon as these words were spoken, many poor Gu cultivators in the crowd, who were strapped for cash, showed expressions of disappointment and, with self-awareness, began to retreat from the crowd.


    However, a good portion of the people didn''t leave. Even standing at the entrance was enough to catch the excitement, and even from a slightly farther distance, they could still hear the sounds. Getting them to leave wasn¡¯t going to be that easy.


    Many among them were here to witness the legendary peak-grade spiritual medicine, the Living Wood. Even if they werepletely broke, they had traveled a long distance just for the chance to see this mythical treasure.


    Although the Living Wood might not appear until muchter, they still wanted to secure a good spot in advance, afraid that if they left, someone else would take their ce.


    Seeing the fat man shouting in front of the auction house door, Long Xuan was slightly stunned. This man looked very familiar. Wasn''t he Qian Duoduo, whom he had encountered a few times before?


    Wasn¡¯t he supposed to be in the Far Western Lands? How did he end up here?


    Qian Duoduo was a trusted aide of Qian Jinjin, her right-hand man. It was impossible for him to show up here casually. Could it be that Qian Jinjin was here as well? Did she get a promotion? Long Xuan suddenly paused, puzzled.


    "Did the Qian n''s head in the Far Western Lands change?" Long Xuan asked Long Ziyan beside him.


    He was not well-informed, but Long Ziyan should know something about such major news.Long Ziyan nced at him and said, "Just as you thought, Qian Jinjin has long since been promoted and left the Far Western Lands. She¡¯s now leading her own team in the Western Branch of the Qian n Chamber Of Commerce."


    "As I understand it, the head of the Qian n has more than ten children, and they are allpeting for the position of family head. The current n head assigned each of them to manage a part of the n''s business in different regions. Whoever umtes the most wealth in the set time will be the next head of the family."


    "Because of gender bias, Qian Jinjin was sent to the impoverished Far Western Lands, a ce ten times poorer than what the other contenders were managing."


    "By all ounts, she should have had no chance to outdo the other candidates. But in this world, unexpected things happen all the time."


    "Not long after, the profession of Insect Armor Masters emerged for the first time in the Far Western Lands. She had sharp foresight and seized the opportunity to expand into this new industry before it took off, even stretching her influence into other regions."


    "By the time Insect Armor Masters became popr worldwide, she had already captured most of the market."


    "She gained the upper hand and recruited most of the talented individuals with potential for Insect Armor Mastery. By the time the other contenders realized it, it was already toote topete with her."


    "Thanks to this opportunity, she rose rapidly. Even though she was managing the poorest region, she became the fastest-growing candidate in terms of wealth."


    "Because she brought vast amounts of wealth to the n, she was promoted and relocated here, bing the head of the Western Branch. Currently, she has the greatest advantage in thepetition for family head."


    Hearing this, Long Xuan suddenly understood. So, her promotion was due to her seizing the opportunity during the rise of Insect Armor Masters. The Far Western Lands were, after all, the birthce of that profession, so it was natural that she would have the upper hand. Come to think of it, she owed a part of her sess to him.


    "Let¡¯s go. There are too many people, and if we¡¯re toote, we might not get good seats."


    Having satisfied his curiosity, Long Xuan was worried that they would miss out on seats if they dyed further, so he started walking forward.


    Although Qian Duoduo had set an entrance requirement of 8 million spirit stones, there were still far too many Gu cultivators in the Marrow Cleansing phase with that kind of wealth. The people in front were crowded together, shoulder to shoulder.


    Suddenly, Long Xuan noticed a filthy hand reaching out toward Long Ziyan. Someone was attempting to take advantage of the crowd to grope her. Long Xuan became furious and, with quick reflexes, grabbed the hand. With a light squeeze, a pig-like squeal of pain rang out from the crowd.


    "How dare you! I haven''t touched her enough, and you think you can?"


    Ignoring the man, now kneeling in pain and begging for mercy, Long Xuan grabbed Long Ziyan¡¯s arm and continued walking forward.


    Long Ziyan red at him angrily but still followed along.


    This time, Long Xuan was more cautious, afraid that Long Ziyan might be jostled by the crowd again. He sent out all his clones to create a barrier between them and the crowd, like bodyguards escorting a celebrity, clearing out arge space for them to walk through.


    Before long, they reached the entrance of the auction house. Long Xuan swiftly handed over 16 million spirit stones, covering Long Ziyan¡¯s entrance fee as well.


    "This is my Dao Companion. We¡¯re together. Arrange a private room for us. I have some valuable treasures to auction," Long Xuan called out to Qian Duoduo.


    At most auction houses, there was a rule that if someone consigned particrly valuable items, they would be given a private room on the second floor.


    However, not just anyone could qualify for such treatment. Only those who consigned some of the most valuable treasures for that auction would enjoy such privileges.


    If it were just himself, Long Xuan wouldn¡¯t mind squeezing in with the crowd. But now that Long Ziyan was with him, and after the incident just now, he didn¡¯t want her to be crowded by so many people.


    Moreover, since no high-level Gu cultivators were participating in this auction, Long Xuan felt he could freely bid on many items. To do so, he would need spirit stones, so he nned to auction off some of his possessions to ensure he had enough fundster.


    Qian Duoduo finally noticed the familiar face. Of course, he recognized Long Ziyan, the renowned genius from the Far Western Lands.


    Upon seeing Long Xuan refer to her as his Daopanion, and Long Ziyan not refuting it, he was immediately stunned. What merit or capability could this Long Xuan possibly have to win the heart of such an outstanding woman? He was utterly shocked.


    Long Ziyan actually has a dual cultivation Daopanion? This would definitely be major news in the Fqr West, causing endless gossip.


    "What item do you have for auction? Let me tell you in advance, only one private room remains. The quality of the treasures in this auction far surpasses previous ones, and only treasures of very high value are eligible for a private room."


    Qian Duoduo walked over, his gaze sweeping back and forth between the two before finally speaking.


    "What kind of treasure could be discussed out here? Let¡¯s enter the private room first." Since they were acquaintances, Long Xuan spoke more casually.


    "That¡¯s true." Qian Duoduo nodded. Perhaps out of trust in his acquaintances, he really did lead the two of them to thest avable Room 5.


    "Now you can show us the treasure, right? The standard for treasures in this auction is extremely high, but I believe that even if you can¡¯t produce something that meets the requirements, the person beside you certainly can."


    Qian Duoduo nced at Long Ziyan next to Long Xuan. It was likely that he had brought the two of them to thest room based on Long Ziyan''s reputation, trusting her wealth.


    As for what to bring out, Long Xuan found himself in a bit of a dilemma. He had only decided to sell something on a whim to gain ess to the private room and hadn¡¯t really thought about what to auction.


    In truth, Long Xuan had plenty of treasures on him that would qualify for the private room; anything he brought out would be a showstopper.


    However, those items clearly couldn¡¯t be casually taken out. The item he selected couldn¡¯t be too valuable, but it couldn¡¯t be too cheap either¡ªchoosing was proving difficult.


    "I don¡¯t know what the minimum standard for this auction is, but I think a treasure that helps with Spirit Recovery during the Marrow Cleansing stage should suffice. These are things I acquired by chance; have a look at them."


    After some thought, Long Xuan brought out barrels of Spirit Recovery Wine and ced them on the ground¡ªthirty whole barrels of ordinary, non-distilled wine.


    His Ice Bees had long exceeded a poption of ten thousand, producing so much honey that it couldn''t all be consumed. The resulting Spirit Recovery Wine was simrly overflowing.


    This was a good opportunity to sell the excess Spirit Recovery Wine that was taking up space.


    One mustn''t underestimate this Spirit Recovery Wine. Though it wasn''t enough to be the showstopper of the auction, it was definitely in the upper middle tier among all the items and would surely spark a frenzy among the auction participants.


    In battle, the most important auxiliary medicines for Gu practitioners were, first, healing medicines, and second, spirit recovery medicines. Some even believed spirit recovery medicines were more crucial than healing medicines.


    Long Xuan was confident that his Spirit Recovery Wine was the best among all Marrow Cleansing stage spirit recovery medicines. How could it not be in high demand?


    Hearing Long Xuan¡¯s words, Qian Duoduo was momentarily taken aback. To im it was the best spirit recovery medicine during the Marrow Cleansing stage? That was quite an audacious statement.


    If his wine truly had the effects he imed, then he certainly qualified to stay in this private room.


    With a skeptical look, Qian Duoduo opened one of the barrels, and instantly, a rich fragrance filled the room. He couldn¡¯t help but take a deep sniff, his face showing a hint of shock.


    As a businessman, he had tasted countless fine wines, but this was the first time he had encountered a spirit wine with such a potent aroma. He finally set aside his earlier disdain.


    Qian Duoduo looked seriously into the wine barrel and found the wine inside was crystal clear, without a trace of impurities. He had never seen such a clear wine before¡ªno matter how high the quality of the wines he had encountered in the past, they were all somewhat cloudy. This wine was on another level.


    Qian Duoduo nced up at Long Xuan in surprise, unable to resist taking out a cup from his storage bag. He lightly scooped half a cup of wine and downed it in one gulp.


    As soon as the wine entered his throat, his eyes lit up. As a skilled businessman, his ability to appraise treasures, including wines, was top-notch. Just from that small sip, he could tell Long Xuan hadn¡¯t been exaggerating¡ªthe wine was indeed the best spirit recovery medicine for the Marrow Cleansing stage.


    The effects of this Spirit Recovery Wine were far superior to Spirit Recovery Pills.


    The key difference was that consuming a Spirit Recovery Pill required time to refine it, whereas the wine dissolved instantly upon entering the mouth, needing no refinement. Inparison, the Spirit Recovery Wine was vastly superior to the pills.


    Once this wine appeared at the auction, it would undoubtedly cause a stir.


    In any other auction, this wine would be the highlight of the event.


    However, this particr auction was filled withpeting treasures, akin to gods shing. As miraculous as this wine was, it still couldn¡¯t reach the level of the final showstopper, leaving Qian Duoduo feeling a bit regretful.

 Chapter 160: Qian Duoduo Repeats His Trick

    ¡°This is truly good wine! Not only is its Spirit Recovery effect top-notch, but its taste is also superb.¡±


    ¡°Many Gu Kings are addicted to alcohol, and they would spend a fortune to buy good wine to satisfy their cravings. If this wine were auctioned at a Gu King auction, it could potentially fetch an even higher price.¡±


    Qian Duoduo caressed the wine ss, his eyes gleaming as he spoke.


    In his view, this wine would be considered undervalued even at a Gu King auction. Such a peerless wine should be used to refine Wine Gu.


    The Wine Gu refined from this divine wine would undoubtedly be an peak-grade Wine Gu. If one considers it from the perspective of Gu refinement, the value of this wine would increase tenfold.


    It¡¯s important to note that Wine Gu is considered a versatile Gu. By cing a single Wine insect in any type of wine, a Wine Gu can be refined without needing a specific Gu recipe. However, a Wine Gu refined from a single type of wine is much weaker than one refined from a mixture of wines.


    But even the weakest peak-grade Gu is still an peak-grade Gu, and even a weak one could easily crush any high-grade Gu.


    peak-grade Gu is extremely rare, enough to make him go to great lengths for it.


    At this moment, Qian Duoduo had already made up his mind: no matter the cost, he had to acquire this wine that could refine an peak-grade Gu.Bound by the Integrity Gu, he couldn''t use underhanded methods, but he could disguise himself and pretend to be a bidder, buying up all this fine wine. He had done this many times before, and it was no longer a new trick for him.


    However, thest time he disguised himself as a bidder, things went awry, and he ended up spending more than he should have. This time, having learned his lesson, he slyly smiled after a moment of thought: ¡°Your auction item qualifies you to enter a private room. You can sit here and rx.¡±


    ¡°But as you know, there are a lot of items in this auction, and time is tight. So, I''m afraid we won''t be able to auction your thirty barrels of fine wine separately. They''ll have to be sold as a bundle. I hope you understand.¡±


    Selling them separately would make it difficult to buy them all, and the price would definitely be higher. Therefore, Qian Duoduo nned to sell all thirty barrels in one go. No matter the price, he was determined to acquire the Spirit Recovery Wine at any cost.


    Long Xuan had no idea that Qian Duoduo, as the auction manager, was nning to y the role of a fake bidder once again. Without much thought, he agreed to the request.


    ¡°No problem, arrange it as you see fit. I trust you merchants who have the Integrity Gu.¡±


    ¡°Alright then, I have many things to take care of. I''ll take my leave for now. Enjoy the auction, and feel free to call me if you need anything.¡±


    Qian Duoduo quickly stored all the barrels of wine into his storage bag, smiled, waved at the two, and left the room.


    After Qian Duoduo finally left, Long Ziyan narrowed her eyes and said, ¡°He seemed quite excited. A Spirit Recovery treasure shouldn''t make a well-informed merchant that excited.¡±


    ¡°It seems he''s nning to use your wine to refine Gu. For argemercial manager to be this excited, it must be an peak-grade Gu.¡±


    ¡°Merchants have sharp eyes. Although I don¡¯t know much about wine, I trust his judgment. The wine he''s interested in must have reached a quality capable of refining an peak-grade Gu.¡±


    ¡°Have you ever refined Wine Gu using this wine?¡± Long Ziyan looked at him curiously.


    Long Xuan''s expression remained unchanged. He had never considered the idea. One Wine Gu was enough; there was no need to refine another one.


    Moreover, he had watched Long Lie¡¯s entire process of refining a Wine Gu and knew that each type of wine was essentially a Gu recipe for a Wine Gu. Every Spirit Wine could be refined into a Wine Gu.


    However, the peak-grade Wine Gu refined from a single type of wine was extremely weak. The Lie Gu was nothingpared to his (Xiao Bai) Little white¡ªmiles apart. It was embarrassing that an ultimate-grade Gu could only breathe fire.


    Thus, he had no interest in refining a Wine Gu from a single type of wine, even if it could produce an peak-grade Gu.


    ¡°Wine Gu refined from a single type of wine is very weak. I have no intention of using this wine to refine Wine Gu.¡±


    Long Xuan had no intention of hiding his true thoughts from his Daopanion and simply responded.


    Long Ziyan nodded and said with a yful look in her eyes, ¡°You¡¯re dismissive of a weak peak-grade Gu? For someone to be dismissive of an peak-grade Gu, it can only mean they have many strong peak-grade Gu, and their standards have risen.¡±


    Long Xuan looked at her helplessly. This wife of his was quite smart. Having a clever wife was indeed a great pressure.


    Not easy to fool, not easy to deceive.


    ¡°All top-tier geniuses must have a few peak-grade Gu. Even though I¡¯ve never revealed my peak-grade Gu in the n, everyone assumes I have a few. Your guess is something everyone has already known for a while,¡± Long Xuan replied nonchntly.


    ¡°That¡¯s true. Someone with as many contributions as you would have enough resources to refine many peak-grade Gu. The higher-ups in the n have already assumed you have at least four peak-grade Gu. I used to think the same, so no need for me to guess again.¡±


    ¡°But even if I had five peak-grade Gu, I wouldn''t look down on a weak peak-grade Gu. I also want to refine a Wine Gu from this wine.¡±


    ¡°If I¡¯m not mistaken, the ability of a Wine Gu refined from this wine should be rted to Spirit Recovery, which would be quite useful in battle. Lend me twenty barrels of this wine,¡± Long Ziyan said, reaching out, clearly unafraid to ask for a favor.


    Long Xuan was taken aback, surprised that Long Ziyan was also interested in the wine.


    However, in his haste to leave, he only brought twenty barrels of Spirit Wine, while the remaining twenty barrels were distilled Spirit Wine, which was Little White''s food supply. If he gave it all away, what would Little White drink?


    "Forget it, my wifees first in everything, even bigger than heaven and earth. Little White will just have to go hungry for a while."


    After cing the twenty barrels of wine on the ground, Long Xuan said, "This is the real wine. The wine Qian Duoduo just took out was fake, diluted with water by me."


    Hearing this, Long Ziyan couldn''t help but widen her eyes. "Fake wine? You added water to it? You really are a profiteer."


    As the two were talking, a group of Gu cultivators at the Marrow Cleansing stage, who had some wealth, were already entering the venue, and the noise from below became quite loud.


    The No. 5 private room where Long Xuan was located allowed a clear view of the auction tform below, and he could participate in bidding at any time. However, since there was no ss in this world, the noise from below could clearly be heard in his room.


    Through therge, windowless opening, Long Xuan could also clearly see the people in the other private rooms on the second floor.


    Suddenly, in Room No. 10 to the right, he noticed someone staring at him with a venomous gaze. Instinctively, he met the person''s eyes.


    After taking a closer look, he realized that the owner of the venomous gaze was someone very familiar¡ªnone other than Feng Si, whom he had severely offended. Standing next to him was a group of people wearing the same outfit.


    He was stunned. How could the world be so small? First, he met the familiar face of Qian Duoduo, and now he ran into Feng Si, another familiar enemy. What was he doing here instead of staying put in the far west?


    Following his gaze, Long Ziyan also noticed the venomous look and sighed, "Wherever there is the Long n, there will often be the Feng n. The two ns have been blood enemies since ancient times, warring for countless millennia."


    "The ten ns of the Western Lands are the Long n, Feng n, Bai n, Dan n, Shi n, Hun n, Gui n, Lei n, Yan n, and Yao n."


    "The Feng n of the Far West split from the Feng n of the Western Lands long ago. Unlike our n, they didn''t form a branch; they split off entirely, arriving in the Far West a thousand years before our n."


    "The Feng n of the Western Lands and the Feng n of the Far West held grudges from their ancestors, but by now, the generation with those grudges has long since passed."


    "In recent years, our n''s development has been so rapid that we now have the strength to wipe out the Feng n. This has made the Feng n of the Far West feel the pressure, and out of fear, they have had to give up the old grudges and seek an alliance with the Feng n of the Western Lands, hoping to use them as a shield."


    "Currently, the alliance between the two ns has already been established. Feng Si, being one of the few geniuses of the Feng n of the Far West, appearing here is not a coincidence."


    "What exactly did you do to offend him so badly that he''d look at you like this?"


    Long Xuan withdrew his gaze and smiled bitterly, "It¡¯s nothing. I identally blew up his brother. It was purely self-defense. Even Long Qilin killed his brother, but for some reason, Feng Si isn¡¯t after Long Qilin. He¡¯s only fixated on me. He''s really like a ghost that won''t leave me alone."


    "Well, good luck then. The hatred of a brother''s death is irreconcble. You¡¯d better be careful when you go out in the future."


    Long Ziyan nced at Feng Si again, memorizing his face. She had already made up her mind that if the opportunity arose, she would eliminate him as soon as possible.


    As a bell rang, a sexy and enchanting female auctioneer appeared on the stage, holding a small golden hammer, and smiled charmingly at the crowd below.


    The auction house, which had been noisy just moments ago, suddenly fell silent.


    "Hello, everyone! I am the auctioneer in charge of today¡¯s auction. You can all call me Shao Shao."


    "Since there are so many items up for auction today, and one more has just been added, I won¡¯t waste time with a long introduction."


    "Now, let¡¯s begin the auction with the first item."


    With those words, Shao Shao took out a pill bottle from her storage ring, holding it gently in her palm, smiling as she looked at the audience.


    Long Xuan was startled. Wow! To save time and auction off as many treasures as possible, the auctioneer was directly pulling the items out of her storage ring.


    Back in the Far West, during the Qian n''s auctions, all the treasures were brought out on jade tes carried by beautiful, elegantly dressed attendants. It was very ceremonial and looked official.


    But this time, there were so many treasures up for auction that these profiteers, trying to make more money, had skipped this time-consuming process, pulling treasures straight from storage rings. Could this have been the brainchild of that profiteer Qian Jinjin? Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but think.


    However, what shocked him even more was what came next. When the auctioneer opened the pill bottle, a rich fragrance of pills filled the air. Long Xuan instinctively sniffed it and was instantly surprised.


    This pill fragrance seemed so familiar. Wasn''t it the exact Spirit Surge Pill he had traded to Qian Jinjin while pretending to be a mysterious alchemist?


    However, to avoid revealing the secret of the Spirit Surge Grass, he had renamed it to the Marrow Cleansing Pill. He didn¡¯t expect her to bring the Marrow Cleansing Pill here for auction.


    At this moment, Long Xuan''s insect bag stirred, and soon, a furry little head poked out, sniffing the pill fragrance that had drifted into the room. It looked at the pill bottle in the female auctioneer''s hand with a puzzled expression.


    Wasn''t that the pill it had painstakingly refined? How did it end up here?


    "Who told you toe out? Go back in. Without my order, you¡¯re not allowed toe out in public, understand?"


    Long Xuan hurriedly pushed the furry little head back into the bag.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 161: The Conflict Between the Yao Clan and the Dan Clan

    At this moment, a faint voice echoed once again: "I won¡¯t keep you guessing. This pill is called the Marrow Cleansing Pill. As the name suggests, it increases the sess rate of breakthroughs during the Marrow Cleansing phase."


    "After our repeated tests, when taken by a genius with a fifth-grade talent or higher, the sess rate of breaking through is 100%."


    "You heard that right! For a genius with fifth-grade talent or higher, the Marrow Cleansing Pill guarantees a 100% breakthrough sess rate¡ªno exceptions."


    "I¡¯ll say it upfront: there''s only one bottle of this pill, containing a total of five pills. If you want it, don¡¯t hesitate, because once this opportunity is gone, it won¡¯te back."


    As soon as these words were spoken, the crowd of Gu cultivators, who had initially dismissed the Marrow Cleansing Pill, widened their eyes in shock.


    The entire venue soon erupted in a frenzy, with discussions breaking out everywhere.


    This was the first time they had heard of a pill with a 100% breakthrough sess rate, something unheard of, which shattered their worldview.


    Most of the pills on the market had a mere 10% sess rate for breakthroughs. Suddenly, a pill with a guaranteed 100% sess rate appeared¡ªit was simply unbelievable! The speed of innovation was too exaggerated, leaving everyone in disbelief.


    If not for the trustworthiness of the Qian n merchant¡¯s Integrity Gu, the audience would have already filled the room with doubts.In the first VIP room, the group of Yao n Gu cultivators had their eyes widened, jaws dropped. As one of the top ns in pill refinement, they knew better than anyone how outrageous and unimaginable a pill with a 100% sess rate for breakthroughs was.


    This defiedmon sense¡ªit was something they had never believed possible before.


    Finally, the Yao n''s top genius, Yao Jingtian, mmed his hand heavily on the table, his eyes zing with excitement as he shouted loudly, "No matter the cost, we must get this pill! This pill is a miracle in the world of pill refinement, and it has immense research value."


    "Once we uncover the secret behind why this pill has a 100% sess rate for breakthroughs, all of our n''s pill forms will benefit, leading to a qualitative leap in all of them."


    "At that time, all of our old pill forms will likely need to be overhauled, and our n might trigger a revolution in the world of pill refinement."


    Yao Jingtian stood up, his face flushed with excitement.


    The other Yao n geniuses in the room were equally excited, clenching their fists, their eyes filled with intense passion.


    ¡­


    Meanwhile, in the adjacent second VIP room, the Dan n''s Gu cultivators were also going wild, their eyes fixed on the auctioneer holding the pill bottle.


    The Dan n''s top genius, Dan Chenzi, showed a crazed expression as he too mmed the table and stood up, his emotions running high: "A 100% sess rate! A breakthrough rate of 100%! How did the person who refined this pill achieve such a miracle?"


    "Who in the world could have created such a mind-blowing pill form? I feel like kneeling before them in admiration!"


    "This pill has immense value for our studies. As long as we win this pill and uncover its secrets, my pill-refining skills will reach a whole new level¡ªno, the entire n''s pill masters will experience a qualitative leap."


    "The Dan n is a renowned pill-refining family, equal to the Yao n, but if we master the secret to strengthening the efficacy of spiritual pills and integrate it into our other forms, the pills our n refines will crush the Yao n''s!"


    "At that point, our n will dominate the Western Lands'' pill market, bing the top pill-refining family, no longer just on par with the Yao n."


    "So, we must win this pill at all costs, even if it means spending an astronomical amount of spirit stones!"


    Dan Chenzi clenched his fists, his eyes burning with ambition.


    The other Dan n Gu cultivators in the room also looked fervently at the Marrow Cleansing Pill in the auctioneer''s hand, their breathing quickening.


    "What does ''at all costs'' mean? Does that include spending a billion spirit stones?"


    Suddenly, a Dan n Gu cultivator hesitated and asked.


    Dan Chenzi immediately turned to this person, shouting madly, "Remember! We''re not just buying a pill¡ªwe''re buying the technology!"


    "This pill is worth a few million at most."


    "But the technique that makes a breakthrough pill 100% effective is priceless! Even if we have to spend ten billion, we must win it!"


    "If this technique can make a Marrow Cleansing breakthrough pill 100% effective, then it could possibly do the same for Spiritual Sea stage breakthrough pills! Do you still think spending a billion spirit stones is a waste?"


    As soon as these words were spoken, the room fell silent, and everyone looked stunned by his bold assumption.


    At that moment, an excited shout came from the neighboring room: "The Yao n bids five million spirit stones!"


    Upon hearing this familiar voice, Dan Chenzi''s face changed, and he quickly shouted, "The Dan n bids six million spirit stones!"


    Hearing the familiar voice from next door, Yao Jingtian''s face darkened, and he quickly yelled, "I bid ten million spirit stones!"


    Dan Chenzi¡¯s face changed dramatically: "Damn! That Yao Jingtian dares to bid such an outrageous price! He¡¯s surely nning to buy the pill and uncover its secrets. We can¡¯t let him seed. If the Yao n cracks the secret of this pill, the consequences would be disastrous."


    "Everyone, gather all the spirit stones we can. With the Yao n getting involved, the price of this pill could skyrocket!"


    "The Dan n bids twenty million spirit stones!" Dan Chenzi shouted.


    Seeing the price instantly double, Yao Jingtian clenched his fist and mmed the table hard.


    "Damn it! The Dan n is always there to mess with my ns!"


    "The Dan n is never short of money. With them raising the price, this pill might end up costing more than the final auction item. The final price will probably exceed one billion."


    Yao Jingtian''s face turned pale, and he suddenly turned to a Yao n Gu cultivator, giving an urgentmand: "There¡¯s no choice. Hurry back and notify the n. Have them raise funds as fast as possible¡ªthis is an emergency!"


    "We¡¯ll need over a billion spirit stones if we want to win this pill!"


    "I offer 30 million spirit stones!" shouted Yao Jingtian defiantly.


    In an instant, the price of the Marrow cleansing Pill had skyrocketed to an astronomical 30 million spirit stones, leaving everyone dumbfounded.


    "This is just the first auction item! Isn''t this a bit too extreme?"


    Although the 100% sess rate of the Marrow cleansing Pill seemed incredible, after all, it was still a low-grade pill and definitely not worth such an exorbitant amount of spirit stones, right? Shouting out 30 million was already far beyond its actual value, making the price absurdly inted.


    "Are these two ns insane?"


    Countless onlookers gaped in disbelief, utterly shocked by the scene unfolding before them.


    Even the auctioneer, Shao Shao, was taken aback, losing control of her expression as she watched the situation with a mix of astonishment.


    She had never expected the Marrow cleansing Pill to fetch such a high price. After all, it was just a low-grade pill. When it had been auctioned in the far west, it had never reached anywhere near this amount.


    The first auction item had already soared into the tens of millions, catching herpletely off guard and leaving her with an expression of disbelief.


    Even Qian Jinjin probably hadn¡¯t anticipated that the Marrow cleansing Pill would fetch such an astronomical price this time. Otherwise, this auction item should have been the grand finale rather than just an opening act to entice bidders.


    While the entire auction hall was still reeling in confusion, in the blink of an eye, the price had already been raised to 100 million by these two madmen.


    At this moment, Long Xuan, sitting in Box 5, was equally stunned, his mouth gradually widening. "Wow! The price shot up to 100 million that fast? Is this Marrow cleansing Pill really worth that much?"


    "Unbelievable! Qian Jinjin, that swindler, bought my Marrow cleansing Pill at such a low price, only to turn around and sell it for over 100 million. What a con artist! She''s practically robbing me blind!" Long Xuan thought, filled with resentment.


    As he stood there in a daze, the price of the Marrow cleansing Pill continued to climb by the billions. Before long, it had reached an astronomical price of 1 billion spirit stones, and the entire auction hall was in an uproar.


    Everyone stood up from their seats, their faces filled with disbelief as they stared in shock at the unfolding scene.


    "This is ridiculous. A mere low-grade pill, and yet there are madmen willing to spend 1 billion spirit stones on it? It''s pure madness!"


    "The first auction item has surpassed even the price of the final auction item. Can you believe that? Such a bizarre event has never happened in history, has it?"


    Dan Chenzi wiped the sweat from his forehead, his fingers trembling uncontrobly as he stared wide-eyed at the proceedings below.


    "A price of 1 billion is way too high. While the technique behind this pill might be worth that much, that''s assuming you can sessfully crack it."


    "However, deciphering the form for a pill is far from easy."


    "If buying a spirit pill meant you could crack its form, then all pill recipes would be public by now, and there''d be no distinction between exclusive andmon forms."


    His previous assumption was purely theoretical; theory and reality were twopletely different things.


    Deciphering the technique behind such a pill would be extraordinarily difficult, with a very low sess rate. Most likely, the money spent would be wasted.


    Thus, the Marrow cleansing Pill was far from being worth such an inted price. 1 billion was outrageously excessive.


    However, the Yao and Dan families were both in the pill-making business andpetitors, making them adversaries.


    Neither family could risk the other cracking the secret of the Marrow cleansing Pill and gaining a more advanced pill-making technique that could devastate their own pill market. So, both families feltpelled to raise the price.


    Without this rivalry, the Marrow cleansing Pill could never have fetched such a high price at any other auction.


    "A mere low-grade spirit pill being sold for 1 billion? Who could believe this? It''s absurd."


    At this point, Dan Chenzi was caught in a difficult position. If he continued bidding, the price would be too high. If he failed to crack the Marrow cleansing Pill''s secret, it would be a tremendous loss.


    But if he stopped bidding and allowed the Yao family to purchase the Marrow cleansing Pill and sessfully decipher its secret, the threat to the Dan family would be enormous.


    He was indecisive, torn between the two options, and weighed down by the pressure of the 1 billion spirit stones at stake.


    Just as he was hesitating, unsure whether to continue bidding, a sudden shout echoed from the sky, "Enough!"


    "The price is already ridiculous. If we don¡¯t stop now, it will only keep escting with no end. How about we each pay 500 million spirit stones and split the Xisui Pill between our two families?"


    "If either of us wins the entire Marrow cleansing Pill today, it will cripple us both. We¡¯ll only be theughingstock of others."


    A loud, thunderousugh echoed from the sky, "Hahaha... I was thinking the same. Raising the price benefits no one, and in the end, we both stand to lose."


    "So let''s each pay 500 million and split the pill. But since the bottle contains five Marrow cleansing Pills, how do we divide the extra one?"


    "Simple. We''ll determine the owner of the Marrow cleansing Pill through a martial contest."


    "No, no!" The voice hastily replied, sounding rmed. "Thest time the Long and Bai families had a martial contest, many geniuses were severely injured. It''s too risky and not worth it."


    "Martial contests are too damaging to rtionships. I suggest we split thest Marrow cleansing Pill in half. We can each take a portion."


    "After all, we''re only getting the pills for research purposes. Even half will suffice."


    "Alright, let¡¯s do it your way. We''ll split the fifth Marrow cleansing Pill in half."


    With that, the voices from the sky finally faded, and Dan Chenzi let out a long sigh of relief, copsing into his seat as if all his strength had drained from him in that moment.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 162: The Jiu Clan

    The first auction item finally ended with a staggering bid of 1 billion spirit stones, leaving everyone stunned.


    Even the grand finale items from the first half of the auction couldn¡¯t reach such an astronomical price, right? It was madness! A regr auction item selling for more than the grand finale one? Such a thing had never happened at any auction before.


    The crowd was abuzz with discussion, and a noisymotion spread throughout the auction floor.


    Outside the doors, a group of poor wandering cultivators who were watching the spectacle grew excited. They were thoroughly entertained and became even more eager for the next auction items.


    At this moment, Long Xuan in room box 5 finally understood why the Marrow Cleansing Pill could fetch such a high price. It was purely a stroke of luck. If neither the Yao family nor the Dan family¡ªtwo rival ns¡ªhad shown up today, there was no way this bottle of Marrow Cleansing Pills would have sold for over a billion.


    He couldn¡¯t help but smile bitterly, realizing that improving his alchemy skills was not going to be an easy task. First, he would have to standardize the measurement units in this world. He mustn¡¯t write vague terms like "appropriate amount" in his pill recipes.


    Shao Shao showed a trace of excitement. The sky-high price of the first auction item far exceeded her expectations. This unexpected result was like a blessing from the heavens. With just this one sale, her performance had already met the quota.


    Thrilled, she ced the pill bottle on a jade te and had a maid carry it to the buyer. However, before the maid could even take a step, Shao Shao impatiently pulled out the second auction item from her storage ring and ced it on the auction table. It was clear she was eager to make the most of every possible moment.


    What she pulled out was a massive wine barrel. Upon seeing it, Long Xuan couldn''t help but pause¡ªyet again, one of his own creations was up for auction! What a coincidence.Shao Shao wasted no time introducing the item: ¡°This second auction item is Spiritual Wine, but it¡¯s not just one barrel¡ªthere are thirty barrels, all bundled together for the auction.¡±


    ¡°This wine is called Spirit Recovery Wine. It''s a brand new recipe that has never before appeared in this world.¡±


    ¡°The function of the Spirit Recovery Wine is naturally to recover spiritual energy. It can quickly replenish the drained spiritual power of cultivators in the Marrow Cleansing stage, and its recovery effect is several times stronger than the best Spirit recovering Pills on the market.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s no exaggeration to say that Spirit Recovery Wine is the strongest recovery aid for the Marrow Cleansing stage.¡±


    ¡°A hundred thousand spirit stones for thirty barrels of the best recovery wine for the Marrow Cleansing stage¡ªisn¡¯t that a fair starting price?¡±


    ¡°The starting bid for Spirit Recovery Wine is now set at one hundred thousand spirit stones. Each raise must be no less than ten thousand spirit stones. Let the bidding begin!¡±


    As soon as her words fell, a plump man in the crowd shouted loudly: ¡°I bid one hundred and ten thousand spirit stones!¡±


    Upon seeing this man, Long Xuan burst outughing.


    Oh, wasn¡¯t that the guy named Qian Duoduo? And yet again, he was in disguise, this time even sporting a beard.


    Qian Duoduo¡¯s disguise could fool others, but it was impossible to fool Long Xuan. No matter how his appearance changed, his essence remained the same. Long Xuan¡¯s keen eyes could see through him.


    Long Xuan was intrigued¡ªQian Duoduo was ying the same trick again. A steward of a major tradingpany disguising himself as a customer to bid on his own auction items¡ªit was certainly a rare sight.


    This wasn¡¯t the first time Qian Duoduo had pulled this stunt, but it seemed he was addicted to it by now.


    Meanwhile, several Gu Masters dressed in robes embroidered with the character ¡°Jiu¡± (¾Æ, meaning "wine") began sniffing the air. Their eyes lit up with surprise.


    ¡°What a fine wine! I never expected to find such a peak-quality wine in this little region. This wine can easily rival the best wines of my Jiu n,¡± Jiu Kang remarked, his throat moving as he swallowed, his face showing clear desire.


    The Jiu n was a great n known for their winemaking and Wine Gu cultivation. Their n possessed countless wine recipes, and they had an immense collection of rare and exquisite wines.


    Each Gu Master of the Jiu n was a wine lover through and through.


    While others wouldn¡¯t spend fortunes on fine wine, the Gu Masters of the Jiu n were known to splurge vast sums for a sip of extraordinary wine.


    The Gu Masters of the Jiu n were skilled in discerning the quality of wine. Just by catching a whiff of its aroma, Jiu Kang immediately recognized that this wine was extraordinary. His eyes sparkled as he made up his mind to secure this wine at any cost.


    An elder of the Jiu n stared intently at the wine barrel on the auction table, his eyes burning with excitement as he dered, ¡°Indeed, this is fine wine! I always thought that our Jiu n was the best at winemaking and that all wines from outside were trash.¡±


    ¡°However, this time I¡¯ve realized that I underestimated the world. There are indeed good wines outside. This wine, even among all the fine wines of my n, could rank near the top.¡±


    ¡°This wine is made with a different winemaking technique, one that our n is unfamiliar with. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that this technique rivals¡ªif not surpasses¡ªour own.¡±


    ¡°I must study the brewing method of this wine. No one is allowed to outbid me!¡±


    A cute-looking girl from the Jiu n licked her lips, her face filled with craving. ¡°That¡¯s impossible! I¡¯ve refined a Wine King Gu, and the more types of fine wine it devours, the stronger it bes.¡±


    ¡°I left on this journey specifically to collect the world¡¯s finest wines.¡±


    ¡°This wine is a type that has never appeared in this world before. If I miss this chance, I may never find it again. How can I give it up?¡±


    ¡°So I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯m determined to win this wine!¡±


    At that moment, a young man from the Jiu n suddenly chimed in, ¡°None of you canpete with me! I¡¯m going to use this wine to refine my Wine Gu. If anyone tries to outbid me, we¡¯ll have a problem!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m the youngest, so you should all let me have it!¡±


    The price had already risen to three hundred thousand spirit stones. Although it was quite a high price, considering there were thirtyrge barrels, it was still an eptable price. The young man hurriedly shouted, ¡°I bid four hundred thousand spirit stones!¡±


    ¡°You think being the youngest gives you an excuse? That won¡¯t work! I bid five hundred thousand spirit stones!¡± the Jiu n girl immediately countered.


    The elder from the Jiu n followed closely: ¡°I bid six hundred thousand spirit stones!¡±


    ¡°I was the first to notice it!¡± Jiu Kang shouted, ¡°I bid seven hundred thousand spirit stones!¡±


    With the involvement of these four, the price rapidly skyrocketed to an astounding seven hundred thousand spirit stones.


    Everyone was astonished. They turned to see who was raising the bid so quickly, wondering how these people could be fighting amongst themselves over this.


    When they saw that the four were all wearing robes embroidered with the character ¡°Jiu,¡± everyone immediately understood.


    If it was the Jiu n, then it made perfect sense.


    The Jiu n, a great winemaking family, were all alcohol lovers. For the chance to taste a wine they¡¯d never had before, there was nothing they wouldn¡¯t do.


    Once they encounter an exquisite wine, it¡¯s like a lecher seeing a peerless beauty¡ªthey are truly willing to spend a fortune to buy it.


    Even ayman would know that today¡¯s wine is no ordinary brew. It¡¯s no wonder that the members of the Jiu n are going so crazy over it.


    Upon seeing a group of Jiu n Gu cultivators join the bidding, and even fiercelypeting among themselves, pushing the price directly to seven million spirit stones, Qian Duoduo was instantly stunned.


    Why is my luck so bad? Every time I disguise myself as a customer, I always run into such troublesome opponents, forcing me to spend excessively.


    The Jiu n is from a distant region, and he had never encountered them before. Yet, here they were, showing up today, of all days. If they hade earlier orter, it wouldn¡¯t be a problem, but today? This feels like they¡¯re toying with him!


    If the Jiu n is here today, then this is going to be a big problem.


    When this group spots good wine, they turn into madmen¡ªwilling to bankrupt themselves just to buy it.


    If the Spirit Recovery Wine catches their eye, the price will surely skyrocket. If I don¡¯t bleed heavily this time, there¡¯s no way I¡¯ll be able to win the bid for the Spirit Recovery Wine.


    No, I might not even get the chance to make a heavy bid. These lunatics will offer any price for good wine, even if it¡¯s grossly inted. How can I possiblypete with them?


    But, unless things reach a final dead end, he clearly wasn¡¯t one to give up easily. Trembling, he raised his hand and, steeling himself, said, ¡°I bid seven million one hundred thousand spirit stones!¡±


    Spending seven million one hundred thousand spirit stones on wine definitely isn¡¯t worth it, but spending that amount to refine a peak-grade Gu? Now, that¡¯s worth it. So, he absolutely had to keep bidding.


    The four members of the Jiu n turned their heads toward him and, in unison, shouted:


    ¡°I bid eight million spirit stones!¡±


    ¡°I bid nine million spirit stones!¡±


    ¡°I bid ten million spirit stones!¡±


    ¡°I bid eleven million spirit stones!¡±


    The price instantly broke the ten-million mark.


    Good heavens, they were raising the bid by one million each time. With every bid, the price shot up by four million spirit stones. Qian Duoduo¡¯s head was spinning.


    And this was just their internalpetition,pletely ignoring everyone else¡ªutterly arrogant.


    ¡°I bid eleven million one hundred thousand spirit stones!¡± Qian Duoduo gritted his teeth and said.


    At this point, the price was severely inted. If he didn¡¯t happen to have a peak-quality wine Gu, and the fact that winning the bid would allow him to refine another peak-grade Gu, he would never have bid such a high price.


    The four members of the Jiu n looked at each other in astonishment. They hadn¡¯t expected that someone from the impoverished Western Lands would be even more obsessed with wine than they were.


    But scaring off wine-crazed Jiu n Gu cultivators with just a little over ten million spirit stones was clearly impossible.


    Jiu Kang chuckled bitterly and said, ¡°Who would have thought that someone from this poor region of the Western Lands could still have so much money? We¡¯ve been traveling for too long, and our spirit stones have only been going out, noting in. If we really go all out to get this wine, one of us might end up begging for food.¡±


    ¡°I see that this winees in a set of thirty barrels, enough for the four of us to share. How about we each chip in three million spirit stones and split the wine among us?¡±


    The other three nodded in agreement.


    ¡°That sounds good.¡±


    ¡°I was thinking the same thing!¡±


    ¡°Then let¡¯s join forces and buy the wine together.¡±


    The other three echoed in unison.


    Seeing his threepanions agree, Jiu Kang smiled, raised his hand, and shouted, ¡°I bid twelve million spirit stones! Anyone going higher?¡±


    This announcement caused a stir throughout the audience.


    Spending twelve million spirit stones to buy thirty barrels of wine¡ªthis was pure madness in everyone¡¯s eyes.


    What kind of wine could be so expensive?


    It¡¯s just for recovering spiritual energy! Is it really worth all this frenzy?


    Today¡¯s auction was getting more and more interesting. First, someone had spent a billion spirit stones to buy the vastly overpriced Marrow Cleansing Pill, and now someone was willing to pay twelve million spirit stones for a simrly inted-priced spiritual wine.


    This truly lives up to its reputation as the highest-spec auction in the Western Lands in a thousand years. The first two auction items alone have fetched such outrageous prices. Who could imagine how high the total transaction amount will be by the end of the event?


    Qian Duoduo¡¯s face turned ugly. Twelve million spirit stones! Twelve million! These Jiu n Gu cultivators really are willing to pay any price for good wine¡ªthey¡¯replete lunatics.


    The price had already been inted to a ridiculous level. Although he could still bid thirteen million, he was, after all, a businessman. He valued things being worth their price and didn¡¯t want to engage in a losing deal. Who would want to join them in their madness?


    Moreover, there was too little wine to guarantee that he could refine a wine Gu insect. Even if he managed to refine one, it would be the weakest of the peak-grade Gu. High risk, low reward¡ªhe absolutely wouldn¡¯t invest more spirit stones in this.


    Forget it. Wine made from a single brew results in the weakest peak-grade Gu. Spending eleven million spirit stones was already the limit; I absolutely won¡¯t bid higher to be a fool.


    Besides, even if I bid twenty million, these lunatics would likely keep up. How could Ipete with a bunch of wine-crazed maniacs?


    The situation is already lost. It seems this wine is destined to have no connection with me, and I cannot force it.


    Qian Duoduo sighed heavily, his face full of disappointment, and finally turned and left the auction house...

 Chapter 163: Long Xuan Prepares to Fool People

    "Anyone going higher?"


    "12 million spirit stones, going once!"


    "12 million spirit stones, going twice!"


    "12 million spirit stones, going three times!"


    "SOLD!"


    The auctioneer finally brought down the small hammer in her hand.


    At the same time, a maid carrying a jade tray walked over. The auctioneer ced the storage bag containing thirty barrels of Spirit Recovery Wine on the tray. Before the maid could turn around, the auctioneer eagerly began the auction for the third item.


    This time, she took a spider with three eyes out of her insect-rearing bag and ced it in her hand, introducing it: "This spider is called the Three-Eyed Spider. It possesses a lethal poison that kills upon contact with blood. It is a high-grade spirit insect."


    "High-grade spirit insects usually wouldn''t qualify for this auction. However, the Three-Eyed Spider is an endangered species in the Gu world, nearing extinction, and is extremely hard to find.""As the saying goes, rarity makes something valuable. Such a rare insect is naturally worth much more than a regr high-grade spirit insect, right?"


    "The Three-Eyed Spider is so rare that if anyone could figure out how to breed it and make it multiply quickly, they could monopolize the market. I don''t think I need to exin how profitable a monopoly can be, right?"


    The auctioneer spoke in a tempting voice.


    However, most people in the audience scoffed and showed looks of disdain.


    Did she really think they were idiots to be fooled by her? If this thing was that easy to breed, it wouldn¡¯t be an endangered species.


    Unless someone had the Gu method for the Three-Eyed Spider, only a fool would buy it.


    "Endangered species usually start at 500,000 spirit stones. The starting bid for the Three-Eyed Spider is 500,000 spirit stones. The bidding starts now!"


    As soon as she finished speaking, Long Xuan in Private Room No. 5 immediately shouted, "I''ll bid 600,000!"


    He was nning to refine de Gu and needed various types of spirit insects.


    Many rare spirit insects are impossible for even a n to collect, and usually, he could only rely on luck.


    Today, he happened toe across a very rare insect species, and naturally, Long Xuan wouldn¡¯t miss the opportunity.


    Relying on his family to collect all types of spirit insects in the Gu world was clearly unrealistic. Gathering one of every species would easily raise suspicion within the family.


    So, for some of the spirit insects that weren¡¯t directly needed for the Dragonblood battle Gu, Long Xuan still had to collect them himself.


    This auction was a great opportunity. Auctions often sold extremely rare spirit insects, and once the opportunity was missed, collecting those types of spirit insects would be difficult.


    This was one of the reasons Long Xuan attended the auction¡ªhe wasn¡¯t here just for entertainment.


    Additionally, he had been collecting materials to craft the formation te for the Five Elements Reverse Formation, and this was a good chance to gather some more.


    However, just after he finished speaking, a familiar voice came from Private Room No. 10: "I''ll bid 700,000 spirit stones!"


    Feng Si nced mockingly at Private Room No. 5.


    Long Xuan frowned slightly and continued, "800,000!"


    "900,000!" Feng Si immediately followed.


    Long Xuan nced at Feng Si, knowing he was intentionally raising the price to frustrate him.


    "One million!"


    Long Xuan decided this would be his final bid. If Feng Si continued to raise the price, Long Xuan would give up.


    One million spirit stones were already an inted price.


    He didn¡¯t absolutely need the Three-Eyed Spider. It was impossible to collect every single type of spirit insect in the Gu world. Some species in distant regions and exclusive spirit insects from major Gu cultivation families would be out of reach.


    So Long Xuan didn¡¯t mind missing out on the Three-Eyed Spider.


    However, Feng Si wasn¡¯t stupid. He knew if he raised the price too much, his opponent might give up, and then the item would end up in his hands. So after the bid reached one million, he promptly gave up, casting a mocking nce at Long Xuan.


    But Long Xuan¡¯s expression remained unchanged, showing no signs of anger, which left Feng Si a bit disappointed.


    "Hmph! I¡¯ll see how long you can hold out. Unless you n on not buying anything from the auction at all," Feng Si muttered, a sly grin slowly forming on his lips.


    "That person is clearly raising the price maliciously, trying to make you waste spirit stones!" Long Ziyan said, frowning.


    "No worries, he¡¯s just a clown. I have plenty of ways to deal with himter. No one can make me lose out," Long Xuan replied casually, not taking the matter to heart at all.


    The auction continued, with the auctioneer pulling out more and more items from her storage ring. The bidding remained intense, with prices climbing higher and higher. The atmosphere in the room was lively, filled with heated shouts for bids.


    Long Xuan asionally Made Bids, Securing Useful Items Directly


    Of course, with Feng Si being a troublemaker, every item Long Xuan won came at an inted price.


    Feng Si was especially crafty. Though he would always intervene, he only raised the price slightly¡ªnever too much¡ªkeeping it within a range his opponent could still afford. He knew when to stop, ensuring that the other party wouldn¡¯t give up and leave the item stuck with him.


    Because Feng Si was so cautious, it wasn¡¯t easy for Long Xuan to trick him.


    Long Xuan had long been aware of Feng Si¡¯s cautious nature. He was someone who always overestimated his enemies. Even when dealing with Long Xuan, who was only at the Spirit Gathering stage at the time, he had sent a group of Marrow Cleansing stage experts, demonstrating his almost pathological caution.


    Yet, despite his excessive vignce, Feng Si still lost to Long Xuan in the end.


    By now, everyone at the auction had noticed the maliciouspetition between Private Room 5 and Private Room 10. The crowd eagerly watched the rivalry between the two parties, expecting some drama.


    This type of situation wasmon at auctions, where rivals intentionally inted bids to harm each other, often resulting in both parties losing out while the auction house made a fortune. Such urrences had be quite routine.


    The auction proceeded quickly, and before anyone realized it, it was already noon.


    Despite the short duration, many treasures had already been auctioned.


    The auctioneer, Shao Shao, saved a lot of time by pulling out items directly from her storage ring, leading to an exceptionally high volume of items sold. The final transaction amount was sure to reach astronomical figures.


    In Private Room 5, Long Xuan¡¯s table was filled with more than ten different high-grade spirit insects, and he was carefully studying them.


    These ten or so spirit insects weren¡¯t just ordinary high-grade ones¡ªthey were rare species on the verge of extinction, much more expensive than typical high-grade spirit insects.


    Normally, they were extremely difficult toe across. Some were so rare that even after a century of searching, one might not find them.


    Moreover, no Gu-cultivating family knew how to breed these insects; otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t be rare, nor would they be endangered species.


    Long Xuan felt it would be a pity to let (Xiao Yue)-Little moon consume them all. These were endangered species, nearly extinct. The idea of an entire species vanishing from history saddened him.


    Since he had the ability to research and develop methods to cultivate all species, he felt a responsibility to preserve these endangered insect species and prevent their extinction.


    Besides, this could benefit him as well. Rare items were valuable, and if he could breed these endangered species inrge quantities, he would effectively monopolize the market. A monopoly was extremely profitable.


    Therefore, he decided to raise all the endangered insects in his insect chamber and use his abilities to research methods for cultivating these rare species.


    Even if he didn¡¯t have time to raiserge numbers of spirit insects, he could still sell his techniques for astronomical prices. In this way, these endangered species wouldn¡¯t have to disappear from the world.


    As Long Xuan was studying the insects crawling all over the table, the first half of the auction came to an end, and the final item of the day was about to be auctioned.


    Shao Shao smiled and looked around before pulling out a ck long de from her storage ring and cing it on the auction table. She smiled and said, "I¡¯m sure everyone has been eagerly awaiting this, right?"


    "We now officially begin the auction of the most thrilling and final item of the day: the ck Night long de."


    "As everyone knows, the highest quality for spirit tools is the peak-grade spirit tool. But in ancient times, ¡®named tools¡¯ were treasures far more powerful than peak-grade spirit tools."


    "However, the method for forging named tools has long been lost to the world, and no one in the current Gu world possesses the ability to create them anymore."


    "Rarity makes things valuable, so the value of this named de is limitless. Everyone should be mentally prepared."


    "Anything that¡¯s this rare in the world can easily fetch prices in the billions. The bidding for this named de starts at 100 million spirit stones. Please begin bidding!"


    The next moment, all the Gu cultivators who used des had their eyes light up, their breathing quickened, and they revealed intense greed.


    A named de was far superior to a peak-grade spirit de. Once in hand, one would be practically unbeatable at the same level. Anyone who engaged in debat with the owner of this de would have their weapons shattered.


    However, when they thought of the terrifyingly high price of 100 million spirit stones, most people hesitated.


    The price was simply too outrageous. Even if they sold everything they owned, they wouldn¡¯t be able to afford it.


    Moreover, the high price of the de was mostly due to its rarity, not because it was worth the price. The de itself was certainly not worth over a billion.


    So the cost-effectiveness of bidding on this named de was incredibly low. Unless one was extraordinarily wealthy, most people didn¡¯t dare to bid.


    Looking at the ck long de on the auction table, Long Xuan¡¯s lips curled into a slow smile. His eyes casually nced toward Private Room 10, and he deliberately pulled out the Silver Moon Mantis from his insect-raising bag, cing it on the ground in a conspicuous spot for everyone to see.


    "Little moon, what do you think of that named de? Would it suit you? If you like it, I¡¯ll bid for it and give it to you. This will be your first evolution item," Long Xuan said with a smile.


    Upon seeing the ck de, which resembled a sharp weapon in the night, Little moon¡¯s eyes immediately lit up. It quickly nodded, clearly liking the de very much.


    Seeing Little moon¡¯s reaction, Long Xuan¡¯s smile deepened. He immediately stood up and shouted loudly, "I bid 200 million! I must have this de!"


    "Everyone knows that a named de is the best item for a de Gu¡¯s evolution. I hope you all will give the Long n some face!"

 Chapter 164: Feng Chengxiangs Shock

    As soon as the words were spoken, the Eye of Heavenly Secrets on Long Xuantian''s forehead opened, and the moment he activated his pre-prepared Origin Realm, a vast illusory realm swiftly enveloped the entire auction venue.


    This time, his Origin Realm was deployed by both his main body and five clones simultaneously, multiplying its power countless times.


    On top of that, his Ten Absolute Physique could amplify any ability severalfold without effort, and his clones could also benefit from the Ten Absolute Physique''s enhancements.


    As a result, the Origin Realm cast by Long Xuantian and his clones together was terrifyingly powerful. Even though his Eye of Heavenly Secrets had not fully evolved, it was enough to ensnare the vast majority of those at his level.


    It just so happened that this was a *Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivation auction, filled with cultivators of his level, and there were very few who could resist his illusion technique¡ªeasily disregarded.


    At this moment, his Origin Realm ovepped seamlessly with the real world, blending so perfectly that there wasn¡¯t a single w. No one in the venue realized they were already caught in the illusion.


    Even those outside the auction venue didn¡¯t notice anything unusual. Although most people in the auction had fallen under the illusion, their consciousness still maintained control of their bodies. From the outside, it looked like the people inside were still chatting andughing, showing no signs of being under a spell.


    The Origin Realm was indistinguishable from reality. When an illusion and the real world ovep so perfectly, with truth within falsehood and falsehood within truth, it bes almost impossible to see through such an unfathomable illusion.


    The auction price of 100 million was instantly raised to 200 million, causing an uproar in the venue. Everyone turned in shock toward Room No. 5.Seeing a strange-looking Silver Moon Mantis in the room, the crowd understood. If there was a Silver Moon Mantis involved, it meant the bidder was determined to win the famous named sword.


    Everyone in the Western Lands knew how much a named sword could boost thebat power of a de Gu. One of the ways a de Gu evolved was by merging with a sword in its arm.


    Thus, it was no surprise that the person in Room No. 5 would bid so high. A named sword was irresistibly attractive to every Long n Gu cultivator.


    Seeing Long Xuan raise the bid again, Feng Si revealed a sinister smile.


    "Only 200 million? The sword''s ultimate price hasn¡¯t even been reached. How could I let him get it for such a low price? Absolutely impossible!"


    "I bid 210 million!" Feng Si decisively raised his bid, wearing a smug expression as he nced at Long Xuan.


    Seeing that the person in Room No. 10 had once again shed with Long Xuan, everyone else who was nning to bid fell silent, content to watch the drama unfold.


    It was obvious that these two held deep grudges against each other. When two enemiespete, the price is sure to skyrocket.


    Thus, those interested in the famous sword gave up bidding, nning to see how far the price would be driven. If the final price was low, they could step inter.


    "I bid 300 million!" Long Xuan said, casting a nce at Feng Si.


    "I bid 310 million!" Feng Si responded with a provocative gaze toward Long Xuan.


    "I bid 400 million!" Long Xuan immediately countered without hesitation.


    The price was raised so swiftly, without the slightest dy, and each time the bid increased by a billion, leaving everyone in shock. It was clear that Long Xuan was determined to get the sword, no matter the cost.


    Feng Si, seeing how crazed Long Xuan seemed, realized he wasn¡¯t even close to his limit. He raised the bid again, saying, "I bid 410 million!"


    As expected, as soon as Feng Si finished speaking, Long Xuan immediately responded, "I bid 500 million!"


    At such a sky-high price, the entire venue was in an uproar, with exmations of disbelief echoing throughout.


    The price was now grossly inted. Under normal circumstances, this named sword would never sell for this much. However, due to the bitter rivalry between the two, the price had skyrocketed to 500 million in no time.


    Everyone had to admit that this auction had turned insane, with item after item selling for prices far beyond their worth.


    Those originally interested in the named sword could only shake their heads in dismay. 500 million was outrageously inted, far exceeding what it was worth, and also way beyond their budget. One after another, they sighed at their misfortune and abandoned thepetition.


    Feng Si, seeing that Long Xuan had no intention of backing down, nced at the Silver Moon Mantis by his side. He was certain that Long Xuan was dead set on obtaining the sword. He figured he could raise the price one more time to make Long Xuan lose even more spirit stones.


    However, Feng Si decided that this would be hisst bid. Just to be safe, he resolved that no matter how desperate Long Xuan seemed afterward, he would not raise the price again.


    What if Long Xuan was just putting on an act to trick him? Better safe than sorry.


    "I bid 510 million," Feng Si said, his voice slightly nervous as he looked toward Long Xuan. He was afraid Long Xuan would stop at this point. Honestly, Feng Si felt that raising the price this time was a bit risky, but he had acted irrationally just to make Long Xuan lose more.


    As expected, without hesitation, Long Xuan raised his bid again, shouting, "I bid 600 million!"


    Upon hearing Long Xuan¡¯s bid, Feng Si finally exhaled in relief.


    Then, he burst into wildughter.


    "Hahaha¡­ you win!"


    "Spending 600 million on a broken sword, I¡¯m impressed! You really are rich and foolish. Since you¡¯re so eager to burn your money, I¡¯ll leave the sword to you!"


    Feng Si looked at Long Xuan mockingly, a sense of satisfaction washing over him as he slowly sat back down in his seat.


    After tricking his enemy into losing 600 million spirit stones, the satisfaction in his heart was indescribable.


    Seeing that Feng Si was so cautious, stopping at 510 million, Long Xuan couldn''t help but show a look of regret. He thought to himself that the deception could have been even greater.


    At this moment, Long Xuan finally withdrew his Origin Realm, innocently looking at Feng Si and saying, "What nonsense are you spouting? I have no idea what you''re talking about."


    "When did I ever bid 600 million? You must have misheard. Clearly, you bid 510 million, and no one else has bid higher."


    Upon hearing this, Feng Si was stunned. He didn''t quite understand what Long Xuan meant.


    "You shouted 600 million so loudly. How dare you deny it? That''s just dishonest, isn''t it?" Feng Si felt a surge of unease.


    At this moment, Yao Jingtian from Box Oneughed and chimed in, "Brother, I didn''t hear him bid 600 million either. You must have misheard."


    "When he bid 300 million, he stopped. You, on the other hand, kept bidding like you''d lost your mind, all the way up to 510 million. Are you alright, brother?"


    "Raising the price this way won¡¯t work. You kept bidding like that, and now it''s stuck with you," Yao Jingtian added, clearly enjoying the situation.


    The auctioneer, Shao Shao, smiled warmly and said, "Sir, indeed, you were the one who bid 510 million. Currently, your price is the highest. Would you like to continue bidding?"


    "Continue bidding my foot! Who would bid against themselves? Are you all deaf? He clearly shouted 600 million so loudly!" Feng Si stood up, his face contorted with rage, shouting down at the crowd.


    He refused to believe it was a misunderstanding. Even if he had misheard, could others have as well? When the price reached 500 million, the crowd had been abuzz. If Long Xuan had stopped at 300 million, how could everyone have heard him shout 500 million?


    At this point, Long Xuan watched with a look of amusement, his smile growing wider.


    Those who had fallen into his illusion heard him bid 600 million, while those unaffected only heard 300 million.


    And the unaffected ones were all auction house staff, as well as the most talented and high-status individuals from various ns. They all testified that Long Xuan hadn''t bid 600 million.


    Meanwhile, those under the illusion were lower-status Gu cultivators. Long Xuan had specifically targeted them, knowing their shocked reactions would help sell the illusion to Feng Si, making it seem even more real.


    Otherwise, if the audience had stayed silent while he was supposedly bidding five or six billion, it would have seemed suspicious, and Feng Si might have caught on.


    So, Long Xuan had dragged most of the crowd into his illusion, and none of them realized it. Their voices didn''t matter, as the unaffected people had the highest status in the room, and no one dared to contradict them.


    Long Xuan sipped his tea slowly, continuing to watch the show.


    As expected, when people below initially said they had heard 600 million, they quickly quieted down after hearing the high-ranking individuals deny it. No one dared argue further.


    The entire auction now had a unified voice: only Feng Si had bid 510 million.


    The ones who had heard Long Xuan bid 600 million now began to doubt themselves, looking around in confusion but too afraid to speak up, fearing they would offend the powerful figures at the front.


    As the crowd fell silent, Feng Si¡¯s face turned pale, and he staggered back into his seat, copsing heavily.


    What was happening? How could so many people lie so brazenly? He couldn¡¯t make sense of it. He felt like he was going insane.


    Desperately, he turned to the other Gu cultivators from the Feng n in his booth, his face twisted in panic as he demanded, ¡°Tell me! Didn¡¯t you hear Long Xuan bid 600 million? Tell me!¡±


    The other Feng n members exchanged uneasy nces, their expressions strange.


    Feng Chengxiang, the top genius of the Feng n from the Western Lands, looked deeply troubled. He spoke, "There''s no need to ask. We all heard him bid 600 million, just like you did."


    "The only exnation is that everyone here has fallen into his illusion. I can¡¯t imagine how he pulled this off."


    "Pulling an entire auction house into an illusion, with no one realizing it¡ªthis is terrifying. Even I didn¡¯t notice anything. This is the most horrifying illusion I''ve ever encountered. Who exactly did you offend?"


    Feng Chengxiang¡¯s face was filled with shock, and his expression became grim.


    "You¡¯re in deep trouble now. The problem is, the auction house staff only heard your bid of 510 million. They didn¡¯t hear him bid 600 million, so they¡¯re definitely going toe after you for the money."


    "That price is already severely inted. I doubt anyone will outbid you now. You¡¯re on your own," Feng Chengxiang said, giving Feng Si a sympathetic look before ncing warily at Box Five.


    This move was utterly ruthless, designed to ruin him. Feng Si, normally so cautious, had beenpletely trapped, and now he had no way toe up with that many spirit stones.


    When the auction house staff came to collect, and Feng Si couldn¡¯t pay, things would get ugly fast. This scheme was vicious to the core.


    Feng Si¡¯s face turned even paler. 510 million spirit stones¡ªwhere was he going to get that kind of money? Even selling himself wouldn¡¯t cover it.


    He was in deep trouble now, having bid on the grand finale auction item without the means to pay. What was going to happen next? He felt numb all over...


    It was as if he was headed for certain doom!

 Chapter 165: Mutual Understanding Between Husband and Wife

    ¡°Long Xuan! You¡¯re so ruthless!¡± Feng Si clenched his fists, ring resentfully at the young man in Room 5 who was leisurely sipping tea.


    At this moment, Feng Si was drenched in sweat, breathing heavily, and even having trouble catching his breath.


    Just thinking about the enormous amount of spirit stones he had to pay, as vast as a mountain, made him feel like fainting.


    ¡°Some people heard 500 million, others heard 600 million. Since there¡¯s a dispute, why not restart the bidding?¡± Feng Si, with no other choice, gritted his teeth and suggested to the crowd.


    ¡°Nonsense!¡± A furious Gu cultivator of the Qian n, in the Spiritual Sea stage, maintaining order at the scene shouted, ¡°You clearly made the bid just now! I heard it clearly. Are you saying all the people of our Qian n auction house are deaf?¡±


    At this moment, Shao Shao also looked displeased and said, ¡°Sir, it¡¯s been 510 million for a long time. Shouldn¡¯t you pay up by now? Don¡¯t dy everyone from leaving.¡±


    Her face was gloomy as she looked at Feng Si in Room 10. This man seemed to want to back out of the deal. Earlier, he even implied she was deaf. How could she have a pleasant expression now?


    Feng Si, with a pale face, slowly turned to the other Gu cultivators of the Feng n in the room and pleaded, ¡°Everyone, could you lend me all the spirit stones you have? Let¡¯s pool together. I swear, I¡¯ll repay all of you as quickly as possible. I, Feng Si, always keep my word.¡±


    However, all the Feng n Gu cultivators in the room averted their gaze, pretending not to hear him.They weren¡¯t fools. Lending such arge amount of spirit stones to him would be like throwing them into the water¡ªnever to be seen again.


    Seeing this, Feng Si¡¯s heart grew cold, and despair filled his eyes. The fickleness of human rtionships became all too clear. In his time of crisis, none of his so-called close friends were reliable. He was utterly disheartened.


    ¡°No money! I don¡¯t have any! You want my life instead? Do what you want!¡±


    Feng Si shouted in a fit of despair,pletely breaking down. Since he couldn¡¯te up with the spirit stones, he had nothing to lose. He had lost all rationality in his desperation.


    The moment he said this, the entire auction hall fell silent. Everyone was stunned, their expressions bing more and more animated.


    The Gu cultivators of the Qian n below were furious. It had been years since anyone dared to act so brazenly at a Qian n auction.


    All the Qian n guards maintaining order clenched their fists, their joints cracking, and looked menacingly at Room 10.


    The other spectators also widened their eyes in disbelief. This was the first time anyone had dared to cause such a scene at the Qian n¡¯s auction. This person had some guts.


    ¡°Tsk tsk! Who is this arrogant fool? I¡¯ve never seen anyone act this recklessly before.¡±


    ¡°He seems to be from the Feng n. This guy looks unfamiliar. When did the Feng n produce such a strange character? He bids and then refuses to pay. Isn¡¯t that just ying with people?¡±


    ¡°Tsk tsk, I can¡¯t believe someone actually dared to bid recklessly at an auction. He clearly doesn¡¯t take the Qian n seriously.¡±


    The crowd buzzed with discussion. No one expected that even after the auction had ended, there would be this kind of spectacle. Excitement lit up their faces as they eagerly awaited the drama to unfold.


    Shao Shao¡¯s face turnedpletely dark, and she angrily shouted, ¡°No money? If you don¡¯t have money, why did you bid in the first ce? Are you crazy?¡±


    Qian Duoduo, his face twisted with rage, roared, ¡°Are you messing with us on purpose? You bid recklessly and now you won¡¯t pay. Do you think this is your house?¡±


    ¡°Everyone, follow me upstairs! I want to see who has the guts of a bear or a leopard to cause trouble here!¡±


    Qian Duoduo waved his hand, leading arge group of Qian n guards up the stairs with an intimidating aura.


    Feng Si¡¯s actions had already crossed the Qian n auction house¡¯s bottom line. If this matter wasn¡¯t handled seriously, how could the Qian n¡¯s auction house maintain its reputation in the Western Lands?


    This was a matter of face. Even if the Feng n was one of the Ten Great ns of the Western Lands, no exceptions would be made.


    ¡°Bang!¡±


    The door to Room 10 was kicked open, and Qian Duoduo, with his fierce guards, stormed in.


    ¡°Don¡¯t misunderstand! We don¡¯t know him. We have no idea how he got in here! What he did has nothing to do with the Feng n!¡±


    The other Feng n geniuses in the room were terrified. They quickly distanced themselves from Feng Si and disassociated themselves from his actions.


    This was a major cross-regional business organization. In this world, wealth and power were directly corrted. Without the strength to back up vast wealth, it would be impossible to hold onto it. The Qian n auction house wasn¡¯t something the Feng n could afford to offend, even as one of the Ten Great ns of the Western Lands.


    After giving the remaining Feng n members a hostile re, Qian Duoduo grabbed Feng Si by the cor and dragged him out. A chaotic fight soon ensued outside.


    Everyone inside the room trembled, not daring to make a sound.


    Not long after, Feng Si was beaten ck and blue, and then dragged downstairs by the Qian n guards. The crowd below parted to make way, watching with excitement.


    ¡°Confiscate all his belongings, even his clothes. Strip him down to pay for his debt, and throw him out. Add him to the Qian n auction house¡¯s permanent cklist.¡±


    Amidst Qian Duoduo¡¯s angrymands, Feng Si had his storage pouch taken, his insect-rearing bag seized, and even his clothes and shoes were stripped off, leaving him with only his underpants.


    Feng Si was thrown onto the street, naked under the watchful eyes of the crowd.


    People gathered around, pointing andughing. The spectators from the auction rushed out to see themotion, theirughter filling the air.


    Feng Si, his fair skin covered in dust, struggled to get up. His face alternated between green and white.


    This was a humiliation beyond belief.


    Feng Si, once a renowned genius of the Feng n in the far west, had never endured such disgrace.


    Never had he been so humiliated. He felt that today, he had lost face for a lifetime.


    With his face burning red in shame, Feng Si, stripped naked and thrown out, was so overwhelmed with shame and anger that he wanted to die.


    How could he ever show his face here again? Today''s incident was destined to be an indelible stain on his life, one that people would mock him for his entire life. He was so angry he was about to faint.


    At this moment, the group of Feng n geniuses finally walked out, each covering their faces with their hands as they left. It was just too humiliating. Even their own faces were disgraced. This incident would damage the reputation of the entire Feng n of Western Lands.


    Especially since today was such a special day, nearly all the notable figures of the Western Lands were gathered in ckstone City, making the impact even greater. Now, the Feng n had be famous!


    Feng Si''s face twisted in a terrifying grimace, casting a venomous nce in Long Xuan''s direction before finally pushing through the crowd and fleeing the scene as if escaping.


    When the group of Feng n geniuses who had just left saw Feng Si chasing after them, their faces immediately darkened. Why was he running towards them? Did he want to drag them into the humiliation as well?


    Seeing that everyone''s eyes were now on them, the group of Feng n geniuses felt a chill on their scalps and turned to run.


    Behind them, the sound of the crowd''sughter rang out. Even after running a great distance, theughter could still faintly be heard.


    "That move of yours was just too vicious, killing without even using a de!" Long Ziyan turned her head to nce at the man leisurely sipping tea, casting a reproachful look at him.


    "If people don''t provoke me, I don''t provoke them. But if they do, I must respond. I just yed a little joke on him; hopefully, he doesn''t take it to heart."


    Long Xuan took a sip of tea and nced in the direction where Feng Si had fled, narrowing his eyes.


    Under his own scheme, the Feng n of the Western Lands would certainly no longer tolerate Feng Si. There would be no ce for him in ckstone City. Even if the Feng family continued to shelter him, Feng Si would certainly be too ashamed to stay in such a heart-wrenching ce.


    He would undoubtedly leave the city next.


    At this moment, his storage bag and Gu bag had both been confiscated, and he had no usable Gu insect on him. Taking his life would be as easy as turning a hand.


    The long-standing debt was finally due to be settled. A flicker of killing intent shed in Long Xuan''s eyes.


    When dealing with enemies, one must cut the weeds and pull out the roots, even if the enemy no longer posed any real threat to him.


    Even if he no longer had any Gu or wealth, who knows what opportunities might arise when he leaves? What if he stumbled upon the corpse of a Gu King, like Li Dashan, who built his fortune after finding a Gu King¡¯s corpse?


    Even if the odds were slim, one must always be on guard.


    The best approach was to eliminate this personpletely, cutting off any chance of aeback and leaving no room for future trouble.


    This person held a grudge over such a trivial matter, harassing him endlessly. Since Feng Si bore such a deep grudge, how could Long Xuan possibly let him live?


    Today, with a small scheme, it was time to end this feud once and for all.


    What Long Xuan didn¡¯t know was that Long Ziyan was also narrowing her eyes at this moment, gazing in the direction where Feng Si had left.


    She thought to herself that, after such a humiliating event, Feng Si would surely leave the city. Otherwise, no matter where he went, he would beughed at. No one could endure that.


    And once he left the city, killing him would be as easy as breathing, especially now that he no longer had any Gu insect. Taking his life would be child''s y.


    This farce at the auction had dyed quite a bit of time, and with this dy, the first half of the auction was now over. Continuing to auction off items would clearly break the rules.


    Moreover, the mid-session auction was scheduled to follow, and time was tight. Any further dys would disrupt the mid-session auction.


    Businessmen value credibility, so the Qian n Chamber Of Commerce could only announce that the final auction item had been passed over, nning to put the named de up for auction in the mid-session auction instead.


    The mid-session auction was a special event for Spiritual Sea stage Gu Masters. Although they were wealthier, a second-grade named de wasn''t exactly within the realm of a Spiritual Sea stage Gu Master''s needs, so it was hard to say whether it could fetch a high price.


    This left all the Gu Masters from the Qian n with dark expressions, and they resented Feng Si even more.


    As the crowd began to leave in an orderly fashion, Long Xuan and Long Ziyan also walked down from the upper floor and left the auction house side by side.


    "What a pity! If it weren''t for Feng Si disrupting things, that named de would have been yours."


    "Although we really tricked him badly, losing a named de is a bit too costly," Long Ziyan said with a regretful look on her face.


    Long Xuan¡¯s smile never faded, and he showed no sign of regret.


    His goal had never been the named de from the start. Releasing the Silver Moon Mantis was purely a ruse to mislead others into thinking he was determined to get the de, prompting Feng Si to confidently raise the bid.


    In truth, he had never nned on buying the named de. From the very beginning, he had no such intention.


    For one, an item priced at over a billion was just too hot to handle, and holding onto it would be dangerous.


    He had always been cautious and only bought items at auctions that weren''t too expensive.


    On the other hand, the named de wasn¡¯t of much use to him. He had never considered using his de Gu to evolve by fusing it with a named de.


    All the Long n''s Gu Masters had their de Gu evolve by fusing with various sword and de-type spirit tools, but he had never liked following the crowd. What was popr was often not the strongest. He preferred to forge his own unique path, one that no one else could follow.


    Even if he intended to use this world''s de-type spirit tools to evolve his de Gu, given his personality, he would undoubtedly choose to craft his own de. With his knowledge and creativity from his previous life, he would once again break conventions and create the strongest de in this world.


    Even if he needed a de, it would have to be one he forged with his own hands. Who needed this world''s worthless trinkets?


    That was Long Xuan¡¯s mindset at the time, which was why he had no interest in the named de at all.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 166: The Gu King Exclusive Auction Begins

    ¡°Forget it! I never intended to bid on that de. A famous de is priceless, but holding it is like holding a hot potato. It''s way too easy to attract others'' greed.¡±


    ¡°I only used that de to lure Feng Si into a trap. I had no intention of actually bidding for it,¡± Long Xuan said honestly.


    ¡°Is that so?¡± Long Ziyan looked at him with a peculiar expression, guessing, ¡°I bet you didn¡¯t want the de Gu to take that particr path of evolution, right?¡±


    ¡°You must be thinking of letting the de Gu evolve by merging with de intent.¡±


    ¡°The sess of that evolutionary path entirely depends on how strong the de intent is.¡±


    ¡°If the de intent is weak, that evolutionary path will be quite useless.¡±


    ¡°But if the de intent is strong, the upper limit of that path will far surpass the usual evolution through de fusion.¡±


    ¡°If the de Gu merges with de intent, it will be able to follow the path of human de cultivation.¡±


    ¡°At that point, it will no longer be just a Gu insect but could cultivate like a human de cultivator, possessing the same cultivation system. Once the de Gu takes the path of de cultivation, it will be incredibly powerful.¡±¡°But in the Gu world, there are no de cultivators. Where do you n to find de intent?¡± Long Ziyan looked at Long Xuan with curiosity.


    Long Xuan nced at her helplessly. How could this woman always guess his thoughts so urately? Were they that in sync as husband and wife?


    Since Long Ziyan had already figured it out, Long Xuan didn¡¯t bother hiding it anymore. He said seriously, ¡°In this Gu world, I only need to find three types of de intent.¡±


    ¡°The Gu world is vast, so it¡¯s impossible not to find even three types of de intent.¡±


    ¡°One of them, I already have. It''s right in front of me.¡±


    Long Xuan looked into Long Ziyan¡¯s eyes and said, ¡°You possess the Sword Bone and are a genius sword cultivator. In the future, you¡¯ll definitelyprehend sword intent.¡±


    ¡°Sword intent and de intente from the same source and are closely rted. The de Gu can fully merge with sword intent, and from there, follow the path of mastering both sword and de.¡±


    Long Ziyan shook her head and smiled bitterly. ¡°You might be overestimating me. In the world of sword cultivation, I would definitely be able toprehend sword intent.¡±


    ¡°But in a world without swords, without skilled swordsmen to spar with, without many sword cultivation manuals, and without famous masters to guide me, how could I possiblyprehend sword intent? You might be disappointed.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate yourself. I have absolute confidence in you.¡±


    Long Xuan smiled confidently at her. He had already made up his mind. Even if Long Ziyan truly couldn¡¯tprehend sword intent, he would find a way to help her. After all, his expertise was research, and he didn¡¯t believe this problem could stump him.


    ...


    After returning home, Long Xuan eagerly released the Fire Clone and ordered it to follow Feng Si.


    As soon as Feng Si dared to leave the city, the Fire Clone would secretly eliminate him.


    Since Feng Si no longer had any Gu insect, Long Xuan figured that a single clone would be more than enough to deal with him.


    Afterward, Long Xuan entered his secret chamber and began creating the Ten Absolute de Technique, all while waiting for good news from the Fire Clone.


    Now that his dual cultivation technique was finallyplete, he had time to focus on studying the Ten Absolute de Technique.


    Every day, his clone would transmit the techniques learned from the first floor of the library¡¯s secret vault back to his main body. Without much effort, Long Xuan mastered countless techniques for breaking various abilities. By summarizing these techniques, he beganpiling the all-epassing Ten Absolute de Technique.


    It would undoubtedly be a long process, likely taking years. Creating a de technique that could break all others required extensive study, and it was impossible to achieve such a feat in just a few months. Long Xuan was fully prepared for the long haul.


    In his view, spending so much time studying this de technique would absolutely be worth it.


    Not only could his de Gu use the Ten Absolute de Technique, but as a Gu cultivator, he could also utilize it. Once he mastered it, the benefits wouldst a lifetime.


    The Ten Absolute de Technique, capable of breaking every de technique under the heavens, was conceptually the strongest de technique. Theoretically, it would be the ultimate.


    Once he mastered this de technique, no one would ever dare challenge him in debat.


    This was an invincible technique, one worth dedicating years of effort to master.


    Brimming with enthusiasm over creating the ultimate de technique, Long Xuan¡¯s room filled with the constant sound of his pen scratching across the paper.


    However, it wasn¡¯t long before the me Clone suddenly entered the room. Its speed in returning was unusually quick. Long Xuan nced up in surprise, slowly putting down his pen as he immediately asked, ¡°How did it go?¡±


    The Fire Clone looked at him with a strange expression and said, ¡°When I used the Eye of Heavenly Secret to locate him, he was already dead outside the city. Someone had slit his throat with a sword. I have no idea who did it.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Long Xuan was shocked. ¡°Dead? Who could have acted so quickly? They beat me to it! Such a meddlesome hand!¡±


    ...


    Time swiftly passed, and it was already evening.


    Long Xuan finally stopped his work on mastering the de Technique, put down his pen, stood up, and stretchedzily. He walked out of the secret chamber, then looked up to find the tallest building in the n. Using his Star Step, he lightly tapped his toes andnded on the highest spire.


    He then cast his gaze toward the direction of the Qian Auction House.


    Standing at a higher vantage point allowed him to see further. Under the farsight ability of the Eye Of Heavenly Secret, the situation within the auction hall was clear at a nce. From this angle, a faint smile appeared on Long Xuan''s lips.


    At this moment, the auction had already reached the third session. The third session was a special one for Gu Kings. All the Gu Kings in the city had gathered here, along with a massive number of Gu Kings from outer cities and distant regions. The overwhelming presence of powerful auras was beyond count.


    The most valuable treasures collected by the Qian n Chamber Of Commerce Guild were to be auctioned in this session.


    One of these treasures was the Living Wood, a prized item that had all the Gu Kings drooling with desire. It was precisely this Living Wood that had attracted half of the Gu Kings from the Western Lands to this ce, with even some from distant foreign territories rushing here in time.


    Gu Kings were certainly rare, but gathering all the Gu Kings from vast regions in one ce made it seem like there were as many Gu Kings as dogs.


    Long Xuan didn¡¯t dare use his spiritual sense to probe the Gu King-level experts, so he had no idea how many Gu Kings were gathered in the city. However, it was certain that there were at least a hundred of them.


    Many Gu Kings knew that they didn¡¯t have the financial resources topete for the Living Wood. Some were there just to watch the excitement. The legendary peak-grade Heavenly spiritual herb was something one might never encounter in a lifetime¡ªwho wouldn¡¯t be curious?


    A portion of the Gu Kings even harbored thoughts of robbing it. They had no intention of bidding for the Living Wood at the auction, nning instead to wait for someone to buy it and then ambush them once they left the city.


    Quite a few Gu Kings had such ideas. They didn¡¯t even n to participate in the auction and had already set up ambushes outside in advance.


    Some cunning Gu Kings came with hopes of picking up scraps. They were waiting for chaos, ready to take advantage if an opportunity arose. If not, they would slip away without taking any risks.


    In any case, every Gu King in the city had their own schemes. The atmosphere in ckstone City was tense, with many households shutting their doors and windows early, extinguishing their lights. The mood in the city was extremely eerie.


    Long Xuan had no interest in the Living Wood. His longevity was already being extended through the cultivation of the Eternal Life Sutra, so the Living Wood was of little importance to him.


    However, while he wasn¡¯t interested in the Living Wood, he was certainly curious about this auction, which had shocked the entire Western Lands.


    This was a super auction that had drawn in nearly half of the Gu Kings from the Western Lands. With so many Gu Kings gathered, how could he not be curious about the scene?


    It was rare to witness a special auction for Gu Kings, and the treasures being auctioned were earth-shattering. The Qian n had gathered their most valuable items for this one event.


    There were too many treasures that would dazzle his eyes, and even though he didn¡¯t dare covet them, broadening his horizons would be beneficial. Seeing more of the world was a form of cultivation.


    Indeed, Long Xuan was watching this Gu King-special auction purely out of curiosity. He wanted to see which treasures would appear and which Gu King would end up with the Living Wood.


    If he could witness a massive brawl among over a hundred Gu Kings, that would be even better. The scene would surely be thrilling, and he would certainly record the epic battle with a Image Recording Gu, so he could enjoy itter.


    Battles between Gu Kings were rare, and seeing them fight would undoubtedly be beneficial.


    However, though he nned to watch the auction, Long Xuan was sneaky and cautious enough to observe from a distance within the Long n¡¯s residence. Here, he could spy on the event from afar without any danger.


    At this point, the auction had already begun, and the first item up for bid was a peak-grade exotic Gu, on par with a Gu King. The auction hall was lively, with bids flying back and forth.


    The Gu Kings werepeting fiercely over just a single exotic Gu, showing how rare and valuable such creatures were in the Gu world.


    Though there were many Gu insect in this world, the evolution routes for each type of Gu insect were not openly shared. Even for the samemon Gu insect, different families/ns had different evolution paths, which were tightly guarded secrets.


    It wasn¡¯t as simple as owning a Gu insect and evolving it indefinitely. The evolution routes for many Gu insect were irregr and extremely difficult to figure out.


    Long Xuan, after satisfying his curiosity with a few nces, shifted his attention to the Gu Kings in the auction hall. They were all strangers; he didn¡¯t recognize a single one.


    Instinctively, he searched for the figure of Great Heaven Ancestor, Shi Haojun, but after scanning the room, he couldn¡¯t spot him in the auction.


    Under normal circumstances, when someone¡¯s valuable treasure was being auctioned, they would appear in person out of curiosity to see how much their item would sell for.


    But Shi Haojun was clearly not a normal person. After storing the Living Wood at the Qian Auction House, he didn¡¯t care about it anymore. Even though the auction was about to sell his Living Wood, he didn¡¯t bother showing up to witness it.


    Could it be that he was actually massacring the city right now? Long Xuan quickly turned his head and looked in the direction of ckmoon City. His vision extended outward, the distant scenes rapidly shifting in his eyes, and in just a moment, he had already seen an unknown distance.


    But ultimately, ckmoon City was too far from ckstone City. Even with his farsight ability, he couldn¡¯t see ckmoon City¡¯s silhouette.


    Long Xuan sighed lightly and finally withdrew his gaze, rubbing his sore eyes.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 167: The Yao Clan Studies the Marrow Cleansing Pill

    At this moment, within a secret chamber of the Yao n''s residence.


    A group of elderly men, all with gray hair, were intensely focused on studying the Marrow Cleansing Pills they had acquired from the auction.


    There were two and a half pills in total, with the half pill split from aplete Spirit Recovery Pill, the other half being in the hands of the Dan n.


    Each elder stared wide-eyed at the pills, scrutinizing them with a fanatical gaze, their eyes filled with intense excitement.


    The eldest of the group was holding the half Marrow Cleansing Pill in his palm, his face flushed with excitement as he examined it more closely. The more he looked at it, the more agitated he became, until his entire body trembled with emotion.


    This group of elderly experts, all at the Gu King level, had chosen not to attend the auction but instead hid here, researching a low-grade spiritual pill.


    The head of the Yao n watched these research fanatics with a bitter smile. Seeing them so absorbed, he couldn''t help but interrupt, "Honored ancestors, the Gu King auction has already begun. Shouldn''t we go and join in the fun?"


    "The medicinal pill business is immensely profitable. We''ve already amassed great wealth just from selling the King Breakthrough Pills, which increase the chances of Gu Kings breaking through. Our n is now the wealthiest in all of the Western Lands, and we definitely have the strength to win the bidding for that Living Wood."


    The elders continued to focus on their research, not even ncing at him.Finally, the eldest elder, without taking his eyes off the half Marrow Cleansing Pill, spoke after a long pause: "There''s no need. Even if you use spirit stones to win the bid, it may not necessarily be yours. Trying to obtain that thing is too risky."


    "If very few people knew about the Living Wood, we might have taken a chance."


    "But now, the entire world knows about it. How could I dare to touch such a hotmodity?"


    The Yao n head frowned and quickly said, "But Honored Ancestor, your lifespan is already running out. The Living Wood could extend your life by at least 500 years."


    Yao Chen finally looked at him and said seriously, "For my own benefit, would you have me drag the entire n into the vortex of war? Do you want me to be the sinner of the n?"


    "To gamble the fate of the n just so I can live another 500 years¡ªam I, Yao Chen, such a selfish person? Let¡¯s not speak of this again. I''d rather give up the chance for a longer life and ensure the absolute safety of the n."


    "And what¡¯s the point of living another 500 years if I can''t pursue the ultimate Dao? Whether I die sooner orter makes no difference."


    Hearing this, everyone in the room looked at him with admiration, moved by his words.


    When faced with the choice between life and death, who would choose death and give up life? Yet, Yao Chen had done just that.


    He was the strongest in the Yao n. Whether or not topete for the Living Wood was entirely his decision. Yet, without hesitation, he gave up the opportunity. Everyone sincerely admired him, and their gazes were filled with respect.


    "Hmph! No matter who wins that Living Wood, a great battle will inevitably follow. Gu Kings whose lifespans are nearly at an end aren''t rational. They''ll do anything to extend their lives. It would be strange if they didn¡¯t try to snatch it by force. Let them fight over it."


    "As for me, I''d rather spend my time studying this half Marrow Cleansing Pill. To me, its value far surpasses that of the Living Wood."


    After Yao Chen spoke, everyone''s attention shifted to the half pill in his hand.


    "Honored Ancestor, could it be that you''ve discovered something? Does this Marrow Cleansing Pill truly hold significant reference value and can be used by our n?"


    The n head looked astonished. Yao Chen''s words, iming it was more valuable than the Living Wood, had truly shocked him. Was this half pill really worth more than a Living Wood tree? Was the ancestor exaggerating?


    Seeing everyone''s doubtful expressions, Yao Chen smiled and said, "It definitely has reference value, but whether we can use it is another matter. It¡¯s very difficult."


    "You should know that the same pill form, when refined by different people, produces pills ofpletely different potencies."


    "For example, with Blood-Stopping Pills, even if the ingredients are exactly the same, some people''s Blood-Stopping Pills are stronger, while others are weaker. The difference in potency between pills of the same type can be like heaven and earth."


    "In ancient times, this difference in potency was called ''fusion degree,'' a term used in the world of alchemy."


    "However, during the Dark Age of the Era of the Gods, when many arts and techniques were lost, most of the alchemy knowledge, including this concept, was forgotten."


    "Nowadays, very few people use the term ''fusion degree,'' and most don''t even know what it means."


    "The fusion degree is the measure of a pill''s grade, and it''s divided into ten levels."


    "The higher the fusion degree, the stronger the pill''s potency; the lower the fusion degree, the weaker the pill."


    "The fusion degree is determined 30% by skill and 70% by alchemical technique."


    "Alchemy techniques and methods are closely guarded secrets. It¡¯s not something an alchemist can improve just because they want to."


    "Even though I am the number one alchemist in the Western Lands, refining a pill with a fusion degree of 70% is my absolute limit, and even then, I would need a great deal of luck to seed."


    "But the fusion degree of these three Marrow Cleansing Pills¡ªwithout exception¡ªis an astonishing 100%."


    "Do you know what a 100% fusion degree means? It means that every step of the refinement process was performed with absolute perfection, with not the slightest w. Only under these conditions could a pill with a 100% fusion degree be produced."


    "This is not something a normal person can easily achieve."


    "The fact that this person could do so effortlessly proves that they possess alchemy techniques far superior to mine. The techniques they control can greatly increase the fusion degree of their pills."


    "However, trying to deduce such techniques just from studying the pill itself is an almost impossible task. I really want to visit this alchemy genius myself."


    Yao Chen''s eyes burned with admiration. Suddenly, he looked at the Yao n head and asked urgently, "How did the investigation go? Did you find out anything about this alchemy genius?"


    The n head gave a bitter smile and replied, "How could I possibly find that out? The Qian n Chamber Of Commerce Association is the most trustworthy business in the world. There''s no way they would ever reveal any information about their sellers."


    "They value integrity to an extreme. This Living Wood is an extraordinary treasure, and they have it in their possession, yet they didn¡¯t even take a single piece of bark for themselves."


    "You must know that many of the Gu King-level ancestors in the Qian n are nearing the end of their lives and urgently need the bark of the Living Wood to extend their lives."


    "Yet, even in such dire circumstances, they did not steal any part of it. They would rather watch their Gu King ancestors die than take even a small piece of the Living Wood."


    "In their eyes, the value of integrity has surpassed the lives of several Gu King-level ancestors. Theirmitment to trustworthiness is terrifying. I admire them deeply."


    "With such integrity, how could I possibly get any information about the alchemy genius?"


    "Moreover, ording to Qian Duoduo, the alchemy genius only shows his eyes when trading with the Qian n. They have no idea who he is. And as you know, the merchants of the Qian n never lie."


    At this moment, atop the highest spire of the Long n¡¯s residence, Long Xuan noticed the person who had suddenly appeared behind him, showing a look of surprise.


    ¡°Master, why are you here?¡±


    Indeed, the visitor was none other than the old Elder Long. After the space hut was ced inside a hall of the Western Long n, members of the Far Western Long n could crawl through the space hut at any time. It wasn¡¯t exactly surprising that Long Ao had suddenly appeared here.


    ¡°Ziyan has been away from home for a long time. I came to see my daughter. Is that not allowed?¡± The Elder Long walked over with a stern face.


    Upon hearing this, for some reason, Long Xuan suddenly felt a bit guilty. Surely he hadn¡¯t discovered what was going on between him and Long Ziyan, right?


    But, just as he feared, the Elder Long''s expression darkened even more. ¡°Ziyan has already told me everything. Good job, kid. Ziyan swore she wouldn¡¯t engage in personal rtionships in this lifetime, yet your charm was strong enough for her to break that vow?¡±


    ¡°We agreed that we wouldn¡¯t ¡®eat the grass around the nest,¡¯ right? And yet, it¡¯s my fault for letting you get so close to her, and for giving you all those chances to consult with her when you didn¡¯t understand something.¡±


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan shrunk his neck and felt even more uneasy. Why did Long Ziyan have to tell him everything? Wouldn¡¯t it have been better to keep this hidden? Now things had be incredibly awkward.


    ¡°Well¡­ we are deeply in love with each other. It¡¯s mutual and sincere, and I promise I will treat her well¡­¡± Long Xuan didn¡¯t know what else to say, so he just blurted out whatever came to mind.


    The Elder Long nodded, sat down beside him, and looked up at the starry sky. Suddenly, he sighed.


    ¡°I¡¯m not against her falling in love. If she¡¯s found happiness, I should be d for her.¡±


    ¡°But! Do you know that she possesses the Nine Yin Severing Body, and that her lifespan is naturally shorter than others?¡± Elder Long''s tone suddenly became serious as he stared at Long Xuan.


    Long Xuan was taken aback. He genuinely had no idea that she had the Nine Yin Severing Body.


    It was said that those with the Nine Yin Severing Body constantly race against time. Each bearer of this constitution possesses the world¡¯s most terrifying cold energy¡ªthe Nine Yin Cold Energy. All ice-attribute abilities in their hands would be amplified tenfold or more.


    The battle power of those with the Nine Yin Severing Body was incredibly formidable, ranking among the Ten Great Physiques, equal in fame to the Ten Absolute Physiques, and simrly known for being invincible at the same level.


    However, this poweres at the cost of a shortened lifespan.


    Due to their short lifespan, it¡¯s difficult for Nine Yin Severing Body bearers to break through to the final stage of cultivation within their limited lifespan. Each bearer spends their life racing against time, but very few throughout history have managed to outrun it.


    It¡¯s said that if a bearer of the Nine Yin Severing Body can extend their lifespan, they will be truly invincible. If Long Ziyan were to learn the Eternal Life Sutra, it would be a perfect match for her. Once her life is no longer bound by her lifespan, her world-defying battle prowess would be unstoppable, propelling her to unimaginable heights.


    Long Xuan hadn¡¯t realized that Long Ziyan not only possessed a Sword Bone but also the Nine Yin Severing Body. No wonder her lifespan appeared so limited.


    Although Long Xuan didn¡¯t know about the Nine Yin Severing Body, he was aware of her shortened lifespan, but he hadn¡¯t given it much thought.


    In his mind, having a short lifespan wasn¡¯t that big of a deal. After all, there were many things in this world that could extend lifespan.


    For instance, the bark of the Living Wood alone could extend one¡¯s lifespan by 500 years, and there were countless other treasures that could increase lifespan.


    If the lifespan is insufficient, you can just replenish it. Such a simple matter. Long Xuan genuinely didn¡¯t see Long Ziyan¡¯s short lifespan as a significant issue.


    Of course, he was speaking lightly, without fully understanding the situation. While there were many treasures that could extend lifespan, how many of them could be easily obtained by an ordinary person?


    Even a peak Gu King would struggle to find treasures that extend lifespan, so how could someone of a lower realm expect to seed?


    If extending lifespan were really that easy, wouldn¡¯t the emperors of this world all have long lives by now? Clearly, that¡¯s impossible.


    Just the Living Wood alone would cause countless Gu Kings to fight tooth and nail for it. Many would even fall in battle for a chance to extend their life by 500 years. How could it be as easy as Long Xuan made it sound?


    If you want those extra 500 years of life, you have to be prepared to risk your life. It¡¯s nowhere near as simple as Long Xuan imagined.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 168: The Story of Elder Long

    "Wait a minute, what did Elder Long mean by that statement?"


    "Ziyan has a short lifespan, could he be after that living wood?"


    "Is that the real reason he came here today? He better not be acting recklessly."


    Long Xuan was startled and hurriedly asked, "You¡¯re not seriously thinking about that living wood, are you?"


    "You must be aware of your own limitations! Even countless Gu Kings have a hard time obtaining that, so don¡¯t get involved as just a Spiritual Sea-stage Gu cultivator."


    "Take my advice! Turn back before it''s toote!" Long Xuan, shocked, anxiously urged him.


    Elder Long rolled his eyes at him and said disdainfully, "Do you really think I¡¯m a fool? That kind of heaven-defying treasure isn''t something a mere Spiritual Sea-level Gu cultivator like me could covet."


    "I don¡¯t need your reminder. I know my limits. Do you think I, Long Ao, don¡¯t understand my boundaries?"


    "I didn¡¯t bring this up to show interest in the living wood. I wanted to tell you that Ziyan¡¯s lifespan is very short, and you should mentally prepare yourself for her aging rapidly.""If one day you notice her growing old, will you change your heart? Look into my eyes and answer!" Elder Long stared directly into Long Xuan¡¯s eyes, his tone heavy with usation.


    "How could that be possible? I¡¯ll love her no matter how old she gets. I actually like older women!" Long Xuan responded instantly without even thinking.


    Joking aside, Long Ziyan wouldn¡¯t age as long as she was with him. He had plenty of ways to extend her life. Extending one¡¯s lifespan wasn¡¯t that difficult, after all.


    Seeing Long Xuan''s firm response without a moment of hesitation, Elder Long nodded and said, "Then remember what you said today. Don¡¯t let her down, or I won¡¯t spare you."


    "I know your character well enough. Trusting Ziyan with you puts me at ease. From now on, I entrust her to you. Don¡¯t disappoint me."


    After speaking, Elder Long rummaged through his storage pouch. Just as Long Xuan wondered if he was digging out a dowry, Elder Long pulled out a few sheets of paper and solemnly handed them to him.


    Elder Long¡¯s face showed a pained expression, as if recalling something, and he sighed, "This is the form for the Longevity Gu that I created, though it¡¯s only halfplete. It can only be considered a fragment."


    "It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want toplete the form, but my strength is simply insufficient. I overestimated my abilities. With my current power, I can¡¯t deduce the materials needed for the rest."


    "Your talent for creating Gu Recipes is unparalleled. I believe no one in the world can surpass you in this field."


    "I¡¯ve reached my limit with this Longevity Gu form. Since Ziyan is now with you, I¡¯ll entrust this fragment to you, a genius in creating Gu, toplete it."


    "I trust in your abilities. Once youplete the form, Ziyan won¡¯t have to worry about her lifespan anymore."


    Elder Long¡¯s expression became distant, and a tender smile appeared on his face, as though lost in memory.


    Seeing this, Long Xuan could tell that Elder Long had a story behind him. As he took the fragment with both hands, his curiosity got the better of him, and he asked, "Did you create this Gu form specifically for Ziyan?"


    Long Xuan nced at the Longevity Gu fragment in his hands and found that it was indeedplete up to that point, with all the materials listed correctly. If the remaining ingredients could be figured out, the form could indeed produce the Gu.


    He was astonished. The number of materials required for this Gu form was in the thousands. Even though Elder Long had only researched half of it,pleting that much already showed he was an exceptional talent. Most people wouldn¡¯t even be able to develop one-tenth of it.


    Long Xuan looked at him in surprise. He hadn¡¯t realized Elder Long had such talent.


    However, Elder Long wasn¡¯t paying attention to Long Xuan¡¯s gaze. He continued staring at the starry sky, his tone mncholic, "You guessed wrong! This Gu form wasn¡¯t created for Ziyan but for her mother, Hongyu."


    "I just¡­ failed. Even by the time Hongyu passed away, I still hadn¡¯t managed toplete the Longevity Gu Recipe."


    Hearing this, Long Xuan was shocked and instinctively asked, "So, was Master¡¯s wife also born with a short lifespan and in need of life-extending treasures?"


    Elder Long nodded, his expression filled with reminiscence. He sighed, "Hongyu had the same Nine Yin Severing Body as Ziyan, a constitution thates with a short lifespan. I exhausted myself trying to find a way to extend her life."


    "Do you know why I¡¯m so deeply in debt, unable to repay it even to this day?"


    Suddenly, Elder Long looked at Long Xuan with a bitter smile, "I spent my entire fortune searching for a way to extend her life. I even sacrificed my cultivation time to study alchemy, naively thinking I could create a pill to increase her lifespan."


    "I was foolish back then. Although life-extending pills theoretically exist, they require heaven-defying materials, far beyond what someone at the Marrow Cleansing stage like I was could ever hope to gather."


    "That path was a failure. Not only did it waste a huge amount of my cultivation time, but it also drained all my resources, slowing my progress. Otherwise, with my talent, I would be a Gu King by now."


    "Sigh! The alchemy path failed, so I turned to creating Gu. I foolishly thought I could invent a Gu that would extend lifespan."


    "But I greatly overestimated my abilities. I had no sense of self-awareness back then. Creating such a heaven-defying Gu was something far beyond what an ordinary person like me could achieve."


    "My ideas at the time were nothing but daydreams. Looking back now, it¡¯s almostughable."


    Elder Longughed at himself and then suddenly tilted his head back, taking a deep swig of wine.


    "I failed again this time, wasting more time for cultivation. I squandered all of my parents¡¯ savings and left myself deep in debt, so much that it was impossible to repay."


    "Heh, do you know how enormous the resources required to research a Gu recipe are? I was truly foolish back then."


    Elder Long let out a bitterugh, took a big gulp of wine, and continued, "Do you know that all the things I did during those years werepletely pointless?"


    "Not only did I fail to discover anything, but I also wasted precious cultivation time and drained all my resources. As a result, my cultivation speed slowed, and I exhausted my potential, making it difficult for me to advance further on the path of strength."


    "What hurt me the most was that Hongyu never understood my actions. I was trying to research something to extend her lifespan, and I had no time to be with her. She thought it was because she had aged, and that¡¯s why I didn¡¯t want to touch her."


    "She became paranoid and constantly argued with me. Whenever she saw me getting close to another woman, she would assume there was a third party involved."


    "Because of my repeated failures in the experiments, I became frustrated. We had a huge argument, and in a fit of anger, I told her I had someone else and left to clear my mind. But I never expected that leaving would be our final farewell. I never got to see her onest time. I regret it so much..."


    Elder Long''s face showed immense pain, his eyes turned red, and he quickly shifted his gaze away.


    Long Xuan looked at him with aplicated expression, wanting tofort him but not knowing how. In the end, he could only sigh and shift his gaze to a random spot in the starry sky.


    He never imagined that Elder Long had such a story, nor that Long Ziyan had such a past. No wonder their rtionship was so strained.


    It was truly a tragic story¡ªlike something out of a melodrama.


    Elder Long wasted all his wealth and resources in a desperate attempt to find a way to extend her lifespan, even falling into endless debt. It was absurd, yet there was noughter, only sorrow. Perhaps this was love taken to its extreme. After all, how many couples in love remain rational?


    At this moment, Long Xuan had made up his mind. He wouldplete the remaining parts of the Longevity Gu form as quickly as possible to help fulfill Elder Long''s dream. If Elder Long saw the Longevity Gu form he had spent his entire life working on finally beingpleted, he would surely be moved to tears. That way, there would be one less regret in his life.


    ¡­


    Meanwhile, in a secret chamber at the Qian Auction House.


    "Young Miss, the Living Wood is about to go on auction. Are we really not doing anything?"


    "How about I disguise myself as a buyer and bid for it? With the wealth of the Qian Chamber Of Commerce, we can definitely buy the Living Wood."


    Qian Duoduo looked respectfully at the beautiful woman sitting on a red chair as he spoke.


    Qian Jinjing nced at him and said helplessly, "Are you addicted to disguising yourself as a buyer? I saw you pretending to be a buyer during the auction for the Spirit Wine today."


    "Even though it¡¯s a loophole we can exploit, you¡¯re not allowed to do it again, understand?"


    "If anyone discovers the deception, it will damage the reputation of the Qian n."


    Hearing this, Qian Duoduo looked embarrassed. He hadn¡¯t expected his ¡®perfect¡¯ disguise to be seen through so easily by the young miss. Her sharp eyes really were like torches.


    If Qian Jinjing knew his inner thoughts, she would definitely mock him. With his round physique, how could he have ¡®perfectly¡¯ disguised himself? It was way too obvious!


    "Are we really going to give up on a treasure as powerful as the Living Wood? Even if we just chip off a small piece of its bark, it would still be worth it."


    Qian Duoduo persisted, showing an extremely reluctant expression.


    Qian Jinjing immediately fixed him with a sharp gaze and said sternly, "Don¡¯t do anything unnecessary, understand?"


    "It¡¯s not my decision to do nothing¡ªit¡¯s the decision of the entire n."


    "The n already convened a meeting of the elders, and the final unanimous vote was to give up on the Living Wood."


    "All the senior members of the family believe that fighting over the Living Wood will bring more harm than benefit."


    "The n¡¯s reputation is the foundation of our prosperity. With a good reputation, we will have an endless stream of wealth. For our n, reputation is far more valuable than ten Living Woods."


    "Even the many Gu Kings in our n who are on the verge of reaching the end of their lifespan have painfully given up their desire for the Living Wood. Yet you, a mere steward, dare to set your sights on it?"


    "Put away all your little schemes. No matter how reasonable your exnations are, the moment you make a move on the Living Wood, others will surely be suspicious. Don¡¯t take the world for fools, understand?"


    Qian Jinjing¡¯s tone was severe, and she looked at Qian Duoduo with a scolding gaze.


    ¡­

 Chapter 169: The Great Yin Dynasty

    Elder Long, having drunk too much, had already fallen asleep, snoring loudly.


    With the nagging man before him now quiet, Long Xuan was finally able to focus his attention on the auction.


    Only then did he realize that the auction had unknowingly entered its final phase. Thest item was about to be auctioned.


    And without a doubt, the final item was the "Living Wood." Long Xuan immediately perked up, concentrating entirely on the Living Wood, which had just been ced on the auction stage.


    As soon as the Living Wood appeared, as expected, the entire room was thrown into chaos. Everyone gazed at it with greedy eyes, their faces flushed, and their breathing quickened.


    Many Gu Kings stood up from their seats, staring intensely at the Living Wood as if they had justid eyes on a peerless beauty, eager to possess it.


    Although the Living Wood wasn¡¯t tall, it was human-shaped, with hollow eye sockets and a mouth on its trunk, giving it an eerie appearance.


    The moment it appeared, it captured everyone''s attention. None of the Gu Kings could tear their eyes away, as if their souls had been seized by the Living Wood.


    "Haha, the Qian Chamber of Commerce is truly trustworthy. You¡¯ve held onto this Living Wood for so long without so much as a single piece of bark falling off," City Lord Yan Pomilitary eximed in admiration after carefully inspecting the Living Wood and finding no signs of damage.He asked himself if he would have been able to guard the Living Wood without attempting to pry a piece of bark off. If necessary, he could always find a scapegoat. In this world, excuses were always easy toe by, and he had plenty of reasons at hand to deflect me.


    The merchants of the Qian Chamber of Commerce were incredibly shrewd, and surely they could havee up with a reasonable exnation. Yet, they hadn¡¯t done so, and for that, he couldn¡¯t help but admire their integrity.


    Standing on the auction tform, Qian Jinjin, the merchant representing the guild,ughed and said, "The Qian Chamber of Commerce has always valued trust. Trust is the foundation of amerce guild''s survival. How could the Qian Chamber of Commerce forget its roots?"


    "Though the Living Wood is valuable, it doesn¡¯t outweigh our reputation. Nothing is worth trading for the Qian n''s Chamber of Commerce integrity."


    As soon as he said this, all the Gu Kings in the room nodded with approval. Even Long Xuan, far away in the Long n mansion, showed a look of admiration. Don¡¯t ask how he heard this conversation¡ªhis clone had long mastered lip-reading, making this exnation entirely reasonable.


    As the saying goes, mastering multiple skills never burdens a person. Long Xuan''s repertoire of obscure knowledge far exceeded lip-reading; he could even pick locks now.


    "The hour growste, so I won¡¯t waste time. As for the uses and value of the Living Wood, I believe everyone here already knows."


    "The starting price for the Living Wood is 10 billion spirit stones! Let the bidding begin!"


    Qian Jinyin¡¯s crisp voice suddenly rang out, and the entire audience gasped.


    The starting price alone was 10 billion spirit stones! Although many had mentally prepared themselves, they were still startled by this astronomical sum.


    What kind of concept was 10 billion spirit stones? Even if most powers in the Western Territories sold off all their assets, they couldn¡¯te up with that amount. It was an outrageous figure.


    But there were still quite a few powers that could produce 10 billion spirit stones. The Qian Chamber of Commerce had given three months to prepare, and many of the top ten ns of ckstone City could pool together 10 billion.


    However, this didn¡¯t include the Long n of the Western Territories. They had been fixated on researching the Dragon Blood Battle Gu. Developing a Peak-grade Gu recipe was an exorbitant endeavor, a bottomless pit. Even if they threw 10 billion into it, it might not be enough.


    It was already a blessing that they weren¡¯t in debt. Where would theye up with 10 billion?


    All the Gu Kings of the Long n present wore bitter expressions. They knew they had no chance ofpeting for the Living Wood and could only sit there, watching longingly.


    They were short on funds and had barely participated in bidding for the other treasures at the auction. They hade mainly to watch the excitement and see if there was any chaos that might present them with an opportunity.


    Even the Yao n appeared to have withdrawn from thepetition. The wealthiest group in ckstone City now seemed to be the Dan n. After all, they were in the pill business, one of the most profitable trades.


    Without dy, the head of the Dan n called out, "The Dan n bids 11 billion!"


    Everyone immediately turned their eyes to the head of the Dan n, secretly clicking their tongues in amazement.


    Impressive¡ªhe had raised the bid by a full billion without even batting an eye. And it seemed like 11 billion wasn¡¯t even close to the Dan n¡¯s limit. Their wealth truly lived up to their reputation.


    However, even though the Dan n head had bid an astronomical 11 billion,pared to the true value of the Living Wood, it was still too low. Just adding one billion wouldn¡¯t scare anyone off.


    Soon, another voice rang out: "I bid 15 billion!"


    The sudden bid stunned everyone. Who was this person with such wealth, raising the price by a full 4 billion in one go? Everyone turned to look at the bidder.


    They saw that the person in the third VIP room had arge ¡°Cai¡± (wealth) character embroidered on their clothes, causing a chill to run down their spines.


    It was the Cai Chamber of Commerce. Only the merchants of the Cai Chamber of Commerce wore such attire, with hats shaped like golden ingots and an aura of prosperity surrounding them.


    The Cai Chamber of Commerce possessed the Fortune Gu, which gathered fortune and wealth. It was a transregionalmerce guild on par with the Qian Chamber of Commerce and fabulously rich.


    Only a guild like the Cai Chamber of Commerce could casually bid 15 billion without blinking an eye at such an exorbitant amount.


    Seeing that it was the Cai Chamber of Commerce making the bid, no one was particrly surprised.


    Upon realizing this, the head of the Dan n felt a sinking feeling in his heart.


    No matter how wealthy the Dan n was, how could they possiblypete with a majormerce guild?


    Theserge guilds had methods to avoid all sorts of dangers along trade routes, allowing them to do business in multiple regions and engage in low-buy, high-sell strategies. They made outrageous profits.


    Even though the Dan n made plenty from selling Breakthrough King Pills, they were nothingpared to therge guilds. Competing with the Cai Chamber of Commerce in terms of wealth was utterly futile.


    The Dan n head¡¯s face darkened as he slowly sat down, giving up on the idea of continuing to bid.


    Though the Dan n could still offer a higher price, he knew thatpeting with the Cai Chamber of Commerce was hopeless. Continuing the bidding would only waste time.


    At this moment, all the Gu Kings of ck Stone City wore bitter expressions. It now seemed clear that none of the local forces in ck Stone City had the qualifications topete for the Living Wood.


    The Living Wood would ultimately be taken by a force from the border regions, leaving them as mere spectators in their own territory.


    There was nothing they could do; the promotion period had been far too long, attracting too many wealthy external forces.


    The Cai n Chamber of Commerce originally didn¡¯t do business in the Western Lands, but even they were drawn here by a single Living Wood.


    With the Cai n Chamber of Commerce joining the bidding, none of the forces in ck Stone City stood a chance.


    "15 billion. Is there any higher bid? 15 billion, going once!"


    The sudden voice of Qian Jinjin finally brought the dazed crowd back to their senses.


    Just as they thought no one dared to challenge the Cai n Chamber of Commerce in terms of wealth, another voice sounded from Box One.


    "The Great Yin Dynasty bids 20 billion spirit stones!"


    At the mention of 20 billion, the crowd collectively gasped. Everyone immediately turned their eyes toward Box One, shock evident in their gazes.


    It was actually the Great Yin Dynasty¡ªa nation.


    If any force couldpete financially with arge merchant guild, it would be a national treasury.


    The Great Yin Dynasty was a super empire from the Moon Lands. The finances of such an empire could definitely rival those of the Cai n Chamber of Commerce.


    Seeing a national force enter thepetition for the Living Wood, everyone''s eyes flickered.


    In the Western Lands, power was organized around ns, and there were no nations.


    National civilizations could only be found closer to the center of the Gu Realm. Just east of the Western Landsy the Moon Lands, home to national civilizations like the Great Yin Dynasty.


    Clearly, the three months of promotion had been enough to attract even national-level powers.


    No nationcked funds. With the Great Yin Dynasty involved in the bidding, the final price of the Living Wood might skyrocket.


    In Box Three, a middle-aged, portly man exuding the peak aura of a Gu King stood up. He nced toward Box One, his brow furrowing, a grave expression on his face.


    He hadn¡¯t expected a nation to make a move. For a nation, taking out a few hundred billion was no issue at all. It seemed that if the Cai n wanted to secure the Living Wood, they would need to bleed heavily.


    After a brief silence, Cai Xuan directly raised the bid: "The Cai n Chamber of Commerce bids 40 billion spirit stones!"


    He knew that for a nation, bidding 40 billion wasn¡¯t difficult, so he didn¡¯t bother with gradual increases. He simply called out the chamber¡¯s limit. If the Great Yin Dynasty could outbid this price, then the Cai n would abandon their im to the Living Wood.


    At the mention of this price, the crowd was once again shocked. 40 billion was a truly terrifying figure. It was a number so extravagant that no one dared to imagine it.


    At that moment, everyone realized the terrifying financial power of arge merchant guild.


    And if someone could easily produce such a sum, how many Gu Kings could they cultivate? No one dared to contemte.


    In Box One, five people were seated. One of them was an old man dressed in luxurious silver robes, his face exuding a sense of authority, while he released the terrifying aura of a peak Gu King.


    Luo Yu nced sideways toward Box Three, his expression filled with disdain as he spoke: "40 billion spirit stones should be your limit, correct?"


    "In that case, I won''t raise the bid much higher. I bid 40.1 billion spirit stones."


    In Box Three, Cai Xuan chuckled. "Heh, 40 billion is far from the Cai n Chamber of Commerce¡¯s limit. The depth of our resources exceeds a trillion."


    "However, raising the price further would be unwise. When purchasing an item, you must not only consider its value but also the risks involved."


    "Even if the Cai n sessfully won the Living Wood today, it¡¯s not a certainty that we could take it away. Offering 40 billion involves great risks, and there¡¯s a chance that those 40 billion would be wasted."


    "Considering the risks involved with the Living Wood, the Cai n has chosen to stop bidding."


    "Though you¡¯ve added one billion more to secure the Living Wood today, I¡¯m curious to see whether you can actually take it with you."


    "With so many Gu Kings gathered here, what are the chances you¡¯ll be attacked as soon as you leave the city?"


    "The distance between ck Stone City and the capital of the Great Yin Dynasty is far too great. There are countless potential mishaps along such a long journey."


    "I predict that you won¡¯t be able to take the Living Wood back safely to the Great Yin Dynasty capital." Cai Xuan sneered coldly.


    "Heh! Whether I can safely take the Living Wood back or not is no concern of yours."


    "If I dared to make the bid, I¡¯m fully confident that I can bring the Living Wood back."


    Luo Yu cast a nce in Cai Xuan''s direction, a confident smile ying on his lips.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 170: Luo Yus Scheme

    ¡°Little girl, I don''t think anyone will offer a higher bid than mine. Hurry up and bring the hammer down,¡± Luo Yu turned his head towards Qian Jinjin and urged.


    Qian Jinjin looked around. Seeing that no one else intended to bid, she quickly announced, ¡°Is there anyone else offering a higher price? 40.1 billion going once! 40.1 billion going twice! 40.1 billion going three times!¡±


    ¡°Sold! Congrattions, Mr. Luo!¡±


    Qian Jinjin¡¯s small hammer struck the table heavily, officially announcing that the Living Wood was sold. Everyone in the room breathed a sigh of relief. Even though the auction hadn¡¯tsted long, it felt like an eternity. They were more nervous than the one who won the bid.


    Although the auction had ended, not a single Gu King chose to leave.


    All the Gu Kings¡¯ eyes were fixed on Box Number 1, their expressions shifting mysteriously, each harboring their own intentions.


    No matter what they were thinking, everyone was paying close attention to Luo Yu¡¯s next move.


    Luo Yu naturally noticed the malicious gazes from the crowd below and snorted coldly in his heart.


    Before long, Qian Jinjin led a group of Qian n Gu cultivators into Box Number 1, carrying a giant Living Wood.Upon seeing the Living Wood, Luo Yu¡¯s eyes lit up immediately. He hurried over and carefully touched the bark, his fingers trembling, his face brimming with joy.


    ¡°Haha¡­ Is this the legendary Living Wood? Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful!¡±


    ¡°To witness a heavenly-grade spirit herb in my lifetime, I, Luo Yu, have lived without regrets!¡±


    Luo Yuughed excitedly and threw a storage pouch toward Qian Jinjin.


    ¡°These are 40.1 billion spirit stones. Count them.¡±


    Qian Jinjin caught the storage pouch and, with a quick nce inside, somehow managed to swiftly verify the staggering number of over 40 billion spirit stones.


    ¡°The amount is correct. You can now take the Living Wood with you.¡±


    ¡°Once you leave this auction house, any issues with the Living Wood will have nothing to do with the Qian n Auction House.¡±


    Luo Yu understood what she meant andughed heartily, ¡°Of course. Don¡¯t worry, the Living Wood won¡¯t be lost in my hands.¡±


    He smiled confidently, as if he had a perfect n to bring the Living Wood back safely.


    ¡°Since Mr. Luo is so confident, we¡¯ll leave it in your capable hands.¡±


    After leaving the Living Wood behind, Qian Jinjin and the group of Qian n Gu practitioners exited Box Number 1, with no intention of continuing the conversation.


    As Luo Yu watched them leave, the smile on his face suddenly disappeared, reced by a serious expression.


    He quickly took out four ck formation gs and ced them in the four corners of the room. Instantly, a square ck barrier enveloped the space.


    Now, no one outside could see or hear what was happening inside.


    After setting up the formation, Luo Yu eagerly approached the Living Wood, patted its bark, and gently pried off a small piece of it.


    He examined the piece closely, a faint smile appearing on his face, before taking out a silver snake from his insect pouch.


    The small snake slithered onto the trunk of the Living Wood. With a sh of silver light, both the snake and the tree vanished into thin air.


    Luo Yu smirked in satisfaction. He ced the piece of bark into arge chest, then turned to the group of Luo n Gu practitioners beside him and said sternly:


    ¡°I¡¯ve used the Transfer Gu to relocate the Living Wood. It¡¯s now in the hands of the Ninth Prince. Even if those Gu Kings exhaust themselves, they¡¯ll never find it.¡±


    ¡°Now, let me exin my n. Shortly, I will leave the city as quickly as possible, while you all remain inside.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll pretend to be using a trick, though there¡¯s no need for us to act too much. Some clever people will suspect that I didn¡¯t take the Living Wood with me but instead left it in the hands of you low-realm cultivators, thinking that I¡¯m deliberately luring all the Gu Kings out of the city so you can escape with the wood from another direction.¡±


    ¡°Someone will definitely think that way, and it won¡¯t be just one person. So, some of them will target you.¡±


    ¡°This chest cannot hide the aura of a heavenly-grade spirit herb. A piece of the Living Wood¡¯s bark is enough to convince everyone that the wood is inside the chest.¡±


    ¡°When you¡¯re driven into a corner, make a desperate move and destroy the chestpletely.¡±


    ¡°My clone will self-destruct and take a group of Gu Kings with me to the grave. Everyone will believe that the Living Wood was destroyed in the battle, and from then on, the Great Yin Dynasty will forever keep a Living Wood hidden from the world.¡±


    ¡°In this n, your sacrifice is necessary. We must make it look like our perfect n was exposed.¡±


    ¡°If I were to recklessly charge out with the Living Wood and have it destroyed in the siege, everyone would suspect a trap.¡±


    ¡°Rest assured, your deaths will not be in vain. Your families will be taken care of by the Great Yin Dynasty. The treasures the dynasty rewards your families with will be worth ten of your lives.¡±


    Luo Yu¡¯s expression suddenly grew stern as he looked at them with murderous intent, ¡°Remember, none of you shouldplicate things by fearing death. The emperor of the Great Yin Dynasty doesn¡¯t have much time left and desperately needs the Living Wood.¡±


    ¡°If this n fails and the emperor dies, chaos will erupt in the Great Yin Dynasty, and you will be traitors to the nation.¡±


    ¡°On the contrary, if our n seeds, it will be a great contribution. All of us will have made a significant achievement in protecting the nation, and even our families will benefit immensely.¡±


    Upon hearing this, the other four people in the room nodded in agreement. Their eyes were filled with determination, and there was no hint of fear of death on their faces, only a readiness to face it with valor.


    They were all death warriors, and from the moment they arrived, they knew their fate. They had already mentally prepared themselves, so how could they fear death?


    Seeing their fearless expressions, Luo Yu nodded in satisfaction. With such resolve, he feltpletely at ease.


    As long as they didn¡¯t mess things up, the n was foolproof. It was enough to deceive everyone and achieve their goals without raising suspicion.


    Luo Yu couldn¡¯t help but marvel at his own wisdom, deeply satisfied with his strategic brilliance.


    The n was simply too perfect, utterly seamless. He didn¡¯t believe anyone could see through it.


    However, just as he was thinking this, a person standing far away on a spire showed a look of shock.


    What¡¯s going on? Why has the infinite progress suddenly disappeared?


    He couldn¡¯t help but rub his eyes and focus again, but he still couldn¡¯t find the ¡Þ symbol. His expression froze.


    Just a moment ago, the infinite symbol ¡Þ had suddenly vanished without warning. It disappeared without a trace, as if it had been erased from existence, which was truly eerie.


    What was happening? How could the progress suddenly vanish? The situation startled him.


    Could it be that the Living Wood was destroyed? Absolutely impossible! Long Xuan shook his head, quickly dismissing the absurd thought.


    After going to such lengths and spending so many resources to acquire the Living Wood, how could it be so easily destroyed? It was impossible. He didn¡¯t believe that the people inside the room would be willing to destroy the Living Wood.


    And if the Living Wood hadn¡¯t been destroyed, there could only be one exnation for the progress disappearing¡ªit had been instantly transferred away by some miraculous method.


    Long Xuan¡¯s eyes shed with brilliance as his mind raced.


    He believed he had figured out the people¡¯s scheme. They had used some unknown method to transfer the Living Wood away in an instant.


    The Gu cultivators of the Great Yin Dynasty inside the room must have taken a fake Living Wood to draw attention, leading all the Gu Kings away.


    Once all the Gu Kings were lured away by the fake Living Wood, another group of Gu cultivators from the Great Yin Dynasty would calmly leave with the real Living Wood.


    At this point, there shouldn¡¯t be many Gu Kings left in the city. The chances of them safely returning to the Great Yin Dynasty with the real Living Wood were quite high.


    Interesting. It seems they¡¯re trying to pull off a deception. The n is clever, very clever.


    No wonder the peak Gu King of the Great Yin Dynasty was so confident¡ªit turns out they had this trick up their sleeve.


    Long Xuan¡¯s lips curled into a slow smile.


    Unfortunately, no matter how brilliant the n, they made a grave mistake by encountering me. Do they really think they can deceive me with their little scheme? They¡¯d better not mess this up.


    Long Xuan¡¯s eyes darted around. Any teleportation ability would have a distance limit. To transport something over a vast distance would require a costly teleportation array. The Living Wood couldn¡¯t have been teleported far¡ªit must still be nearby, maybe even within the city.


    Long Xuan¡¯s eyes brightened as he eagerly activated his Eye Of Heaven, using all of his visual power to scan the entire city, leaving no corner untouched.


    It didn¡¯t take long for him to spot the familiar ¡Þ symbol in a small, unassuming house at the edge of the city.


    Long Xuan¡¯s eyes widened in astonishment, and his pupils gleamed with light.


    Upon seeing that only two Gu cultivators at the Spiritual Sea stage were guarding the small courtyard, his eyes flickered with excitement. His breathing quickened, and his heart raced uncontrobly. He was too exhrated.


    This was a heaven-sent opportunity, a once-in-a-lifetime chance!


    There wasn¡¯t a single Gu King in the surrounding area. It was incredibly rare for a priceless treasure to be left unguarded by strong forces. If he didn¡¯t act now, when would he?


    Long Xuan clenched his fists, ready to make his move.


    Originally, he hadn¡¯t nned on fighting for the Living Wood, as extending his life by five hundred years didn¡¯t interest him.


    But after witnessing this scene, his thoughts became lively, and he began to covet the Living Wood, wanting to im it for himself.


    He couldn¡¯t help it. The Living Wood might not be of much use to him, but now that it wasid bare in front of him, easy to obtain, it was almost like a free gift. Who wouldn¡¯t be tempted?


    Something free? Why not take it?


    Long Xuan¡¯s eyes lit up. Without hesitation, he jumped down from the spire and quietly made his way towards the small house.


    Meanwhile, inside the auction house, after a secret conversation among the members of the Great Yin Dynasty, Luo Yu finally withdrew the barrier and strode outside, heading straight for the city gates.


    The Gu Kings in the auction hall brightened at this sight, immediately trailing behind him from a distance, flowing out of the auction house in arge crowd.


    In just an instant, the auction hall, which had been full of Gu Kings, was now empty, with not a single Gu King remaining.


    ........................................................................


    Read extra chapters on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 171: Qian Jinjins Big Gamble

    Qian Jinjin looked at the empty hall and then at Luo Yu¡¯s gradually disappearing silhouette. After ncing at the storage ring containing 40.1 billion spirit stones in her hand, she showed a pleasant smile.


    ¡°If my guess is correct, Shi Haojun probably won¡¯te to im the 40.1 billion spirit stones.¡±


    ¡°Not bad at all, we¡¯ve identally swindled 40.1 billion!¡±


    Hearing this, Qian Duoduo was shocked. ¡°Miss, are you so sure that Shi Haojun won¡¯t im this amount? This is 40.1 billion spirit stones!¡±


    Qian Jinjin¡¯s smile didn¡¯t waver as she replied, ¡°A major demonic cultivator about to be heavily wanted, how could he enter the city openly?¡±


    ¡°Even if he wanted to demand it from us, he wouldn¡¯t be able to.¡±


    ¡°This isn¡¯t us defaulting on the debt¡ªit¡¯s just a situation out of our control.¡±


    She shook the storage ring on her finger, her smile growing wider.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go! Things are about to change here, so we need to hide for a while.¡±¡°Keep an eye on the news here. If Living Wood is lost in Luo Yu¡¯s hands, immediately stockpile war supplies. War is likelying.¡±


    ¡°The battlefield is the best ce to make a fortune. We¡¯re really lucky; we¡¯ve just arrived, and we¡¯re about to make another big profit.¡±


    Hearing this, Qian Duoduo was shocked again. He couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°War ising? How did you predict this? Do you have foresight?¡±


    Qian Jinjin looked at him and smiled. ¡°I¡¯m only guessing; I might not be right. The emperor of the Great Yin Dynasty doesn¡¯t have much time left.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve studied history, so you should understand that eternal life is something every emperor pursues, at any cost.¡±


    ¡°Every emperor is extremely selfish. If Living Wood is lost and he can¡¯t extend his life for another 500 years, what do you think the old emperor will do?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯ll definitely wage war against the force that took Living Wood. And if he doesn¡¯t know which force stole it, to find Living Wood, he might go so far as to ughter a thousand innocents just to ensure he doesn¡¯t miss the culprit. It¡¯s entirely possible for him to bathe the entire region in blood.¡±


    ¡°Never underestimate the madness of a dying emperor. They¡¯re capable of anything. When an emperor is enraged, a million corpses can fall. To find Living Wood, he will unleash indiscriminate attacks.¡±


    ¡°Moreover, the Great Yin Dynasty has always coveted thend of the Western Territory, wanting to annex thisnd, which has no ruling nation. If a key figure from the Great Yin Dynasty dies here, wouldn¡¯t that serve as a perfect pretext to send troops?¡±


    ¡°Of course, this is just my guess. With these reasons alone, I can¡¯t prove that the Great Yin Dynasty will definitely attack the Western Land''s. My exnation might be a bit far-fetched.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just cing a bet because I just got 40.1 billion for free. Even if I lose the bet, I won¡¯t lose anything. But if I win, I¡¯ll be one step closer to bing the head of the family.¡±


    Qian Jinjin¡¯s lips curved into a confident smile. ¡°I¡¯ve made many big bets and never lost. Even thest gamble with the Insect Armor Master¡ªI won that by relying on my sharp instincts.¡±


    ¡°Now, keep a close watch on Living Wood. If it¡¯s lost, quickly stockpile war materials. We¡¯ll be doing business with both the Western Land''s and the Great Yin Dynasty.¡±


    Qian Jinjin suddenly turned her gaze toward the direction of ck Moon City, her expressionplex, as if she was thinking about something.


    ¡°The trouble brewing over there won¡¯t be small either. Tonight is destined to be a sleepless one¡­¡±


    ---


    After leaving the city gate, Luo Yu nced behind him, snorted coldly, and then elerated, flying toward the distance as fast as he could.


    The Gu Kings behind him were shocked and hurriedly chased after him, closely following behind.


    However, not all the Gu Kings left the city. Some of them had a flicker in their eyes, hesitating.


    Luo Yu didn¡¯t enter the city alone. He had brought several attendants with him.


    His attendants hadn¡¯t been taken out of the city¡ªthey were still inside.


    Could it be that Luo Yu was acting as bait, deliberately luring the Gu Kings out of the city while his attendants took the chance to smuggle Living Wood out?


    This possibility couldn¡¯t be ruled out. When the first VIP room was shrouded in a ck barrier, no one could see inside. Who knew who had Living Wood?


    Knowing that he couldn¡¯t escape with Living Wood surrounded by the Gu Kings, it made perfect sense for Luo Yu to secretly hand it over to someone else.


    More than one person thought this. Many people at the moment had the same idea¡ªthis simple ruse of trickery couldn¡¯t be ignored.


    Many of the Gu Kings hesitated, unsure if Huo Mu was in Luo Yu¡¯s hands or his attendants¡¯. Who could be certain?


    As Luo Yu flew further away, they knew that if they dyed any longer, they wouldn¡¯t be able to catch up.


    One impatient Gu King gritted his teeth and decided to kill all of Luo Yu¡¯s attendants in the city. If Living Wood wasn¡¯t found, he¡¯d chase after Luo Yu immediately.


    Although killing was forbidden in the city, he was a Gu King. A Gu King could instantly kill someone and flee the city¡ªwho could stop him?


    Rules are always made for the weak. They couldn¡¯t possibly restrain a strong person who coulde and go as they pleased.


    He didn¡¯t hesitate any longer. His gaze sharpened, and he decisively struck, aiming a heavy palm at one of the attendants.


    The attendant was horrified. He couldn¡¯t afford to hide anymore and revealed his Gu King aura, immediately turning and fleeing, escaping the city in the blink of an eye.


    Seeing this, instead of being rmed, everyone¡¯s eyes lit up.


    It turned out to be a Gu King in disguise. Why would someone hide their cultivation if they didn¡¯t have something to conceal? Living Wood must be on him!


    The remaining Gu Kings showed expressions of joy, chasing after him outside the city in excitement.


    ¡°Hahaha! Luo Yu thought he was being clever, thinking I wouldn¡¯t believe Living Wood could be on a Marrow Cleansing Gu cultivator? How naive! When ites to treasures like Living Wood, it¡¯s better to kill a thousand than to miss one. How could such a trick work on me?¡±


    ¡°Those fools were tricked by Luo Yu. Only a few of us were smart enough. No wonder Living Wood is destined to be ours! Hahaha¡­¡±


    ¡°Hurry! Don¡¯t let him get away! He¡¯s only a mid-level Gu King, and if we work together, we can kill him quickly. Then we¡¯ll split Living Wood among us!¡±


    "Exactly as intended..."


    The group of Gu Kingsughed heartily, full of pride, as they chased out of the city.


    They believed themselves to be wise, but were they truly wise?


    ¡­


    At this moment, in a certain simple, rundown house.


    Two young men, dressed in luxurious robes, stood at the center of the hall. Between them was a strange tree shaped like a person. If it wasn''t a living tree, then what was it?


    "Brother Nine, Uncle Emperor repeatedly warned us not to open the Insect-Rearing Bag."


    "The Insect Bag is specially made to effectively prevent the scent of a peak-grade spiritual herb from leaking out."


    The younger of the two, Luo Ye, hesitated with a nervous expression as he gazed at the living tree on the ground, his face full of tension and a hint of cowardice in his eyes.


    Luo Zheng cast a disdainful nce at him and said with scorn, "What are you afraid of? We are princes! How can you achieve great things with such a timid heart?"


    "Rest assured, I have already set up an istion formation around the house, which is more than enough to block the scent of the peak-grade spiritual herb from escaping."


    After saying that, Luo Zheng boldly walked over, casually snapped off two pieces of bark from the living tree, and threw one piece toward Luo Ye.


    Luo Ye was startled and clumsily caught it, his hands trembling as he held the bark from the living tree.


    With fear in his eyes and a trembling voice, he said, "What are you doing? How could you tear off the bark? Are you really nning to steal from under emperor''s own noses?"


    Seeing Luo Ye so terrified, Luo Zheng looked impatient.


    "Hmph! Look how scared you are! You''re truly a coward!"


    "Fortune favors the bold, while the timid starve! This is something that can increase one''s lifespan by 500 years¡ªaren¡¯t you tempted?"


    "Such a heaven-defying treasure is right in front of us. Anyone who isn''t moved by it is a fool!"


    "Don''t worry. We are noble princes. Tearing off a piece of bark is hardly a crime punishable by death!"


    "And as long as it''s not punishable by death, we stand to gain."


    "Extending our lifespan by 500 years¡ªno matter what punishment we face, it''s worth it!"


    "If we can cover this up, great. If not, so what? There''s nothing to fear. Those who achieve great things don''t hesitate or second-guess themselves."


    As soon as he finished speaking, Luo Zheng boldly threw the piece of bark into his mouth without a trace of guilt for his misdeed.


    Luo Ye looked at Luo Zheng, then at the bark in his hand. He hesitated, his heart pounding with nerves.


    By nature, he was timid and fearful, never daring tomit theft. But this was a treasure that could extend his lifespan by 500 years¡ªa temptation too great to resist. Even the most cowardly person would find themselves emboldened in the face of such a treasure.


    In the end, Luo Ye couldn''t ovee the greed in his heart. With a determined look, he closed his eyes, gathered his courage, and swallowed the bark in one gulp.


    Luo Zheng nodded in satisfaction. As long as he dragged Luo Ye down with him, things would be much easier. After all, Luo Ye was the Empress''s youngest son, so if he was involved, they wouldn''t face too severe a punishment.


    He quickly put the living tree, now missing three pieces of bark, back into the Insect Rearing Bag. He then carefully ced the bag at his waist, patting it gently as if it were a treasure, a satisfied smile on his face.


    What he didn¡¯t realize was that someone in the distance had quietly observed the entire scene, watching himmit this act of theft.


    "Just as I thought, the living tree is indeed here."


    Seeing the living tree, Long Xuan¡¯s pupils contracted, and his heartbeat quickened with joy.


    "Don''t make a fuss!"


    Long Xuan patted the Insect Rearing Bag that was wriggling. Inside, the little rabbit had started acting up again.


    As soon as it sensed the scent of the peak-grade spiritual herb, the rabbit began thrashing about, causing the Insect Rearing Bag to shift into various shapes.


    It was unclear why the peak-grade spiritual herb had such a strong allure for the rabbit. Whenever it caught sight of it, it couldn¡¯t move and would go into a frenzy, urging Long Xuan to snatch the herb as quickly as possible.


    To be fair, this rabbit loved hanging around the fire dragon fruit tree and the divine dragon wood.


    Not to mention, as a clever creature, it had dug several tunnels beneath its favorite spiritual trees, creating multiple escape routes.


    It was unclear what it found so attractive about the peak-grade and earth-grade spiritual herb. Could it be that it wanted them for refining pills? It spent all its time refining pills and had practically refined itself into a fool.


    Long Xuan had been here for some time, but the Origin Realm couldn''t be activated instantly; it required some preparation time.


    He and his five clones worked together to activate the Origin Realm, amplifying its power to an unknown level, perfectly ovepping the illusory world with the real world in this area.


    Naturally, the Origin Realm wouldn''t affect the two Spiritual Sea Realm experts guarding the door.


    However, with the illusory world and the real world perfectly superimposed, even if they weren''t caught in the illusion, they wouldn¡¯t notice any changes in the surroundings.


    As for the two Marrow Cleansing stage princes inside the house, they had no chance of escaping the effects of the Origin Realm.


    Their consciousnesses were immediately pulled into the Origin Realm, leaving their bodies frozen in ce. Since the scenery around them hadn¡¯t changed instantly, the two had no idea they were already caught in the illusion.

 Chapter 172: Success

    At the same time, Long Xuan finally untied the tightly knotted Insect rearing bag and released a rabbit that had been frantically struggling inside. As soon as the rabbit leaped out, it eagerly burrowed into the ground, tunneling through the earth. In a short while, it reached the location of the two princes'' chambers and then gently hopped up from the soil.


    The rabbit had a clear objective. Once out of the ground, it swiftly dashed towards Luo Zheng and opened the Insect rearing bag at his waist. It then retrieved the enormous living wood inside. With a nce of admiration in its eyes, the rabbit quickly stuffed the living wood into its own Insect rearing bag.


    Inside the bag was a Sou Gu. To prevent the aura of the peak-grade spiritual herb from leaking out and attracting unwanted attention, Long Xuan had decided to have the Sou Gu transfer the living wood away.


    He didn''t believe that once the living wood was transferred to the Far western region, anyone would still be able to sense its aura.


    As soon as the living wood entered the Insect rearing bag, the Sou Gu''s eyes lit up, glowing brightly. This was prime material!


    The rabbit, now satisfied after stashing the living wood into its Insect rearing bag, didn''t forget to securely retie Luo Zheng¡¯s pouch. Then, it immediately burrowed into the ground again, disappearing without a trace.


    The two Gu Masters at the Spiritual Sea stage standing guard at the courtyard entrance remainedpletely oblivious to the events, diligently performing their duty like door gods.


    After the rabbit sessfullypleted its task, it quickly retraced its path underground and returned to Long Xuan. It jumped out of the earth and obediently hopped back into its pouch, finally content and no longer restless.


    Having sessfully obtained the living wood, Long Xuan''s face lit up with joy. He turned to leave without the slightest intention of lingering.To avoid any unexpectedplications, he intended to return to the Long n estate as quickly as possible. It was the safest ce for him right now.


    As for the Origin Realm, it would naturally dissipate after he left, without requiring him to dismantle it deliberately.


    The dy in the Origin Realm¡¯s dissipation provided him with ample time to make his escape.


    However, Long Xuan had only taken a few steps when his Eye of Heavenly Secret noticed multiple Gu Kings approaching from different directions. rmed, he swiftly avoided their paths, choosing to move toward the area with the fewest Gu Kings.


    Those two idiots could only fend for themselves. If Long Xuan''s guess was correct, the moment they peeled the bark from the living wood, the aura of the tree caused a violent fluctuation, meaning the formation they set up failed topletely block its aura.


    Even the slightest leak of the peak-grade spiritual herb¡¯s aura was enough to alert a small number of Gu Kings.


    It was sheer luck and speed on his part that allowed him to act first. It seemed that, with or without him, the living wood was bound to be lost today.


    "What a wed n," Long Xuan thought. "How could they trust such fools with the treasure? Using the wrong people renders even the most perfect schemes useless."


    Shaking his head in frustration, Long Xuan quickly left the area.


    ---


    Meanwhile, outside the city...


    A fierce battle was raging in the distance to the north of ckstone City. Arge group of Gu Kings were ganging up on a single target.


    In the southern distance, another intense battle was taking ce, with another group of Gu Kings attacking a lone Gu Master.


    However, the northern battlefield had far more Gu Kings¡ªover a hundred. At the center of the battle was a peak-stage Gu King.


    The southern battlefield had fewer people¡ªabout twenty Gu Kings¡ªsurrounding and attacking a mid-stage Gu King.


    The sheer difference in numbers meant the southern battle wouldn¡¯tst much longer.


    Before long, the storage bag of the mid-stage Gu King was shattered, and treasures scattered in all directions.


    Among the scattered items, a massive box exuding the aura of the living wood immediately drew everyone¡¯s attention.


    ¡°Living wood!¡±


    ¡°Living wood!¡±


    ¡°Living wood!¡±


    ...


    Cries of astonishment filled the air as the Gu Kings'' eyes gleamed with extreme greed, and they madly rushed towards the massive box.


    At this moment, the mid-stage Gu King tightly embraced therge box, a bitter smile appearing on his face.


    ¡°Hahaha... Who would''ve thought that after such wless nning, you would still see through our schemes!¡±


    ¡°Failing to protect the treasure... Even if I return to my country, I won¡¯t escape death!¡±


    ¡°It seems the heavens have doomed me, but even in death, I won''t let you lot have it easy.¡±


    ¡°You want the living wood, don¡¯t you? If my Great Yin Dynasty can¡¯t have it, then no one will! I¡¯ll destroy it right now¡ªnone of you will get it! Hahaha...¡±


    ¡°Hahaha...¡±


    The Gu King erupted in maniacalughter as a surge of spirit fire erupted from his hands, flooding toward the box.


    ¡°No!¡±


    ¡°Stop!¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t!¡±


    The crowd went wild, their eyes bulging with rage as they recklessly rushed toward him, ignoring the danger of the roaring mes that could burn them alive. At this moment, everyone had lost their minds.


    ¡°This is bad! He¡¯s going to self-destruct! Run!¡±


    ¡°Damn it! This lunatic!¡±


    "Boom!!!"


    A deafening explosion suddenly erupted, and the Gu Kings who charged the fastest were all caught in the shockwave. After violently spitting out a mouthful of blood, their bodies were sent flying backward.


    Those who managed to escape the st radius turned back at this moment, all with grim expressions on their faces.


    At the center of the explosion was a sea of fire, and there was no trace of therge box anymore. They couldn''t even spot a single fragment of the Living Wood. It was likely that the entire piece had been vaporized by the mes, leaving nothing behind.


    After all their efforts, they realized it was all in vain¡ªthey had gained nothing. Everyone''s faces darkened, and they were on the verge of going mad with anger.


    "How ruthless! He died, but he made sure to take the Living Wood with him to the grave. The Living Wood has been burned to ashes; now no one has anything to fight over."


    Jiu Kang, whose aura was at the peak of the Gu King level, smiled bitterly as he gazed at the sea of fire in front of him.


    "The legendary peak-grade spirit herb has been destroyed just like that. What a waste of heaven¡¯s gifts. If he had cut the Living Wood into countless pieces and distributed them, he could have survived. What a pity."


    Cai Xuan revealed an expression of extreme pain, clutching his chest as he let out a long sigh toward the sky.


    At this moment, his storage ring suddenly trembled. His expression shifted, and he quickly retrieved amunication talisman from it.


    Earlier, he couldn¡¯t determine who had the Living Wood. To be safe, he and another Gu King from the Cai n split up. He had chosen to follow the most suspicious attendant.


    Now, finally, the other side had sent a reply. It seemed that the battle there hade to a conclusion. Impatiently, he took out themunication talisman and looked at its contents.


    Soon, a bitter smile appeared on his face, and he said helplessly, "It turns out that Luo Yu over there was just an external clone, and he also self-destructed moments ago, taking two Gu Kings with him to the grave."


    "The Living Wood couldn''t have been on that external clone, so it must have been carried by this attendant. Now, the Living Wood has beenpletely destroyed."


    Upon hearing this, everyone showed expressions of disappointment. No one had any hope left; they shook their heads, sighed, and after cursing a bit, finally dispersed.


    Hidden in the darkness, a pair of eyes observed as the Living Wood waspletely destroyed, without raising anyone''s suspicion. Only then did a satisfied smile appear.


    "Hehe, indeed, there were no mistakes. My n was wless! I, Luo Yu, have yed these hundreds of Gu Kings like fools. No one else could have pulled this off."


    The voice in the darkness vanished, and a figure quickly sneaked off in the direction of ckstone City.


    However, when he returned to the small house on the outskirts of ckstone City, he saw many Gu Kings searching nearby. They were going door to door, causing chaos, though it was unclear exactly what they were looking for.


    Gu cultivators from the Ten Great n''s of the Western Lands were all here. These were the ones who had stayed behind, not leaving the city. Now, they were appearing in this secluded area.


    Seeing this scene, Luo Yu felt a sinking sensation in his heart, and a bad premonition arose.


    He hurriedly snuck into the house and, seeing that it hadn¡¯t been searched yet, let out a sigh of relief.


    It seemed the Gu Kings had only sensed something wrong in this general area, but they didn¡¯t know the exact location. Fortunately, for now, all was well.


    Luo Yu breathed a sigh of relief and quickly rushed into the house.


    "What on earth did you do?! I told you not to open that Insect Rearing Bag. Did you not follow my orders?!"


    As soon as he entered the door, Luo Yu snarled with a twisted expression.


    "No! Absolutely not! How could we dare disobey the words of the Royal Uncle? I swear, we absolutely didn¡¯t open the Insect Rearing Bag."


    Luo Zheng immediately denied it, his mental fortitude showing no sign of guilt. His acting skills were top-notch, and he even put on a pitiful face. An average person would have believed him.


    In contrast, Luo Ye¡¯s expression was full of guilt. His face was pale, his eyes darting around nervously, clearly frightened.


    Even if Luo Zheng had the acting skills of a movie star, this ¡°pig teammate¡± was giving them away.


    Seeing Luo Ye''s expression, Luo Yu instantly realized what had happened and flew into a rage.


    "Still pretending? If you didn¡¯t open the Insect Rearing Bag, how did those people know the location of the Living Wood? Of course, you opened it!"


    Luo Yu, furious, rushed over and ripped the Insect Rearing Bag from Luo Zheng''s waist. When he opened it and looked inside, he found only a small silver snake soundly asleep. The Living Wood that was supposed to be next to it was long gone.


    His vision went ck, and he staggered back several steps, nearly fainting.


    What a disaster! His n, so meticulous and wless, had been ruined by these two idiots.


    "Look at what you¡¯ve done!"


    Luo Yu furiously threw the empty Insect Breeding Bag onto the ground and roared, "You idiots! I repeatedly told you not to open that Insect Rearing Bag, but you ignored me!"


    "Now, great! The Living Wood has been taken, and everything we''ve done has gone to waste!"


    "What a disaster! You''ve ruined everything! The two of you can go exin this to your father yourselves!"


    Luo Yu''s face turned blue with rage. Such a perfect n, but it had been ruined by such a low-level mistake. He was filled with regret and hatred.


    Not only had the Living Wood been lost, but 40 billion spirit stones were also gone. That was an astronomical number¡ªeven for an empire, it wasn¡¯t a small amount.


    At that moment, Luo Yu felt like coughing up blood. He wanted nothing more than to strangle these two useless fools.


    ........................................................................


    Read ahead on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 173: The Brainstorm on the Longevity Gu

    Seeing that the insect-rearing bag was empty, Luo Zheng and Luo Ye''s faces immediately changed, shouting in disbelief, ¡°How is this possible? I¡¯ve always kept the bag at my waist! How could the Living Wood suddenly disappear? This is impossible!¡±


    Luo Zheng was stunned and frantically reached into the pouch, searching it thoroughly.


    However, empty is empty. No matter how much he searched, it was impossible for him to retrieve the Living Wood from thin air.


    Luo Zheng¡¯s face gradually turned pale.


    Breaking off a piece of bark might not be a crime worthy of death for a prince.


    But losing the Living Wood¡ªthat was a much bigger problem.


    That was something the Great Yin Emperor was relying on to save his life. Losing it would mean certain disaster for them. The Great Yin Emperor would never forgive them, and it''s likely the emperor would even want them dead.


    With that thought, Luo Zheng¡¯s face became even paler, and terror flickered in his eyes. The calmposure he had moments ago was nowpletely gone.


    He understood that this was a serious problem, one far beyond his control.If Luo Zheng was already in such a state, then Luo Ye, who was even more timid and cowardly, was naturally worse off. His legs were trembling, and his entire body was shaking in fear, cold sweat pouring down his back.


    He copsed into a chair, his face deathly white, eyes filled with despair. He knew what fate awaited him if the Living Wood was truly lost.


    ¡°Stop looking!¡± Luo Yu snapped angrily, seeing Luo Zheng still frantically searching for the Living Wood. ¡°The aura of the Living Wood was leaking. No matter how carefully you guarded it, it was bound to be stolen.¡±


    ¡°You two are just Gu cultivators at the Marrow Cleansing stage. Any Gu King could easily sneak in and take the Living Wood right from under your noses without you even noticing.¡±


    ¡°In front of a Gu King, what use is all your caution? The situation has already spiraled out of control!¡±


    Luo Yu¡¯s face darkened. Clearly, a Gu King had sneaked in, and even though the Living Wood had vanished mysteriously, he wasn¡¯t surprised at all.


    He quickly scanned the surroundings and noticed that the formation around the room had been breached at some point. His expression turned even darker.


    It was evident that the thief who had taken the Living Wood was not only a Gu King but also someone skilled in formations. This was the only clue Luo Yu could deduce from his inspection of the scene.


    Just then, he sensed multiple Gu Kings approaching. His face changed, and he hurriedly said, ¡°They¡¯re already on their way here. We can¡¯t hide this any longer.¡±


    ¡°Hurry! Escape through the tunnel! We¡¯re in serious trouble. The Living Wood is already lost, but most people still believe it¡¯s in our hands. No matter how much we exin, no one will believe us.¡±


    Luo Yu quickly opened a hidden tunnel beneath the bed. This tunnel was newly dug and wasn¡¯t very long.


    Their house was located near the city wall, so it wouldn¡¯t take long for the tunnel to lead them outside the city.


    Luo Yu quickly led the two princes into the tunnel, and they disappeared without a trace.


    Just moments after they fled, the door to their room was violently kicked open.


    Yan Pojun stormed in, and seeing that the room was empty, a cold smile curled at the corners of his mouth.


    He wasn¡¯t worried about finding no one inside. In fact, it reassured him. It meant that the people hiding inside were up to no good, and the Living Wood was most likely in their possession.


    Sweeping his spiritual senses across the room, Yan Pojun quickly noticed the tunnel beneath the bed. With a gentle wave of his right hand, he shattered both the bed and the tunnel¡¯s entrance, revealing a dark hole.


    His smile grew even wider. ¡°Chase them! Someone dared to secretly dig a tunnel leading outside the city. This is clearly the work of traitors trying to open a passage for enemies to invade. Their treachery cannot be tolerated! We must not let them escape.¡±


    The group of Gu Kings who followed him showed expressions of excitement and joy, immediately jumping into the tunnel and vanishing.


    Meanwhile, the other Gu Kings who were searching the rest of the area also noticed the disturbance and rushed into the room. When they saw therge hole, theyughed heartily and wasted no time in jumping into it.


    As for the two Spiritual Sea Gu cultivators guarding the courtyard, their heads had already been severed and theyy dead in pools of blood.


    ---


    Long Xuan quietly slipped back into the Long n¡¯s estate. Once inside his room, he immediately closed all the windows and doors. Finally, he let out a sigh of relief, his tense nerves finally rxing. By now, he waspletely safe.


    However, the thought that he, a mere Marrow Cleansing stage Gu practitioner, had managed to obtain the Living Wood that hundreds of Gu Kings couldn¡¯t help but made him feel both excited and smug.


    Unfortunately, Long Xuan was a cautious person. Even though his residence was surrounded by formations that could conceal the aura of supreme-grade spiritual herbs, he didn¡¯t dare take out the Living Wood to admire it. He had to suppress his curiosity.


    Better safe than sorry. What if the aura of the peak-grade spiritual herb leaked?


    In this world, nothing is ever guaranteed. What good is a formation that blocks the aura of a spiritual herb? Those two princes thought their formation could conceal the Living Wood, and what happened?


    Even though the formations around his residence were personally set up by Long Qian and were far superior to those around the other house, Long Xuan knew better than to let his guard down.


    Even rabbit can sense the aura of peak-grade spiritual herbs through formations. Who¡¯s to say there won¡¯t be another creature like that rabbit?


    Long Xuan¡¯s paranoia got the better of him. Thinking of that rabbit, which defied all logic, made him even more reluctant to take out the Living Wood.


    He quickly ordered his Sou Gu to transnt the Living Wood into his medicinal garden, using peak-grade spiritual soil and watering it with spiritual spring water. He decided not to worry about the Living Wood for the time being.


    However, what Long Xuan didn¡¯t know was that while his Sou Gu carefully nted the Living Wood in peak-grade spiritual soil and watered it with spiritual spring water every day, it also peeled off the tree bark to build its house. Meanwhile, the Heavenly Dream Silkworm had flown over and eaten all the leaves off the Living Wood.


    With no one watching over them, the creatures in his garden ran wild,pletely unrestrained. Even Chicken Brother had grown fatter, having devoured many high-quality spiritual insects while Long Xuan was away, and its body was noticeablyrger.


    If not for the master-servant blood pact that Long Xuan had established with the Heavenly Dream Silkworm and Chicken Brother, which prevented servants from surpassing their master¡¯s level, they would have already advanced to the next stage with all the food they¡¯d consumed.


    Long Xuan had no idea that the little creatures in his garden had already rebelled. If the Jade Rabbit saw this, It¡¯d probably be furious.


    The bark and leaves of the Living Wood were essential ingredients for refining pills, and it had begged Long Xuan for a long time to get them. It had been nning to use them to refine the Longevity Pill as soon as it returned. Now, in an unguarded moment, all it''s efforts had been wasted, ruined by others. It¡¯d done all that work only for someone else to reap the benefits.


    Long Xuan was stillpletely unaware of the chaos in his garden. The night was long, and he had no desire to sleep. Having just outwitted a group of Gu Kings and stolen the Living Wood, his heart was too excited to rest.


    The Living Wood wasn''t of much use to him personally, but it was extremely valuable for his insects. The Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm fed on the leaves of high-grade spirit trees, which enhanced the strength of its silk and could even trigger a metamorphosis.


    It could be said that the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm was a type of Gu insect that became stronger the more high-grade spirit trees it consumed.


    Collecting various Earth-grade and Heaven-grade spirit trees was something he had long decided to do.


    For the sole reason that it benefited the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm, he couldn''t stay calm in the face of the Living Wood.


    Since he was too excited to sleep, Long Xuan had no choice but to sit down and work on Gu rceipe.


    He opened the secret chamber in his room, which was used for researching the Dragon Blood Battle Gu, and quickly walked inside.


    Ignoring the insect-rearing bags scattered on the floor, he sat at the table, preparing to start his research on the Gu rceipe.


    After a brief pause, he finally ced the fragment of the Longevity Gu form, which Old Dragon had given him earlier that day, on the table, his gaze intense as he stared at it.


    Tonight, he would focus on researching the Longevity Gu form.


    The Longevity Gu was not of great use to him personally; his original intention in researching it was to fulfill Old Long''s dream¡ªsomething the old man had spent his entire life trying to achieve but never did. Long Xuan didn¡¯t want Elder Long to have any regrets.


    However, now he suddenly wondered, was the Longevity Gu truly useless to him? Perhaps not.


    Who was he? He was a genius at researching Gu recipe, someone who loved exploring unconventional paths and always sought to ze new trails. His imagination was arguably unparalleled.


    So why should he follow the traditional methods of researching the Longevity Gu? Instead, he decided to break away from convention and innovate, creating a version of the Longevity Gu that didn¡¯t fit within the world¡¯s norms.


    How could the concept of the Longevity Gu be expanded? With his boundless imagination, Long Xuan quickly came up with an idea, his eyes lighting up.


    He thought: What if the Longevity Gu wasn¡¯t just beneficial to humans but also to Gu insects?


    It was known that lower-grade spirit insects had a lifespan of over ten years but less than a hundred years.


    Mid-grade spirit insects had a lifespan of over a hundred years but less than a thousand.


    High-grade spirit insects lived for more than a thousand years but less than ten thousand.


    Peak-grade spirit insects lived for over ten thousand years, with no upper limit.


    The lifespan pattern of Gu insects followed the same principle as spirit insects.


    So, could the lifespan of Gu insects be extended to upgrade a lower-grade Gu insect to a mid-grade one?


    At this thought, Long Xuan¡¯s eyes grew brighter and brighter, his gaze filled with excitement, and his breathing became rapid.


    Good heavens, changing the quality-grade of a Gu insect entirely¡ªthat was almost defying the natural order!


    Just think: his Sou Gu currently couldn¡¯t transport people, but if it were upgraded to a mid-grade Gu insect, it might gain the ability to carry people during teleportation.


    If nothing else, just this possibility made Long Xuan eager to develop this version of the Longevity Gu.


    However, after the initial excitement, he quickly calmed down. It seemed things weren¡¯t that simple. Extending a Gu insect¡¯s lifespan might not necessarily change its quality.


    Aside from a few exceptions, the stronger a creature was, the longer its lifespan tended to be.


    In most cases, a creature¡¯s strength was directly proportional to its lifespan, a naturalw of this world. Humans followed this rule too.


    But this wasn¡¯t a strict rule. Could an artificially extended lifespan really change fixed gics?


    Therefore, if he wanted to upgrade the Sou Gu to a mid-grade Gu insect, he would need to find a way to give this species a lifespan of over a hundred years from the start, rather than artificially adding a hundred yearster.


    In simple terms, a Gu insect¡¯s quality was influenced by its innate lifespan, while an artificially extended lifespan had no such effect.


    To improve the quality of a Gu insect by extending its lifespan, he would have to work on its innate lifespan, meaning he would have to alter the species'' genes.


    Long Xuan''s eyes flickered with thoughts. In this case, his n to develop a universal Longevity Gu was dead in the water.


    Humans were humans, and Gu insects were Gu insects. If he wanted to give the Sou Gu a hundred-year lifespan naturally, he would need to develop a unique Longevity Gu specifically for that species.


    Moreover, because of the species difference, this Longevity Gu would only work for the Sou Gu and not for any other Gu types.


    ¡°Well then, I¡¯ll just develop two Longevity Gu versions. It shouldn¡¯t take much more time.¡±


    Long Xuan was not discouraged. He picked up his pen, preparing to first develop the Longevity Gu that would work for the Sou Gu. The Longevity Gu for humans could wait; he wasn¡¯t in a rush.


    The most pressing task was to upgrade the Sou Gu¡¯s quality and give it the ability to teleport living creatures.


    As long as he could achieve that, he could teleport all the spirit insects in hisboratory to his distant herb garden in the Far West.


    Originally, it wouldn¡¯t have been easy to embezzle theb''s experimental materials, but if the Sou Gu gained the ability to teleport living creatures, it would be effortless to steal all the spirit insect resources here.


    And no one would notice a thing¡ªit was the perfect crime.


    So, the most important task was to give the Sou Gu the ability to teleport living creatures. Everything else could wait.


    Gazing at the countless insect-rearing bags scattered on the ground, Long Xuan¡¯s eyes gleamed with greed.


    This massive wealth of spirit insect resources would soon all be his. How could he not be excited? He was about to strike it rich.

 Chapter 174: One Wave Has Yet to Settle, Another Rises

    With this thought in mind, Long Xuan eagerly began his research on the recipe for the Longevity Gu. His enthusiasm surpassed anyone else''s.


    This time, he didn¡¯t even need to search for materials; the secret chamber was stocked with everything he required. He had never fought a battle with such abundant resources before.


    On the day the Gu recipe was finalized, it would also be the day he started refining the Gu.


    This time, he could refine the Gu for free, without the hassle of gathering materials as before. Long Xuan smiled with satisfaction.


    However, just as he was getting into the zone, someone suddenly interrupted him.


    His pen paused mid-air, and he frowned. Who would disturb him in the middle of the night?


    But when Long Xuan sensed with his spiritual power that it was Long Ziyan who had entered, he immediately perked up.


    It seemed that his senior sister hade for dual cultivation. At that moment, how could he continue to focus on researching the Gu recipe? The Gu recipe could wait; there was no rush to study it. This matter at hand was far more urgent and important than anything else.


    Long Xuan''s thoughts quickly shifted, and he pped his pen on the table, rushing out of the secret chamber.As soon as he stepped out, he noticed that, at some point, arge wooden tub had appeared in the room, filled with steaming hot water with flower petals floating on the surface.


    Without turning her head, Long Ziyan said, "Take a bath first."


    Bath? Long Xuan was taken aback, and half of his burning desire was extinguished by the thought. But since Long Ziyan loved cleanliness, he had no choice but toply, reluctantly removing his clothes.


    At that moment, Long Ziyan turned her back and slowly walked out the door.


    Long Xuan smirked mischievously. They were already like an old married couple¡ªwhat was there to be shy about? They had already seen everything there was to see!


    He cast his gaze towards the petal-filled water, the air thick with floral fragrance. It was his first time bathing with such things. Only girls from this world would throw flower petals into their bathwater.


    Long Xuan chuckled, but just as he was about to jump into the water to clean himself up, his face suddenly changed.


    His Eye of Heavenly Secret revealed that there were countless grotesque little worms swimming in the water with bloodthirsty glints in their eyes. From their appearance, it was clear that these worms were harmful to the human body. If they entered his body, the consequences would be unimaginable.


    Long Xuan broke out in a cold sweat instantly. Someone had ced a Gu on him! Who could it be? A chill ran down his spine, and all his previous excitement vanished.


    Thankfully, Long Xuanpletely trusted Long Ziyan. The only reason he activated the Eye of Heavenly Secret just now was due to a habit he had formed over the years.


    It was a reflex, a subconscious response to scan the water with his Eye of Heavenly Secret, without ever intending to check the bathwater.


    Unexpectedly, this habit once again helped him avoid a crisis.


    Long Xuan took a deep breath, calming himself as he observed the worms floating in the water.


    There was no way this could have been Long Ziyan''s doing. She slept beside him every night and had countless opportunities to act. There was no reason for her to use such a risky method that could expose her.


    So who wanted to harm him? Long Xuan pondered, his face showing deep thought. After carefully studying the worms in the water, his expression suddenly changed, growing more serious.


    He realized something terrifying¡ªLong Ziyan couldn''t see the worms in the water, which was why she had brought it to him. These worms were so small they were invisible to the naked eye.


    Only because of his Eye of Heavenly Secret, which acted like a microscope, could he detect the worms in the water.


    For most people, it would be impossible to see these microscopic worms, making it almost certain they would fall victim to them.


    That¡¯s right, these worms were part of the microscopic Gu species, and their numbers were staggering.


    Long Xuan hadn¡¯t expected that, besides himself, there were others in this world who could manipte microscopic Gu species. He was truly astonished.


    Clearly, the people of this world couldn¡¯t be underestimated. Even if they couldn¡¯t see the atomic level of the microscopic world, it didn¡¯t mean they couldn¡¯t harness its power.


    Long Xuan had underestimated the world. Besides himself, there was another group of Gu Masters capable of utilizing microscopic Gu species.


    Taking a deep breath to suppress his shock, Long Xuan quickly dressed and hurried to the family head''s residence. This was a major issue, and he suspected it wasn¡¯t just aimed at him. It could be part of arger conspiracy targeting the entire Long family or even the entire ck Stone City.


    He had to inform the family head as soon as possible so the family could prepare in advance. Otherwise, the consequences could be dire.


    ...


    Meanwhile, outside the city.


    Yan Pojun shattered his storage ring in front of the crowd, scattering its contents everywhere, but the Living Wood was nowhere to be found. Everyone frowned.


    "It¡¯s not here? How many smokescreens did Luo Yu set up? He¡¯s already dead, yet we still haven¡¯t found that Living Wood! Where in the world did he hide it?" Yan Pojun said, his face dark with frustration.


    "Are all his people dead? I can¡¯t imagine who else he could have given the Living Wood to." Among the crowd, a Hun n Gu King remarked.


    "That''s right, those two young men were hisst subordinates. However, their cultivation level was far too low, and they were killed by the residual power from the battle of the Gu King. Judging by their appearances, these two seemed to hold significant status, possibly even being princes. Their deaths here won¡¯t cause too much trouble, will it?"


    At this moment, the Gu King of the Dan n wore a worried expression and furrowed his brow as he spoke.


    Upon hearing this, the rest of the group also fell into deep thought, their frowns growing more intense.


    Would the Great Yin Dynastyunch a retaliatory strike for the deaths of two princes? Maybe even mobilize their army to invade? Who could say for sure?


    However, this possibility couldn''t be entirely ruled out. Everyone''s faces darkened, and their moods sank to rock bottom.


    ¡°Damn! What were they thinking, sending two novices in the Marrow Cleansing stage to carry out such an important mission? And to top it off, they''re royalty! Were they deliberately trying to stir up trouble?¡± one Gu King angrily cursed.


    ¡°Damn it, what bad luck. Not only did we fail to find the Living Wood, but now we''re caught up in this mess. What a stroke of misfortune. But now that things havee to this, we can¡¯t worry about that anymore. If the Great Yin Dynasty dares to invade, we¡¯ll just fight back. After all, all ten of our ns took part in this, so no one¡¯s getting away unscathed,¡± the Gu King of the Hun n shouted furiously.


    Yan Pojun had a contemtive look on his face and calmly said, ¡°From now on, all ns must set aside their differences. No matter how deep your grudges are, do not cause trouble in the next few years.¡±


    ¡°Remember, if the Great Yin Dynasty ns to invade the Western Territories in full force, their smartest move would be to first incite conflicts between our ns and deplete our strength through civil wars.¡±


    ¡°We must guard against such tactics. If any disputes arise in the next few years, it will most certainly be a scheme by the Great Yin Dynasty. Control your people well and leave such matters for me to handle. No one is allowed to act recklessly, or don¡¯t me me for being ruthless!¡±


    Yan Pojun¡¯s expression hardened as his sharp gaze swept over the Long and Bai ns.


    He then nced at the Dan and Yao ns, and finally at the Hun and Gui ns, before moving on¡­


    ¡­


    At this time, in the family head''s pavilion, Long Yuanshan was smiling kindly at Long Xuan.


    ¡°It¡¯s sote¡ªwhat do you need? Speak freely.¡±


    Faced with this outstanding junior, Long Yuanshan didn¡¯t dare to be negligent. Upon learning that Long Xuan wanted to meet him, he had immediately set aside everything toe see him.


    Long Xuan nodded and got straight to the point, ¡°Someone is trying to harm me. They put Gu in my bathwater. Take a look.¡±


    As he finished speaking, Long Xuan took out a tub of bathwater from his storage bag and ced it on the ground.


    Upon hearing this, Long Yuanshan¡¯s expression instantly changed, and a terrifying killing intent shed in his eyes.


    Long Xuan was currently a key figure in researching the Dragon Blood Battle Gu¡ªhe couldn¡¯t afford to be harmed.


    Someone dared to plot against Long Xuan, potentially causing the Dragon Blood Battle Gu research project to fail, which was a direct attack on his reverse scale.


    Long Yuanshan mmed the table hard in anger and roared, ¡°Who is it? The only ones who could ce Gu on you are insiders¡ªit¡¯s very likely one of our own! How dare they attempt to destroy our n¡¯s future hope.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, no matter who it is, I will punish them severely. Even if it¡¯s one of the elders, I will show no mercy!¡± Long Yuanshan¡¯s eyes shed with fierce killing intent.


    He dared not dy and rushed to the tub, staring intently at the water.


    However, no matter how hard he looked, he couldn¡¯t see any of the insects Long Xuan had mentioned.


    But he knew Long Xuan wouldn¡¯t joke about something like this¡ªno one would be that bored.


    He didn¡¯t doubt Long Xuan¡¯s words at all. Since his eyes couldn¡¯t detect the insects, he directly reached into the bathwater.


    However, he did so cautiously, his entire arm wrapped in spiritual energy, forming a thick spiritual armor.


    As soon as his hand touched the water, he immediately felt something ferociously biting at his spiritual armor.


    Moreover, the thing¡¯s teeth were incredibly sharp, and within an instant, a small hole had been gnawed into his spiritual armor.


    Long Yuanshan¡¯s expression changed dramatically. Frightened, he quickly withdrew his hand, cold sweat running down his back. Thankfully, he reacted quickly¡ªhad he been even a moment slower, the thing would have broken through his armor and burrowed into his body.


    What kind of creature was this? It was so small that it was invisible to the naked eye, yet it possessed such terrifying power.


    He was, after all, a peak Spiritual Sea stage expert, and this thing had managed to breach his defenses in an instant? Was this a joke?!


    Long Yuanshan¡¯s face turned ashen, and he quickly backed away from the tub, retreating severalrge steps as if it contained something immensely dangerous. At this moment, he was no longer calm.


    This insect was so small it couldn¡¯t be seen with the naked eye. Against such a thing, anyone would fall victim¡ªthere was simply no defense. The ability to kill without leaving a trace made this method of assassination truly terrifying. His face even paled slightly.


    ¡°The one who ced the Gu wasn¡¯t just targeting you¡ªthey were targeting our entire Long n. This insect can even threaten Gu Kings, and they wouldn¡¯t detect it at all.¡±


    A devouring look appeared in Long Yuanshan¡¯s eyes, and his face grew sinister. Suddenly, he shouted toward the door, ¡°Someone, notify all the n elders toe for an emergency meeting, and wake up all the nsmen. The entire n is to enter Level 1 alert immediately!¡±

 Chapter 175: Plague Demon Gu

    A deafening bell suddenly rang throughout the n, causing utter chaos. Everyone hurriedly dressed and rushed out in panic, ncing around anxiously.


    This bell only tolled when the n faced life-or-death crises, and it had not been heard in many years.


    Upon hearing the bell, everyone¡¯s expressions changed, and a look of anxiety filled their eyes.


    Very quickly, figures darted in every direction, and powerful auras gathered at the main hall for discussion. There were even faint traces of the aura of the Gu King.


    Seeing these figures, all the Long n Gu cultivators were deeply shaken. Something serious must have happened, even rming the n¡¯s reclusive Ancestor, who normally ignored all matters.


    They understood that something of great magnitude had urred, possibly threatening the survival of the entire n. It was destined to be a sleepless night.


    Some timeter.


    ¡°Ancestor, we have inspected the situation. There¡¯s a problem with the water source. The ck River, which flows through ckstone City, is filled with these invisible insects.¡±


    ¡°It seems that this is not specifically targeting our Long n but is aimed at all of ckstone City.¡±¡°The ck River runs along the edge of ckstone City, and every household in the city relies on its water. Tampering with the water source like this suggests that someone intends to wipe out ckstone City!¡±


    Long Yuanshan¡¯s pupils constricted as he spoke, his expression grim.


    Upon hearing this, everyone present was shocked and started murmuring to each other.


    ¡°Who could have done such a heinous thing? To harbor such ruthless ambitions, wanting to massacre all of ckstone City! What audacity! ckstone City is the strongest fortress in the Western Lands; it has never been breached since ancient times. Does this person think they can achieve that?¡±


    ¡°Thankfully, it was discovered early. It¡¯s alreadyte at night, and not many of our n members have used the water. Otherwise, if everyone had used the water by morning, the consequences would have been unimaginable.¡±


    ¡°Have all the n members been notified not to use the water?¡±


    ¡°They have been informed, and the water supply has been cut off. We¡¯re already in contact with the Qian n¡¯s merchants to arrange for water to be transported from afar.¡±


    ¡°A few people who already used the water have been infected by the Gu, but since we discovered it in time, the issue shouldn¡¯t be too severe. They have been sent to the Yao and Dan ns for treatment.¡±


    ¡°Hmph! Our n was the first to discover this; otherwise, by tomorrow morning, even the Yao and Dan ns¡¯ superb medical skills would have been useless. They wouldn¡¯t have been able to help themselves. We¡¯ve saved those two ns once ¡ª no, we¡¯ve saved the entire city. If it weren¡¯t for our early detection, ckstone City would truly have perished.¡±


    The crowd continued to discuss, with everyone¡¯s eyes turning toward an elderly man in the center, who was leaning on a cane.


    This was the n¡¯s oldest and most powerful ancestor. Aged and nearing the end of his life, he was at theter stage of the Gu King realm and served as the spiritual pir of the Long n in the Western Lands.


    In any family, the most powerful person might not always be in charge, but they certainly held the most authority. His words were enough for the entire n to follow without hesitation.


    Long Yuan opened his cloudy eyes and cast a solemn gaze toward the ck River.


    The ck River was wide and surging, flowing through ckstone City, its sole water source.


    Although the water seemed ordinary, no one could survive without it. If a city lost its water source, it would eventually be a dead city.


    The ck River¡¯s water could no longer be used. This was not only fatal to the Long n but also a life-threatening issue for everyone in the city.


    With ckstone City¡¯s poption of millions, solving a water shortage on that scale would be extremely difficult.


    He sighed, looking upstream. Finally, in his aged voice, he said, ¡°Upstream from the ck River, I believe, is ckmoon City?¡±


    Those aware of the situation understood the Ancestor¡¯s implication ¡ª that the source of these insects was ckmoon City, which had already encountered trouble.


    Those who didn¡¯t know the details were confused, unable to understand why the Ancestor suspected that the insects came from ckmoon City.


    It should be noted that upstream of ckmoon City were also viges and towns, and further upstream, more towns and viges. If someone had tampered with the river, then every city downstream would suffer. It¡¯s possible that ckmoon City was just another victim of the upstream source.


    Long Yuanshan shared the same thought as the Ancestor. He knew that something major must have happened in ckmoon City recently.


    He had initially hoped that his n could remain uninvolved, but it seemed things hadn¡¯t gone as he wished. The turmoil in ckmoon City had eventually affected the n, and he couldn¡¯t help but smile bitterly.


    ¡°Ancestor, with your vast knowledge, do you have any idea where these insectse from? I¡¯ve never seen such invisible water-dwelling insects before, nor can I trace their origin,¡± Long Yuanshan suddenly asked.


    ¡°I have a theory, though I can¡¯t be 100% certain. But given the magnitude of this crisis, which concerns the survival of the entire city, I will share my thoughts.¡±


    Long Yuan scanned the faces of his n members before finally speaking gravely: ¡°Do you know, there are countless types of invisible insects in this world, and they are everywhere.¡±


    ¡°The air we are breathing right now is full of these tiny insects. When we eat, they fall into our food and enter our bodies.¡±


    ¡°All of us here have these invisible insects inside us, and there are quite a few of them.¡±


    ¡°But these countless tiny insect species are harmless to humans, so few people ever notice them. Even if they did, they wouldn''t need to worry about it.¡±


    Upon hearing this, everyone was shocked. Some of the more timid members covered their mouths and noses, afraid that the air¡¯s insects would enter their bodies. But then they heard the Ancestor say that such insects were already in their bodies inrge numbers, and their faces turned pale.


    The Ancestor¡¯s sudden words shattered their understanding of the world. It was the first time they had heard such a statement.


    Invisible insects in the air, everywhere ¡ª this terrified everyone.


    The Ancestor was highly respected, and they didn¡¯t believe he would joke about such matters.


    Of course, many still found it hard to believe, as it sounded so absurd.


    The idea that invisible insects were everywhere, inescapable, was frightening. They simply couldn¡¯t ept it.


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan''s gaze grew thoughtful. He understood what the ancestor was referring to.


    It seemed that in this world, all tiny organisms were ssified as "insects." What were referred to in the previous life as bacteria, fungi, and viruses were likely all lumped together under the term "insects" in this world.


    It appeared that microscopic organisms weren''t unknown here, but they were simply categorized as "insects" and not deeply researched. Moreover, studying them was difficult.


    Noticing the expressions of his n members, Long Yuan sighed softly, "I know many of you don''t believe me. You think I''ve lost my mind and am speaking nonsense, but what I''m saying is the truth."


    "In this world, there are indeed species of ''insects'' invisible to the naked eye, and they are everywhere. Their variety is countless, and every person has them inside their body."


    "However, these tiny insect species are harmless to the human body. They are difficult to use for Gu refinement and even harder to find, let alone capture."


    "That''s why there are very few people who study these types of Gu insects, but it''s not non-existent in this world."


    "To this day, I only know of one Gu insect that can harness this kind of power, and that is the famous gue Demon Gu from the Era of the Gods."


    At this point, Long Yuan''s pupils contracted slightly, a hint of fear in his eyes as he looked towards ck Moon City. He spoke slowly again, "Many people probably don''t know what the gue Demon Gu is. It disappeared from the annals of history long ago."


    "If it weren¡¯t for the unprecedented gue that broke out in ckmoon City fifty years ago, I might never have thought of the terrifying existence of the gue Demon Gu."


    "It is said that during the Era of the Gods, there were Ten Forbidden Gu. Each of these Forbidden Gu required an enormous amount of materials¡ªmillions, even tens of millions¡ªand possessed the power to destroy the world. Obtaining just one could make someone invincible."


    "But don¡¯t be deceived by the absurd amount of materials needed to refine a Forbidden Gu. Many of the materials ovep heavily. For instance, one of the materials listed in the form for the Forbidden Gu is living humans¡ªmillions or even tens of millions of them."


    "Thus, refining a Forbidden Gu requires mass ughter. Every attempt to refine one demands the sacrifice of an entire city. If the Gu refinement fails, the process continues, sacrificing city after city until sess is achieved."


    "Can you imagine how many people need to die to refine just one Forbidden Gu? How many cities need to be sacrificed? The numbers are beyond your wildest imagination."


    "What''s more exaggerated is that killing people during the refinement process is just the beginning. The evolution of the Forbidden Gu requires further killing. The more it evolves, the more people must die."


    "Once the Forbidden Gu reaches its final stage of evolution, it requires ughtering an entire domain¡¯s poption. Who knows how many billions of humans will perish?"


    "Many people know about the "Dark Period" during the Era of the Gods, a time when nearly all knowledge and legacies were lost, including most Gu techniques. Even many historical records were destroyed, leaving us with very little knowledge of the ancient world."


    "I¡¯m telling you, the reason for this was the Forbidden Gu."


    "During the Era of the Gods, a demonic sect called Demonic Sky Sect existed. Each of the Ten Demon Lords created one of the powerful Forbidden Gu."


    "They obtained immense power through the ritual ughter of cities. As their strength grew, so did the killing. Before long, they were annihting entire domains of living beings to strengthen their Forbidden Gu, eventually causing a catastrophe that swept across the world."


    "In that disaster, blood flowed for thousands of miles, cities were left empty, and mountains of white bones piled high. Entire regions werepletely exterminated, and their legacies vanished from history."


    "During the height of that glorious era, when all kinds of magical techniques flourished, many forms of cultivation were wiped out due to their massacres¡ªspear cultivation, archery cultivation, and the crafting methods of famous artifacts were lost."


    "Humanity faced an extinction event during that dark period. It was the darkest era for humankind. Countless powerful professions and legacies disappeared forever into the river of history."


    "Under the ughter of the Ten Demon Lords, corpses littered thends, blood rivers flowed, and many ces were left utterly devoid of life. Vast tracts ofnd turned barren and lifeless, with nothing but deathly silence remaining."


    "ording to records, more than half of the human poption perished in this human extinction event. Half of all magic techniques were lost in this catastrophe."


    "The Demonic Sky Sect, in its quest to refine Forbidden Gu,mitted innumerable atrocities that enraged both heaven and earth, causing the world itself to tremble."


    "In the end, they provoked universal outrage. The Divine Court and the Heavenly Court, along with many other forces, united to eradicate them. In the apocalyptic war that followed, the Ten Demon Lords were killed, and all records of the Forbidden Gu recipes were destroyed."


    "However, the Divine Court and Heavenly Court also paid a heavy price for this victory, losing more than seventy percent of their power. They were crippled, and it took tens of thousands of years for them to recover their strength."


    "Thus, the ten Gu insects created by the Ten Demon Lords were ssified as the Ten Forbidden Gu, and from that point onward, no one was allowed to touch them."


    "After the war, the Divine Court and Heavenly Court issued a decree throughout the world, banning the refinement of Forbidden Gu. Anyone who defied thisw would be hunted down by all powerful cultivators under heaven. Any strong cultivator was obligated to participate in the extermination of demons."


    "This decree is eternal, and no one can vite it. Those who fear the demons and avoid battle will be exterminated along with the demons."


    "I now suspect that this Shi Haojun has refined the tenth-ranked gue Demon Gu among the Ten Forbidden Gu!"


    Long Yuan''s expression turned grim, and he spoke with a chilling tone, "The gue Demon Gu¡¯s power doesn¡¯t just createrge-scale gues¡ªit can also control all living creatures smaller than itself."


    "The gue Demon Gu''s domain is the Mutation Domain. Within the domain, all living creatures smaller than the gue Demon Gu undergo mutations, transforming from harmless microorganisms into harmful ones."


    "Once the Mutation Domain is activated, all the invisible insects in the air will swarm the surrounding Gu practitioners, easily piercing the spiritual armor of even high-grade Gu cultivators."


    "And it doesn''t stop there. Remember, every Gu cultivators¡¯s body already contains countless tiny insects. Once these insects mutate in the Mutation Domain, changing from harmless to harmful, the fate of any Gu practitioner caught within it is easy to imagine. They''ll either be devoured alive by the revolting insects inside their own bodies or forced to use a significant portion of their power to suppress them."


    "The human body is fragile and defenseless. Once the countless insects inside start gnawing on the internal organs, even the strongest Gu cultivators will face a gruesome death."


    "In such a situation, mere survival bes a challenge. How could anyone hope to fight against the master of the gue Demon Gu?"


    "In the face of such terrifying power, a swarm of people is useless. For the wielder of the gue Demon Gu, ughtering the poption of a massive city, numbering in the millions, is effortless. With such power, how could a human armypare to the number of insects the gue Demon Gumands?"


    "The ck River is vast and wide, but only the gue Demon Gu could easily produce enough insects to fill the entire river."


    "Other than the gue Demon Gu, I refuse to believe any other force could aplish something so terrifying!"


    "Now it makes sense why Shi Haojun is so powerful that he can easily ughter an entire city. It¡¯s because he has refined the gue Demon Gu!" Long Yuan dered, his eyes filled with fury and determination.

 Chapter 176: Black Moon City

    The words of the Ancestor left the faces of the Long n¡¯s Gu Cultivators filled with shock.


    A Gu recipe requiring tens of millions of materials was simply terrifying. Could such an exaggerated Gu recipe really exist? It was hard to imagine the strength of a Gu that required such an amount of materials. Everyone was stunned.


    Long Yuanshan sighed, ¡°We must prepare for the worst. Regardless of whether Shi Haojun has refined the Forbidden Gu, we must treat him as if he has and makeprehensive preparations in advance.¡±


    ¡°From the current situation, it is evident that Shi Haojun harbors ill intentions toward ckstone City. However, his conspiracy was exposed early, and since no one in the city has been affected by his Gu, can we defeat him?¡±


    Long Yuanshan looked seriously at the Ancestor, speaking in a grave tone.


    Long Yuan smiled bitterly, ¡°When have those who refine the Forbidden Gu ever faced anything other than a group of opponents of the same rank? And what happens? They still end up wiping out entire cities, even when outnumbered.¡±


    [Note: Demon Sky Sect will be changed to Demon Heaven Sect]


    ¡°Have you forgotten the story I just told you? At its peak, the Demon Heaven Sect was able to fight the entire world alone. If sheer numbers were effective, the whole world would have long since eradicated the Demon Heaven Sect.¡±


    ¡°The sheer number of materials required for a Gu of this level far exceeds your imagination. It¡¯s a level of power that defies reason. This isn¡¯t something that can simply be ovee by having more people. Once the Mutation Domain opens, how many people can actually do anything?¡±¡°We¡¯ve already missed the best opportunity to deal with Shi Haojun.¡±


    ¡°If my guess is correct, when he first came to ckstone City to auction off the Living Wood, the gue Demon Gu hadn¡¯t yetpleted its third evolution. He desperately needed arge amount of fresh blood.¡±


    ¡°At that time, although he was strong, he did not yet have the exaggerated power to take on an entire city alone.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why he needed to lure the ck Moon City Gu Kings away in order to massacre the city in their absence.¡±


    ¡°Because of our selfishness, he seeded in ughtering the city, gaining arge amount of fresh blood, allowing the gue Demon Gu to sessfully evolve into a Mutant Gu.¡±


    ¡°Now, he no longer fears arge number of Gu Kings and dares to target ckstone City.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t harbor any false hopes. If he wasn¡¯t confident in his strength, he wouldn¡¯t dare to attack ckstone City. Since he¡¯s made his move, it¡¯s certain that he has the confidence to destroy the city. No one wages a war they aren¡¯t sure they can win.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s undoubtedly a tough battle ahead. Whether ckstone City can survive this cmity is uncertain, but even if we do, the losses will be severe.¡±


    Long Yuan sighed deeply, then suddenly looked at Long Wanli and said, ¡°ckstone City is about to change. You must quickly inform the City Lord of this matter and warn everyone in the city not to drink the water from the ck River.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯ste at night, so not many people should be using water. If we act quickly, not many will die. We¡¯ll need their strength to deal with Shi Haojun. Don¡¯t even think about letting them lose too much of their power.¡±


    ¡°And also, immediately prepare water supplies. We can source it directly from the Long n in the far west. As much as we can get, bring it. The city will soon face a water crisis.¡±


    Long Wanli nodded and quickly ordered people to make the necessary arrangements.


    ...


    ...


    The night was dark and silent.


    In a courtyard, a beautiful woman stood at the door, gazing out as if waiting for her husband to return.


    When a handsome figure entered through the courtyard gate, her face immediately lit up with joy. She eagerly ran towards him, but her steps were weak and unsteady, nearly causing her to fall. The figure rushed forward to support her, his expression filled with concern.


    ¡°You¡¯re already in this state, yet you still push yourself. Don¡¯t go to that ce anymore. You¡¯re not a savior; you can¡¯t save everyone.¡±


    Shi Haojun rolled up her sleeve, revealing her arm covered in countless needle marks. His face instantly showed anger, and a sh of murderous intent flickered in his eyes.


    Shi Rui quickly pulled down her sleeve.


    ¡°I¡¯ll save as many as I can. I can¡¯t just watch them die. By the way, how¡¯s your investigation going? Did you find the source of the gue?¡± Shi Rui hurriedly changed the subject, looking up at him.


    As expected, Shi Haojun¡¯s attention was diverted. He smiled smugly and said, ¡°Who am I? Is there any case I can¡¯t solve when I get involved?¡±


    ¡°While others found nothing, I merely used my Seven Aperture Exquisite Heart to sweep the area, and soon found the culprit behind the incident.¡±


    ¡°The source of this gue came from a group of tomb raiders. They robbed a great tomb, and though they managed to escape alive, they brought something terrifying back with them.¡±


    ¡°This thing has a fatality rate even for Gu Kings, and it¡¯s contagious. One person infects ten, ten infect a hundred, and in a very short time, the entire city is affected. There is no cure.¡±


    ¡°When I found them, they were already beyond saving and on the verge of death, so I didn¡¯t get any living captives.¡±


    ¡°But I found a terrifying Gu recipe in their storage rings. This Gu recipe was brought out from that tomb. If I study it, it¡¯s enough to give me unrivaled power. I¡¯m torn over whether I should refine this Gu.¡±


    Shi Haojun¡¯s expression was filled with hesitation and uncertainty.


    Seeing his conflicted expression, Shi Rui smiled gently and said, ¡°If the Gu recipe is enough to make you hesitate, it must have significant negative effects. Since there¡¯s a downside, don¡¯t refine it.¡±


    Shi Haojun was momentarily stunned, looking at the beautiful woman in his arms. As if a burden had been lifted from his heart, he suddenlyughed and said, "Alright, I''ll listen to you. I won¡¯t refine this kind of Gu recipe anymore."


    "Even for the sake of this little cutie inside, I shouldn''t touch such a dangerous Gu recipe."


    Shi Haojun leaned close to the woman¡¯s abdomen, his eyes full of affection.


    Shi Rui gently stroked her slightly protruding belly, showing a happy smile, and said, "I¡¯ve heard it¡¯s a girl. Why don''t you give her a name now?"


    "A daughter, huh? Daughters are great, they¡¯re cuter and closer to the heart. I''ll give her a cute name then¡ªlet''s call her Shi Duo. Do you think it''s cute enough?"


    "Good! Then our daughter will be called Shi Duo. It¡¯s indeed a cute name." Shi Rui said with happiness.


    Suddenly, Shi Haojun gently set the woman down and looked into the distance, his smile fading into seriousness. "Those tomb raiders only stole a small part of that grand tomb. I¡¯m thinking of going back to take another look."


    "I overheard their thoughts¡ªthere¡¯s a peak-grade spiritual herb in the burial hall of the tomb. But the Sleeping hall is extremely dangerous. The tomb raiders suffered heavy losses and didn¡¯t manage to take the tomb¡¯s treasure."


    "Now that I know there¡¯s a peak-grade spiritual herb in the burial hall, it would be a shame not to take it."


    "I¡¯m nning to enter the tomb personally. The resources within that tomb are far beyond what you can imagine. If I seed, we¡¯ll never have to worry about cultivation resources for the rest of our lives."


    "I might be gone for a while. Stay home and take care of yourself, don¡¯t go anywhere."


    Shi Haojun¡¯s eyes burned with ambition as he gazed toward the west.


    Upon hearing this, Shi Rui¡¯s joy turned to worry.


    How could a tomb be easy to rob? Judging by the deadly gue that no one could solve, the tomb was bound to be filled with dangers, a ce where death was almost certain.


    She didn¡¯t want Shi Haojun to take such risks¡ªshe hated it. She was scared of losing him. Every day he was gone would leave her sleepless, filled with anxiety.


    Shi Rui didn¡¯t care about endless resources; she only wished for hisplete safety.


    Her lips moved as if to speak, but in the end, she didn¡¯t voice her objections. "Be careful. I¡¯ll be here waiting for you."


    "Mhm!" Shi Haojun nodded solemnly. He kissed her worried face and confidently said, "Don¡¯t worry, there won¡¯t be any danger. Who am I? I¡¯m Shi Haojun. I¡¯m invincible!"


    "A mere tomb won¡¯t stop me. I will definitely return alive. I still need to see my little girl. There¡¯s no way I¡¯ll die in there. I¡¯m setting off now¡ªwait for my good news."


    After one more kiss, Shi Haojun turned and walked toward the gate of the courtyard.


    "Haojun..."


    Shi Rui watched his back with concern, taking a few steps forward before stopping.


    Shi Haojun paused, turned his head to look at her, and smiled. "Wait for me toe back..."


    With that, Shi Haojun steeled his heart and left.


    ¡­


    Two monthster.


    "Shi Rui, I¡¯m back! Hahaha¡­ We¡¯ll never worry about resources for the rest of our lives. Hahaha¡­ Look at all the treasures I¡¯ve brought back for you¡­"


    As Shi Haojun re-entered the courtyard, hisughter suddenly stopped. The smile on his face froze.


    The beautiful and virtuous woman was no longer waiting for him, eagerly anticipating his return as she usually did.


    Instead, the courtyard was draped in white silk, and in the center of the house stood a prominent coffin with arge ¡°µì¡± character on it.[1]


    His vision went ck, and he almost fainted.


    "Where is Shi Rui? Where is she?"


    He didn¡¯t dare to think about what his heart was suggesting. Clinging to onest sliver of hope, he grabbed someone nearby and demanded an answer.


    "Brother!"


    The man pointed to arge box on the table. Shi Haojun turned his head toward the box, his hand trembling as he slowly lifted the lid.


    When his gaze fell upon what was inside, his eyes instantly filled with rage...


    ¡­


    "No!!"


    Shi Haojun suddenly sat up in bed, gasping for breath. His face was twisted in anger, and his eyes were bloodshot, radiating a terrifying killing intent.


    After a long while, he finally calmed down. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he wasposed. He slowly climbed out of bed, opened the door, and walked outside.


    However, instead of the fresh air he expected, the smell of blood filled his nostrils. The air was thick with the stench of death.


    He stepped into the street, where corpsesy strewn about. The entire street was littered with bodies¡ªtoo many to count. Blood had already formed rivers, staining the earth red.


    The street was covered with corpses, their faces contorted in terror, as if they had died in extreme agony.


    Shi Haojun walked, stepping over the countless bodies, slowly making his way toward the city gate.


    Above the gate, the words ¡°ck Moon City¡± were carved inrge characters, standing out starkly.


    At this moment, those words were drenched in blood, making them appear even more terrifying.


    ...


    1. In this context, "µì" is often used in the phrase "µì¹×" (di¨¤n gu¨¡n), which means "toy in the coffin" or "to ce in the coffin". It can also be used in other funeral-rted phrases, such as "µìÒÇ" (di¨¤n y¨ª), meaning "funeral rites" or "burial ceremony".

 Chapter 177: Yao Chen’s Nefarious Idea

    ck Stone City.


    It was now morning. All the ns in the city had stayed up through the night, unable to sleep. Too many things had happened overnight, leaving everyone wide awake. The leaders of the various major ns were gathered together, their faces etched with exhaustion and gravity.


    "Just when one problem ends, another begins. The issue with the Great Yin Dynasty isn¡¯t even resolved, and now we¡¯ve got this mess to deal with."


    "The gue Demon Gu! Ha! Who would''ve thought I¡¯d encounter a forbidden Gu that was supposedly lost to history? What terrible luck."


    "Why does ck Stone City have to be dragged into the mess caused by ck Moon City? Do we have a grudge against them too?"


    Yan Pojun had been running around frantically all night and was now visibly irritable.


    Long Yuan sighed bitterly and said, "Maybe we''ve all been ignoring something important¡ªpeople move around. People from ck Moon City can travel to other cities, and people from other cities can travel to ck Moon City."


    "People from ck Moon City fifty years ago may no longer be in ck Moon City; they¡¯ve scattered across thend."


    "This auction held by ck Stone City attracted a massive number of Gu cultivators from ck Moon City, including more than half of ck Moon City''s Gu Kings. They were the masterminds behind that incident."Everyone in the room was shocked upon hearing this, their expressions turning even more grim.


    Long Yuan continued, "If he doesn¡¯t want to spare anyone involved in that event, then the cities he needs to ughter won¡¯t be limited to just ck Moon City."


    "It¡¯s difficult to distinguish people from ck Moon City who are mixed in with people from other cities. He might not bother sifting through them all. It¡¯s very likely that his approach will be to ughter entire cities, preferring to kill ten thousand innocents rather than let a single guilty person go."


    "If that¡¯s his mindset, then there will be many more cities to ughter and countless more people who will die." Long Yuan¡¯s expression was solemn, and his voice carried a chilling tone.


    Hearing this, everyone present couldn¡¯t help but feel a chill run down their spines, their eyes filled with fear.


    "In other words, the number of major cities that have been wiped out recently may not be limited to ck Moon City. Manyrge cities may have already been annihted, but the news hasn¡¯t reached us yet," someone said, clearly unsettled.


    "Have you forgotten what kind of Gu he¡¯s refining? To refine a forbidden Gu, wiping out a single city won¡¯t be enough."


    "The auction¡¯s distraction affected more than just ck Moon City. His targets likely extend beyond that city."


    "In fact, before he even ughtered ck Moon City, he might have already annihted many other cities."


    Cai Xuan approached at this moment, sneering.


    This Gu King from a remote region hadn¡¯t yet left the city.


    Not just him¡ªmany Gu Kings from other regions were still in ck Stone City. After the auction endedte into the night, some foreign Gu Kings chose to travel immediately, while others decided to rest and leave in the morning. However, none had expected such arge-scale incident to ur.


    By now, the news that a forbidden Gu had appeared was known throughout the entire city, and everyone was in shock, their faces pale with fear.


    The revtion that there were invisible insects in the ck River caused even more panic. After learning about it, many people were astonished to discover that there were numerous species of insects so small that they couldn¡¯t be seen with the naked eye. It shattered their worldview and left them in disbelief.


    "You¡¯re still here?"


    "You might still have time to leave now, but if you wait any longer, I¡¯m afraid you won¡¯t be able to leave," Yan Pojun remarked as he nced at him.


    "It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to leave; I can¡¯t. Have you forgotten about the Heaven and Earth Decree?"


    "The Heaven and Earth Decree states that no one is allowed to refine a forbidden Gu. Anyone who vites the decree will be jointly hunted by all the world¡¯s powerful individuals. Every strong practitioner is obligated to participate in the extermination of the demon. Anyone who avoids the fight is considered an aplice and will be executed along with the demon."


    "This decree, though invisible, has binding force and is enforced by Gu Emperor City. Demonic cultivators and rogue cultivators may flee, but I have arge n and estate. We can¡¯t run. Even if we could, the temple wouldn¡¯t let me."


    "Now, all the Gu Kings are banding together, which gives us a chance at survival. Those who¡¯ve already fled the city, ording to the Heaven and Earth Decree, will be hunted down and executed along with the demon."


    "They may have escaped this cmity today, but soon they¡¯ll be chased by everyone across the world, and even the enforcers from Gu Emperor City will pursue them. This will be a legitimate excuse for killing and robbing them of their treasures. Everyone will participate in the hunt."


    Cai Xuan shook his head in resignation as he watched several Gu Kings fly out of ck Stone City.


    The gue Demon Gu was simply too ancient, and those whocked knowledge might not understand it. The Gu Kings from smaller families and rogue cultivators didn¡¯t grasp the severe consequences of not participating in the demon extermination. If they did, they wouldn¡¯t dare to run, even if they had a hundred lives.


    Hearing this, the Gu Kings of ck Stone City visibly rxed.


    This meant ck Stone City would receive a significant amount of reinforcement from other Gu Kings. With so many powerful Gu Kings from other regions lending their support, the pressure on ck Stone City would lessen considerably. This battle might not be so difficult after all.


    The aid from numerous foreign Gu Kings bolstered their morale, making them feel more confident about the uing fight.


    Cai Xuan looked at Yan Pojun and asked, "Even if Shi Haojun doesn¡¯t attack ck Stone City directly, the city is still obligated to participate in the siege against him. With our help, how confident are you in taking down this demon?"


    Yan Pojun gazed in the direction of ck Moon City, contemting for a moment before responding, "If we have a method to counter his mutated domain, with so many Gu Kings joining forces, I¡¯m over 80% confident we can eliminate him."


    "But if we don¡¯t have a way to counter his mutated domain, there¡¯s no way we can win. With a swarm of insects gnawing away inside our bodies, how could we fight? No matter how many Gu Kings we gather, it won¡¯t be enough to stop him."


    Upon hearing this, Yao Chen''s eyes lit up, and he was the first to speak. "If we have a way to counter the mutated domain, you¡¯re over 80% confident in taking him down? Could you tell us where your confidencees from?"


    Yan Po Jun sneered, brimming with confidence. "Do you really think I¡¯m afraid of Shi Hao Jun?"


    "I might not be able to beat him, but even if I can¡¯t defeat him, I can certainly escape."


    "I fear his ability. His speed in massacring a city is simply too fast; he can easily wipe out my entire n. That is what truly terrifies me."


    "Actually, the difficult part isn''t eliminating Shi Haojun. The real challenge is how to defend ckstone City and protect my entire n."


    "This immovable ckstone City is the Achilles'' heel of all Gu Kings. Once the battle starts, we will be severely restricted."


    "If it weren¡¯t for this city weighing us down, Shi Haojun wouldn''t be hard to deal with."


    "You are all frightened by the Forbidden Gu. The gue Demon Gu is far less terrifying than you imagine."


    "Perhaps the gue Demon Gu was powerful in the age of the gods, but in today¡¯s world, most of the materials have gone extinct. The gue Demon Gu form calls for tens of millions of ingredients, and surely a significant portion of those materials are now extinct."


    "So, the gue Demon Gu in Shi Haojun''s hands must be a downgraded version. Its power has been reduced who knows how many times¡ªit¡¯s not that hard to deal with."


    "That''s why I said, if we have a method to counter the Mutation Domain, I have over an 80% chance of taking him down."


    "An 80% chance is still a conservative estimate. After all, following the auction, there are over a hundred Gu Kings still in the city. How could we possibly lose with so many Gu Kings working together?"


    After hearing the city lord''s exnation, everyone began to show confident expressions.


    The city lord¡¯s reasoning was sound. Indeed, most of the world''s spirit insects have long since gone extinct, and the gue Demon Gu requires so many materials¡ªhow could parts of it not have been lost?


    That gue Demon Gu must be iplete, with limited power, far from as terrifying as the records describe. They realized they didn¡¯t need to be so afraid after all.


    What¡¯s more, there were so many foreign Gu Kings in the city to help, so the odds of victory in this battle increased even further.


    Because of the city lord¡¯s speech, everyone present was now brimming with confidence and high morale. Many were no longer pessimistic, and a confident smile began to spread across their faces.


    "Since the city lord says so, then I''m relieved."


    Yao Chen smiled and said, "When ites to countering the Mutation Domain, my Yao n actually has a method."


    "The method is simple. Our n has a poisonous pill that works wonders on any living organism in the world. My idea is for everyone to take this poison pill and, just as they are about to be poisoned to death, immediately take the antidote to neutralize the poison."


    "In doing so, all micro insects in the body will be killed, but the person will survive."


    "Once the body is free of micro insects, there¡¯s no need to fear the Mutation Field of the gue Demon Gu," Yao Chen said with a confident smile.


    From a distance, Long Xuan was dumbfounded when he heard the old guy¡¯s ridiculous idea.


    This was his solution? Brilliant¡ªfeeding people poison. How did he evene up with that?


    Long Xuan was genuinely shocked by this crazy operation. He knew that the human body contains many beneficial microorganisms, like E. coli,ctic acid bacteria, and yeast¡­


    There are countless beneficial microorganisms that greatly help the body. The human body can¡¯t do without them, and losing even one type would cause serious problems.


    But this old man nned to kill them all off. How terrifying ignorance can be¡ªwhat kind of thought process is this?


    It''s certain that the human body cannot survive without microorganisms. If someone had absolutely none in their body, they would definitely experience severe issues, even if it didn¡¯t kill them immediately.


    This old man had no knowledge and came up with such a terrible idea.


    Yet, just as Long Xuan was thinking this, arge group of Gu Kings nodded in agreement.


    "Great idea, let''s do it! Very thoughtful."


    "This is an excellent idea. Let¡¯s go with it!"


    ...


    Seeing all the Gu Kings nodding and smiling in agreement, Long Xuan was left speechless.


    Still, he ultimately didn''t step forward to voice his objections.


    After all, his status was low, and his cultivation level was even lower. He was just a nameless nobody¡ªhow could he interrupt here? Did he even have the right to speak?


    If he were to oppose the Gu Kings¡¯ proposal, wouldn¡¯t that embarrass them?


    Maybe this really was the only option left.


    The gue Demon Gu can control any creature smaller than itself, including beneficial bacteria.


    If they didn¡¯t wipe out all the microorganisms in their bodies, this battle probably couldn¡¯t even be fought.


    Moreover, the harm caused by theck of microorganisms in the human body wouldn¡¯t show up immediately. It wouldn¡¯t manifest right away, giving them enough time to fight Shi Haojun at full strength.


    So there was no need for him to interfere. He should quickly take the poison pill and eliminate that great demon Shi Haojun. As for the problems the Gu Kings¡¯ bodies would faceter¡ªthat wasn¡¯t his concern. Once Shi Haojun was dead, it wouldn¡¯t matter to him!


    He figured the Gu Kings were tough enough that they wouldn¡¯t die just fromcking microorganisms.


    Long Xuan thought carelessly.


    At that moment, the unreliable old man spoke again: "But this trick only makes the Mutation Domain ineffective against the micro insect in our bodies. It won¡¯t work on the micro insect in the air."


    "So, when we surround Shi Haojun, everyone must use their full strength to activate their Spirit Armor and defend themselves against the invisible, tiny spirit insects in the air."


    "This will definitely be very draining, so we must finish the battle quickly¡ªthere¡¯s no time for dy."


    "Of course!" Yan Pojunughed confidently. "With so many of us ganging up on one person, if we can''t finish the fight quickly, we might as well find a piece of tofu and smash ourselves with it. I can¡¯t afford to lose face like that."


    "Exactly! If we can''t win quickly with this many people, we should justmit suicide together. I can''t afford that kind of embarrassment either," the others echoed loudly and confidently.

 Chapter 178: The Invasion of the Mutated Domain

    "Alright, now that we have a method to counter the Mutated Domain, I''ll exin the n I''ve devised!"


    Yan Pojun, after surveying the room with amanding presence, continued, "My method is simple. As soon as Shi Haojun shows up, we won''t waste any words. We''ll immediately swallow the poison pills and then attack him all at once."


    "All Gu Kings will activate their Spirit Armor with full power, charge through the Mutated Domain, and kill him as fast as possible!"


    "But!" Yan Pojun''s tone suddenly shifted, and he sternly addressed the crowd: "We must always prepare for the worst. We need to think about what happens if we can''t defeat him!"


    "Although I am confident in this battle, ckstone City is behind us. This battle will decide the fate of everyone in the city. We simply cannot afford to gamble."


    "So, we must make thorough preparations and consider every possibility. We cannot be blindly overconfident."


    "Exactly!" Longyuan added, "Anything can happen. Any ident is possible. We must consider the possibility of defeat, even if we have a 99% chance of winning. We cannot take chances!"


    Everyone nodded in agreement, acknowledging the wisdom in their words.


    "City Lord, just say whatever n you have in mind. As long as it¡¯s reasonable, those of us from outside the city will follow," Cai Xuan chimed in.Yan Pojun nodded and continued, "My n is simple: we¡¯ll move the battlefield to the edge of ckstone City."


    "If we truly can¡¯t win, we can retreat into the city''s defensive formation. Even in defeat, the majority of us will be able to escape unscathed."


    "But there¡¯s one detail you must pay close attention to!"


    Yan Pojun looked seriously at the group of Gu Kings, "If we retreat into the city after defeat, our bodies will be covered in tiny, invisible insects. If we enter the city with them, we will bring a gue with us, which could destroy the entire city."


    "So, the moment we re-enter the city, I will set you all on fire, burning the micro-insects on your Spirit Armor."


    "For the safety of everyone in the city, I will use thergest fire possible, with all of my strength."


    "Some of the Gu Kings with weaker defenses will inevitably die from the fire. This is unavoidable."


    "I need everyone here to sign a life-and-death agreement. If anyone dies from my fire, no one from their faction is allowed to seek revenge."


    The crowd nodded. The City Lord''s reasoning was sound, and they had no grounds to argue. Moreover, it seemed that the Gu Kings had been thoroughly convinced by Yan Pojun, believing that Shi Haojun was no match for them and that thebined power of the Gu Kings would easily crush him. They thought there was no chance of defeat and, thus, no real chance of being burned alive.


    Believing they wouldn¡¯t face such a fate, everyone readily agreed to the proposal.


    Just as all the Gu Kings began signing the life-and-death agreement and Yao Chen, with his usualck of sophistication, was cheerfully distributing poison pills, amotion broke out at the city gate.


    The Gu Kings were startled and moved towards the gate.


    "A bolt from the blue! Truly a bolt from the blue!"


    Several elderly Gu Kings near the gate wailed loudly, their faces streaked with tears.


    "Some viin with a heart of stone took advantage of our absence from ck Iron City and massacred the entire city! More than fifty thousand people, and not a single survivor!"


    "What?" Upon hearing this, everyone was shocked.


    The Gu Kings of ckstone City exchanged nces, their faces pale. Just as they had feared, the worst had happened.


    With people moving between cities, the citizens of ckstone City had fled to surrounding areas. Unwilling to take the time to select his targets, Shi Haojun had carried out indiscriminate ughter in the surrounding cities, preferring to kill a thousand wrongly than to let one slip through.


    Yan Pojun clenched his fists, his eyes turning red with fury. "That wolf cub! How dare he!"


    The surrounding cities were home to members of the Yan n. Shi Haojun''s indiscriminate ughter would undoubtedly im the lives of many of Yan¡¯s kin. How could Yan Pojun not be enraged?


    "City Lord, arge group of refugees has suddenly arrived from the south. There are at least fifty thousand of them. They im a gue broke out in ck Tiger City, killing countless people in a single day. They¡¯vee seeking refuge."


    A Gu cultivator in the Spiritual Sea realm suddenly rushed up to Yan Pojun and reported respectfully.


    Upon hearing this, Yan Pojun''s expression changed again. He immediately shouted, "Hear my order! From this moment, ckstone City is officially under lockdown! Those inside can leave, but no one is allowed to enter! Not a single person!"


    "If even one person from outside brings the gue into the city, all of us will die!"


    Everyone present was visibly shaken. They fully understood what this decision meant.


    It meant that the City Lord was abandoning the fifty thousand refugees. Once they were denied entry, their fate was sealed.


    Immediately, a female Gu cultivator from the Dan n voiced her objection, urgently speaking up: "City Lord, please reconsider. Since Shi Haojun wants to massacre the city, he¡¯s probably using the most deadly gue possible."


    "There¡¯s at least a ten-day journey between ckstone City and ck Tiger City. They¡¯ve walked for ten days without showing any signs of illness, so it¡¯s certain they aren¡¯t carrying the gue. We shouldn¡¯t leave them to die..."


    ¡°Enough!¡± Yan Pojun suddenly roared in anger, ¡°Do you want to be the next Shi Rui?¡±


    ¡°So what if they aren¡¯t carrying the gue? Do you understand that the ck River outside the city has already be a massive source of contamination? To be safe, no one should fetch water from there anymore. The water and food in the city are limited, so how can we let in fifty thousand people to eat and drink for free?¡±


    ¡°Furthermore, do you know how many cities and viges the ck River flows through downstream? How many more refugees will it create?¡±


    ¡°These fifty thousand refugees are just a small portion of the start. We don¡¯t even know how many more refugees will follow. Can we save them all?¡±


    ¡°With so many people, can you guarantee not a single one is carrying the gue?¡±


    Once those words were spoken, the crowd fell silent. Indeed, not only did they need to guard against the possibility of someone carrying the gue, but they also had to consider the scarcity of water and food. Given the situation, no matter what, the people outside couldn¡¯t be allowed in.


    Most people are selfish. In such circumstances, when their own food isn¡¯t even enough, who would be willing to share it with outsiders? And who would dare gamble that no one entering the city carries the gue?


    At that moment, the young girl was also silenced by her own n, who covered her mouth and dragged her to the back of the crowd.


    Seeing that no one opposed him anymore, Yan Pojun scanned the surroundings and shouted again, ¡°Now, follow my orders. Shut the four city gates in the east, south, west, and north. No one is allowed to enter or leave.¡±


    ¡°Also, activate the City Protection Formation and keep it running nonstop. Don¡¯t save on spirit stones; this is not the time to be frugal!¡±


    As the city lord¡¯s orders were passed down, the entire city immediately sprang into action. The atmosphere was solemn, with a foreboding sense of impending disaster.


    The four city gates of ckstone City suddenly closed, blocking anyone who wanted to enter.


    Those locked outside included not only people from the outer city but also ckstone City residents who had been outside and just returned today. Unaware of what had happened, they found themselves barred from their own city, their shouts falling on deaf ears as the gates remained shut.


    Countless people frantically pounded on the gates, with cries of cursing, pleading, and wailing filling the air, but the gates didn¡¯t budge.


    Inside the city, the people coldly watched, hearts hardened like stone. Under the oppressive gaze of the city lord, no one dared open the gate to let their kin inside.


    At this moment, the City Protection Formation was also activated. Threeyers of barriers tightly enclosed ckstone City.


    The innermost barrier sealed off the four city walls, preventing the Gu practitioners trying to scale the walls from entering.


    With this barrier in ce, it was impossible for them to fly into the city. Despair clouded the eyes of everyone outside.


    They realized that the people in the city hadpletely abandoned them. What awaited them, no one knew.


    Coincidentally, just after the barrier was activated, the sky was suddenly engulfed by a red light.


    The red light swiftly swallowed the entire ckstone City.


    Within the range of the red light, the air seemed to be in upheaval, and countless cracking sounds came from the barrier, as if something was gnawing on it, making people¡¯s scalps tingle.


    But the strange phenomena outside didn¡¯t prate the barrier, and the unknown danger was isted outside, leaving the inside peaceful.


    At the same time, the countless people outside who hadn¡¯t entered the city began to frantically pound on the gates and walls, letting out chilling screams.


    The screaming people wore expressions of extreme pain, frantically wing at their own faces and skin, ripping open their flesh until blood flowed, as if something was crawling underneath, driving them to mutte themselves in an attempt to dig it out.


    Their bloodstained hands left smears all over the gates and walls, painting a horrifying scene, turning the area below the city walls into a living hell.


    Those standing atop the city walls were pale with fear, retreating frantically, their eyes filled with terror.


    Everyone was terrified by this sight. The Gu Kings at the wall gazed solemnly at the chaos below. Some wore grim expressions, while others showed hints of pity.


    ¡°So this is the Domain of Mutation? How terrifying!¡± Many people murmured softly.


    Inside the city, a wave of fear spread through everyone¡¯s hearts. They narrowly escaped disaster; the Domain of Mutation had descended just moments after the barrier was raised.


    Had they been just a little slower, they couldn¡¯t imagine what might have happened.


    No doubt, the city would have turned into a hellish nightmare just like the area outside. Everyone thought with lingering dread.


    Long Xuan shot a fearful nce at Yan Pojun, standing on the city walls, and secretly sighed. It¡¯s good to have someone ruthless as the city lord.


    If he had listened to that saintly woman earlier and let those people into the city, dying the activation of the barrier by even a second, the consequences would have been unimaginable.


    The city hade perilously close to disaster, and it all rested on the city lord¡¯s decision. If Yan Pojun hadn¡¯t been so resolute in activating the City Protection Formation and hadn¡¯t spared any spirit stones, even a moment of hesitation would have doomed ckstone City.


    Suddenly, an eerie sound came from the sky. It was not human¡ªmore like the shrill cry of a ghost, piercing and terrifying.


    The sound grew louder, more distinct, as if some unspeakable horror was approaching.


    Everyone in the city turned pale, their eyes filled with tension.


    ¡°Is that the sound of the gue Demon Gu? Is Shi Haojun approaching?¡± Someone in the crowd murmured softly.


    On the wall, Yan Pojun clenched his fists, staring in the direction of ck Moon City as a figure drew closer. His expression grew increasingly dark as he decisively shouted to the Gu Kings behind him, ¡°Everyone, get down from the wall immediately. Do not speak to him, and don¡¯t let him overhear our thoughts.¡±


    With that, he was the first to leap down from the wall, clearly unwilling to engage in any conversation with Shi Haojun.


    The others, recalling that Shi Haojun had the Seven Aperture Exquisite Heart and could hear their thoughts, paled and quickly followed, not even bothering to take the stairs.


    By this time, most of the people had already fled from the walls, as the scene below was too horrifying for them to bear. Many had long since retreated to safety.


    At this moment, only the Gu Kings and some Spiritual Sea Realm Gu practitioners remained atop the wall.


    No! One more¡ªLong Xuan, the brazen one, was still hiding on a distant tower, secretly watching.


    But fear finally overwhelmed him, and he quickly jumped down from the tower as well.


    Shi Haojun¡¯s ability to overhear thoughts was terrifying, and Long Xuan had long resolved to stay as far away from him as possible.

 Chapter 179: Miscalculation

    At this moment, Shi Haojun, who was hurrying toward the city, was taken aback as he watched the group of people disappear atop the city walls.


    The people of ckstone City had reacted so quickly. Despite his relentless barrage of attacks, ckstone City hadn¡¯t suffered a single bit of damage. This was far beyond his expectations.


    ¡°Quite lucky! ckstone City is the first force that has managed to detect the insects in the water. This trick has never failed me before, but it seems useless this time.¡±


    ¡°As expected of thergest city in the Western Lands, full of talented people.¡±


    ¡°But that¡¯s all there is to it. Even with my personal involvement, ckstone City cannot escape the fate of destruction.¡±


    ¡°The old grudges we share¡ªit''s about time we settled them.¡±


    Shi Haojun¡¯s lips curled into a smirk as he squinted slightly, exuding a faint yet deadly aura.


    Suddenly, he waved his hand backward. The ground began to tremble, as if countless creatures were stampeding. Strange, inhuman sounds reverberated through the air.


    Inside the city, the crowd quickly noticed the city¡¯s protective barrier flickering, apanied by a series of booming sounds from outside, as though something was relentlessly attacking the defense array.Everyone¡¯s expression changed. The Gu Kings didn¡¯t dare climb up the walls. Instead, they used their soul power to perceive the situation outside the city. Instantly, their faces shifted in unison, filled with disbelief.


    ¡°So many gue corpses¡ªat least a million of them. How many people did he kill to refine so many gue corpses?¡± Cai Xuan eximed in shock.


    ¡°This is a huge problem. With so many gue corpses relentlessly assaulting the defense array, how long can it hold? If we only defend and don¡¯t attack, the daily consumption of spirit stones to maintain the barrier is astronomical,¡± Yao Chen said with a grim expression.


    ¡°We can¡¯t let them keep attacking. We don¡¯t have enough spirit stones to sustain such a heavy drain.¡±


    Yan Pojun nced at the group of Gu Kings and shouted, ¡°We can¡¯t wait any longer. We must take the initiative, head out of the city, and kill Shi Haojun as quickly as possible.¡±


    ¡°Everyone, immediately swallow the poison pills. We will leave the city at once and fight him to the death!¡±


    The Gu Kings nodded, taking out the poison pills they had been given earlier, and without hesitation, tossed them into their mouths.


    Yan Pojun and Yao Chen also swallowed their poison pills and quickly began refining the medicinal power within.


    From a distance, Long Xuan watched with great interest. Over a hundred Gu Kings ingesting poison at the same time¡ªit was quite a spectacle.


    The poison pills worked astonishingly fast. Before long, every Gu King¡¯s face contorted in pain, their expressions twisted with difort. The poison¡¯s effects were clearly unbearable.


    But they endured the agony, not daring to take the antidote prematurely. They feared that the microbes in their bodies hadn¡¯t beenpletely eradicated. If they took the antidote too soon, all their suffering would be in vain, and they¡¯d face even greater danger.


    Only when they were on the verge of coughing up blood did they finally relent, swallowing the antidotes to neutralize the poison.


    Some, more paranoid, feared the microbes still hadn¡¯t been fully killed off, so they gritted their teeth and held on longer. Only after vomiting several mouthfuls of blood did they finally take the antidotes.


    Watching this, Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but twitch his lips. Ruthless. These people were so hard on themselves¡ªthey were all truly merciless.


    They waited until they were half-dead before using the antidote. Were they really this determined?


    After detoxifying themselves, the group of Gu Kings activated their spiritual armor at full strength and swallowed healing pills to adjust their conditions. Yan Pojun then waved his hand and shouted, ¡°Kill them!¡±


    With that, he was the first to leap off the city wall and charge toward Shi Haojun in the distance. The barrier had already been adjusted to allow passage out but not in, so Yan Pojun easily passed through and rushed toward the army of gue corpses.


    As he advanced, a sea of mes erupted, consuming countless gue corpses. Despite there being a million gue corpses, they couldn¡¯t slow Yan Pojun down in the slightest. Corpse after corpse was burned to ash, not even leaving a trace behind.


    Yan Pojun¡¯s surname, Yan, symbolized fire, and naturally, his abilities revolved around it. The mes he conjured were not to be underestimated.


    Since Shi Haojun¡¯s departure, Yan Pojun had be the strongest in the Western Regions. Even though Shi Haojun had his infamous forbidden Gu, Yan Pojun was utterly unafraid, charging straight toward him.


    The city lord took the lead, and the other Gu Kings followed closely, leaping off the walls and rushing into the field of gue corpses, sending more of them flying.


    Witnessing this grand spectacle, Long Xuan¡¯s eyes lit up with excitement.


    A battle between over a hundred Gu Kings¡ªwhat a magnificent sight.


    Such an epic and thrilling scene was rare. The opportunity was priceless, and there was no way he was going to miss it.


    Saying this, Long Xuan took out his image Record Gu, determined to capture the battle on film.


    Even the image Record Gu, upon witnessing such arge-scale fight between Gu Kings, widened its eyes in excitement. Without Long Xuan¡¯s urging, it eagerly employed its best techniques to record the event.


    Long Xuan, still watching from afar, remained calm and even entertained, enjoying the show as if it were a leisurely spectacle.


    He wasn¡¯t worried in the slightest, showing none of the tension that others wore on their faces.


    It wasn¡¯t because he was particrly confident in the battle¡¯s oue, but rather because, even if ckstone City were truly on the brink of destruction, he could always escape through his Spatial Cottage. With an escape route ready, he had no reason to panic.


    The Gu Kings of ckstone City were intent on a swift victory. The battle instantly escted to a fever pitch.


    As the Gu Kings joined forces, they cut a wide path through the sea of gue corpses, easily obliterating the opposition.


    However, the number of corpses was overwhelming. Before long, the path behind them, which they had cleared, was once again filled with gue corpses, who crazily surged toward the surrounded Gu Kings.


    Soon, the first scream of agony echoed through the battlefield.


    A Gu King, whose spiritual armor wasn¡¯t thick enough, had his defense breached by mutated microbes in the air. The microbes drilled into his body, causing him to copse in pain, wing at his own skin.


    As soon as he fell behind, the swarm of gue corpses swallowed him up instantly.


    All the Gu Kings felt a heavy weight in their hearts. Was there already a casualty this early?


    A poor start was never a good sign.


    But the fall of the first Gu King was only the beginning. Shortly after, another Gu King¡¯s spiritual armor was breached, and he copsed to the ground, letting out horrifying screams of pain.


    This time, the one who fell to the ground was surprisingly a mid-stage Gu King, causing everyone''s expressions to change.


    "To be able to instantly break through the defenses of a mid-stage Gu King... this is bad. It must be the gue Demon Gu. The gue Demon Gu is likely in a form so small it can''t be seen by the naked eye, and it can easily tear through the defenses of a mid-stage Gu King. This thing is basically unstoppable in killing people."


    Someone in the crowd suddenly shouted. Just as his voice fell, another mid-stage Gu King let out a scream, and everyone''s scalp went numb.


    There was an invisible force ughtering people within the crowd¡ªhow could anyone defend against it? It''spletely unsolvable.


    Fortunately, the thing hadn¡¯t grown to its peak state yet. It could only break the defenses of mid-stage Gu Kings; otherwise, the first to die would have been those at the peak of the Gu King stage.


    What was even more terrifying was that, at that moment, arge group of gue Corpses with the aura of Gu Kings suddenly emerged from the corpse horde. Three of them even emitted the aura of peak-stage Gu Kings.


    Under the onught of these Gu King-level gue Corpses, the hundred Gu Kings were instantly scattered, split into multiple battlefields. This development was like adding fuel to the fire, making the situation even more dire. Soon, the crowd was filled with more cries of agony from the Gu Kings.


    The appearance of Gu King-level gue Corpses was extremely dangerous. Don¡¯t be fooled into thinking that gue Corpses are easy to deal with just because they can''t control Gu insects.


    You should know that the air is now filled with mutated insects, meaning none of the Gu Kings can release their external Gu. In such conditions, releasing Gu insects would be a death sentence.


    Without the ability to release their external Gu, the only option was to engage the Gu King-level gue Corpses in hand-to-handbat. However, brute strength was the strong suit of all zombies, making them formidable in close-quartersbat.


    In an environment filled with tiny insects, even a minor scratch could spell death for anyone. Who would dare engage in closebat with a mighty Corpse King under such circumstances?


    Thus, the scene unfolded where a single Corpse King was chasing down a group of Gu Kings, scattering their ranks. Every Gu King was forced to fight on their own, and there was no way to form an encirclement around Shi Haojun.


    "Damn it!" Yan Poming''s face changed drastically. The difficulty of dealing with Shi Haojun far exceeded his expectations; it wasn''t as simple as he had imagined.


    The appearance of the three peak-stage Gu King gue Corpses chilled his heart even more. The gue Demon Gu could actually create and control zombies of such a level?


    The strength of the gue Demon Gu was too exaggerated. Even a reduced version of it was proving extremely hard to deal with.


    If the weakened version of the gue Demon Gu was already this powerful, just how terrifying would it have been during the Age of the Gods? He couldn''t even begin to imagine.


    That such an overpowered Gu insect could exist in this world¡ªit¡¯s no wonder it reduced the human poption by half during the Age of the Gods.


    Yan Poming felt an ominous premonition. The appearance of the three peak-stage Gu King gue Corpses hadpletely caught him off guard, and this unforeseen change was beyond deadly.


    At the moment, including himself, they had only four peak-stage Gu Kings, and these were meant to deal with Shi Haojun¡ªthey couldn¡¯t afford to spread them thin.


    Whether one-on-one or two-on-one, it was impossible to defeat Shi Haojun. There was no need to even think about it.


    As a result, those three peak-stage Gu King gue Corpses would remain unchallenged. This unexpected developmentpletely disrupted his n, and if he wasn¡¯t careful, he might truly perish here today.


    And that gue Demon Gu, rampaging uncontrobly, waspletely invisible. No one could see it, let alone control it. Its strength far exceeded his expectations.


    How could this world allow the existence of something so destructive to bnce? Yan Poming realized he had underestimated the gue Demon Gu, and his overconfidence was his downfall.


    His face grew darker.


    The n had changed. He had thought that if he could just figure out a way to counter the Mutated Domain, eliminating Shi Haojun would be a piece of cake. He even conservatively estimated that he had an 80% chance of sess.


    Now, it was like a p to the face. There wasn¡¯t even an 80% chance; they¡¯d be lucky if they had a 20% chance! His arrogance and ignorance were to me.


    But now wasn¡¯t the time to dwell on it. He forced himself to stay calm and quickly shouted, "It is everyone''s duty to eliminate evil and uphold justice! Allte-stage Gu Kings, hold off those three peak-stage Gu King gue Corpses! The rest of you, follow me and attack!"


    With that, Yan Poming unleashed a sea of fire, burning away the gue Corpses in his path as he charged toward the figure in the center of the corpse horde.


    "If you want to capture the leader, first capture the king." This was the only solution he could think of to break the situation.


    He could only hope to quickly take down Shi Haojun, which would cause the gue Demon Gu to die and the corpse horde to lose control.


    Otherwise, the situation would be dire¡ªnot only would arge number of Gu Kings die, but ckstone City itself would face the danger of copse.


    The other three peak-stage Gu Kings shared his thoughts. They knew that the only way to break the deadlock was to eliminate Shi Haojun quickly. After carving a path through the corpse horde, they charged toward him.


    "Ants trying to shake a tree¡ªfoolish and overconfident!"


    Facing the encirclement of four peak-stage Gu Kings, Shi Haojun showed no intention of fleeing. Instead, he sneered and charged toward them.


    With a tug of his insect pouch, fourteen peak-grade Gu insects flew out toward the four of them.


    For someone who frequently ughtered entire cities, he had ess to the wealth of countless cities. Refining arge swarm of peak-grade Gu insects was no trouble at all.


    Moreover, the peak-grade Gu insects he refined weren¡¯t just ordinary peak-grade Gu insects. Supported by the wealth of so many cities, each of his peak-grade Gu insects required materials numbering in the tens of thousands.


    If you thought Shi Haojun only had the gue Demon Gu as his trump card, you¡¯d be gravely mistaken.


    Every one of his peak-grade Gu insects was beyond extraordinary. With the immense resources he had, no ordinary person could replicate such a feat.


    It wasn¡¯t an exaggeration to say that his ten-plus peak-grade Gu insects were invincible across the Western Continent.


    To make matters worse, under the Mutated Domain, none of the Gu Kings besieging Shi Haojun could use their external Gu insects. This was truly deadly.


    How could the task of besieging Shi Haojun be aplished under these conditions?


    All the Gu Kings'' faces changed upon witnessing this, realizing the severity of the situation. They quickly dispatched over tente-stage Gu Kings to rush toward Shi Haojun, while arge group of mid-stage Gu Kings held off the three peak-stage Gu King gue Corpses. The battle was quickly spiraling out of control...

 Chapter 180: Yan Pojuns Decision

    The battle between the Gu Kings was earth-shattering. Soon, the sky transformed into a sea of fire, covering the entire ckstone City like a massive burning cloud. Countless mutated microorganisms in the air were buried in the vast inferno.


    On the ground, hordes of gue zombies were also consumed by the fire. Beyond the city walls, fire spread everywhere, the scorching heat baking the earth and setting the sky aze.


    Everyone inside the city was drenched in sweat, fearfully gazing at the sea of mes engulfing the sky.


    "Is this the kind ofmotion caused by a Gu King battle? Is this the destructive power of Yan Pojun?" Long Xuan watched in shock.


    It seemed Yan Pojun had been pushed to his limit, recklessly releasing such a vast firestorm, intent on burning away every microorganism in the air.


    Could the microorganisms in the air really have grown strong enough to breach the peak defense of a Gu King? That seemed unlikely, Long Xuan thought with a start.


    At this point, the faces of the Yan n Gu cultivators turned grim.


    "What exactly is happening? Something forced the City Lord to use the Yang me technique!"


    "It seems Shi Haojun released something from an insect bag. It appears to be a batch of carefully cultivated micro-insect, and these insects have the terrifying power to threaten even a peak Gu King.""The City Lord couldn¡¯t detect their location, so in order to protect the other Gu Kings, he had no choice but to use thisrge-scale move and burn all the micro-insects in the air."


    "This isn¡¯t good. Yang me is a forbidden technique. If the City Lord uses it, his body will suffer tremendous damage. Has the situation really be this dire?"


    The Yan n Gu cultivators murmured amongst themselves, worry evident on their faces. The battlefield situation looked grim, and many had already shown signs of despair.


    "This is bad." At that moment, Long Yuanshan approached Long Xuan, his face solemn as he spoke. "Yang me is a forbidden technique that requires the fusion of nine different Spirit mes to be released."


    "You can imagine how dangerous it is to have nine Spirit mes in a single body. Yan Pojun only became the strongest in the Western Lands because of his control over the nine mes."


    "Not only did Yan Pojun use Yang me just now, but he also detonated three Spirit mes. If the situation weren''t absolutely critical, he would never resort to this."


    "ckstone City is likely on the brink of copse. Tonight, you must escape through the space hut and return to the Far West."


    "You are the rare prodigy of our Long n in ten thousand years. You cannot perish here."


    Hearing this, Long Xuan was shocked. Had the situation truly be so dire?


    No way, right? So many Gu Kings were fighting one opponent, yet they couldn''t defeat him? Shi Hao Jun''sbat power seemed absurdly exaggerated.


    Is the power of forbidden Gu arts really this immense? And this is just a reduced version.


    At this moment, even Long Xuan began to panic and hastily asked, "Isn¡¯t it toote to leave tonight? Should I leave now?"


    For the first time, he felt genuinely anxious. Shi Hao Jun¡¯s overwhelmingbat strength was starting to scare him.


    Long Yuanshan shot him a nce. If it weren''t for the fact that Long Xuan was the Long n''s genius, and he had no right to discipline him, Long Yuanshan would¡¯ve berated him for being such a coward. How could the Long n''s genius be afraid of death?


    "Rest assured, even if all the Gu Kings outside perish, ckstone City won¡¯t fall for at least a month."


    "There''s a Spirit Vein underneath ckstone City, and the protective formation is anchored by this massive vein. Even if Shi Hao Jun exhausts himself, he can¡¯t breach the formation in a short time."


    "ckstone City is the strongest fortress in the Western Lands and has never been breached throughout history. You can rely on the city''s defenses."


    "Even if you leave in a month, you''ll still be perfectly safe."


    "That''s good to hear." Upon hearing this, Long Xuan finally felt at ease and continued to observe the distant battle.


    However, when he looked at the battlefield again, he noticed the battle had already ended. The group of Gu Kings was frantically fleeing, desperately running for their lives.


    Behind them came a sea of mes, like a tsunami of fire sweeping across thend, engulfing the fleeing Gu Kings. Soon, their agonized screams echoed from within the mes.


    Witnessing this scene, everyone inside the city was horrified. They retreated in fear, worried that if the Gu Kings charged into the city, the mes would spread and affect them.


    Long Yuanshan''s face grew heavy, and he sighed softly, "They¡¯ve already activated the second n, haven''t they?"


    Long Xuan''s eyes narrowed. He was well aware of what the second n entailed.


    If they were at a disadvantage, all the Gu Kings would retreat into the city''s protective array to save their lives.


    To prevent the gue from spreading, the City Lord would unleash a massive fire to burn them, incinerating any microorganisms on their bodies.


    However, this would also mean that weaker Gu Kings, unable to withstand the fire, would perish in the mes.


    It was a cruel n, but at the time, no one had taken it seriously. They had all signed the life-and-death agreement without hesitation.


    No one believed they would lose the battle. With so many Gu Kings fighting one opponent, how could they possibly lose?


    But things had gone entirely differently. In the end, they couldn¡¯t win.


    A tiny, invisible gue Demon Gu had wreaked havoc among them, and coupled with a swarm of gue zombies at the Gu King level, there weren¡¯t many Gu Kings left to actually face Shi Hao Jun.


    As a result, they lost¡ªand they lost quickly. The battlefield was littered with the corpses of Gu Kings, their armor and weapons abandoned in defeat. In a matter of moments, they suffered a total rout, and the remaining Gu Kings fled in disarray.


    Everyone had been utterly stunned.


    No one expected the second n to be put into action. Suddenly, a firestorm swept over them from behind, catching thempletely off guard.


    Yan Po Jun was ruthless. Facing such a terrifying gue, he dared not hold back. He unleashed the full power of the sea of mes.


    Three of the Nine Great Spirit mes had self-detonated, leaving only six. The remaining six Spirit mes merged together, forming a deep crimson me. The temperature of the fire was terrifyingly high¡ªthis was no ordinary me. Even a Gu King could not easily withstand it.


    Immediately, more than ten Gu Kings were reduced to ashes in the sea of fire, leaving them only a few steps away from the city''s protective formation.


    The surviving Gu Kings, their faces twisted with pain, frantically rushed into the city''s defensive formation. mes still engulfed them, and even if they survived, they would likely be left half-dead.


    Once inside the protective formation, the Gu practitioners rushed over, pouring specially made water over them to extinguish the mes on their bodies.


    The fire created by Yan Pojun, through the fusion of six Spirit Fires, was terrifyingly intense. Ordinary water could not put it out¡ªit required special Spirit Water.


    After the mes on the Gu Kings were finally extinguished, the pain on their faces subsided significantly. They copsed to the ground, utterly exhausted, gasping for air, their faces showing the relief of having narrowly escaped death.


    The alchemists from the Yao and Dan ns hurried over to check their injuries and to see if there were any remnants of the gue.


    Even though they had been scorched by such a terrifying me, the gue Demon Gu was so horrifying that no one dared guarantee that the gue it created had been entirely burned away by the fire. No one was willing to take that risk.


    The stakes were too high, as the entire city''s lives were on the line. No one dared to gamble and could only proceed with the utmost caution.


    All of this took ce outside the city walls. ording to the second n, after a defeat, all Gu Kings were to be quarantined outside the city for a while, and only allowed to enter once the alchemists had confirmed they posed no danger.


    Yan Pojun was thest to enter the protective formation. A figure aze with fire suddenly rushed into the array. As the mes gradually dissipated, the city lord¡¯s figure was revealed. He staggered a few steps before members of the Yan n hurried to support him.


    "City Lord!"


    "City Lord!"


    ...


    "How is this possible? How could he be this strong? Wasn¡¯t the gue Demon Gu iplete? How could it be this powerful?" Yan Pojun muttered in a daze, his face pale as if he had lost his mind.


    Suddenly, he pushed away those supporting him and looked towards the surviving Gu Kings.


    Upon seeing the scene before him, his heart sank.


    The losses were simply too heavy. Among the ten ns of the Western Lands, many Gu Kings had fallen in this battle. Of the more than 150 Gu Kings that had set out, only about 90 returned¡ªdropping their number below 100.


    Of the four peak-stage Gu Kings, one had also fallen. Now, besides himself, only Cai Xuan and Jiu Kang remained.


    Moreover, both of them were in dire straits. Even though Yan Pojun had used a forbidden technique, their injuries were still worse than his own.


    Several Gu practitioners from the Jiu n gathered around Jiu Kang, sobbing. The rest of the ns were equally devastated, their expressions dull and spirits low. The atmosphere was heavy with grief.


    No one had expected that even a hundred Gu Kings, working together, would lose. They all felt as though they were dreaming, or hallucinating.


    If even a hundred Gu Kings couldn¡¯t win, and with a small portion already lost, organizing a second attack was impossible.


    Everyone understood what this meant: no one could stop Shi Haojun. ckstone City was likely to be ughtered by him. The city''s demise seemed to be counting down, and everyone still inside was destined to die.


    The Gu practitioners of the various ns were all filled with despair, many feeling pessimistic about their fate.


    The city was now surrounded by the gue, making it impossible to break through and escape. They were trapped, awaiting death.


    The city''s food and water supplies were limited. Even if Shi Haojun couldn¡¯t break through in a short time, how long could they hold out? Despair was written all over everyone¡¯s faces.


    "City Lord! What should we do next?"


    Someone in the crowd finally asked in a low voice.


    Yan Pojun looked up at the sky and sighed heavily, "Hold our ground. All we can do now is defend."


    "We cannot leave the city again¡ªwe simply can¡¯t win."


    "Shi Haojun has grown too strong. There are likely few people in the world who can stop him now."


    "We have to wait¡ªwait for reinforcements. Shi Haojun has refined a Forbidden Gu, and those who refine Forbidden Gu are hunted by the world."


    "Before the city was sealed, I made arrangements. I sent word to spread this news."


    "Faced with an old demon who ughters cities and refines Gu, the Gu Emperor City will not stand idly by. They will surely issue the Demon Extermination Order and mobilize a vast number of Gu Kings to hunt down Shi Haojun."


    "All we need to do is hold out until the Gu Emperor City issues the Demon Extermination Order. At that point, Shi Haojun will either face the Gu Kings of the world or retreat. The crisis of ckstone City will be resolved."


    "But this ce is so remote that it will likely take a long time for the news to reach the central region and the Gu Emperor City. Gathering Gu Kings from various regions will also take considerable time."


    "Stall. Stall for as long as we can. From now on, the entire city is to switch to one meal every two days. Even urine must be collected¡ªdon¡¯t discard it."


    "Everyone in the city mustply, regardless of wealth or status. Anyone who disobeys will be executed."


    "Prepare for a long battle. If we do not hold out until reinforcements arrive, we will burn with the city¡­"


    ---

 Chapter 181: The Long Clans Plan

    The words of the city lord cast a heavy silence over the entire gathering, filling everyone with a sense of dread.


    Clearly, the situation had reached its worst point. The Gu King within the city could no longer resist Shi Haojun. The only remaining option was to defend the city to the death. If they couldn''t hold out until reinforcements arrived, everyone in the city would perish.


    Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but raise an eyebrow. Two meals over two days? No wonder people were fainting from hunger! His focus was clearly different from others.


    "Right!" Yan Pojun suddenly remembered something and quickly said, "The city''s defensive formation must remain active all day to resist the gue. Therefore, we need an enormous amount of Spirit Stones to sustain this long battle."


    "We¡¯ll decideter in a meeting how much Spirit Stones each n needs to contribute, but for now, bring Qian Jinjing to me."


    The Qian n¡¯s Chamber Of Commerce had just hosted arge auction that had taken the westernnds by storm, earning them immense profits. If there was any ce in the city with an abundance of Spirit Stones, it would undoubtedly be the Qian n''s guild.


    Just the sale of the Living Wood alone had fetched 40.1 billion Spirit Stones¡ªmore than enough to keep ckstone City sustained for a long time.


    And that vast sum of Spirit Stones should still be in the hands of the Qian n¡¯s guild. Shi Haojun couldn¡¯t have taken it.


    While the rest of the city''s wealth could be discussedter, these 40.1 billion Spirit Stones could be seized immediately and openly, and no one would have a reason to object.Thus, Yan Pojun immediately ordered someone to bring Qian Jinjing to him.


    However, someone in the crowd soon wore an awkward expression, slowly raised his hand, and said, "Lord City Master, it seems she sensed that a crisis wasing to ckstone City. So, as soon as the auction ended, she ran off with all the money."


    "She even took away all her goods, and many of the Qian n¡¯s shops have already closed. She¡¯s long gone from the city."


    "What? She ran away??" Yan Pojun''s voice suddenly grew louder, filled with confusion.


    "She''s really cunning!" Yan Pojun felt a sudden urge to vomit blood from frustration.


    However, he quickly calmed himself. Even without the Qian n¡¯s guild, the Spirit Stones in the city should stillst for some time.


    After all, the Qian n¡¯s had just hosted arge auction, attracting many Gu Kings from all over. Each of them had brought vast amounts of Spirit Stones to participate in the event, and many hadn¡¯t had the chance to leave yet.


    For example, Cai Xuan¡ªhe had at least 40 billion Spirit Stones, as he had personally imed at the auction.


    Yan Pojun suddenly nced at Cai Xuan out of the corner of his eye.


    Cai Xuan felt a chill run down his spine and finally realized something, his expression turning bitter.


    At this moment, he truly wanted to p himself. Why had he foolishly stayed? He should have left earlier!


    He had wanted to be righteous and help eliminate the demonic threat, but now, he was trapped here, and his Spirit Stones were as good as gone.


    ckstone City had now be an isted and dead city¡ªcut off from water and food. The surrounding cities had likely all perished, with no oneing to their aid. He could very well die here, trapped and starved.


    Looking at his injuries and mourning the loss of several of his top-grade Gu insects, Cai Xuan let out a bitterugh. What had been the point of all this?


    Why didn¡¯t he leave earlier?


    He was full of regret. Truly, his intestines were twisting with remorse.


    Yan Pojun¡¯s devilish voice rang out again: "We not only need to conserve water and food but also Spirit Stones. From today onwards, no one is allowed to cultivate by absorbing the spiritual energy of Spirit Stones. Anyone who disobeys will be executed."


    "The city''s defensive formation will also need to shut down unnecessary functions. During the day, only one barrier will remain open, and at night, two. We must conserve Spirit Stones as much as possible."


    "Now, everyone head to the city walls and disable the two outer barriers. Clear all the gue-ridden corpses at the base of the walls. Don''t let them drain more of our Spirit Stones."


    As the city lord''s orders were issued, the entire city sprang into action once again.


    After being thoroughly inspected by the Dan and Yao ns¡¯ alchemists to ensure they weren¡¯t carrying the gue, all the Gu Kings rushed to the city walls.


    As soon as the two outer barriers were deactivated, a massive swarm of zombies surged toward the base of the walls.


    However, they were met with a barrage of fireballs, lightning bolts, and wind des.


    The final barrier around the city walls was clearly a one-way shield. The people inside the city couldunch attacks through it, striking enemies outside, while attacks from outside werepletely blocked.


    This gave the defenders the upper hand: they could strike without being struck in return.


    Under such a defense, breaching this fortress would be extremely difficult. ckstone City, hailed as the strongest fortress in the westernnds, had never fallen since ancient times, and that was no idle boast.


    Most of the gue-ridden corpses had already been burned to ashes by Yan Pojun¡¯s sea of fire, with only a few remaining.


    It didn¡¯t take long for the corpses at the base of the walls to bepletely eradicated.


    Without the gue-ridden corpses to drain the city¡¯s defensive energy, the people felt somewhat relieved as they descended from the walls and returned to the city.


    Meanwhile, Shi Haojun quietly observed, noticing that the city¡¯s defenders had clearly prepared for a prolonged siege. He smirked.


    If they thought he had only this small number of gue-ridden corpses, they were gravely mistaken.


    He would love to see how long their Spirit Stones couldst under the assault of his true army of the undead.


    The Long n Estate.


    An ancestor of the Long n, who had reached the Gu King realm, had fallen in this great battle. At this moment, the entire Long family was shrouded in sorrow, with every family member wearing a mournful expression and feeling deeply downcast.


    White silk banners were hung everywhere across the Long family, as the entire n held a funeral ceremony for the fallen ancestor.


    The atmosphere of grief enveloped the entire estate, and in some ces, sounds of weeping could be heard.


    It wasn¡¯t just the Long family¡ªGu Kings from all of the city¡¯s ten great ns had also perished in this battle, and each ns had suffered significant losses.


    The entire city was steeped in sadness, and swathes of buildings were draped with white silk.


    On this day, countless important figures fell, and the whole city observed a moment of silence.


    Long Yuan held arge skeleton in his hands and sighed heavily.


    He had been severely injured in this battle, and even lost one of his peak-grade external Gu.


    In a situation where the air was filled with small insects, releasing an external Gu was a guaranteed death sentence. The mutated domain possessed the ability to restrict the opponent¡¯s use of external Gu.


    But there was no choice at the time¡ªhe had to use his Fire Dragon Gu to escape death. In the end, he had to sacrifice the Fire Dragon Gu in exchange for a chance to survive.


    The Fire Dragon Gu was the first Gu insect he had refined in his Gu cultivation career, and he had developed a deep emotional attachment to it, long considering it an old friend.


    The loss of the Fire Dragon Gu caused him great heartache, and he constantly med himself.


    "Sigh! Old friend, may you rest in peace. My old bones don¡¯t have much life left, I¡¯ll be joining you soon."


    With reddened eyes, Long Yuan ced the charred remains of the Fire Dragon Gu¡¯s skeleton into a small coffin and waved his hand, signaling for it to be taken away for burial.


    "Ancestor, please ept my condolences," Long Yuanshanforted from behind.


    "I¡¯m fine. Each family suffered heavy losses in this battle, but ours was rtively light."


    "Sigh! I had already overestimated the power of the gue Demon Gu, but in the end, I still grossly underestimated it. My misjudgment of its power, along with the city lord¡¯s, led to us suffering such devastating losses!" Long Yuan sighed.


    "This isn¡¯t anyone¡¯s fault. No one could have anticipated how strong the forbidden Gu¡¯s power would be. This isn¡¯t anyone¡¯s responsibility. On the contrary, we should be credited. If we hadn¡¯t detected Shi Haojun¡¯s conspiracy early, ckstone City might have already fallen," Long Yuanshan said in constion.


    Long Yuan nodded, feeling a sense of relief from his words. He turned and said, "Tonight, take the n¡¯s young talents to seek refuge with the Long family in the Far west."


    "All of the family¡¯s treasures and records must be secretly transported there at night. No one must know."


    "The interests involved in the Space Hut are simply too vast. We¡¯ve been keeping it hidden, and not many people in the family know about it, let alone outsiders."


    "If the matter of the Space Hut is exposed, the family will certainly descend into chaos. In the face of death, everyone will rush to flee into the Space Hut, and things will get out of control."


    "Most people cannot be transferred. If arge number of people from the Long n suddenly vanish, the other ns in the city will surely suspect something."


    "Those of us who are well-known and often appear in public cannot leave either. We can only leave when ckstone City is on the brink of copse, and we¡¯ll take as many people as we can."


    "In any case, the secret of the Space Hut must be well-guarded. The fewer people who know about it, the better. The terrifying Shi Haojun can hear people¡¯s inner thoughts. The more people who know this secret, the more likely it is to bring about the destruction of the far west Long n. If that happens, the young talents we left there will be doomed."


    Long Yuan looked solemnly at Long Yuanshan, his expression serious. Long Yuanshan nodded heavily. How could he not understand the gravity of the situation?


    "Rest assured, ancestor. The secret of the Space Hut will never be leaked. Everyone who knows about it is among the first to leave."


    "Even Long Qian cannot stay here for safety¡¯s sake. With his talent in formations, it would be a great loss if he perished here. His survival is the greatest help to the family," Long Yuanshan said confidently.


    "Yes! I trust you to handle things. Now go and start transferring the n¡¯s wealth. I have to go to the city lord¡¯s mansion for a meeting, probably to discuss how much spirit stones each n has to contribute. Don¡¯t bother moving the spirit stones¡ªthere are plenty outside. This is not the time to be stingy."


    After handing the matters over to Long Yuanshan, Long Yuan hurriedly made his way toward the city lord¡¯s mansion.


    At the same time, other high-ranking figures of the various ns were also heading to the city lord¡¯s mansion. These were the strongest and most influential ancestors of each family.


    Even the heads of the ns did not qualify to attend this meeting.


    However, only the highest leaders of the city''s ns were invited to the meeting, excluding the Gu Kings outside the city. Who knows what the ruthless me City Lord is nning this time?


    Some timeter, the ancestors with the highest authority from each n gathered in the city lord''s mansion.


    In the meeting room, aside from City Lord Yan Pojun, there were only ten people, each at thete stage of the Gu King realm.


    On the surface, Yan Pojun had to maintain neutrality, so anotherte-stage Gu King ancestor from the Yan family attended as well.


    At this moment, the atmosphere in the meeting room was heavy. No one spoke for a long time, as everyone was still enveloped in sorrow.

 Chapter 182: The City Lord’s Cruelty

    Finally, it was Yao Chen who broke the heavy silence first, speaking up: ¡°City Lord, just say what you need to. If it¡¯s about gathering Spirit Stones from the various ns, there¡¯s no need to feel embarrassed.¡±


    ¡°This is a matter of life and death for the entire city. I doubt anyone would be stingy in such a situation. There are no fools here.¡±


    Yan Pojun, seated at the head of the conference table, nced at him and responded, ¡°You¡¯re mistaken. I didn¡¯t call this meeting to gather Spirit Stones. For now, the Spirit Stones from the Outer City Gu Kings will suffice. There¡¯s no urgent need.¡±


    ¡°The reason I¡¯ve summoned everyone here today is because I¡¯vee up with another strategy to repel the enemy, and I¡¯d like to discuss it with you all,¡± Yan Pomu said calmly.


    As soon as these words were spoken, all the Gu Kings present straightened up, their eyes lighting up with excitement.


    ¡°If the City Lord has any brilliant ideas, please don¡¯t keep us in suspense,¡± someone below couldn¡¯t help but say eagerly.


    ¡°It¡¯s not exactly a brilliant n,¡± Yan Pojun paused for a moment before slowly continuing, ¡°As we all know, Shi Haojun¡¯s descent into madness is entirely due to the matter with Shi Rui. His return is solely for revenge.¡±


    ¡°He intends to kill every single person from ck Moon City, leaving no one alive. But this auction has attracted arge number of people from ck Moon City into our city, and they¡¯ve all be his targets for ughter. We, ck Stone City, are simply caught in the crossfire.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking¡ªwhat if we kill every single person from ck Moon City in the city? If we throw all their heads in front of him, he has the ability to hear our thoughts. He would sense that there are truly no remnants of ck Moon City left within the city.¡±¡°After all, ck Stone City is his birthce. His mother¡¯s n and rtives are here.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps, if he¡¯s convinced that all his enemies are dead, he might retreat and spare the city of his mother¡¯s n.¡±


    These words sent a shudder through everyone¡¯s hearts¡ªthey hadn¡¯t expected this to be Yan Pojun¡¯s n.


    Killing all the people from ck Moon City in the city¡­ there were tens of thousands of them. There were over twenty Gu Kings from ck Moon City alone, though only a little more than ten remained alive now. But even that wasn¡¯t a small number.


    If such an order were given, the city would be awash in rivers of blood.


    However, everyone now wore thoughtful expressions, considering whether this n was feasible.


    Yan Pojun wasn¡¯t wrong. ck Stone City was Shi Haojun¡¯s birthce, his hometown, where he¡¯d grown up, full of his memories.


    If he truly believed that all his enemies were dead, he might just spare ck Stone City and retreat.


    With that thought, everyone became more receptive.


    After all, it was ck Moon City¡¯s people who had caused all this. Why not use their heads to put an end to it?


    At this point, the Shi n Patriarch sighed heavily and spoke in a grave tone: ¡°We¡¯ve already thoroughly offended Shi Haojun with our past decisions. He might not be willing to show our Shi n any mercy.¡±


    ¡°My estimation is fifty-fifty. Killing all the ck Moon City people in the city might give him reason to leave, but it might not.¡±


    ¡°You seem to have forgotten what kind of Gu he¡¯s refining. It¡¯s none other than the infamous Forbidden Gu. The growth of a Forbidden Gu requires continuous ughter, constant massacres, and at its final stage, it even requires wiping out an entire region.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯spletely lost his mind now. Even without revenge, he¡¯d still need to keep killing. Do you really think he¡¯d spare ck Stone City?¡±


    At these words, everyone fell silent.


    Indeed, Shi Haojun¡¯s descent into madness might not be just about revenge anymore.


    Even if he killed all his enemies, he might continue his ughter. If he stopped, the growth of his Forbidden Gu would halt. Having already tasted that heaven-defying power, would he really be willing to pause its growth?


    Everyone instinctively shook their heads. There wasn¡¯t a single naive person among them.


    They all understood that killing all the ck Moon City people might only make Shi Haojun retreat out of consideration for his mother¡¯s n. But the chances of that happening were slim.


    Yet, even with a slight possibility, they were willing to try.


    After all, it wasn¡¯t their lives on the line¡ªit was others¡¯. What harm was there in trading other people¡¯s lives for their own slim chance of survival?


    The Long n¡¯s Long Yuan frowned and asked, ¡°The City Lord must also be aware that the likelihood of this n¡¯s sess is low. If we go through with it and Shi Haojun doesn¡¯t retreat, what then?¡±


    ¡°No matter,¡± Yan Pojun revealed a cruel smile. ¡°I¡¯ve already considered the possibility of failure. In fact, failure is quite likely. But we must try.¡±


    ¡°Even if we fail, it¡¯s no big deal. The city¡¯s food supply is limited, and the more people that die, the more food we¡¯ll save.¡±


    ¡°We can also take this opportunity to kill off those unfamiliar faces whose backgrounds we know little about, iming they¡¯re from ck Moon City, and thus reduce our food shortage.¡±


    ¡°Moreover, when we¡¯re hunting down the Gu Kings from ck Moon City, we can deliberately create argermotion, prolong the battle, and drive them toward themoners. The residual effects of the Gu Kings¡¯ battle will inevitably kill off many ordinary people. That will ease our food pressure even further.¡±


    As soon as he said this, everyone felt their hearts go numb. The patriarchs sitting around the table widened their eyes in disbelief, staring at the City Lord.


    With the influx of strangers into the city for the auction, was he really suggesting killing them all?


    Killing the outsiders was one thing, but now the City Lord was talking about ughtering the city¡¯s own people! Didn¡¯t he realize that fewer than ten percent of each family¡¯s newborns had the potential for cultivation? The vast majority of their nsmen were ordinary mortals, settled throughout the city, continuing the bloodline of their families.


    The number of these mortals was massive¡ªupwards of millions.


    The city lord''s order would result in countless deaths, a sea of corpses piling up into mountains, and rivers of blood flowing through the city.


    Although it would save food, it seemed incredibly cruel and inhumane.


    They finally realized that this was likely the city lord''s true n. What he mentioned earlier about countering Shi Haojun''s strategy was probably just a pretext, something he said for show.


    To survive, the city lord coulde up with the most vicious ideas imaginable, and they were truly shocked by his ruthlessness.


    At that moment, all the hands of the elders beneath the table were trembling, and cold sweat was dripping from their palms.


    The city lord''s heart was indeed dark, and as everyone looked at him, their eyes began to reveal fear and dread.


    To have such a ruthless and merciless person as the city lord... they couldn¡¯t tell whether this was a mistake or a necessity. The elders exchanged nces, their expressionsplex as they looked at each other.


    Yan Pojun swept his sharp gaze across the elders and said in a firm voice, "In times of cmity, extreme measures must be taken. Do not let sentiment cloud your judgment. I hope you can understand my decision."


    "My actions may seem cruel, but you cannot deny that they will allow us to hold out for a little longer. Perhaps, with the extra time, we can await rescue."


    "Sacrificing some to save the entire city¡ªmany would know this is the right choice. Their sacrifice will not be in vain."


    "Alright, this matter is settled. It will be executed tonight. Dying even one more day will waste more food. Everyone, go back and make preparations."


    After finishing his words, Yan Pojun abruptly stood up, dered the meeting over, and walked out without saying anything further.


    The other elders around the table exchanged nces, sighed heavily, and slowly left as well...


    ---


    In the evening, the night grew darker.


    It was unclear whether it was a hallucination, but the slowly rising moon appeared blood red...


    Long Xuan, hiding in his house, packed up everything, waiting for the family head''s signal to flee this ce through the Sou Gu hut.


    He could not stay in ckstone City for another moment.


    That Shi Haojun was an absolute lunatic. Long Xuan couldn¡¯t fathom how such a twisted figure could even exist in this world.


    Good heavens, Shi Haojun¡¯s dozen or so peak-grade Gu insect were crafted from tens of thousands or even millions of resources, overwhelmingly powerful. Who could possibly defeat that?


    Even without the gue Demon Gu, hisbat power was already unbeatable.


    And that gue Demon Gu was ridiculously strong, capable of ughtering its way through crowds of Gu Kings.


    What made it even more terrifying was that the gue Demon Gu could control any living being smaller than itself, including viruses¡ªsomething that this world''s people barely understood.


    To think that in the previous life, a virus capable of creating zombies had now mutated under this Gu, and it could even control hordes of Gu King-level zombies.


    How could anyone fight against that?


    The moment that thing appeared, it was already the end of the world.


    Long Xuan hurriedly thought to escape. This world was far too dangerous; he wanted to return to Earth.


    Suddenly, as Long Xuan anxiously waited for the n head¡¯s call, chaos erupted outside, followed by the sounds of battle and countless screams.


    His expression changed drastically.


    What was going on? Could Shi Haojun have broken through the city already?


    That couldn''t be right! Wasn¡¯t there supposed to be a Spirit Vein under the city acting as the core of a formation? Shi Haojun shouldn''t have been able to break through so soon!


    Long Xuan quickly opened the door and used the Eye of Heavenly to scan the surroundings.


    Good heavens, the entire city was inplete chaos, thick smoke rising everywhere as if a riot had broken out. Battles raged all around, apanied by endless screams.


    Corpses littered the streets, and blood stained the ground everywhere.


    ¡°What¡¯s happening? Why is everyone killing each other? Have they turned into zombies? Has the bio-virus already infected the entire city?¡± Long Xuan was stunned.


    He hurried to the top of a spire and looked out, seeing fierce battles all over the city. One group of people was madly ughtering another, leaving corpses strewn across the streets, rivers of blood flowing.


    He witnessed firsthand arge number of Gu Kings chasing down a dozen other Gu Kings.


    The dozen Gu Kings were being relentlessly pursued, leaving death and destruction wherever they ran.


    The aftershocks of the Gu Kings¡¯ battles were immense. Allowing them to run wild through the city meant countless deaths!


    The city¡¯s residential areas were primarily inhabited by defenseless mortals, whom the Gu Kings could kill with just a breath.


    Having the Gu Kings fight in the residential district was an absolute disaster for the mortals.


    The mortal areas were already filled with corpses, the air echoing with cries and screams. Countless houses had copsed, others were burning in a sea of mes, and thick smoke billowed upward.


    The scene was horrific, beyond imagination.


    ¡°It looks like the Gu Kings from ckstone City are ughtering the Gu Kings of ck Moon City. ckstone is trying to kill everyone from ck Moon City to earn Shi Haojun¡¯s forgiveness.¡±


    Long Ziyan approached, frowning as she spoke.


    Long Xuan nodded, hesitating, "The Gu Kings are definitely from ck Moon City, but isn¡¯t there a bit too many people below the Gu King level from ck Moon City?"


    ¡°A single auction could have brought arge number of ck Moon City residents into the city, but this many is just too much, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°If this killing continues, the number of dead will be countless.¡±


    ¡°Surely this massacre includes more than just ck Moon City¡¯s people. If this chaos keeps up, half the poption of ckstone City might be wiped out...¡±


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 183: A Way to Restrain Shi Haojun

    At this moment, beneath the walls of ckstone City, one severed head after another was thrown down from above. The heads rained down like droplets, quickly piling into small mounds on the ground.


    Yan Pojun stood atop the city wall, shouting loudly towards the dark figure in the distance, ¡°Shi Haojun! We¡¯ve already killed every single person from ckmoon City inside the walls. Not one remains!¡±


    ¡°You should be able to hear my thoughts and know that I¡¯m not lying.¡±


    ¡°Now, all your enemies have been eliminated. For the sake of your nsmen inside the city, and on ount of my friendship with you, would you consider sparing ckstone City?¡±


    However, the dark figure in the distance stood still, silent and unmoving.


    Shi Haojun stared nkly at a specific spot within the city, his eyes filled with nostalgia, as if lost in memories, showing no intention of responding.


    Seeing this, Yan Pojun''s heart sank.


    As expected, killing everyone from ckmoon City did not make him retreat.


    Although he had anticipated this oue and mentally prepared for it, the failure of the only n that had even a sliver of hope made his expression turn grim.¡°Are you truly that heartless? Do you really have to ughter ckstone City?¡±


    ¡°There are so many other cities nearby. Why not go and ughter them?¡±


    ¡°You know very well that taking down ckstone City will cost you a lot of time. Why waste your effort on the hardest target?¡±


    Yan Pojun leaned against the city wall with both hands, continuing to shout in desperation.


    He was still as sharp-tongued as ever, even trying to shift Shi Haojun¡¯s attention to other cities for him to massacre.


    At this moment, a slow smile appeared at the corner of Shi Haojun¡¯s mouth. Finally, he spoke, ¡°The hardest target? Not necessarily.¡±


    As soon as he finished speaking, the corpses on the ground suddenly began to stand up shakily. Their eyes, filled with ferocity, turned towards ckstone City, and they let out inhuman roars.


    Seeing this, Yan Pojun felt a chill run down his spine.


    In today¡¯s battle, they had lost a bunch of **Gu Kings outside the city, and now all those Gu Kings had turned into gue corpses.


    Yan Pojun waspletely stunned.


    Good grief, now there was an evenrger group of gue corpses at the level of Gu Kings. This was a disaster!


    They had already been no match for Shi Haojun before, and now, with even fewer Gu Kings in the city and Shi Haojun gaining a new batch of gue corpses as helpers, victory was even more impossible.


    How could this gue Demon Gu be so overwhelmingly powerful? Was there no limit to its number?


    Yan Pojun clenched his fists, his face filled with despair.


    ...


    At the same time, in the Long n residence, dozens of Long n geniuses gathered in a grand hall.


    There were about fifty people, all of them the most talented members of the Long n.


    The first group the Long n intended to evacuate was these gifted individuals, who were the future hope of the n. None of them could be lost. To ensure their safety, they would be leaving tonight.


    The group of geniuses whispered amongst themselves, unsure why the n leader had summoned them here.


    Only Long Ruoxue and Long Biao, two of the n¡¯s geniuses, knew the secret of the spatial hut.


    The spatial hut had just been ced here not long ago, and the n''s higher-ups had kept its abilities a tight secret. Apart from the two of them, the other geniuses werepletely unaware that the small pavilion in the center of the hall had the ability to teleport living beings.


    When Long Ruoxue saw the grand hall, she immediately understood the n¡¯s intentions, and her heart sank.


    Clearly, the situation in the city had deteriorated to the worst point, and the n was preparing for the worst-case scenario.


    In stark contrast to her expression, Long Biao¡¯s face was filled with joy. He couldn¡¯t wait to rush inside and be teleported to safety.


    Unable to control himself, and knowing that the n no longer intended to hide the spatial cabin¡¯s secret from the group, Long Biao eagerly revealed the hut¡¯s teleportation ability to the other geniuses.


    Upon learning the truth, the rest of the geniuses finally understood why they had been summoned to the hall.


    Long Dan¡¯s eyes immediately lit up. Just moments ago, he had been despairing over ckstone City¡¯s dire situation, but now it seemed there was a glimmer of hope. He still had a chance to survive. Excited, he clenched his fists.


    Long Xuan had already mentally prepared himself, so his emotions remained calm at this moment. He walked over to Long Dan and said, "Brother Dan, now that we¡¯ve arrived at the Far West Long n, we are brothers. Could you tell me how I might restrain Shi Haojun?"


    Thick-skinned, Long Xuan moved closer. He was deeply wary of Shi Haojun¡¯s abilities and wanted to take the opportunity to inquire from Long Dan about how to counter him.


    Long Dan¡¯s Evil Dragon Emperor Eyes, after being pushed beyond their limits by the Ultimate Gu, could now see through nearly every w in the abilities of this world.


    That¡¯s why Long Xuan came to ask him for advice on how to restrain Shi Haojun, to prepare in advance.


    Long Dan nced at him, knowing that Long Xuan was a genius of equal renown, highly valued by his n. So he put aside his pride and replied frankly, "My cultivation level is too low; I can¡¯t see much."


    "I only know that the way to counter the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart is to not think about anything. He can''t eavesdrop on thoughts that you haven¡¯t had."


    "Alternatively, your soul power must surpass his, allowing you to be immune to his ability to eavesdrop on thoughts, but for you, that¡¯s simply impossible."


    "As for countering the gue Demon Gu, there are many methods, but the one considered to be its natural nemesis is the Heavenly Tribtion, which can suppress all demonic Gu insect. Purification Gu, and fields rted to poison or fire, may also work."


    "In the Western Lands, there is hardly anything that can restrain him, at most, a partial counter. If Yan Pojun hadn¡¯t self-destructed three spirit mes today, eliminating most of the microscopic parasites and gue corpses in the air, all the Gu Kings in the city would¡¯ve perished in that battle."


    "I can tell you clearly, if you don¡¯t find something to restrain him, Shi Haojun is essentially unkible¡ªno matter how many people you send."


    "Only by finding a way to restrain him is there hope of killing him," Long Dan said, looking at Long Xuan with a serious expression, his tone filled with apprehension.


    "As for his other dozen or so peak-grade Gu insect made from ten-thousand-level materials, I won¡¯t go into detail about how to counter each one."


    "Because if you don¡¯t have a way to deal with the gue Demon Gu or the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart, knowing how to restrain those other top-tier Gu insect is useless." Long Dan gave him a deep look.


    Long Xuan nodded,mitting his words to memory.


    "Now it all depends on whether Gu Emperor City cane up with a way to restrain Shi Haojun. If Gu Emperor City has what I mentioned, and more than one method at that¡ª"


    "Then ckstone City may be able to buy some time, and the threat of the city''s destruction could be averted. There''s even a chance Shi Haojun could be eliminated."


    "On the other hand, if Gu Emperor City can¡¯t provide a way to restrain Shi Haojun, then we¡¯re in big trouble."


    "Not only will ckstone City fall, but the entire Western Lands, or even the whole Gu world, will be plunged into chaos."


    "Rest assured! Gu Emperor City has the means to restrain Shi Haojun. ckstone City won¡¯t fall," Long Yuanshan walked into the grand hall at this moment and, after hearing their conversation, immediately spoke up.


    Seeing the n head enter, the crowd instantly fell silent, no one dared to speak.


    "How could I leave? When the family¡¯s survival is at stake, how could I abandon my n and run away? I¡¯ll stay and live or die with the family!" Long Ruoxue raised her head and shouted defiantly.


    Despite his desire to escape, Long Dan, seeing that she had said this, realized that as the family¡¯s leading genius, he couldn¡¯t remain silent. Reluctantly, he proimed, "I won¡¯t leave either!"


    "I¡¯ll stand with the family. If the family falls, so do I. Long Dan will never flee for my own life."


    Seeing the two lead geniuses speak up, the other geniuses echoed in unison: "I won¡¯t leave either."


    "I won¡¯t leave either!"


    "We¡¯ll live or die with the family!"


    Long Yuanshan¡¯s temples throbbed, and he roared, "Nonsense! What use are you staying here for? Don¡¯t make unnecessary sacrifices."


    "Everyone must leave today! Anyone who disobeys will be punished ording to n rules!"


    "I have many matters to deal with today and no time to waste arguing with you. Now, who¡¯s leaving first?"


    After Long Yuanshan¡¯s words fell, the hall wentpletely silent. No one dared to step forward, as doing so would make them appear cowardly in the eyes of the others.


    Although many people were eager to leave, like Long Biao, who was growing increasingly anxious and worried that the city would fall at any moment, they didn¡¯t dare to take the first step, for fear of being judged as cowards. So, despite their anxiety, they remained rooted in ce.


    But Long Xuan was not one to pretend. He had no shame in being called cowardly.


    "I¡¯ll go!"


    With that, Long Xuan forcibly pulled Long Ziyan out from the crowd and hurried toward the small, cramped spatial hut.


    Since they weren¡¯t geniuses of the Western Dragon n, they wouldn¡¯t face judgment for being the first to leave.


    Their departure broke the deadlock, sparing Long Yuanshan further argument.


    Long Xuan first pushed Long Ziyan into the small spatial hut. The Suo Gu inside extended its thin threads, binding her and dragging her into the deepest part of the hut. Then, in an instant, she disappeared from sight, leaving everyone in amazement.


    Next was Long Xuan. Shortly after Long Ziyan disappeared, the Suo Gu reappeared, and Long Xuan eagerly jumped inside, no longer caring about the doghouse he had once mocked.


    As the thin threads of the Suo Gu wrapped around him, Long Xuan smiled. After being away for so long, he was finally heading home. He began to miss his grand herb garden, the bees, the pavilion, the various wines and teas, and even the eggs¡­


    In a sh, he found himself in a gray, hazy world.


    This world seemed void of everything, like a chaotic and empty realm, entirely shrouded in a monochrome gray hue.


    Curious, he observed this ce, known as the Void Realm, but before he could take it in for long, the Suo Gu swiftly carried him through, and within moments, his vision blurred, and he found himself in another cramped space.


    Before he could react, a pair ofrge hands reached in and pulled him out.


    The brightness filled Long Xuan¡¯s vision, and he found himself in another grand hall.


    Before him stood the senior members of the Far West Long n, all smiling warmly at him.


    The high-ranking members of the Far West Long n had alle to wee the return of their geniuses.


    "Wee home, our brilliant talents!"


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 184: The Rabbit Went Crazy

    "Hehe, you¡¯re finally back. If you hadn¡¯t returned soon, I would have suspected that old geezer Long Yuanshan had detained you," Long Wanliughed heartily, patting Long Xuan on the shoulder.


    ¡°Hmph! If it weren''t for this crisis, who knows how many more years our n''s genius would have been detained by them?¡± The Great Elder also walked over, disgruntled.


    Everyone around stopped talking because the geniuses of the Western Land Long n were emerging from the space cabin. Naturally, they all put on smiling faces to wee them, to avoid any breach of etiquette.


    The first toe out was Long Dan. Upon seeing him, the high-ranking members of the Far West Long n all looked at him curiously, marveling secretly.


    They had heard about this young man possessing the innate limit-breaking Gu, which was a talent of the highest order in the world. Hisbat power could sweep through those of the same level, so they couldn¡¯t help but take a few extra nces.


    The second person toe out was Long Ruoxue, her small face still showing signs of stubbornness and reluctance.


    The high-ranking members were very familiar with this genius and weed her with smiles.


    Over there, the geniuses of the Western Land Long n seemed to have been forcibly ranked ording to their talents. Even those who didn''t want toe had been forcefully sent over by Long Yuanshan.


    One after another, the geniuses of the Western Land Long n appeared, and before long, the most talented of them had alle through.Thest one to arrive was Long Qian, who was in aa. After that, no one else came through.


    The high-ranking members of the Far West Long n waited for a long time and, seeing no one else wasing, left with the group of geniuses to wee them properly.


    The geniuses of the Western Land Long n hade to visit, so they had to be well-received with good food and drinks, fulfilling their duties as hosts. The banquet was extremely lively, with singing, dancing, and cheerful conversations.


    Compared to the oppressive atmosphere of ckstone City, it was much more festive here, full of life.


    Many of the Western Land Long n¡¯s geniuses gradually began to smile as well.


    The banquet continuedte into the night before it finally ended. The head of the n arranged for the guests to be taken to their amodations, and they were led away one by one.


    Long Xuan finally finished his socializing and, heavily drunk, made his way home.


    He rushed with all his strength using his "Star-Stepping Technique". However, as soon as he entered the familiar cube formation and reached the top of the mountain to see a bare tree, he immediately sobered up.


    He couldn¡¯t help but widen his eyes, then rubbed them hard as if his eyeballs would pop out.


    ¡°Who did this?! Show yourself! I promise I won¡¯t beat you to death!¡± Long Xuan shouted loudly, his voice echoing conspicuously in the silent night.


    At this moment, how could he not recognize the bare, barkless tree as the Living Wood?


    If not for the conspicuous ¡Þ symbol, he would havepletely ignored this bare tree and not even recognized what it was.


    The rabbit instantly jumped out of the insect-rearing bag. Seeing the bare tree, it was also stunned and couldn¡¯t help but rub its confused rabbit eyes.


    It soon started squeaking frantically, pointing at the Living Wood and then at Long Xuan, screaming incessantly, obviously furious.


    ¡°Calm down! Calm down! Getting angry is bad for your health.¡±


    Long Xuan hurriedly patted its head, trying tofort it. This little one had too much of a temper.


    The tree wasn¡¯t of much use to Long Xuan, so he didn¡¯t feel too much, but the rabbit was truly furious. It had nned to use this tree for alchemy, and now that the bark and leaves had been stripped off, it was about to faint from anger.


    Long Xuan suddenly understood the rabbit¡¯s intention to use the Living Wood for alchemy. Just as he was about to call it wasteful, he froze.


    The rabbit wanted to use the Living Wood for alchemy? It had an alchemy form for the Living Wood? Long Xuan was stunned andpletely lost hisposure.


    ¡°You actually have an alchemy form for the Living Wood? Why didn¡¯t you say so earlier? Why didn¡¯t you say so?!¡±


    ¡°Hurry and write down the form for me. I¡¯ll check if there are any mistakes, so you don¡¯t mess up the process.¡±


    Long Xuan¡¯s heart was pounding, and he was filled with excitement. This was truly an unexpected surprise.


    No wonder the rabbit had been so excited upon seeing the Living Wood, thrashing around crazily in the insect-rearing bag.


    Now, Long Xuan finally understood. It turned out it really did have an alchemy form for the Living Wood.


    He had no doubt about the rabbit knowing such an incredible form.


    After all, this rabbit had stayed in the famous Empress Yaoguang''s tomb for so long and had gone through countless alchemy forms. Knowing one amazing form was nothing surprising at all.


    It should be known that Empress Yaoguang once unified the entire Gu World and held control over all its wealth. Is there any heaven-defying alchemical recipe she didn''t have in her possession?


    So, what¡¯s so special about the rabbit knowing a recipe rted to Living Wood?


    A recipe rted to Living Wood is certainly connected to extending one¡¯s lifespan; that¡¯s something you don¡¯t even need to think twice about.


    This is truly like someone offering you a pillow when you¡¯re drowsy¡ªit resolved his immediate crisis.


    Right now, he¡¯s researching the recipe for the Longevity Gu, and his mind is nk; he urgently needs something to reference.


    And didn¡¯t the opportunity for reference just arrive? The rabbit brought him inspiration.


    The saying goes, ¡°stones from other hills may serve to polish jade.¡± As long as he can grasp the principles behind the recipe for Longevity Pill, it will definitely yield twice the result with half the effort when deducing the Longevity Gu recipe, greatly reducing the research time.


    He could even directly borrow some of the ingredients. You should know that the ingredients in Gu recipes are not limited to insects; many non-living items can be used in Gu recipes.


    Long Xuan had a premonition that by borrowing from the Longevity Pill recipe, it wouldn¡¯t take long for him to develop the Longevity Gu recipe.


    Afterward, Long Xuan brought over a small Gu hut made of tree bark, ced it in front of the rabbit, and said, "Hurry up and transcribe. I¡¯ve already taught it a lesson for you."


    ¡°If you transcribe the Lifespan Pill recipe, I¡¯ll reward you with a few pieces of bark from this house.¡±


    Upon hearing this, the rabbit¡¯s eyes brightened up, finally showing some light. It no longer caused trouble and cheerfully transcribed the Lifespan Pill recipe for Long Xuan.


    Not long after, a recipe filled with messy handwriting waspleted by the rabbit. The writing was full of twists and turns, almost unreadable and unsightly.


    Long Xuan frowned and stared at it for a long time before he could decipher what was written on it. The characters were like cockroaches crawling across the page. It was impressive that he could make sense of them at all.


    But then again, it¡¯s understandable¡ªit¡¯s a rabbit. Can you expect a rabbit to write neatly?


    Long Xuan was already content.


    After ncing quickly over the recipe, he soon frowned and looked at the rabbit with a strange expression andplex gaze.


    The recipe was genuine; his alchemical knowledge was enough to judge that. The Golden Finger, after recognizing the scribbles as characters for a long time, also showed progress, further proving the recipe¡¯s authenticity.


    But you need to understand one thing: just like Gu recipes, the more heaven-defying the alchemical recipe, the more ingredients it requires, and the rarer and more expensive they be. Quite a few ingredients have probably gone extinct.


    How could a recipe with Living Wood as the main ingredient be simple? It would be surprising if none of the ingredients were extinct.


    So what¡¯s this rabbit thinking, trying to refine pills? It can¡¯t even gather all the materials; how does it n to refine pills?


    It¡¯s just happy over nothing, going to great lengths to obtain Living Wood, but in the end, all its efforts will be in vain.


    This rabbit¡ªno, this spirit herb¡ªprobably doesn¡¯t even know that many spirit herbs in this world have already gone extinct. It¡¯s really just a foolish rabbit.


    Long Xuan didn¡¯t know how to console it, or whether to tell it this harsh truth.


    Forget it, better take it to the Library Tower and give it a lesson on this kind ofmon sense.


    ...


    Two monthster, Long Xuan picked up a low-grade Gu recipe containing hundreds of ingredients, showing a faint smile.


    As expected, the recipe sent by the rabbit was of immense reference value. After understanding the principle of the recipe¡¯s longevity effect, it only took him two months to create the Longevity Gu recipe.


    However, this Gu recipe was just a low-grade one, only capable of extending life by sixty years, and only effective on the Sou Gu insect.


    He ordered his clone to quickly gather the ingredients listed in the recipe and immediately start refining the Longevity Gu. He was eager to know whether the Longevity Gu he envisioned could elevate the Sou Gu from its current low-grade status to a mid-grade one.


    If the Sou Gu could be upgraded to a mid-grade Gu insect, could it possess the ability to carry living beings for teleportation? These were all things he was eager to find out and experiment on immediately.


    As for the materials needed for the Longevity Gu, the Long n of the Western Lands had already given him quite a few ready-made ones. A few missing ingredients could be gathered quickly, as low-grade Gu insect materials were not expensive. If things went smoothly, he could begin refining the Gu today.


    If luck was on his side and the Longevity Gu achieved the intended effects, then his Sou Gu couldplete its transformation in just a few days. Yes, continuously devouring the Longevity Gu was the evolution path Long Xuan had devised for the Sou Gu.


    It¡¯s just that whether this evolution path was reliable or not still needed to be verified.


    Satisfied, Long Xuan stored the Longevity Gu recipe in a small box. This time, the rabbit had truly made a great contribution.


    Just as he was contemting matters rted to the Sou Gu, it suddenly appeared, holding a letter in its mouth, which it quickly handed over to Long Xuan.


    He casually took the letter and opened it, discovering it was from Long Qian, who was looking for him. He immediately left the pavilion on the mountain peak and went down.


    Arriving outside the Rubik¡¯s Cube Formation, he saw Long Qian standing honestly in front of the formation, deep in thought.


    This time, he had learned his lesson. No matter what, he didn¡¯t dare to enter again and directly used the Sou Gu to send a letter to summon Long Xuan.


    As soon as Long Xuan came out, Long Qian retracted his gaze and said bluntly, ¡°I¡¯m here to deliver materials to you. The n wants you to speed up the progress of researching the Dragon Blood Battle Gu recipe.¡±


    ¡°Except for the endangered and peak-grade spirit insects, we¡¯ve sent you almost every type of spirit insect from the Western Lands.¡±


    Only then did Long Xuan notice the breeding bags piled up nearby, stacked into several mountain peaks, truly forming a small mountain range.


    Long Xuan was immediately shocked. Did the Long n of the Western Lands go on a looting spree? How did they collect so many spirit insects?


    They even managed to cover almost all the spirit insect species from the Western Lands. It¡¯s truly frightening. When did they be so wealthy?


    With a look of disbelief, Long Xuan asked in astonishment, ¡°What exactly did you do? Where did you get so many spirit insects from? Who did you rob?¡±


    He wouldn¡¯t believe, not even if beaten to death, that the Long n of the Western Lands was this rich. They must have robbed someone.

 Chapter 185: The Sinister Plot of the Long Clan from Western Lands

    Long Qian chuckled and said, "To be honest, this whole Shi Haojun incident is actually an opportunity for our Long n from the Western Lands."


    "Originally, to gather enough experimental materials would have cost us dearly, perhaps even straining our entire n''s resources, and still, it wouldn''t have been enough."


    "But now, with ckstone City underplete lockdown, everyone is trapped inside, unable to leave, with water and food supplies running out. The more they use, the less they have."


    "In this situation, who would dare to use arge amount of food to feed those insects?"


    "So, all the ns have started to crazily dump their spirit insect resources, and they''re selling them off at rock-bottom prices, practically giving them away."


    "Even at such low prices, no one wants to buy them. Right now, a single cabbage is more expensive than a high-grade spirit insect in the city. It¡¯s that outrageous."


    "And thanks to our n¡¯s ability tomunicate with the outside world, we don¡¯tck food at all. We can buy up all the spirit insect resources in the city at absurdly low prices."


    "You heard that right, we¡¯ve bought up all the spirit insect resources in the entire city for almost nothing."


    "Hahaha¡­ This time our n has hit the jackpot. This cmity in ckstone City is simply an opportunity for us.""Researching the Dragon Blood Battle Gu form requires a massive amount of resources, and now it¡¯s like we¡¯re conducting our research at zero cost, using the entire city¡¯s resources for free, hahaha..."


    Long Qian burst into maniacalughter, his voice thunderous.


    Long Xuan moved a bit farther away, stunned by what he was hearing. Could this really be happening?


    His eyes widened. Was the Long n of the Western Lands really going from rags to riches overnight, upgrading from old rifles to modern artillery?


    He could only imagine that the piles of insect rearing bags weren''t all they had. The Long n was truly making a killing this time.


    No wonder Long Qian wasughing so heartily. If it were him, he¡¯d beughing like crazy too.


    After hisughter subsided, Long Qian continued, "Now we have almost enough resources to experiment with the Dragon Blood Battle Gu form."


    "The defensive power of the Dragon Blood Battle Gu would be sufficient to withstand the damage from the gue Demon Gu. If we can refine the Dragon Blood Battle Gu, we could essentially ignore the tiny airborne insects, including the gue Demon Gu itself."


    "By then, our n wouldn¡¯t need to fear the gue Demon Gu too much. Even if the city falls, our high-ranking members could withstand the Gu''s damage and force their way out."


    "That¡¯s why the Dragon Blood Battle Gu is so important to the n. We must research it as quickly as possible and at all costs," Long Qian said seriously, looking at Long Xuan.


    Long Xuan asked in surprise, "Why not just break out through the spatial hut? You¡¯ve been holding on for two months over there."


    Long Qian shook his head and said seriously, "We can¡¯t leave yet. If the other ns discover the secret of the spatial hut, our Long n would be the target of everyone¡¯s hatred, and the consequences would be unimaginable. More importantly, if we leave, we won¡¯t be able to make money."


    "Don¡¯t worry, ckstone City¡¯s situation hasn¡¯t reached the point where we must flee. ckstone City is the most fortified city in the Western Lands. Even if Shi Haojun has countless gue zombies, it won¡¯t be easy for him to breach the city."


    "Because of an auction, there are plenty of spirit stones in the city, enough to sustain the defensive formation for a long time."


    "The only shortage is food and water. ckstone City is too far from the Central Region. Even the fastest reinforcement from there would take two or three years, and there¡¯s no way the food and water in the city canst that long."


    "Frankly speaking, without the spatial hut, ckstone City definitely wouldn¡¯t hold."


    "But with the spatial cabin, we can secretly transport food and supplies into the city. ckstone City can totally hold out for a few years."


    "Hehe, you have to know that food and water in the city now are worth their weight in gold, the most valuable things in the city, and their prices are rising daily."


    "If we secretly bring food into the city, we can make a fortune."


    "If we sell food in ckstone City for a few years, we could almost empty out the treasuries of all the ns. Hahaha... This is a deal worth doing, we¡¯re going to be rich! Hahaha..."


    Long Qianughed wildly again, almost to the point of tears.


    Hearing this, Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but twitch his mouth. He hadn¡¯t expected the Long n from the Western Lands to be nning to profit from others¡¯ misfortune, seizing this chance to plunder all the city¡¯s resources.


    Good heavens, they were truly ruthless. No wonder they were unwilling to leave. They werepletely captivated by the mountains of wealth they were umting.


    He couldn¡¯t help but feel sorry for the other ns in the city. With the Long n¡¯s greedy eyes fixed on them, what hope did they have?


    If they knew what the Long n was nning, they¡¯d probably be furious.


    Thinking this, Long Xuan hurriedly reminded, "You¡¯d better not use the Long n¡¯s name to sell those things. They¡¯ll figure it out eventually, and then the Long n could be the target of everyone¡¯s anger."


    Long Qian gave him a sideways nce and said disdainfully, "You think those higher-ups are fools? They¡¯re sharper than anyone. Rest assured, they know what they¡¯re doing."


    "Alright then! I¡¯ll say no more. I¡¯ll take the materials inside and start working on the Gu Recipe immediately."


    Long Xuan¡¯s eyes glowed as he looked at the mountains of insect rearing bags and began to summon the ice bees to move the materials.


    The ice bees, strong as they were, worked in groups of three or four, grabbing the breeding bags and flying towards the mountain top. In no time, the thousands of ice bees had moved all the insect bags from the ground.


    Long Qian watched in amazement, feeling very curious about this group of bees in the sky that he had never seen before. However, he kept his mouth shut and didn¡¯t ask any questions. He simply waved at Long Xuan and said, ¡°I¡¯ll leave now. I¡¯m waiting for your good news. Don¡¯t let us down.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it won¡¯t take long.¡± After saying this, Long Xuan excitedly ran back to the formation, smiling so widely that his mouth couldn¡¯t close. He couldn¡¯t help but sigh¡ªit truly was a great day, with double blessings!


    Not only had the recipe for the Longevity Gu been sessfullypleted, but the materials needed to refine the de Gu had also been gathered instantly.


    Indeed, he was in a hurry to return not to study the Dragon Blood Battle Gu recipe, but to begin refining his de Gu immediately.


    He had alreadypleted the Dragon Blood Battle Gu recipe long ago, but to appear more reasonable, he decided to dy submitting the research results a little.


    Originally, he nned to hand over the results in five years to get more resources, but since the Long n of Western Lands was in urgent need, he decided to shorten the time to within two years.


    Even now, it was still too early to deliver the results. It had only been a little over five months, and it would seem too fake to have researched the Dragon Blood Battle Gu recipe in such a short time.


    He decided to use the batch of spirit insects sent by the Long n of Western Lands to refine the de Gu. Although the collected spirit insects were not the most diverse, he couldn¡¯t wait any longer.


    The spirit insects sent by the Long n of Western Lands were just those collected from the Western Lands, not all the insects in this world.


    The Long n of Western Lands could only collect hundreds of thousands of spirit insect species within their region, but in the entire Gu world, there were roughly several million species of insects that hadn¡¯t gone extinct. The Long n of Western Lands couldn¡¯t collect unique insect species from every region, and Long Xuan didn¡¯t have time to visit all those ces.


    Therefore, he decided to refine a de Gu of a few hundred thousand-levels and not pursue perfection. To truly pursue perfection, he would have to go to the Spirit World, as the insect species remaining in the Gu world were less than a tenth of those in the Spirit World.


    After returning to the mountain, Long Xuan found a basin-like terrain, preparing to refine the Gu in this natural basin.


    Calling it a basin might be an exaggeration; it was just a giant natural pit.


    His cultivation cave covered such arge area that finding such terrain was not difficult.


    This time, he couldn¡¯t use a vessel to refine the Gu, as the number of spirit insects, reaching hundreds of thousands, was too overwhelming, and no vessel could amodate such arge number. Thus, Long Xuan could only use thisrge pit to refine the Gu.


    He nned to reinforce this area and keep a barrier active all day to prevent rainwater from ruining the refining process and wasting his efforts.


    It was his first time refining a Gu with such arge quantity of materials, and for a moment, he was at a loss.


    Finally, with the help of his clones, all preparations werepleted. He then ordered the clones to pour all the prepared spirit insects into the basin.


    The number of spirit insects was about 530,000, and they filled the basin densely, making one¡¯s scalp tingle.


    With so many spirit insects fighting and devouring each other, the scene would be thrilling and extremely brutal.


    Long Xuan first used an illusion technique to capture all their consciousnesses into an illusionary space to prevent them from fighting and losing his materials prematurely.


    Some of these materials were endangered species, and he didn¡¯t have many of them in hand; he couldn¡¯t afford to lose them.


    Afterward, he released the mantis with ten arms. As soon as (Xiao Yue) Little moon entered the basin and saw countless spirit insects, it immediately realized that its master had prepared these as evolution materials.


    It became excited instantly, full of fighting spirit, and fearlessly charged at the massive number of enemies with its ten des swinging confidently.


    Long Xuan kept observing the progress of the Gu refining site. His golden finger technique was based on the host¡¯s perception, so it was enough to ssify this ce as a Gu refining vessel.


    When he saw Little Moon enter the basin without any progress in refining, he quickly pulled it back.


    Little Moon turned its head to look at him curiously, then charged towards the basin again.


    Very soon, it was pulled back by Long Xuan again. This one person and one insect repeated this back-and-forth several times until Long Xuan finally saw progress in the Gu refining site. Only then did he let Little Moon rush into the insect swarm smoothly.


    At the same time, Long Xuan lifted the illusion he had ced on the insect swarm, and the various insect species instantly began killing each other.


    He didn¡¯t even need to use the Hunger Refining Gu method. They had been almost starved when they were bought.


    Moreover, many of these insect species were born predators, and even without any means, they would actively attack the surrounding insect species.


    So the scene instantly became chaotic, with fights and battles all over the basin.


    In one moment, a giant spider killed a centipede. In the next, a scorpion cut a snake in two, and in another moment, a toad swallowed a beetle in one gulp.


    Among them, the most ferocious was a silver mantis, wielding its scythes, killing one after another, with no insect able to get close to it.


    It had entered the battlefield with ten des; who could defeat it? It wasn¡¯t long before the ground beneath it was covered with insect corpses, many of them cut in half.


    Seeing its ferocity, over a dozen powerful insect species began to surround and attack it, but it wasn¡¯t afraid at all. It shed through a spider web with one strike and, with another sh, cut against another mantis¡¯s de. They fought back and forth, each side having its turn.


    This was a grand battle of hundreds of thousands of spirit insects, with extremely intensebat. The scene was spectacr as the spirit insects fought and devoured each other. Long Xuan was so mesmerized that he stood there watching for a long time, enjoying the sight before finally leaving.

 Chapter 186: Advancing to the Late Stage of Marrow Cleansing

    After returning, Long Xuan discovered that his clone had already prepared the materials for the Longevity Gu. Without wasting any time, he began refining the Longevity Gu.


    Refining the Longevity Gu was rtively simple since it was a low-grade Gu insect, requiring only three hundred sets of materials.


    Long Xuan poured all the materials into arge cauldron. When no progress was shown, he poured them out again and repeated the process more than ten times. Finally, when he saw progress appearing above the cauldron, he ced the lid on and left.


    Time flew by, and half a month passed quickly. Low-grade Gu insect do not take long to form, and today was the day when the Longevity Gu would bepleted.


    Based on the progress indicator, Long Xuan approached the cauldron at the precise moment and, without hesitation, lifted the lid and took out the Gu insect inside.


    Looking at the plump, fat worm in his hand, Long Xuan pondered for a moment.


    Is this the legendary Longevity Gu?


    It had no limbs and was plump and white, covered in fat. It was clearly born to be eaten.


    After studying it carefully for a long time, Long Xuan found that this little creature had no offensive capabilities whatsoever; it was incredibly weak.It was likely a one-time-use Gu, with its only ability being to extend someone''s lifespan when consumed. Such a pitiful fate.


    Long Xuan tossed the fat worm into the mouth of his Sou Gu and waited silently, observing its progress.


    After the Sou Gu swallowed the Longevity Gu as per Long Xuan''smand, it immediately fell into a deep sleep. Its aura became unstable, suggesting that unknown changes were urring within its body.


    It really worked! Long Xuan''s eyes lit up. As long as the Sou Gu showed any change, his n would be half-sessful.


    He showed an expectant expression, waiting for the final transformation of the Sou Gu.


    He didn''t have to wait long. After about two hours, the Sou Gu suddenly woke up, slowly opened its tiny eyes, and then stood up gradually.


    At the same time, its progress indicator began to plummet, almost cutting in half.


    The increase in total lifespan naturally resulted in a decrease in progress. Seeing this, Long Xuan was overjoyed.


    The Sou Gu had undergone a evolution, and its lifespan had almost doubled, proving that his hypothesis was correct. The increase in innate lifespan for Gu insect would lead to a rise in quality. The current Sou Gu was now a mid-grade Gu insect.


    Long Xuan''s breathing quickened as he immediately began testing the abilities of the mid-grade Sou Gu to see if it could now transport living beings.


    In fact, Gu cultivators could understand the abilities of their Gu through their blood contracts. At this moment, Long Xuan already knew that the Sou Gu, after evolving in this manner, had acquired the ability to transport living beings. Moreover, the more times the Sou Gu evolved, the higher the cultivation level of the beings it could transport.


    However, Long Xuan was always cautious by nature, and he needed to test the safety of this ability.


    To be safe, he first instructed the Sou Gu to transport a random spirit insect to see the results.


    The Sou Gu, following Long Xuan¡¯s instructions, casually wrapped around a butterfly that had strayed into Long Xuan''s garden and then burrowed into its small pyramid-shaped house.


    Not long after, it emerged from the distant Ice and Fire House.


    He then looked at the butterfly it had carried. Its eyes revealed a look of fear, but it was unharmed. Long Xuan was ecstatic and immediately began a second test.


    Given his cautious nature, one test was never enough. After all, this concerned his life, and he had to be extremely careful.


    Next, he performed ten consecutive tests with various spirit insects. When none of the insects showed any signs of danger, he finally attempted to transport a person.


    Of course, he wouldn''t risk his own life. First, he transported his Fire Clone. After confirming there were no dangers, he sent his other four clones as well.


    When all the clones transported safely, he finally felt confident enough to try it himself. He entered the small pyramid house and emerged from the Ice and Fire House, experiencing the sensation of passing through two extremes.


    The only downside was that the house was too small, making it feel like crawling through a dog hole.


    He immediately decided to invest heavily in expanding the Sou Gu¡¯s small house, erging it enough to amodate a person standing and walking.


    Currently, the highest-level Sou Gu houses he had were two: one made from the Fire Dragon Fruit Tree, known as the Ice and Fire House, and the other made from Living Wood, known as the Living Wood House.


    However, these two building materials were incredibly rare. Even if he cut down everything, it would not be enough to build such arge house. To build a house big enough to amodate a person standing, he could only rely onmon materials.


    After thinking for a moment, Long Xuan rushed into the spirit tree section of his herb garden and cut down a pile of spirit wood, storing it in his storage ring.


    His favorite herbs to collect were flowering herbs for raising bees and tree herbs for their long lifespan and the potential to produce high-quality spirit insects.


    At this moment, his herb garden was filled with so many types of spirit trees that it resembled a forest, with an abundance of fourth-grade spirit trees.


    Although the branches of the fourth-grade spirit trees were far inferior to those of the Fire Dragon Fruit Tree, they were already quite valuable in the outside world and could fetch a good price anywhere.


    A Sou Gu house made from fourth-grade spirit trees was already high-level enough to perform long-distance teleportation.


    Long Xuan immediately decided to build ten fourth-grade spirit tree houses and ce them in various locations.


    A sly rabbit has three burrows; he wanted ten. In the future, if he were pursued by a Gu King, the Sou Gu houses scattered everywhere would be his emergency escape points, enough to save his life.


    He even thought that ten houses might be too few. He was ready to build hundreds of houses all over the world, giving him more options and greater security.


    However, rare materials were limited, so for now, he would build just ten.


    He walked over to Suo Gu with a smile and poured out the fourth-grade spirit tree wood from his storage ring. Various types of fourth-grade spirit tree wood instantly piled up on the ground, forming a small mountain.


    After all, it was enough material to build ten houses, and they needed to berge enough for a person to stand and move through. How could they need anything less?


    Seeing the mountain of fourth-grade construction materials, Suo Gu¡¯s small eyes widened in delight, shining brightly. It immediately rushed over excitedly.


    Suo Gu was always most excited when it saw high-grade construction materials. Aside from those legendary items, fourth-grade materials were considered the highest known in this world; fifth-grade materials didn¡¯t exist here.


    With the mountain of fourth-grade materials in front of it, Suo Gu felt extremely fortunate to have followed such a good master.


    Long Xuan nodded in satisfaction and said with a smile, ¡°You sessfully evolved, so this is your reward.¡±


    ¡°The houses you built before were too small. Now, I want you to build me houses five times bigger. There will be more rewards for you once they¡¯re done.¡±


    ¡°Do you see that Divine Dragon Tree I nted? As long as you build big houses that satisfy me, I¡¯ll reward you with the Divine Dragon Tree once it has grown.¡± Long Xuan¡¯s voice was full of temptation.


    Upon hearing this, Suo Gu immediately nodded excitedly, its small eyes shining intensely. With such a huge incentive in front of it, its enthusiasm for work was even higher, and it immediately threw itself into the task of building houses, full of motivation.


    Seeing Suo Gu¡¯s busy figure, a smile appeared at the corner of Long Xuan¡¯s mouth.


    Another hard worker. It really thinks all this is a reward for it, but these big houses are all being built for him.


    Suo Gu was small in size, and suchrge houses would be of no use to it and wouldn¡¯t befortable for it to live in. In the end, wouldn¡¯t he be the one living there?


    Traveling with arge vi at his side in the future¡ªit really wasn¡¯t a bad idea.


    ¡°Hmm! Do your best! I¡¯m looking forward to your next creation. As long as the houses are big and beautiful enough, the Divine Dragon Tree will be yours.¡±


    After drawing this big picture for Suo Gu, Long Xuan left with his hands behind his back, like an unscrupulous boss.


    Hearing Long Xuan¡¯s words, Suo Gu worked even harder, with the words ¡°Divine Dragon Tree¡± repeating in its mind.


    ...


    When Long Xuan returned to the pavilion, he continued practicing the Ten Absolute de Technique.


    When de Gu was refined, he needed to study his Ten Absolute de Technique. The progress of the Ten Absolute de Technique must keep up, and it could no longer be dyed by other matters.


    The next part of his life was simple: either practicing the Ten Absolute de Technique in his small pavilion or finding his senior sister for dual cultivation.


    Sometimes, he would go to the spirit spring to feed the fish and watch the lighthouse jellyfish, or go to the ranch to ughter a cow and have a beef hot pot. Life was indeed quitefortable.


    Combining work and rest, Long Xuan didn¡¯t feel that practicing the Ten Absolute de Technique was hard at all.


    Just like that, a year and a half passed by quickly.


    Dual cultivation really was the fastest way to improve. Through relentless dual cultivation day and night, he easily advanced to thete stage of the Marrow Cleansing Stage.


    As for Long Ziyan, she was even more astonishing. Her talent was much better than his, and the effect of dual cultivation was far superior for her.


    Not only did she sessfully purify her bloodline to the tenth grade, but she also advanced to the Spiritual Sea Stage, bing the second casual Spiritual Sea Gu Master in the family after Long Lie. The entire n celebrated together.


    With his wife suddenly bing a Spiritual Sea Gu Master, Long Xuan felt immense pressure, even feeling unprecedented stress during dual cultivation.


    That day, Long Xuan wrote ¡°Ten Absolute de Stage Technique¡± on the cover of a book and signed his name¡ª¡òAuthor Long Xuan¡ªat the bottom right corner.


    A faint smile appeared on his face. After spending a year and a half, plus the time in the Western Lands with the Long n, it took nearly two years, but he finally managed toplete the Ten Absolute de Technique.


    The Ten Absolute de Technique could break through any weapon in the world. Once the Ten Absolute de Technique was unleashed, it was invincible. No one could match him in a contest of weapons.


    Having created such an extraordinary saber technique, Long Xuan felt an immense sense of achievement.


    He believed that the de technique he created was worthy of being called the number one de technique in the Gu world. There were countless de techniques in the world, but only the Ten Absolute de Technique stood supreme.


    Long Xuan was filled with pride, looking down on all the saber techniques in the world.


    However, to say that the Ten Absolute de Technique was absolutely invincible might not be entirely urate. Not all weapons could be broken one hundred percent of the time, as his realm was still low. It might be possible to truly break through everything in the Gu world, but once he ascended to the Spirit Realm, it might not be able to break through higher-level powers.


    His Ten Absolute de Technique was still in its initial stage and needed continuous improvement and refinement. The realm of de techniques was boundless.


    Thinking of this, Long Xuan restrained his arrogance and decided to remain humble. He couldn¡¯t underestimate the myriad methods in the world; no single technique was truly invincible.


    ¡°Go, study this de technique. Don¡¯t bother with that garbage technique anymore.¡±


    Long Xuan suddenly threw the saber technique in his hand toward Little moon, who was reading not far away.


    Yes, in a year and a half, his de Gu had already taken form, and it was a rare fifty-thousand-level de Gu, using up all the remaining spirit insect species in the Western Lands¡ªextraordinarily powerful.


    Among all the de Gu in the Long n of the Western Lands, his fifty-thousand-level de Gu was absolutely peerless, unmatched by any other de Gu.


    If the people of the Long n in the Western Lands knew that Long Xuan had already refined a fifty-thousand-level de Gu, they would probably be shocked, their mouths agape.


    The sess rate of a de Gu using tens of thousands of materials was already abysmally low, and no one had dared to challenge such a number of materials for tens of thousands of years. No one had seeded in refining such a level of de Gu for tens of thousands of years.


    Long Xuan¡¯s sess in refining a fifty-thousand-level de Gu was enough to cause quite a stir in the Long n of the Western Lands.


    However, the Western Land''s Long n was currently far away from here, and it was impossible for them to know. The area was still besieged by gue zombies and they couldn¡¯te out.

 Chapter 187: The Discomposed Long Ziyan

    Indeed, a year and a half had passed. ckstone City had been under siege for a year and a half, and the siege was still ongoing with no signs of relief.


    Despite holding out for so long, the Heaven Ancestor, Shi Haojun, had not given up. He continued tomand an endless horde of gue zombies tounch ferocious attacks on ckstone City.


    To reduce the consumption of spirit stones needed to maintain the city¡¯s protective array, the various ns within the city had to stand on the walls every day to defend it, continuously clearing away the gue zombies below.


    The two sides were at a stalemate, and the battle had continued like this until now.


    Many forces observing this battle were astonished by ckstone City¡¯s resilience.


    However, if not for the ndestine efforts of the Long n of the Western Lands secretly distributing food and water within the city, ckstone City would have fallen long ago.


    Shi Haojun¡¯s attack was so sudden that none of the ns had time to prepare. While the city was notcking in spirit stones, food and water were its true weaknesses.


    It could be said that it was the existence of a certain small spatial house that miraculously allowed ckstone City to hold on until now.


    If it weren¡¯t for the unexpected appearance of Long Xuan, bringing with him so many things not of this world, the destruction of ckstone City would have been a foregone conclusion.The Long n of the Western Lands had been covertly selling food and water all this time, making an enormous fortune in the process. They had profited immensely.


    Long Yuanshan smiled so widely every day that his mouth couldn¡¯t close. Over the past year and a half, the wealth of the Long n of the Western Lands had increased more than a hundredfold. They were truly raking it in.


    At this point, he wished Shi Haojun would continue besieging the city for a while longer. He believed that if the siegested another year and a half, the treasuries of all the ns in the city would bepletely looted by the Long n.


    Just the thought of such a scenario made him burst into maniacalughter.


    However, despite his excitement, his body was utterly exhausted, and he looked haggard, his hair disheveled, and his body reeking of foul odors.


    He was risking his life to earn this money. Although he wasn¡¯t short of food and water, he couldn¡¯t bathe or eat his fill.


    Otherwise, if people saw him dressed so cleanly and looking well-fed every day, they would surely suspect he had a stash of supplies at home, which would lead to big trouble.


    To y this role convincingly, not only did he, as the head of the n, have to starve, but the other elders of the various ns and the Gu King-level ancestors also had to go hungry, all pretending to be extremely poor and starving.


    The entire n had to starve. Most of the Long n members didn¡¯t even know that the family had more food than they could eat. They had to eat dirt and drink urine every day, living in extreme hardship.


    This was unavoidable. The Long n had so many people. If they knew the family had arge stockpile of food, the whole city would quickly find out.


    At that time, if the despicable city lord tried to use moral coercion, they wouldn¡¯t be able to refuse to hand over the food.


    Therefore, even though the Long n wasn¡¯t short of food, thanks to the small spatial house, they were living in extreme hardship, starving to the point of dizziness, their chests almost sticking to their backs. They were truly risking everything to earn this money.


    However, recently, many Gu Kings in the city had been experiencing health problems, causing widespread panic. People feared that a terrifying gue had infiltrated the city.


    Every family in the city was in quarantine, and the city lord, Yan Po-jun, was also in an extremely weakened state, pacing back and forth anxiously. With the Gu Kings in the city all falling ill, no matter how strong he was, he was starting to panic.


    This situation had actually started appearing intermittently a year ago. However, since every Gu King was strong and could hold on, they hadn¡¯t taken these issues seriously.


    But as time went on and every Gu Kingcked water and food, while still expending energy daily to clear the gue zombies below the city walls, their bodies were gradually starting to give out.


    At this time, the alchemists from the Yao n and the Dan n were already researching a solution. They could only suppress the illness but notpletely cure it.


    This made Yan Po-jun anxious, fearing it was the aftermath of that battle.


    If Long Xuan were present, he would likely have immediately realized that the real problem was theck of microorganisms in their bodies.


    He had long predicted that this group of ignorant Gu Kings would have major problems after killing all the microorganisms in their bodies. But he didn¡¯t know exactly what issues would arise, as no one in his previous life had ever conducted such an experiment.


    At this moment, Long Xuan was unaware that due to the lousy advice of Yao Chen, all the Gu Kings in ckstone City were experiencing health problems.


    Confidently, he handed the ¡°Ten Absolute de Technique¡± to Little moon, who looked at him curiously.


    This de technique seemed to be Long Xuan¡¯s own creation. Could a de technique created by him be reliable? He didn¡¯t seem that old. Little moon nced at him skeptically, then began flipping through the de technique with half-belief.


    However, after just one look, Little moon couldn¡¯t take it''s eyes off it. It''s eyes lit up with excitement, and was utterly entranced.


    This de technique was simply too amazing. It couldn¡¯t believe that such a powerful de technique could be Long Xuan¡¯s creation. Had he ever even used a de?


    Little moon hesitated, pondering this.


    As a de Gu, Little moon was an expert in using des. It could see at a nce how extraordinary the ¡°Ten Absolute de Technique¡± was.


    It was captivated by this heaven-defying de technique after just one look, engrossed in it, as if it had found a priceless treasure.


    It was actually a rare ten-de style technique, the first time it had ever seen such a style. It was born with ten des, and the ten-de style technique seemed tailored for it, the most suitable technique for it. Seeing this technique, it was thrilled.


    It quickly flipped through the de manual in it''s hands, asionally swinging it''s ten des as if testing the technique.


    The Ten Absolute de Techniqkad kg kg kk Wii had ten forms in total, each one capable of breaking a different style. The most powerful move of the Ten Absolute de Technique was executing all ten forms simultaneously, shattering everything in an instant. Its power was unstoppable, and no one could withstand it.


    This move seems to be tailor-made for it; it suits it perfectly. It was born with ten des, allowing it to perform the Ten Absolute de Technique wlessly.


    Humans only have two arms, so no matter what, they can only execute two simultaneous moves at most, but never the Ten Absolute de Technique.


    There¡¯s no doubt that this Ten Absolute de Technique is specifically designed for it, and it has finally confirmed that this sword technique was indeed created by Long Xuan.


    Upon seeing this move, which was custom-made for executing the Ten Absolute de Technique, Little moon immediately fell in love with it. It began to practice this powerful move obsessively, aiming to master it as quickly as possible.


    It believes that once she masters the Ten Absolute de Technique of the Ten-de Style, she will truly be invincible in swordsmanship.


    Seeing Xiao Yue so engrossed in the Ten Absolute de Technique, Long Xuan didn''t disturb her further and quietly left.


    Since the de Gu has already been refined, and the Ten Absolute de Technique that matches it has been sessfully created, it''s time to consider its evolution.


    As for the path of its evolution, Long Xuan decided to follow the route of devouring de intent and sword intent, making Little moon unparalleled in both sword and de techniques, and paving the way for it to be invincible in both sword cultivation and de cultivation.


    After all, as a de Gu of fifty thousand-grade, its innate talent is extraordinary, and it should learn as much as possible; otherwise, it would be a waste of its monstrous talent.


    However, when ites to choosing the first sword intent, he has no other option. He could only think of using Long Ziyan.


    He didn''t know if Long Ziyan, after advancing to the Spiritual Sea stage in Gu cultivation, had a chance toprehend sword intent.


    He nned to ask her now. If she found it difficult to awaken the sword intent, he would find a way to help her with his creativity. After all, there¡¯s nothing in this world he can¡¯t achieve.


    With a confident expression, Long Xuan slowly walked towards the ce where the Sou Gu was located.


    That Sou Gu had been diligent and hardworking, alreadypleting the ten big houses he had asked for. He arranged one of these houses near Long Ziyan''s residence, so that he could sneak over easily in the dead of night.


    After all, their residences were quite a distance apart. Having a Sou Gu hut there made it much more convenient to visit each other.


    As for the remaining nine Sou Gu huts, Long Xuan had asked his n members to ce them in various distant regions. These locations were extremely far from the westernmost region, reaching the limit of what a fourth-grade Sou Gu hut could reach.


    The n had long been in the logistics business, with Long n Gu cultivators distributed even in peripheral regions, so it wasn¡¯t difficult for him to use some of his contributions to send his Sou Gu huts to those far-flung ces.


    He didn¡¯t have the time to personally travel to each region, so he could only rely on others.


    However, once the Sou Gu huts were in ce, he needed to make time to teleport there and change the location of the huts, which took up a lot of his time.


    After all, finding a hidden spot that others wouldn¡¯t easily discover was no easy task.


    When he arrived at the location of the Sou Gu, preparing to crawl into Long Ziyan''s residence from the Ice and Fire Hut, he unexpectedly found two Sou Gu''s in the hut.


    "Huh, isn''t this Long Ziyan''s Sedge Gu? Did it get lured over by my Sou Gu again?"


    Long Xuan was amused. Could these two little creatures be in love? Can Gu insects even fall in love?


    Since it was summer and the weather was unbearably hot, the two Sou Gus were hiding in the ice-cold part of the Ice and Fire Hut to escape the heat, lounging on small chairs,zily sipping iced juice, just like him. They seemed to be living a prettyfortable life.


    "Stop messing around, enough with the juice. Hurry up and take me over there."


    With a dark expression, Long Xuan yanked the little creature up from the chair.


    The Sou Gu looked reluctant but had no choice but to submit to Long Xuan¡¯s oppressive presence, leading him to Long Ziyan¡¯s residence.


    When Long Xuan emerged from a strangely shapedrge house, he saw Long Ziyan lying on a lounge chair, drinking iced juice, looking very rxed.


    "What are you doing here? I''m already at tenth-grade bloodline purity."


    Seeing Long Xuan emerge from the Sou Gu hut, Long Ziyan gave him a sideways nce, as if suspecting he was here to cause trouble.


    Long Xuan''s expression stiffened, and he quickly said, "Don¡¯t be like that! Your bloodline purity has advanced, but mine hasn¡¯t yet. You can¡¯t just discard me after the task is done. You have to be fair!"


    Hearing this, Long Ziyan frowned and asked, "How many more times do you need to advance?"


    "Um..." Long Xuan looked embarrassed and said, "You know, my aptitude is really poor, nowhere near yours. It only took you a hundred times, but I might need a few thousand more!"


    "A few thousand times?" Long Ziyan suddenly lost herposure and shouted out loud. Her hand shook, spilling the juice onto the ground, and her face turnedpletely dark.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 188: The Interesting Longevity Gu

    After some time had passed.


    On the bed, Long Xuan took out a small jade bottle and looked gently at Long Ziyan in his arms, saying, ¡°Look, this is a gift I¡¯m giving you.¡±


    Long Ziyan, looking a bit fatigued, took it and asked curiously, ¡°A Longevity Gu? Didn¡¯t you give me onest time?¡±


    ¡°Thest one was quite effective. My Sou Gu sessfully evolved and now has the ability to transport living beings.¡±


    Long Xuan shook his head and smiled, ¡°This Longevity Gu is different from thest one. The previous Longevity Gu was specifically for the Sou Gu and was a low-grade Gu insect, only able to extend life by sixty years.¡±


    ¡°But this Longevity Gu I¡¯ve made this time is specifically for humans. I¡¯ve spent a year and a half developing it.¡±


    ¡°This Longevity Gu is very interesting. With the same materials, there is an 80% chance of refining a 50-year Longevity Gu, a 10% chance of refining a 100-year Longevity Gu.¡±


    ¡°There is a 6% chance of refining a 500-year Longevity Gu.¡±


    ¡°There is a 3% chance of refining an 800-year Longevity Gu.¡±¡°And a 1% chance of refining a 1,000-year Longevity Gu.¡±


    ¡°And each person can only consume one Longevity Gu in their lifetime, and the life extension cannot be umted. Isn¡¯t this Longevity Gu interesting?¡±


    Hearing this, Long Ziyan¡¯s hands visibly trembled, and she grasped the jade bottle tightly, giving him a moved look.


    People with the Nine Yin Severing Veins are born with short lifespans. This short lifespan is the most pressing concern for all who possess the Nine Yin Severing Veins, causing them to cultivate diligently their entire lives, never daring to rx.


    Seeking treasures that can extend life is something all Nine Yin Severing Veins Vein holders spend their entire lives pursuing, willing to pay any price for it.


    This gift was a tremendous help to her. She could finally put down the burden in her heart and no longer worry about aging.


    Heaven knows that she had been having nightmarestely about suddenly aging and Long Xuan abandoning her. She had been anxious for a long time, but now she could finally rx, and the hidden sorrow in her heart was swept away.


    ¡°My father spent his whole life trying to develop something like this but never seeded. I never thought you would aplish it so easily. If he could see this Longevity Gu, I don¡¯t know how excited he would be.¡±


    ¡°Unfortunately, if this Longevity Gu had appeared sooner, my mother wouldn¡¯t have died.¡±


    Long Ziyan suddenly thought of her mother, showing a hint of sadness on her face. But soon she dismissed the unhappy memory, smiling at Long Xuan again, ¡°You haven¡¯t told me how many years this Longevity Gu will add.¡±


    ¡°I think you wouldn¡¯t bring me a 50-year Longevity Gu.¡±


    Long Xuan smiled and couldn¡¯t help but tap the nose of this Spiritual Sea Realm Gu Master, pampering her, ¡°You¡¯re so smart¡ªor rather, you¡¯re just lucky. You¡¯re the girl with good fortune, so of course, the Longevity Gu I refined for you is the one with only a 1% sess rate: the 1,000-year Longevity Gu!¡±


    Just thinking about it made Long Xuan¡¯s heart ache.


    Why did he know so precisely the probabilities of refining different Longevity Gu? It¡¯s because he had refined so many of them that he could onlye up with these statistics.


    There was no other way. The maturation time for all Longevity Gu was the same, and he couldn¡¯t use his golden finger to predict the longevity oue. He had to use a broad approach, frantically refining Longevity Gu.


    As long as he refined enough, one day, he was bound to seed in making the 1,000-year Longevity Gu.


    But the consequence of this was that it cost too much money. Even with his wealth, he couldn¡¯t bear it.


    Fortunately, the Long n of the Western Lands had plenty of resources. Whatever materials he asked for, they obediently provided.


    The Long n of the Western Lands had made a fortune. If he didn¡¯t take advantage of it, it would be unreasonable.


    With the immense wealth of the Long n of the Western Lands backing him, he had finally managed to refine the 1,000-year Longevity Gu.


    With such arge amount of life extension, given Long Ziyan¡¯s monstrous cultivation speed, she would never have to worry about not having enough life again.


    From now on, without the w of a short lifespan, a person with the Nine Yin Severing Veins would be unstoppable, her future would be limitless, and only he could keep her under control.


    ¡°The girl with good fortune? I¡¯m not worthy. Stop ttering me.¡±


    Hearing that the Longevity Gu in the bottle was a 1,000-year one, Long Ziyan¡¯s smile deepened, and she gripped the jade bottle even tighter.


    ¡°Do you really think I¡¯m ttering you? I¡¯m stating facts. You have a Heaven-grade aptitude and a Tenth-grade bloodline, you have the Nine Yin Severing Veins, and you possess the Innate Sword Bone.¡±


    ¡°Such exceptional talents, which appear only once in a thousand years, are all concentrated in you. How is this not fate? And you still say you¡¯re not the girl with good fortune?¡±


    ¡°And that¡¯s not even your greatest luck. Your greatest fortune was meeting me, such a good husband. Your luck is simply unbelievable. You¡¯re definitely the girl with good fortune.¡±


    ¡°But in order to develop the Longevity Gu for you, I, like my master, sold off my assets,pletely exhausting my savings. You have topensate me.¡±


    Saying this, Long Xuan once again pressed this girl with good fortune beneath him...


    ...


    After exiting Long Ziyan''s boudoir, Long Xuan felt refreshed and briskly walked towards the Long family¡¯s residence.


    A year and a half had passed, and he felt it was time to present the research results on the Dragon Blood Battle Gu.


    Originally, he nned to dy for a few more years, but considering that ckstone City was under siege by the gue Corpses and could fall at any moment, he decided that the matter of the Dragon Blood Battle Gu couldn''t be postponed any longer.


    Once the Western Long n begins mass-producing the Dragon Blood Battle Gu, with its exaggerated defensive capabilitiesbined with the dual defense effect of the Spiritual Armor, they would be able to withstand the damage from mutated microorganisms, significantly improving their survival rate.


    Therefore, without further hesitation, Long Xuan quickly headed towards the patriarch''s residence.


    That small spatial house/hut was the only link to the Western Long n, and using it required the patriarch''s consent; no one could use it privately.


    So, Long Xuan had no choice but to head to Long Wanli''s pavilion and knock on the door.


    "Come in!" Long Wanli''s voice quickly came from inside.


    Long Xuan pushed the door open and got straight to the point: "Patriarch, the recipe for the Dragon Blood Battle Gu, which the Western Long n entrusted me to research, has been sessfully developed. I need to use the spatial house to send the recipe over."


    Upon hearing this, Long Wanli, who was about to sip his tea, trembled, spilling quite a bit of tea from his cup.


    His eyes instantly lit up with excitement, and he quickly said, "You really seeded?"


    "Indeed, ce the form on the table, and I''ll send it over for you, so you don¡¯t have to make the trip."


    Long Wanli, pretending to be calm, put down his teacup and said in aposed manner.


    "Alright then, I¡¯ll trouble you, Patriarch."


    Long Xuan was not keen on making the dangerous trip to ckstone City, so he was more than happy to have someone else handle it.


    He quickly ced the insect bag on the table, then turned and left, closing the door behind him.


    After ensuring Long Xuan was far away, Long Wanli could no longer contain himself and rushed over to grab the insect bag on the table,ughing maniacally: "Hahahahahaha..."


    His wildughter echoed through the skies, startling countless birds into flight.


    Soon, in the council hall, all the senior members of the Western Long n gathered together, each with a beaming smile, unable to contain their joy.


    "Long Lin, hurry up with the copying! And don''t make any mistakes!" The second elder urged anxiously.


    The fourth elder, Long Lin, couldn''t help but roll her eyes at him. "You want me to hurry up and not make mistakes? Why don''t youe and do it?"


    The second elder smiled awkwardly. "You better do it. Your handwriting is the best in the n. My poor handwriting would only embarrass us."


    The fourth elder rolled her eyes again and continued copying excitedly. Her hand moved rapidly, filling one sheet of paper, then quickly grabbed another nk sheet to continue.


    The Dragon Blood Battle Gu form required an astronomical amount of ten thousand materials. Even though Gu cultivators had much faster writing speeds than ordinary people, copying it still took a considerable amount of time.


    At this moment, all the Gu cultivators present were extremely excited. While Long Lin was frantically copying the Dragon Blood Battle Gu form, the other elders were studying the Dragon Blood Battle Gu that had been taken out from the insect bag.


    This was the finished product of the Dragon Blood Battle Gu, something Long Xuan had taken the time to refine.


    The Dragon Blood Battle Gu belonged to the internal Gu type, with a very tiny size, resembling a small dragon without legs. It was currently curled up in a ball, sound asleep.


    All the elders stared at the little creature on the table with wide eyes, their breaths quickening, and their eyes shining with excitement.


    "Is this really the long-lost Dragon Blood Battle Gu of our n? It does look powerful and imposing." The third elder said with a smile.


    However, as an internal Gu, the Dragon Blood Battle Gu was very small, just like a tiny worm, making it hard to see where its imposing and powerful appearance was.


    The first elder stroked his beard andughed: "It is said that our Long n once had eight supreme exclusive Gu recipes, but due to theck of heavenly materials, almost all of them have been lost. The Dragon Blood Battle Gu is one of our n''s eight supreme exclusive Gu recipes."


    "Tsk tsk, a recipe requiring ten thousand materials. I have never seen such an extravagant form before, nor have I ever refined such a massive Gu."


    "I really can''t imagine how powerful a Gu requiring ten thousand materials would be. I wish I could try refining the Dragon Blood Battle Gu right now."


    Long Yuanshan alsoughed: "Who wouldn''t want to refine a Dragon Blood Battle Gu? I would too. Tsk tsk, this is a formidable Gu recipe requiring ten thousand materials. This Dragon Blood Battle Gu might very well be our n''s strongest exclusive Gu insect."


    "With this we recipe, our n''s overall strength will rise to another level."


    "Enough talk. The Dragon Blood Battle Gu is right here. Who wants to experience its strength?"


    Upon hearing this, all the elders'' eyes lit up, staring intently at the Dragon Blood Battle Gu on the table, itching to rush forward and seize it, eager to personally experience its power.


    After all, this was a legendary Gu insect requiring ten thousand materials; who wouldn''t want it?


    Long Yuanshan, with a smile on his face, looked at the expressions of the elders one by one and dropped another bombshell: "Long Xuan stated at the end of the recipe that he did not blood contract with this Dragon Blood Battle Gu, and he does not intend to im it."


    "So, this is an uncontracted Gu insect. Anyone can form a blood contract with it. Who would like to be the one to do so?"


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 189: The Excited Long Clan Elders

    As soon as these words were spoken, it was no surprise that all the n elders began to breathe heavily, their eyes filled with greedy desire.


    It''s important to know that while Gu insects can be passed down from generation to generation, the highest level ofpatibility and loyalty always belongs to the first person who forms a blood pact with the Gu insects. This ensures no risk of bacsh.


    Due to this unique characteristic, whoever tests the abilities of the Dragon Blood Battle Gu will basically be entitled to this high-grade Gu insects made from thousands of rare materials. Who wouldn''t be excited about this? The temptation is overwhelming.


    All the n elders lost theirposure, their expressions turning wild. The usual dignified aura they maintained was nowhere to be found.


    "This isn¡¯t quite right, is it? This is a Gu insects belonging to the Long n of the Western Lands, and we¡¯re just going to keep it for ourselves?" said the Fourth n Elder, Long Lin, who had been copying the Gu recipe. She looked up with a strange expression.


    "What¡¯s wrong with that?" The Great n Elder immediately looked at her and said loudly, "Just say it got lost by ident."


    "Exactly, just say it¡¯s lost." The other elders chimed in one after another, unusually unified in their intent to im the exquisite Dragon Blood Battle Gu for themselves.


    Long Lin couldn¡¯t help but twitch the corners of her mouth. Lost? How could theye up with that? They couldn¡¯t even be bothered to think of a clumsy excuse?


    It¡¯s just a few steps away, and they¡¯re iming it got lost by ident. Who are they trying to fool? Even an idiot wouldn¡¯t believe that, right?"It¡¯s fine if we keep this Gu insects, but what I¡¯m curious about is why Long Xuan didn¡¯t form a blood pact with this Gu insects?" Long Lin asked, still puzzled. "This is a heaven-defying Gu species made from thousands of materials. Isn¡¯t he tempted at all?"


    "Well¡­ that, I¡¯m not sure about. Maybe he refined two Dragon Blood Battle Gu insects and felt it was a bit inappropriate to take another," Long Wanli said uncertainly.


    Long Xuan had left too quickly, and he had no idea why Long Xuan didn¡¯t form a blood pact with this Dragon Blood Battle Gu.


    ording to unwritten rules, the creator of a Gu recipe can keep the refined product if a blood pact is formed. If not, it belongs to the family, and the family awards contribution points.


    It had always been this way. Long Xuan¡¯s previous contributions of the Earth Master Gu and Sou Gu were all blood-pacted before they were handed in. After testing their strength, they were returned to him. It was surprising that he hadn¡¯t formed a blood pact with this Dragon Blood Battle Gu this time.


    In fact, Long Xuan had thought about this issue for a long time. The Dragon Blood Battle Gu is undoubtedly very powerful, but unfortunately, it conflicts with his own Gu insects, and the conflict is severe.


    After using the Dragon Blood Battle Gu''s transformation ability, the Gu cultivator''s body would erge, with bone spikes growing all over, a dragon tail extending, and sharp ws sprouting.


    However, he was wearing an unbreakable soul armor. The ws and bone spikes would either be stuck inside, unable toe out, or forcefully break through the soul armor.


    There was a significant conflict between the Dragon Blood Battle Gu and the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm. They couldn¡¯t coexist.


    Between the two, he could only choose one.


    After a long period ofparison, Long Xuan finally chose the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm.


    Although the Dragon Blood Battle Gu is made from thousands of materials and is incredibly strong, it doesn¡¯t necessarily mean that a Gu insect made from more materials is stronger than one made from fewer materials. This is by no means an absolute rule.


    After repeatedparisons, Long Xuan found that despite the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm having far fewer materials than the Dragon Blood Battle Gu, its potential far exceeded that of the Dragon Blood Battle Gu.


    The Dragon Blood Battle Gu excels in physical defense, but it can¡¯t defend against other types of attacks.


    In contrast, the soul armor created by the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm can defend against soul attacks, spiritual attacks, soundwave attacks, illusion attacks, fire attacks, cold attacks, curse attacks¡ªalmost anything.


    The defense of the Heavenly Dream Soul Armor isprehensive, capable of withstanding all types of attacks in this world.


    As for whether the defense of the Heavenly Dream Soul Armor or the Dragon Blood Battle Gu is stronger, the Heavenly Dream Soul Armor is superior.


    This is because the strength of the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm depends on the quality of the spirit tree leaves it consumes. The higher the grade of the spirit tree, the stronger the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm bes.


    If you give the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm a bunch of heavenly-grade spirit trees to consume, the silk it produces would definitely surpass the defense of the Dragon Blood Battle Gu.


    Moreover, this defensive capability has no upper limit and will continue to strengthen as the number of high-grade spirit trees increases. This characteristic allows the defense potential of the Heavenly Dream Soul Armor to leave the Dragon Blood Battle Gu far behind.


    Although the Dragon Blood Battle Gu has many powerful offensive abilitiespared to the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm, Long Xuan didn¡¯t find it bnced.


    With his cautious personality, defense alwayses first, especially since he doesn¡¯tck offensive capabilities.


    The most important point is that after transforming into a half-dragon form with the Dragon Blood Battle Gu, his body would erge, and the bone spikes and tail would tear through his clothes. Wouldn¡¯t he end up running around naked? Long Xuan¡¯s thoughts were clear.


    So, no matter how hepared them, Long Xuan had no reason to give up the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm.


    Thus, the Dragon Blood Battle Gu was ruled out from the blood pact list.


    As expected, a heated argument erupted in the conference room over the ownership of the Dragon Blood Battle Gu.


    Faced with this peak-grade Gu worm made from thousands of materials, no one wanted to give it up. They all wanted to im the Dragon Blood Battle Gu, and the noise almost blew the roof off.


    Long Wanli covered his ears, watching with a smile, showing no intention of joining the fight.


    Looking at his expression, it was as if... he was watching clowns!


    Just as everyone was in a heated argument, almost ready to fight, a majestic voice echoed from the sky: ¡°Stop fighting, I¡¯m taking this Dragon Blood Battle Gu.¡±


    The voice carried an undeniable excitement and then disappeared.


    The room instantly fell silent. Everyone stopped arguing, their expressions frozen. The room, which had been deafening just moments before, was now so quiet you could hear a pin drop.


    Well, now no one can fight over it. The Ancestor has taken it.


    Only then did they realize that a peak-grade Gu insect of this level wasn¡¯t something they could covet. It was bound to belong to the strongest Gu King Ancestor of the n.


    The most powerful peak-grade Gu insects were always best kept in the hands of the n¡¯s Gu King, maximizing the benefits. How foolish they were to fight over it for so long.


    Their greed had clouded their judgment, causing them to lose their usualposure. Now, thinking back to how they were arguing, they felt likeplete clowns, utterly embarrassed.


    Seeing Long Wanli looking at them with a mocking smile in his eyes, everyone was furious.


    He did it on purpose, he definitely did it on purpose! He knew that this Gu insect would certainly go to the Ancestor, yet he still used his words to tempt them, making them lose face and argue among themselves while he stood aside, watching the show with a grin. It was truly too much.


    No wonder he hadn¡¯t shown any interest in the Dragon Blood Battle Gu earlier. They had all been yed by this scoundrel!


    ...


    Some timeter, in the Long n¡¯s mansion in ckstone City, Western Lands.


    Arge group of Gu Masters, eyes red with excitement, were gathered together, their hands trembling as they flipped through the lengthy Gu recipe in their hands. The excitement in their eyes was intense, and the room was filled with the sound of rapid breathing.


    ¡°It worked, it really worked! Hahaha¡­¡±


    ¡°This brat Long Xuan didn¡¯t disappoint me. He really managed to develop it, and it took him less than two years. This is a blessing for our n, a true blessing!¡±


    Long Yuanshanughed wildly with excitement, hisughter deafening, tears almost streaming down his face.


    ¡°The Dragon Blood Battle Gu! The Dragon Blood Battle Gu is one of the top eight exclusive Gu recipe of our n. Now that the Dragon Blood Battle Gu recipe has been sessfully restored, the name of the Dragon Blood Battle Gu will once again resound throughout the world, making everyone tremble in fear.¡±


    An elderly man in the crowd shouted fervently, tears of excitement streaming down his face.


    ¡°Hahaha... such a heaven-defying Gu insect, we finally have a chance to craft it? I can¡¯t wait any longer! I want to see who can stand against me once I¡¯ve crafted the Dragon Blood Battle Gu.¡±


    ¡°It came just in time. With the Dragon Blood Battle Gu in hand, we don¡¯t have to fear the attacks of the gue Demon Gu anymore.¡±


    ¡°Hahaha... we¡¯ve swindled countless resources from various ns. It¡¯s more than enough to craft many Dragon Blood Battle Gu. We can each have one, no problem at all! Hahaha¡­¡±


    ¡°No problem! No problem! Absolutely no problem! I suggest we start crafting the Gu immediately. With the strength of the Dragon Blood Battle Gu, once it appears on arge scale, our n will be the number one powerful n in the Western Lands. I¡¯d like to see who else dares topete with the Long n!¡±


    The high-ranking members of the Long n in the Western Lands clenched their fists, their faces flushed with excitement. The discussion in the council hall was chaotic, everyone¡¯s faces red and voices loud, like a bustling market.


    ¡°Wait a minute? The recipe mentions that the final product didn¡¯t have a blood contract and was left for us to handle on our own. Why can¡¯t I find that finished product?¡±


    An elderly man reached into his Insect Rearing bag, fumbling anxiously. His words instantly silenced the room, and everyone froze.


    Right, when submitting the Gu recipe, there must be a finished product. Without a finished product, how can they know if the recipe is real or fake? Without a finished product, how can they determine the strength of the Gu recipe?


    Only when the researcher of the Gu recipe sessfully crafts the Gu insect can the recipe be confirmed. So, there must be a finished Dragon Blood Battle Gu. Long Xuan wouldn¡¯t have sent the form over without conducting any experiments.


    At this moment, everyone looked bewildered.


    Suddenly, Long Yuanshan¡¯s expression changed as if he¡¯d realized something. He shouted angrily, ¡°Damn it! That finished product must have been withheld by the Far Western Long n!¡±


    ¡°Not only did they withhold the finished product, but there¡¯s also something off about the handwriting on this recipe. It¡¯s scribbled and connected, as if someone was rushing to copy it.¡±


    ¡°They probably copied the Dragon Blood Battle Gu recipe and sent us the giarized version, while keeping the original for themselves.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re shameless! They¡¯re utterly shameless!¡±


    Long Yuanshan was so angry that he almost coughed up blood, his nose twitching in rage.


    The room instantly erupted into chaos. Everyone was furious, cursing out loud.


    ¡°This is too much! How dare they!¡±


    ¡°Shameless! They dare to take advantage of us!¡±


    ¡°Scoundrels! These bastards are scoundrels!¡±


    ---


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 190: Creating His Own Formation Diagram

    For the next period of time, Long Xuan stayed at Long Ziyan¡¯s home, practically living in her room, and they spent their days together infort.


    During this time, they continuously exchanged their cultivation insights, with the most discussed topic being how toprehend Sword Intent.


    Sword Intent is an enigmatic concept¡ªsomething that can only be understood but not easily exined. It¡¯s impossible to record insights on Sword Intent through words, as nonguage can describe the trueprehension of it.


    Thus, understanding Sword Intent relies entirely on oneself. It all depends on personal perception, and there¡¯s no way to impart it through verbal teaching.


    Despite their many days of discussion, Long Xuan was still confused, having no clear idea of what exactly Sword Intent was.


    All he knew was that Sword Intent was an intangible form of attack, capable of piercing through anything, with a long-range offensive capability. When attached to a sword, it made the sword even sharper and more indestructible.


    Moreover, Sword Intent carries the wielder''s will. Since everyone''s will differs, the Sword Intent theyprehend will also vary, such as Destruction Sword Intent, ughter Sword Intent, or Heartless Sword Intent...


    With her Nine Yin Severing veins Physique, Long Ziyan had a natural affinity for ice-based powers, so it was highly probable that the Sword Intent she wouldprehend would be Ice Sword Intent.


    Even the same type of Sword Intent would have different strengths whenprehended by different people. Given Long Ziyan¡¯s innate sword bones, the Ice Sword Intent she would eventuallyprehend was bound to be the strongest Ice Sword Intent.However, even though Long Ziyan was born with sword bones, she still had only a vague understanding ofprehending Sword Intent and was at a loss as to how to grasp it.


    It seemed thatprehending Sword Intent was extremely difficult for her as well, and it was impossible to achieve it in a short period of time.


    Long Xuan was anxious; his de Gu needed to evolve to be of use to him. This matter couldn¡¯t be dyed. He didn¡¯t want to reach the Spiritual Sea stage only to find his de Gu still hadn¡¯t evolved.


    So, one day, as he watched Long Ziyan on the swing, a sudden thought came to him. Grasping the fleeting inspiration, he hurriedly asked, ¡°Ziyan, I¡¯ve thought of a way to help youprehend Sword Intent.¡±


    ¡°I want to create a type of formation, a phantom formation that can attack intruders with various kinds of Sword Intent.¡±


    ¡°I believe that if anyone experiences death a few hundred or even a thousand times under different Sword Intents, even if they were a dumb pig, they would eventuallyprehend Sword Intent.¡±


    ¡°But this formation has a special feature: those killed by the Sword Intent won¡¯t truly die. They can resurrect and challenge the formation again. By attempting countless times, it¡¯s only a matter of time before they canprehend Sword Intent.¡±


    A gleam of light shed in Long Xuan¡¯s eyes as he realized this n was entirely feasible.


    He intended to borrow from the illusions of the Origin Realm, just as he had used the principle of tomb raiding in the Origin Realmst time. He could die countless times within the tomb, but his body outside would awaken at the moment of death, allowing him to challenge the tomb again. After countless attempts, he would eventually clear it.


    As for simting various types of Sword Intent in the illusion, he already had a n.


    The demonic flower he had brought out from the Empress¡¯s ancient tomb was no ordinary flower. It had lived for countless years, surviving numerous epochs.


    During this long span of time, the demonic flower had killed countless powerful beings, including numerous sword cultivators.


    The flower¡¯s ability was to perfectly replicate all of a person''s abilities, including the difficult-to-grasp Sword Intent.


    Long Xuan didn¡¯t know how many sword cultivators the demonic flower had killed, but it could currently replicate over a hundred types of Sword Intent.


    This was a terrifying number. Those who couldprehend Sword Intent were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns, extremely hard to find.


    For the demonic flower to be able to replicate over a hundred types of Sword Intent over the ages, one can only imagine how many people it had killed.


    The bodies of those who died at its hands must have long since piled up into mountains, and it grew by sucking the blood of these mountains of corpses. R?¦¡????????


    Thus, using the demonic flower as the core of the phantom formation, creating an formation that could unleash countless Sword Intent attacks was not an idle fantasy.


    The more Long Xuan thought about it, the brighter his eyes shone. The problem that had troubled him for many days had finally found its solution today.


    As she swung, Long Ziyan nced at him sideways and said helplessly, ¡°Are you dreaming? There¡¯s no such formation in this world, nor is there an illusion technique that allows one to die and yet not die.¡±


    ¡°Even if the body doesn¡¯t enter the illusion and only the spiritual self does, once the spirit is shredded by the Sword Intent, the body will also die. Once consciousness is destroyed, even an undying body is useless. How could someone possibly die and then be reborn?¡±


    ¡°A person killed countless times by Sword Intent may indeed have a chance toprehend it, but no one has that many lives to spare.¡±


    ¡°Otherwise, this world would be in chaos, and everyone would be able toprehend Sword Intent.¡±


    ¡°If this formation were spread to a world full of sword cultivators, wouldn¡¯t it drive all the sword cultivators mad? They¡¯d risk their lives to charge into the formation.¡±


    ¡°By then, every sword cultivator would have Sword Intent, and you¡¯d be triggering a revolution in the world of swords, sweeping across the entire world.¡±


    ¡°One could say that with this, you¡¯d be single-handedly elevating an entire profession. This would be a heaven-defying achievement that would go down in history. You¡¯d be famous!¡±


    Long Ziyan smiled as she looked at Long Xuan,pletely disbelieving what he said.


    "This kind of thing is simply too extraordinary and goes against the natural order. How could I possibly believe it?"


    "Any new creation is met with disbelief. Most people are bound by their conventional thinking and are unwilling to ept anything new," Long Xuan provocatively said as he looked at her. "I have confidence in my idea. How about we make a bet? Let''s see if I can sessfully develop this formation."


    "If I win the bet, you''ll let me control you for a month, doing whatever I say."


    "If I lose, you can do whatever you want with me."


    Long Xuan looked at her with a mischievous smile.


    Long Ziyan immediately blushed. She knew exactly what Long Xuan meant. He wanted to do things that she had not agreed to before. If he truly won, she would be without dignity for the next month.


    Impossible. There¡¯s no way he could create such an outrageous formation. He couldn¡¯t even simte something as simple as Sword Intent because he doesn¡¯t understand it. How could he create a formation that releases various types of Sword Intent? He¡¯s dreaming.


    He¡¯s overconfident and has forgotten that someone who doesn¡¯t understand Sword Intent cannot create illusions of it.


    He¡¯s driven by his desires and has made such a silly mistake. It¡¯sughable.


    Long Ziyan pondered for a moment, then suddenly sneered, "Fine! I¡¯ll take that bet!"


    "I¡¯d like to see what skills you have to create a formation that would overturn the entire Sword Realm. If you win, I¡¯ll do whatever you say!"


    "Good! It¡¯s a deal! Hahaha... Wait for my good news. I will make you truly convinced!" Long Xuanughed heartily, finally getting up and running outside.


    He needed to start preparing the materials for this formation. Naturally, materials for a formation that could enhance an entire profession wouldn¡¯t be simple. His wealth might be greatly diminished¡ªno, it might not even be enough.


    Although he had contributed to researching the Dragon Blood Battle Gu and was rewarded two billion contributions by the Westernnds Long n, the n is currently besieged, and the contributions from Westernnds Long n couldn¡¯t be spent within the Far Western Long n.


    Moreover, the two billion contributions haven¡¯t even been received yet.


    After much consideration, Long Xuan decided to continue milking the Far Western Long n by submitting self-created Gu techniques.


    The Far West Long n had already made a fortune by using the Space house to conduct various businesses. The treasures piled up in the Treasure Pavilion are like mountains. It¡¯s time to milk them again.


    As for what kind of Gu technique to create, Long Xuan couldn¡¯t be bothered to think too much. He might as well submit the Longevity Gu that can upgrade the Sou Gu. This technique alone is worth a billion.


    This technology is truly terrifying, and its low cost is enough to render the teleportation formations obsolete, monopolizing the world''s teleportation business.


    This is a groundbreaking technology that will have a sensational effect and shake the world.


    The interests involved in this technology are so immense that even if the Far West Long n joined forces with the Westernnds Long n, they couldn¡¯t guard such vast wealth. They might need to join forces with more rtives and have stronger allies to support them.


    But there¡¯s no rush for that now. The key is to create the formation diagram first. Without the formation diagram, how would you know what materials are needed?


    With that thought, Long Xuan finally left Long Ziyan¡¯s boudoir and ran back to his own cave to start working on the formation diagram.


    Watching Long Xuan''s departing figure, Long Ziyan finally let out a long sigh of relief. She could finally rest for a few days. She already regretted choosing a man with such powerful physical strength as her dual-cultivation partner. She had brought this trouble upon herself.


    ...


    Half a year passed by in the blink of an eye. In a small pavilion, Long Xuan wrote the threerge characters "Immortal-ying Formation" on the cover of a book. His handwriting was as fluid as a dragon. He put down the pen and revealed a satisfied smile.


    After six months, the formation that could release countless types of Sword Intent was finallypleted. He was looking forward to seeing Long Ziyan¡¯s expression when she saw this formation.


    Long Xuan showed a wicked smile of satisfaction.


    The name "Immortal-ying Formation" sounded extremely domineering. The reason for choosing this name was simply that it sounded powerful and murderous enough to even y immortals.


    People unfamiliar with the formation would probably think it was a world-renowned killing formation, scared off by its name alone.


    However, calling the Immortal-ying Formation a killing formation wouldn''t be entirely inurate.


    If the Immortal-ying Formation could repeatedly resurrect a person, it could serve as an auxiliary formation to help someoneprehend Sword Intent.


    But what if its resurrection feature was turned off?


    Then, of course, it would be a supreme killing formation where anyone who entered would surely die.


    Tsk tsk, the Immortal-ying Formation contained over a hundred types of Sword Intent, over a hundred types of Saber Intent, and even the rare Gun Intent, Staff Intent, and Whip Intent¡­


    There were so many types of intent, covering any weapon imaginable, too many to count.


    Who could withstand that? Anyone who recklessly entered this world filled with various Intents would be torn to pieces in an instant.


    Even though this formation was an illusionary formation, its killing power surpassed that of most actual killing formations.


    Long Xuan was incredibly satisfied with the Immortal-ying Formation he had created. This was another great invention for the world.


    The heaven-defying formation he created was enough to leave a significant mark in this world¡¯s history and shock the entire world.


    ........................................................................


    Read extra chapters on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 191: Dragon Soaring Empire

    Now that the diagram for the Immortal-ying Formation isplete, it¡¯s time to quickly gather the necessary materials and set up the array.


    A glimmer shed in Long Xuan''s eyes as he immediately put away the formation diagram and swiftly headed out.


    It had taken half a year to study the diagram of the Immortal-ying Formation. By now, ckstone City had been besieged for nearly two years.


    Even after two years of controlling the horde of corpses to attack ckstone City, Shi Haojun still hadn''t been able to capture it. The fact that the various ns in the city had managed to hold out under the relentless assault of the gue corpses for two years surprised everyone and defied all expectations.


    Of course, no one except the Long n knew the true reason behind this.


    The Long n had been secretly transporting supplies into the city through the spatial house, undermining Shi Haojun''s war of attrition strategy.


    City Lord Yan Pojun remained in the dark, suspecting nothing. He simply believed that, as arge city, ckstone had resources stockpiled by the various ns. Even when supplies were running low, he thought they could still squeeze out a little more.


    The Long n made a huge profit from this war, bing the biggest beneficiary.


    With such enormous wealth in their hands, who knows how many Dragon Blood Battle Gu the Long n would refine?Long Xuan was well aware that the Long n had no shortage of the primary material for Dragon Blood Battle Gu. After countless millennia of umtion, the n had an abundant supply of the peak-grade spiritual insect known as the Divine Dragon insect.


    As long as there was no shortage of peak-grade primary insects and enough wealth to purchase the other materials, Dragon Blood Battle Gu could be mass-produced.


    The Long n of the Far West controlled the food supply route to ckstone City. All the water and food needed by the Western Land¡¯s Long n had to be purchased from the Far Western Long n, who took the opportunity to raise prices, also earning a fortune. Refining some Dragon Blood Battle Gu was not a problem for them either.


    Long Xuan was pleased to see both branches of the Long n growing stronger. The stronger they were, the easier it would be for him to ally himself with them and protect his newfound wealth. With this in mind, Long Xuan made his way to the n head¡¯s pavilion, holding the Longevity Gu.


    As expected, Long Wanli was once again excited. The Long n was thrown into a flurry of activity, with the various n elders rushing out of their residences in haste, so eager that they didn¡¯t even take time to dress properly, heading straight for the council hall.


    In no time at all, all the high-ranking members of the n had gathered. In the past, these old men would drag their feet because of their age, but today they had all arrived instantly, as if they had flown over directly. Not a single one was absent.


    "Using a method to increase the lifespan of Gu insects to enhance their quality¡ªwhat a divine idea! How did I not think of that?"


    "This is the first time I¡¯ve heard that Gu insect quality can be enhanced in this way. It¡¯s a miracle in the world of Gu! Does this mean that other Gu insects can also be upgraded through extending their lifespan?"


    "What would it mean to upgrade peak-grade Gu insects? Could there be future stages of Holy Gu insects or Divine Gu insects?"


    The Second Elder stared at the small chubby insect in the middle of the conference table, his eyes wide with fiery excitement, iling his arms around like a madman.


    "Haha!" The Great Elder chuckled, stroking his beard. "Let¡¯s not think about upgrading peak-grade Gu insects. All Gu insects with a lifespan exceeding ten thousand years are collectively known as peak-grade Gu insects, regardless of their individual strength or differences. There won''t be a higher quality of Gu insects beyond this level."


    "Otherwise, do you think the gue Demon Gu would still be ssified as a peak-grade Gu insect? It¡¯s long since surpassed the realm of peak-grade Gu insects and has be absurdly powerful."


    "If there were truly higher ssifications beyond peak-grade, the gue Demon Gu would be two or three levels above it, far out of reach."


    "Exactly!" Long Wanli interjected, "This idea is interesting, but let¡¯s stop here for now. The Longevity Gu only works on the Sou Gu and is ineffective for other Gu insects."


    "If you want to realize what¡¯s on your mind, you¡¯d have to invent a new Gu recipe, and that¡¯s incredibly costly. You all know how resource-intensive it is to create a new Gu recipe."


    "We have many ways to make money and many tasks to aplish. There¡¯s no need to divert our energy elsewhere."


    "Our focus now should be on evolving the Sowu Gu. Establishing teleportation gates everywhere is the top priority for our n. Whether our n rises to glory depends on this one move."


    Long Wanli''s eyes suddenly shone with excitement as his expression grew more and more enthusiastic.


    The Great Elder, who valued the Sou Gu above all else, suddenly became serious and said gravely, ¡°Don¡¯t get too excited just yet.¡±


    ¡°This is a technology powerful enough to render teleportation arrays obsolete. The interests at stake are enormous. If not handled properly, it could lead to the destruction of our entire n.¡±


    ¡°Forget us being able to protect it; even if we join forces with the Western Land''s Long n, we still wouldn¡¯t be able to protect it.¡±


    ¡°Our foundation is small. No matter how many resources we have, we can¡¯t cultivate arge number of Gu Kings in a short time. Finding a powerful backer is our only choice.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why I suggested long ago that if we sessfully develop the Sou Gu¡¯s ability to teleport living beings, we should contact our rtives in various regions to jointly protect this wealth.¡±


    ¡°This n should be activated now.¡±


    All the elders nodded, putting away their smiles and turning serious. Long Wanli calmed down, took a deep breath, and sighed, ¡°That¡¯s indeed the only way, but it¡¯s also dangerous.¡±


    ¡°There are many people with the surname Long in this world, and many of them share the same roots, but we haven¡¯t had contact for 800 years¡ªno, we haven¡¯t had contact for countless millennia. Aside from sharing the same surname, we belong to different factions.¡±


    ¡°Even though factions with the same roots are easier to trust, we can¡¯t guarantee that they won¡¯t have ulterior motives.¡±


    ¡°This is definitely risky, but it¡¯s certainly more reliable than trusting outsiders.¡±


    The Great Elder nodded. ¡°I have the same concerns. If one side is too strong and the other too weak, then even if they are rted by blood, it¡¯s hard to maintain an equal partnership.¡±


    ¡°My idea is to first unite with weaker rtives to form an alliance, and then expand that alliance continuously until the alliance itself bes strong enough to reach out to the strongest of them all¡ªthe Dragon Soaring Empire of Central Land.¡±


    ¡°With the strength of the Dragon Soaring Empire, I believe they can protect this business.¡± The Great Elder''s eyes shed.


    When this force was mentioned, all the elders of the n showed a change in expression, and a look of apprehension appeared in their eyes.


    Among the thirty-sixnds of the Western Regions, the Central Land is the strongest. The Central Land has thergest area among the thirty-sixnds, filled with countless superpowers and strong individuals as numerous as the clouds.


    The Dragon Soaring Empire is the overlord of the Central Land and one of the strongest forces there. The number of Gu Kings in this nation-level force is beyond count, and powerful figures like Yan Pojun, withbat strength, are amon sight.


    It is no exaggeration to say that the Dragon Soaring Empire could easily send someone to wipe out the Far West Long n. The gap between them is that wide.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s feasible,¡± said Long Wanli with a piercing gaze. ¡°Although the risk cannot bepletely avoided, wanting to aplish great things without any risk is simply impossible.¡±


    ¡°A few days ago, the West Sea Long n was besieged by the Zhu and Song ns and sent us a request for aid.¡±


    ¡°I originally didn¡¯t want to get involved, as meddling in other people''s affairs could lead to losses among our experts and easily make enemies, bringing cmities upon us.¡±


    ¡°But now it seems necessary for our n to intervene. The West Sea Long n is not weak. If our n steps in to rescue them and establishes a life-saving debt, they could be our first solid cooperative partner.¡±


    All the elders nodded together. The second elder said, ¡°When the beast tide erupted in the far western regionst time, the West Sea forces, including the West Sea Long n, came to aid.¡±


    ¡°If we take action under the pretext of repaying their favor, it would be reasonable and justifiable. This can be done.¡±


    Everyone nodded again, and no one raised any objections. This decision to dispatch troops to the West Sea was finalized at this meeting.


    ¡­


    Half a monthter, at Ziwei Peak.


    The Immortal-ying Formation is unique in that it doesn¡¯t require arge area, so setting it up doesn¡¯t take too much time. With the cooperation of his five clones, Long Xuan sessfully arranged the Immortal-ying Formation in just half a month.


    As soon as the Execution Array waspleted, Long Xuan couldn¡¯t wait to summon Long Ziyan over.


    ¡°Granny Long, go inside. Remember your promise.¡±


    Long Xuan made a gesture of invitation, looking at her with a mischievous smile.


    Long Ziyan frowned slightly and looked at him suspiciously.


    Did he really manage to create it? How is that possible? He must be bluffing.


    A person who had never even touched a sword could actually create an formation simting sword intent? What a joke. She wouldn¡¯t believe it even if she were beaten to death.


    Long Ziyan looked at the eighteen white pirs in the center of the field, frowning even more deeply.


    The formation that Long Xuan had haphazardly set up not only had a small range, but he had also bizarrely erected eighteen pirs.


    The pirs couldn¡¯t be unnecessary. Based on her understanding of formations, this should be a kind of formation base for inscribing array patterns. Horizontally inscribing array patterns was certainly a novel idea.


    Combining horizontal and vertical array patterns would create moreplex functions, enough to bewilder people. Even though her knowledge of formations wasn¡¯t deep, she knew that such an array would be extremely troublesome. Without understanding this novel concept, no one would be able to break it.


    No one had ever inscribed array patterns horizontally before. Otherwise, if they erected such pirs, wouldn¡¯t the array patterns be visible to everyone? Wouldn¡¯t it be easy to break the array then?


    No formation master would do something so foolish. How could Long Xuan make such a basic mistake? Such an idea was simply impossible in this world. Long Ziyan looked puzzled.


    However, when her Evil Dragon Emperor¡¯s Eye swept over the pirs and carefully observed for a long time, she didn¡¯t see a single array pattern and didn¡¯t know where he had hidden them.


    Her confusion deepened.


    ¡°Are you sure this is an formation? For such arge formation, are you sure it can be deployed?¡± Long Ziyan asked in surprise.


    ¡°Actually, the formation can be evenrger, but arger killing formation is used for defending against enemies. If it¡¯s only for assisting people inprehending sword intent, it doesn¡¯t need to be thatrge. This area is sufficient.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate the formation just because it looks small from the outside. When you step inside, you¡¯ll find that the world inside is boundless, with no end in sight.¡±


    ¡°Once you get lost inside, even if you aren¡¯t killed by the sword intent, it¡¯s hard to find your way out, and you¡¯ll end up trapped to death.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not bragging, but this formation can definitely be considered a world-ss famous formation, and it should even be ranked among the top.¡± Long Xuan said proudly.


    ¡°This is the formation trigger. You can activate it whenever you want to experience it.¡±


    ¡°You should go in and experience it now. I guarantee you¡¯ll be greatly surprised by the world inside.¡±


    Long Xuan stuffed a sword-shaped token into Long Ziyan¡¯s jade hand and, without giving her a chance to refuse, pushed her into the center of the Immortal-ying Formation, right in the middle of the eighteen pirs.


    As soon as Long Ziyan entered the Immortal-ying Formation, the eighteen pirs immediately began shing, emitting brilliant light.


    It didn¡¯t take long for the eighteen pirs and Long Ziyan inside to vanish into thin air¡­

 Chapter 192: The Excited Long Ziyan

    Actually, the person was still there, but had been hidden by the illusion. Long Ziyan''s consciousness was also drawn into a vast illusory world.


    This illusion was only visible to her and no one else, much like Long Xuan''s Origin World.


    The biggest feature of the Origin Realm is its realism¡ªan extraordinary level of realism that makes it impossible to detect any ws indicating it¡¯s an illusion.


    Seeing the familiar Long nplex in front of her, Long Ziyan was stunned.


    The illusion was incredibly lifelike. It was the first time she had encountered such a realistic environment.


    If she didn¡¯t know she had walked into an illusion, she might never have realized it was fake and could have been trapped in it forever.


    What kind of illusion technique is this, and how could it be so terrifying?


    Long Ziyan''s face showed a deep sense of caution, and her earlier contempt was gone.


    She understood that in a 100% realistic illusion, if something like Sword Intent were to manifest, it would also be 100% real.If it were an ordinary illusion manifesting Sword Intent, one could notprehend Sword Intent through understanding the illusion.


    But if the Sword Intent illusion ispletely real, exactly the same as real Sword Intent, including the realm and will within it being perfectly simted, could oneprehend Sword Intent by perceiving such an illusion?


    Long Ziyan''s eyes grew brighter, and she became increasingly excited, eager to find the Sword Intent within the illusion.


    Even though she didn''t believe Long Xuan could manifest Sword Intent, she couldn''t help but harbor a sliver of expectation.


    After flying for a while, her expression became more and more serious.


    Was this vast illusion replicated by Long Xuan at a 1:1 ratio?


    Not only had he perfectly recreated the grand Long nplex, but after flying out of it for a long time, she found that the surrounding mountains and rivers were exactly the same as in the real world, with no differences at all.


    This couldpletely be described as a parallel world to the Gu Realm. How on earth did he achieve this?


    Long Ziyan was shocked. As far as she could see, even with the Long Emperor''s eyes, she couldn¡¯t see the end of this world, which was exactly like the real world.


    The only difference was that the further away from the Long n one went, the more the Intents appeared.


    In the distance, not only was there Sword Intent but also Saber Intent, Staff Intent, Hammer Intent¡­all kinds of Intents. Whatever you could imagine, it was here.


    Moreover, the further one went, the denser the Intents became, and their power grew stronger.


    These Intents behaved like living creatures. Once they saw a person, they would chase them relentlessly, not stopping until they had killed them.


    This means that the further one goes, the more dangerous it bes, and the stronger the Intents are.


    The Long n¡¯s location in the center of the illusion was the only safe house; no matter what, the Intents would never enter the Long n.


    If she were to be overwhelmed, she could hide in the safe house to catch her breath.


    What an interesting design. Long Ziyan''s lips curved upwards, her interest growing.


    "I want to see if this illusion can make meprehend Sword Intent. If it¡¯s possible, I willprehend every type of Sword Intent in this world."


    Long Ziyan clenched her fists excitedly, her eyes filled with ambition. Then she suddenly elerated and, recklessly, flew towards the deepest part of the illusion. R


    One must know that the deeper one goes, the stronger the Sword Intent bes. Long Xuan feared that if she started with something too difficult, she wouldn¡¯t be able to handle it. Thus, he designed this illusion for her to progress step-by-step, with the Sword Intent growing gradually from simple toplex.


    Who would have thought that Long Ziyan would ignore his n and head straight for the more terrifying Sword Intent in the depths?


    Of course, Long Ziyan wasn¡¯t being reckless. It was just that Long Xuan imed she could be resurrected infinitely in this illusion, and trusting him, she was naturally curious to see what the strongest Sword Intent looked like in the depths.


    Curiosity killed the cat, and curiosity is in the nature of every human being.


    Long Ziyan flew forward at high speed, with countless Sword Intents trailing her, madly pursuing her.


    Before long, she saw in front of her a region exuding terrifying Sword Intent with a chilling aura.


    Wherever the Sword Intent passed, all the grass and trees below were frozen. Even before the Sword Intent approached, Long Ziyan felt as though her consciousness was about to freeze.


    Her face changed dramatically. Was this Ice Sword Intent that perfectly matched her own attributes?


    Sword Intent that could freeze even one''s consciousness¡ªhow terrifying!


    She slowly closed her eyes.


    At this moment, she was surrounded by Sword Intents on all sides, with no room to dodge.


    What¡¯s more, the speed of the Ice Sword Intent was far faster than hers, and the powerful chill slowed her movements. Under such terrifying Sword Intent, she couldn¡¯t escape and could only close her eyes and wait for death.


    In an instant, Long Ziyan was pierced by ten thousand swords.


    If Long Xuan had seen this, he would have been heartbroken.


    You have to know, this illusory world is a perfect 1:1 replication of the real world, including the pain.


    That means the pain someone would feel being killed by countless Sword Intents in the real world would be exactly the same in this illusion.


    Sword Intent attacks a person''s consciousness, and the pain it causes is far greater than any physical injury.


    Momentster, Long Ziyan suddenly awoke at the starting point, gasping for breath with her back drenched in sweat.


    Clearly, even someone as strong-willed as her found it unbearable. She had just experienced death firsthand¡ªand a truly realistic one. She still had lingering fear in her heart.


    She looked around at the familiar Long n buildings with a confused expression, took a deep breath, and her eyes began to show excitement.


    After closing her eyes and feeling the sensation she just experienced, the joy on her face grew even more intense.


    It really worked. Dying under the Sword Intent indeed brings more insight into it. She had just gained quite a bit of understanding.


    She believed that as long as she died a few more times, she would eventuallyprehend the Sword Intent.


    Just as Long Xuan had said, if you die a thousand or eight hundred times under the Sword Intent, even a pig would be able toprehend it.


    Long Ziyan¡¯s eyes grew brighter. After digesting her recent insights, she couldn¡¯t wait to raise her sword and charge out of the safe house again, showing a tendency to be more resilient with every setback. She was already starting to go a bit mad.


    However, learning from her past mistake, this time she was careful not to venture too deep and challenge the strongest Sword Intent right away.


    Instead, following Long Xuan''s arrangement, she began by challenging the weakest Sword Intent near the edge of the safe house. Then, she would proceed step-by-step, slowly progressing and umting enough before challenging the strongest Sword Intent. By then, she would be ready for a breakthrough.


    Moreover, she was ambitious. She had long stated that she wanted toprehend all the Sword Intents here, not sparing even the weakest ones. When the time came and she fused all the Sword Intents together, she would be able to split the heavens with a single sword strike and be invincible under the heavens.


    In the past, such an idea would have been considered utterly insane and impossible to achieve.


    For a normal person,prehending just one type of Sword Intent would take a lifetime of effort, let alone understanding hundreds of them. Even the most talented individuals would find it impossible.


    This kind of thinking was simply delusional. If all the sword cultivators in the Sword Realm knew about this, they wouldugh their heads off.


    But now, with this cheat,prehending Sword Intent only required her to die crazily. Understanding hundreds of Sword Intents might not be just a pipe dream.


    Such a terrifying thought could really be a reality for her.


    However, even with such a shortcut,prehending hundreds of Sword Intents would still not be something that could be aplished overnight. It would definitely take a considerable amount of time. This would be tough on Long Xuan, who was waiting outside.


    ¡°Why isn¡¯t sheing out yet? Why isn¡¯t sheing out yet?¡±


    Long Xuan was anxiously pacing back and forth outside with his hands behind his back. He had been waiting for her to fulfill her promise of a reward. Who would have thought that after going in, she wouldn¡¯te out? It was really driving him mad...


    ...


    In the blink of an eye, three months had passed, and Long Xuan had been waiting here for the entire three months.


    You may escape the monk, but you can''t escape the temple. He simply couldn¡¯t believe that Long Ziyan would stay hidden inside forever withouting out.


    A lot had happened in these three months. First of all, Little moon had mastered the Ten Absolute de Technique that he had created.


    Each de Gu was inherently a prodigy in the way of the de, with a natural and profound understanding of it. It was not surprising that it could quickly master the Ten Absolute de Technique. This was within Long Xuan''s expectations, so it didn¡¯t need much boration.


    The second thing was that the Far West Long n suddenly dispatched troops to the West Sea, which had already be a major event in the Far West, sparking discussions among various races.


    The Far West was a penins, adjacent to the sea, and surrounded by countless inds. Eachrge ind also had its own Gu cultivation powers.


    The sea area bordering the Far West was called the West Sea. The West Sea was vast, more than a hundred timesrger than the Far West, with many inds.


    The West Sea Long n was located in the West Sea Archipgo within the West Sea. Their resources were rtively abundant, and their strength wasparable to the Far West Long n. In fact, due to their maritime technology, deep-sea fishing for Spirit Fish, and exploring the depths of the ocean, they were even more affluent than the Far West Long n.


    Of course, this was only in the past. Now, the West Sea Long n was certainly not as wealthy as the Far West Long n.


    Long Xuan didn''t know the origins of the West Sea Long n, only that they shared some unique Gu insects with the Far West Long n, and even had a sacred tree called the Divine Dragon Tree, possibly indicating amon ancestry.


    He didn¡¯t know why the Far West Long n went to war with the West Sea Long n or what the current battle situation was.


    After all, both he and Long Ziyan were supposed to be in ckstone City, ssified as missing persons, so it was inconvenient for them to appear in public. Therefore, they were not brought along in this expedition as a couple.


    The third major event was about the Western Lands.


    After two and a half years of desperate struggle, ckstone City had finally held on long enough for reinforcements to arrive.


    It was said that after the news of the emergence of the gue Demon Gu reached Gu Emperor City, the city issued an extermination order and gathered powerful experts from all directions. They used variousrge teleportation formations and besieged Shi Haoyun as quickly as possible.


    But even the first batch of reinforcements, who moved at the fastest speed, took two and a half years to arrive.


    The first batch of reinforcements consisted of experts from the regions surrounding the Western Lands. In fact, they should have arrived long ago. However, the battle in front of ckstone City''s gate had scared all the surrounding Gu Kings out of their wits, and they didn¡¯t dare to confront this evil star.


    So when the news of the gue Demon Gu¡¯s emergence first reached the nearby regions, all the forces pretended not to hear it and didn¡¯t send a single soldier. They didn¡¯t even organize a single demon-extermination mission.


    It wasn¡¯t until the Gu Emperor City issued the extermination order to all major regions that the various forces had no choice but to dispatch arge number of Gu Kings to participate in the extermination mission.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 193: Purification Gu

    Over two hundred Gu Kings from various regions gathered together, led by aw enforcement officer from the Gu Emperor City who wielded the Purification Gu. They advanced in a grand procession towards Shi Haojun.


    Ever since Long Xuan learned from Long Dan that the Purification Gu could naturally counter the gue Demon Gu, he had thoroughly researched this type of Gu insect.


    The Purification Gu is not found in either the Far West or the Western Lands, and Long Xuan had little knowledge of it before.


    The primary function of the Purification Gu is to cleanse everything and eliminate all negative effects.


    For instance, poison is a negative effect on the human body, so the Purification Gu can be used to detoxify.


    The burning effect of mes is negative to the human body, so the Purification Gu can grant immunity to fire.


    Pain is also a negative effect, and the Purification Gu can likewise alleviate pain.


    In short, possessing the Purification Gu almost grants immunity to most of the world¡¯s harm, making the owner nearly invincible.


    Such an ability is truly extraordinary. One could say that the Purification Gu is among the most powerful peak-grade Gu insects in this world, and there are very few who possess it.When the Purification Gu¡¯s purification field is activated, it can directly eliminate the impact of the mutated domain on the microorganisms in the air, restoring them to normalcy.


    It can also purify the polluted waters of the ck River, making the water safe for human consumption again.


    Once the purification field is activated, the mutated field of the gue Demon Gu is almost nullified.


    Even countless gue corpses, under the influence of the purification field, will have their corpse poison eradicated and will return to normal corpses, rendering Shi Haojun¡¯s army of corpses useless.


    Therefore, the Purification Gu¡¯s ability is a natural counter to the gue Demon Gu.


    With just one Purification Gu, at least half of Shi Haojun¡¯sbat power would be neutralized.


    However, despite this, the battle to exterminate the demon was extremely challenging, with half of the forces perishing.


    In the end, it is said that a mysterious woman who could control the sun suddenly entered the battlefield andunched a sneak attack on Shi Haojun.


    The mysterious woman¡¯sbat strength was terrifying. Shi Haojun was severely injured in her ambush and almost died, but he ultimately did not perish in that siege.


    He managed to escape by finding a weak point in the encirclement using mind-reading, causing the entire siege to fail.


    It is said that they were fortunate that the mysterious woman attacked, or else the result of that battle would have been a devastating defeat for the Gu King coalition and a victory for Shi Haojun.


    Under Shi Haojun¡¯s ughter, most of the Gu Kings would have fallen in that battle.


    The identity of the mysterious woman remains unknown. After that battle, she vanished without a trace, and no one could find any information about her.


    Afterward, a second wave of Gu King reinforcements arrived, hailing from the Central Region, where experts are as numerous as clouds. Their overall strength far surpassed that of the first wave of Gu Kings.


    Upon arriving in ckstone City, a portion of these Gu Kings first spread out to use the Purification Gu to cleanse the water bodies thoroughly, eradicating the gue in this area, while the rest continued to pursue Shi Haojun.


    Moreover, Gu Kings from various ces continued to arrive, showing the immense resolve in this demon-extermination operation. The Gu Emperor City would not rest until Shi Haojun waspletely eradicated.


    All factions nned to take advantage of Shi Haojun¡¯s serious injuries to eliminate him. After all, the gue Demon Gu¡¯s growth requires constant massacres. If the gue Demon Gu were to fully mature, who knows how many cities it would massacre, and who could guarantee that it wouldn¡¯t be their own city next? ?


    Therefore, none of the factions involved in the siege dared to ck off.


    What happened next, Long Xuan did not know for the time being. The distance was too great, and news had not yet reached him.


    Perhaps Shi Haojun had been eliminated, or perhaps he had escaped once again and continued his massacres elsewhere. This was beyond Long Xuan¡¯s spection.


    The crisis in ckstone City had been resolved. Ten days ago, the city had already been unsealed, and the starving people, reduced to skin and bones, were finally able to run out and eat to their heart¡¯s content. Everyone wept tears of joy.


    However, it was only then that they realized their money pouches were empty.


    In the past two years, food prices in the city had soared hundreds or even thousands of times. Everyone was eating away at their savings, so it was no surprise that their storage bags were empty.


    Only the Long n had made a fortune during these two years. The head of the Long n was grinning from ear to ear every day, something outsiders could not have known.


    At this moment, Fire Clone suddenly walked over and threw a stone towards Long Xuan.


    He hurriedly caught it, and upon seeing what it was, his eyes instantly lit up.


    ¡°You finally brought that stone back? I¡¯ve been waiting for so long!¡± Looking at the stone in his hand, Long Xuan showed a look of surprise.


    Ever since he handed over the recipe for the Longevity Gu, he earned another billion contribution points and gained another dragon mark on his body.


    After exchanging the contributions for the materials to refine the Immortal-ying Formation¡¯s core, he still had quite a lot left.


    So, he used the remaining contributions to get a peak-grade Tier-2 Dragon Boat and spent all his points again.


    Once he got the peak-grade Tier-2 Dragon Boat, he immediately ordered Fire Clone to ride the Dragon Boat and retrieve the grave-suppressing treasure from the ancient tomb. Today, Fire Clone finally returned with that stone.


    Long Xuan was really curious about what was inside this stone that could show an infinite progress bar. Today was finally the moment to unveil the mystery.


    Long Xuan took out a peak-grade Spirit Axe and eagerly began to chip away at the stone. This peak-grade Spirit Axe was also one of the treasures he had exchanged for with a huge amount of contribution points, mainly used for stone cutting. It was very handy.


    The volume of the stone was notrge, and before long, a green caterpir appeared in Long Xuan''s hand, curled up and sound asleep in his palm.


    Long Xuan was stunned. Was this thing, which showed infinite potential, really just this little creature?


    Caterpirs are one of the weakest insect species in this world. It seems like they can''t defeat anyone. Could this one really have an infinite lifespan?


    "This guy seems to be a legendary medicinal insect. Although it has no offensive capabilities, its support abilities are extraordinary, enough to create countless wealth for its owner," Fire clone said solemnly as he looked at the caterpir.


    "A medicinal insect?" Upon hearing this, Long Xuan''s expression grew serious, and his eyes brightened.


    In terms of ssification, spirit insects are divided into low, middle, high, and peak grades, with peak-grade spirit insects being the strongest. However, very few people know about the ten types of peak-grade spirit insects with the most incredible abilities.


    These ten spirit insects were called the Ten Supreme Spirit Insects by the ancients, named so not because their abilities were too overpowering. But because their abilities were too extreme, thews of heaven limited their number to one.


    This means that for each of the Ten Supreme Spirit Insects, only one can exist in the entire world at any given time. They are unique entities of heaven and earth.


    Only when one of these spirit insects dies will another randomly appear somewhere in the world. It is absolutely impossible for two of them to exist at the same time.


    One can only imagine how terrifying the abilities of an insect limited by the heavens must be.


    It is said that acquiring any one of the Ten Supreme Spirit Insects allows one to stand at the pinnacle of this world, even with the worst talent.


    And this is just considering their form as spirit insects. Because they are unique, no one has been able to research the form for refining a Gu Insect from them.


    If someone could figure out a way to refine a Gu insect based on one of the Ten Supreme Spirit Insects, what kind of overpowering abilities would they gain? Long Xuan''s breath quickened.


    If anyone in this world could research and create a Gu Recipe based on the Ten Supreme Spirit Insects, it would probably only be him.


    This madman doesn¡¯t need to conduct any experiments to research Gu Recipe. Even a single material is enough for him.


    Looking at the heaven-defying spirit insect in his palm, Long Xuan''s eyes shed with excitement.


    The medicinal insect ranks tenth among the Ten Supreme Spirit Insects, and its heaven-defying ability is to elerate the growth of spiritual herbs, breaking their lifespan limits and allowing any spiritual herb to mature into a ten-thousand-year-old herb.


    In other words, whoever possesses the medicinal insect can not only obtain ten-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs in bulk but can also obtain peak-grade spirit insects in bulk.


    If a herb garden could frequently produce thousand-year-old or ten-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs, and it was filled with peak-grade spirit insects, even a pig could stand at the pinnacle of the world with such vast wealth!


    Moreover, this heaven-defying ability ranks only tenth among the Ten Supreme Spirit Insects. How terrifying must the first nine be?


    Long Xuan''s breath quickened. This medicinal insect was truly a timely rain, providing him with enormous help.


    It should be known that the four Divine Dragon''s Wood seedlings in his herb garden are still in their infancy, producing a limited amount of Divine Dragon''s Milk Sap. Who knows how many years it would take for the Eye of Heavenly Secret toplete its perfect evolution?


    But now he doesn¡¯t have to worry about that anymore.


    The medicinal insect can rapidly mature the Divine Dragon''s Wood. The Eye of Heavenly Secret evolution is not far off.


    No, to be precise, the medicinal Gu can rapidly mature the Divine Dragon''s Wood. He has the ability to refine the medicinal insect into a medicinal Gu, making the heaven-defying spirit insect even more heaven-defying.


    Thinking of this, Long Xuan felt even more excited. He couldn''t wait to quickly develop the medicinal Gu recipe. He couldn''t wait any longer.


    He immediately ran home, ready to go into seclusion for some time. He had no intention of continuing to guard this ce.


    However, what Long Xuan didn''t know was that just as he left, a weary-looking woman emerged from the formation. She looked in the direction where Long Xuan had left, let out a long breath, and said, "He¡¯s finally gone, huh?"


    She suddenly revealed a charming smile, opened her insect pouch, and released a de Gu.


    That¡¯s right, she had sessfully refined the de Gu with tens of thousands of materials. She truly was a child of fortune, sessfully refining a ten-thousand-level de Gu with just one attempt.


    If Long Xuan had been present, he would have eximed again, "A child of fortune!"


    With a ten-thousand-level de Gu, she could sweep through this region.


    Of course, no matter how extraordinary she was, she couldn''tpare to Long Xuan. Long Xuan had fifty-three thousand materials for his de Gu, while her tens of thousands of materials couldn¡¯t evenpare to a fraction of that. How could shepete?


    Monsters always fear meeting other monsters; otherwise, you''d discover that there¡¯s always a more terrifying one.


    "Can''t wait, huh? I no longer intend to have you take the fusion spirit weapon evolution route. I want you to take the more difficult sword intent evolution route. Your master now has the strength to make that happen," Long Ziyan said confidently, stroking the de Gu''s head with a smile.


    She suddenly pointed her fingertip at the de Gu''s forehead, and a powerful sword intent, radiating cold energy, surged into its mind, causing its eyes to turn dull in an instant.


    "Comprehend this well. This is the sword intent you need to understand for your first evolution, and it is also my strongest sword intent. As long as youprehend this sword intent, you will have sessfully transformed."


    Long Ziyan patted its head again, then turned around with a smile and left.


    Having spent a lot of time with Long Xuan, she had gradually picked up some of his habits. One of them was the habit of always patting Gu insects on the head.


    The de Gu, feeling the sword intent in its mind, slowly showed a look of excitement. It then eagerly sat down and began to close its eyes, meditating on the Ice Sword Intent.


    Thus, the ce fell silent once more...

 Chapter 194: Battle of the West Sea

    A few hourster, Long Xuan stared at several sheets of paper on the table, lost in thought.


    The ability of the Medicinal insect to mass-produce ten-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs is truly against the heavens. It is already so incredible, yet you still want to refine it into a Gu insect. The difficulty of such a task is unimaginable.


    Such a heaven-defying ability must be limited by its materials.


    After several days of research, Long Xuan discovered that the upper limit of the Medicinal Gu is terrifyingly high.


    The upper limit of the Medicinal Gu could involve tens of millions of materials. Even if most of these materials ovep, studying such an extensive Gu recipe would consume an enormous amount of time.


    Moreover, a considerable portion of these materials must already be extinct, without a doubt, making it almost impossible to research the full recipe of the Medicine Gu.


    However, Long Xuan was not willing to give up. He knew that the same material could be applied to different Gu recipes. Why should he insist on studying the longest Gu recipe? He couldpletely choose the shortest one.


    Although the Medicinal Gu refined by taking a step back wouldn''t be perfect, it would be fine to reforge it once he reached the Spirit Realm. For now, it could be used as a temporary solution.


    So, after noting down the Medicinal Gu on paper, Long Xuan started experimenting with a second set of materials.You should know that when materials can be applied to multiple Gu recipes, the Golden Finger will show the longest recipe, but he couldpletely refine the Gu recipe by adding materials, gradually finding the recipe with the fewest materials.


    Thus, as he tested the second set of materials one by one, the progress on the paper began to change in different ways.


    Sometimes the progress would disappear, sometimes it would increase slightly, sometimes it would suddenly turn into four digits, and sometimes it would suddenly turn into five digits.


    Long Xuan didn''t dare to be greedy, as that wasn''t something he could handle at his current level.


    In the end, he chose a Gu recipe that required about ten thousand materials.


    Actually, the number of materials could be reduced further, but the Gu recipe with ten thousand materials could still have some extinct materials.


    But Long Xuan despised the Medicinal Gu that required too few materials, as it was too weak, and he didn''t have the motivation to study it.


    So he chose to aim a bit higher, and it wouldn''t hurt to take a risk once in a while. If he failed, he could just switch to a Gu recipe with fewer materials. At most, it would cost him some time, which he could afford to lose.


    With this in mind, Long Xuan discarded the other Gu recipes and chose the one with about ten thousand materials. He then began a retreat to focus on creating his own Medicinal Gu recipe.


    ¡­


    Meanwhile, on Dragon Ind in the West Sea.


    The final battle between the Long n and the Zhu and Song ns had arrived.


    The Gu Masters of both sides stood in rows, facing each other on a t terrain.


    However, this time, the West Sea Long n had the support of the Far West Long n, and their numbers did not show any disadvantage. Both sides had about ten thousand Gu Masters.


    Finally, with a sound like a dragon''s roar, the Long n¡¯s morale soared, and theyunched the first attack.


    Each Gu Master of the Far West Long n took out a giant Earth master Gu from their insect pouch and mounted its back.


    Just when the Gu Masters of the Zhu and Song ns thought they would charge on these massive creatures, the Long n''s actions took them by surprise. They were soon bewildered. ??


    Each Earth master spat out a massive earth ball that didn''t match its body size and then hurled it forcefully into the sky.


    Under normal circumstances, this kind of attack would be scoffed at, as projectile attacks fall too slowly and can be easily dodged by anyone.


    But have you ever seen five thousand Earth masters throwing earth balls simultaneously?


    The earth balls were so huge, and with five thousand of themunched at once, they covered the entire sky. When they crashed to the ground, they could achieve a seamless attack with no gaps.


    Given the tight formation inrge-scale battles, how could the Zhu and Song ns'' Gu Masters dodge when the sky was covered by these falling earth balls? In an instant, the faces of the Zhu and Song ns'' Gu Masters turned pale.


    Seeing the sky suddenly darken, with one massive earth ball after another crashing down like meteorites, the Gu Masters of the Zhu and Song ns turned pale and fled frantically, disregarding their formation.


    ¡°Boom!¡±


    ¡°Boom!¡±


    ¡°Boom!¡±


    ...


    The meteor-like earth balls crashed down like raindrops. Each time an earth ball hit the ground, it created a huge crater.


    The ground shook as if an earthquake was happening, with deafening roars.


    From time to time, some Gu Masters who couldn''t dodge in time were struck by the earth balls, crushed into minced meat.


    The scene descended into chaos, filled with screams, and the surviving Gu Masters, with pale faces, ran around in panic, their eyes full of terror.


    Some Gu Masters with good luck found gaps to escape all the earth balls'' attacks, and some, with great resistance, vomited blood but managed to survive this round of attacks.


    However, who said Earth master could only throw one earth ball? Each Earth master spat out another earth ball before the ones in the sky even finished falling andunched a second round of bombardment, followed by a third¡­


    Before long, the sky was filled with countless earth balls, impossible to count, making the scene look like the end of the world.


    Thend beneath the earthen sphere hadpletely darkened, no longer touched by a single ray of sunlight.


    Countless meteors rained down continuously. Some were even aze, crashing into the ground and creating vast seas of fire, further constricting the space below where people could evade.


    Under such a relentless bombardment, the earth trembled incessantly as if it was about to be shattered. The deafening noisepletely drowned out the anguished cries of the Gu cultivators.


    The Gu cultivators of the Zhu and Song ns met their doom on this day. In such an apocalyptic scene, they found no help from heaven or earth, and people died in droves.


    The high-ranking members of the Zhu and Song families were pale-faced, utterly stunned by the bombardment.


    They had gathered too closely together, and under the relentless shelling of the five artillery regiments from the Far West Long n, less than half of them had survived.


    When the sky finally allowed a sliver of sunlight to shine through and the massive meteors no longer blocked the light, the ground shook violently once more, apanied by a series of rumblings.


    The Long n¡¯s Earth Master Cavalry charged at the stunned survivors.


    Each Earth Master was covered in a cement-made insect armor, with a vast surface area sufficient to inscribe numerous formations.


    Each Earth Master was equivalent to a mobile formation base. A thousand Earth Masters could piece together a protective mountain formation, and a mobile one at that.


    In this way, the surviving Gu cultivators of the Zhu and Song ns, although not moving, inexplicably triggered the killing formation of the protective mountain array.


    Soon, various lightning bolts and fireballs fell from the sky, and the killing formation of the protective mountain array ruthlessly ughtered the Gu cultivators who had intruded into the formation.


    How many Gu cultivators could withstand the attack of the protective mountain array?


    Once again, the Gu cultivators of the Zhu and Song ns fell in swathes, and soon the ground was covered with corpses, with rivers of blood flowing.


    Even Gu cultivators of the Spiritual Sea stage were scattered to the winds by the protective mountain array, with high-level Gu cultivators suffering heavy losses within moments.


    The senior members of the Zhu and Song ns were enraged, their eyes red with fury.


    Using a protective mountain formation in a field battle¡ªwho fights like this? This underhanded fighting style was something they had never seen before.


    It was just too despicable. How were they supposed to fight back?


    ¡°Retreat! Retreat immediately!¡±


    The patriarch of the Zhu and Song ns shouted at the top of his lungs. However, before they could even speak, the Gu cultivators from both sides had already been defeated in andslide and were desperately fleeing for their lives. There was no need for further instructions.


    By this time, the allied forces of the two families hadpletely lost their fighting spirit and will to fight, copsing at the mere touch of the Long n¡¯s Gu cultivators.


    The Long n won this war without shedding a single drop of blood. It was a miracle.


    The Gu cultivators from the West Sea Long n were stunned, all of them wide-eyed, staring at the scene in disbelief, mouths agape.


    Defeating the allied forces of the Zhu and Song families so effortlessly was simply unbelievable.


    ¡°It seems like there¡¯s no more work for us, huh?¡±


    The patriarch of the West Sea Long n gazed ahead in a daze, giving a bitter smile.


    ¡°We really were unnecessary here. Having just their n was enough. What kind of Gu insect is that? A so-called low-grade Gu insect? You call that a low-grade Gu insect?¡±


    The Grand Elder of the West Sea Long n stared nkly at the massive creatures, muttering in a daze.


    ¡°What a monstrous Gu insect! What kind of low-grade Gu insect is this? Has Heaven gone blind to ssify such a ridiculous Gu insect as low-grade?¡±


    The Third Elder of the West Sea Long n shouted in disbelief,pletely shocked by the scene.


    This battle overturned their understanding. The Earth Master¡¯sbat strategy was simply unimaginable¡ªsummoning meteors from the sky and wielding the protective mountain formation to attack. He had never seen such a warfare method before. Who could withstand such abo?


    If the Zhu and Song families didn¡¯t lose, it would be a miracle. Even if it were them in their ce, they would have been defeated even more miserably.


    All the senior members of the West Sea Long n disyed expressions of extreme seriousness, looking at the Far West Long n¡¯s Gu cultivators with different eyes.


    In this battle, the Earth Masters had in everyone in sight. The Earth Master Cavalry had achieved remarkable results in their first battle, shocking even the Far West Long n¡¯s Gu cultivators, let alone the onlookers. All the forces paying attention to this war were rmed.


    This battle marked the rise to fame of the Earth Masters, who became a terrifying presence that all forces feared.


    The newly emerged powerful Earth Master Gu species began to be widely known, and its creator was increasingly sought after.


    However, it was not until many yearster that people learned that this famous Gu was created by a genius youth who was merely at the Spirit Gathering stage at the time. But that¡¯s a story for another time.


    At this moment, Long Xuan was still unaware that the Earth Masters would ignite the entire world like a zing fire through this battle. The instigator, who almost exterminated the Zhu and Song families, was quietly refining Gu forms in a small pavilion.


    This time, the process of refining the Gu recipe went unexpectedly smoothly because the caterpir was just too weak. Any low-grade spirit insect could easily devour it.


    How could a Gu recipe allow the primary insect to be devoured? So, all insect species stronger than the caterpir were essentially eliminated.


    Yet, the caterpir was at the bottom of the insect hierarchy. Almost every insect was stronger than it, so after such elimination, there weren¡¯t many options left to include in the Gu recipe.


    As a result, after going through the process of elimination, Long Xuan didn¡¯t have many insect species left to choose from, naturally saving a lot of time.


    Moreover, although the medicinal Gu recipe required ten thousand materials, there were so many repeated materials that the actual variety used could barely amount to a thousand.


    Thus, Long Xuan took only half a year to develop the heaven-defying medicinal Gu form.


    He brushed off the non-existent dust on the Gu recipe, revealing an extremely proud smile.


    ¡°Heh, because the number of the Ten Supreme Spirit Insects is unique under Heaven, no one has ever been able to develop a Gu recipe using them as primary materials.¡±


    ¡°Only me! Only I, Long Xuan, have broken what no one before me could and created a Gu recipe using the Ten Supreme Spiritual Insects as the primary materials! Who else?¡±


    Long Xuan was brimming with confidence, letting out an immensely proudugh.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 195: Mining

    With the sess of the Gu recipe research, the next task naturally was to collect the materials required for the Gu recipe.


    He had taken an uncountable number of spirit insect materials from the Western Land Long n, which were currently stored as fossils, frozen by the Divine Ice me. He didn¡¯t have to worry about spirit insect resources for a long time.


    However, even so, he could only collect most of the materials needed for the Gu recipe; the rest would still require him to spend time gathering.


    Long Xuan pondered for a moment. He had spent all his contributions purchasing thest peak-grade dragon boat. Now, he could only go to the Western Land Long n to demand the promised two hundred million contribution points.


    Now that ckstone City was no longer sealed, it was time to im those two hundred million contribution points.


    Collecting the remaining materials would be more than enough with two hundred million contribution points; in fact, he wouldn¡¯t even need a hundred million.


    Just as Long Xuan was thinking this, Suo Gu suddenly approached, holding a letter in its mouth. He took the letter, opened it, and found it was from Long Qian.


    [Note: Spirit Metal will be referred as Geng Metal from now]


    After reading the content, his eyes lit up. It turned out that not only was Long Qianing to deliver the contribution token, but he was also fulfilling his promise regarding Geng Metal.Before heading to the Western Land Long n for thepetition, Long Qian had promised that as long as he won the match, he would be allowed to mine Geng Metal from the Geng Metal mine.


    However, the ckstone City incident dyed this matter for several years.


    Now that ckstone City was unsealed, all the ns resumed normal operations. Naturally, the promised reward of Geng Metal to the geniuses of the Far Western Long n should be fulfilled as well.


    Long Xuan quickly packed up his things and rushed down the mountain in a hurry.


    Geng Metal¡¯s value was unimaginable. Just think of how the Bai n had sacrificed the entire future of their caln¡¯s geniuses just to obtain all of the Geng Metal veins, and you could understand how valuable Geng Metal was.


    Even the Gu Kings were tempted by Geng Metal, which was worth cities of gold. Outside, no matter how many spirit stones you had, it wouldn¡¯t be enough to buy it.


    As for the more precious Geng Metal Essence, that was even more invaluable. A fist-sized piece of Geng Metal Essence would be enough for many Gu Kings to fight to the death over, willing to pay any price to get it.


    Geng Metal Essence was considered the hardest metal in the Gu world. If a Gu King¡¯s sword had even a little Geng Metal Essence added to it, its sharpness would be enough to cut through a fourth-grade peak-grade spirit sword. One could imagine its value.


    If Geng Metal Essence had such allure even to Gu Kings, there was no way Long Xuan would miss the opportunity to mine it himself.


    It was the hardest metal in the Gu world. If his Earth Master Gu wore an insect armor made from Geng Metal Essence, it would be truly invincible.


    Just as Long Xuan stepped out of the formation, Long Qian threw a ck token engraved with dragon patterns toward him.


    ¡°This is your two hundred million contribution points. Take it.¡±


    ¡°Now, if you¡¯recking any treasures, feel free to go to the Treasure Pavilion of the Western Lands Long n to exchange them.¡±


    ¡°Thanks to you, the Western Land Long n made a huge fortune this time. The treasure pile is so vast that the entire Treasure Pavilion can¡¯t hold it all.¡± ?


    ¡°All sorts of treasures are avable inside, basically anything that can be produced in the Western Land. You can exchange them in the Treasure Pavilion.¡±


    ¡°Take advantage of the overflowing warehouse and exchange quickly, or else all the treasures will be taken by others.¡±


    After throwing the contribution token to Long Xuan, Long Qian reminded him.


    Long Xuan took the contribution token and carefully put it into his storage bag, smiling, ¡°I am indeed missing a few treasures at the moment, and they are quite expensive. They can¡¯t be bought with spirit stones outside.¡±


    ¡°But I¡¯ll let my clone handle the treasure exchange. For now, why don¡¯t you take me to the Geng Metal vein for mining?¡± Long Xuan said impatiently.


    Faced with the hardest metal in the Gu world, he was naturally anxious and wished he could go right away and dig up all the Geng Metal Essence. The longer he dyed, the more of it would be taken by others. All that Geng Metal Essence should be his.


    Long Qianughed, ¡°You¡¯re really eager. Very well,e with me then.¡±


    ¡°Besides you, Long Panpan and Long Qilin have also chosen to mine personally.¡±


    ¡°Only Long Ziyan imed she wanted toprehend some sword intent and didn¡¯t want to be distracted. She asked me to send her the Geng Metal directly.¡±


    ¡°What a pity,prehending sword intent isn¡¯t that easy. Instead of wasting time trying toprehend sword intent, it would be better to go mining. Resources for cultivation and growth are always the top priority for a Gu cultivator. This little girl is missing the forest for the trees.¡±


    Long Qian showed a look of regret.


    ¡°What? She¡¯s still insideprehending sword intent? That¡¯s simply indulgence in trifles to the detriment of essentials! Ridiculous!¡±


    Hearing that Long Ziyan was still inside the Immortal-ying Formation, Long Xuan immediately got angry.


    He somewhat regretted creating that Immortal-ying Formation. Ever since he set it up, Long Ziyan had be addicted, spending every day immersed in it, determined toprehend all the sword intents inside before she would stop.


    Now it was worse, Long Ziyan no longer had any time to spend with him. How long had he been alone in an empty room? How could Long Xuan not regret this in his heart?


    It was his fault for being too greedy, putting hundreds of sword intents inside. Now, Long Ziyan was addicted to it.


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go. Long Qilin and Long Panpan have been waiting for a long time.¡±


    Long Qian smiled, taking out a small Suo Gu house from his insect bag and cing it on the ground. Then he continued, ¡°Thanks to you, your invention of the Longevity Gu made Long Wanli, that old fox, extort us fiercely.¡±


    ¡°Now we can directly use the Suo Gu house to teleport to the Geng vein.¡±


    "Originally, it would have taken us several months to reach that Geng Metal vein, but now we can get there in an instant. This truly is a great invention of this world. You''re quite the genius, kid."


    "I really wonder how your mind works toe up with such a perverse Gu insect."


    "Wasn''t that twisted Gu insect, the one Earth Masters use, also invented by you?"


    "Tsk tsk, carrying the mountain-protecting formation into battle¡ªit¡¯s truly a terrifying idea. Which opponent wouldn''t be dumbfounded after seeing that? The result of that battle has already spread across the Western Land, and now that Earth Master''s Gu insect has be famous."


    Long Xuan chuckled but didn''t say a word. He didn''t know how Long Qian guessed that all those Gu insects were his inventions.


    But he didn''t intend to admit it himself. What if Long Qian was just trying to trick him?


    To avoid the topic, Long Xuan directly dived into the Sou Gu small house and disappeared in the blink of an eye.


    At this moment, Long Qian found himself in a dilemma. He suddenly realized a problem. If he went in as well, what would happen to this Sou Gu hut? Wouldn¡¯t it be lost for good?


    A trans-regional teleportation Sou Gu hut was extremely expensive.


    He wished he could p himself for making such a low-level mistake¡ªit was truly foolish.


    Forget it, he decided to leave it here for a while. Anyway, those geniuses wille back after mining, so it will still be useful.


    Long Qian nced around, then dug out a cave on a nearby cliff and ced the Sou Gu hut inside, sealing the entrance with stones before entering the hut to leave.


    He didn''t know at the time that he would leave this Sou Gu Hut permanently in this hidden cave, turning it into one of his emergency escape routes, never retrieving it again.


    Later, this Sou Gu Hut indeed saved his life more than once. Once, a powerful enemy even used divine means to track him directly.


    However, because the enemy underestimated the Rubik''s Cube formation next to it and identally stepped inside, he never came out again.


    Long Qian narrowly escaped death.


    After that, he became more cunning. Every time he fled, he would escape here and pretend to be hiding in that formation, tricking one strong enemy after another into it, killing countless renowned experts.


    Of course, that¡¯s all in the future¡­


    When he emerged from the other side of the Sou Gu Hut, quite a bit of time had been wasted. The geniuses there were already impatient from waiting.


    Long Dan, Long Ruoxue, Long Xuan, Long Qilin, and Long Panpan were all looking at him with discontented eyes.


    "Sorry, I had a bit of a stomach issue, so I was dyed for a while. I hope I didn¡¯t keep you waiting too long?"


    Long Qian apologized, but there wasn''t the slightest hint of regret on his face.


    "What do you think?" The group rolled their eyes in unison.


    "Hehe, I was impolite this time. I''ll treat everyone to a mealter. For now, let''s go mining."


    "Just so we''re clear, the n has only given you one month to mine. Whatever you dig up during that time is yours."


    "Even if you dig up a heap of Geng Metal essence, that¡¯s your own skill, and the n won''t ask for it."


    "But if you''re unlucky and don''t dig up anything, you can only me your bad luck."


    "Now, let''s go in."


    Long Qian quickly walked towards the Geng Metal vein, and the five geniuses behind him, all looking excited, hurried to follow.


    In fact, the Sou Gu Hut was located right at the edge of the Geng Metal vein; they were already within its boundaries.


    However, without Long Qian''s authorization, they couldn¡¯t roam freely and had to wait patiently.


    By now, this Geng Metal vein had been mined with countless tunnels, with numerous Gu cultivators constantly going in and out, busily working.


    That¡¯s right; those mining this time were no longer ordinary people but all Gu cultivators.


    Geng Metal was simply too hard for ordinary people to mine. Only physically strong Gu cultivators could extract it.


    Fortunately, the Long n of the Western Land had been operating in the Western Land for many years, with numerous n members. Don¡¯t think the Long n only had that handful of people in ckstone City.


    The Long n of the Western Land had branches in many major cities, so mobilizing arge number of branch Gu cultivators to mine was not difficult. All the branch Gu cultivatorspeted for the opportunity to mine this Geng Metal vein.


    Of course, many branch Gu cultivators came with the intent to embezzle Geng Metal. This was unavoidable.


    Long Xuan had only been here for a short while when he saw more than one branch Gu cultivator being caught for hiding Geng Metal and then taken away. It was unclear what punishment awaited them.


    Greed is human nature. Wealth stirs the heart. The profits of Geng Metal are too tempting. How many poor Gu cultivators could resist it?


    "You''ve already taken enough, so don''t even think about anything else. Thew is unforgiving, and I won''t be lenient. Even if we¡¯re well-acquainted, don¡¯t expect me to let you off the hook."


    Long Qian warned sternly, sweeping a serious gaze over the few geniuses after seeing several people caught hiding Geng Metal.


    The geniuses quickly nodded, not daring to entertain any other thoughts.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 196: The Evolution of the Image-Record Gu

    At that moment, Long Xuan suddenly sensed a cold gaze staring at him from behind, making him feel uneasy. Instinctively, he turned his head to look.


    He discovered that the person looking at him was a Gu cultivator at the peak-grade of the Spiritual Sea realm. When he noticed Long Xuan''s gaze, he didn''t even look away, tantly staring back at him.


    Long Xuan frowned slightly. This person was dressed in white, clearly a Gu cultivator from the Bai n.


    He suddenly remembered that this Geng Metal mine vein was jointly managed by the Long n and the Bai n, so it was natural that there would be many Gu cultivators from the Bai n present.


    Previously, the Long and Bai ns had fought over control of this Geng Metal mine vein through a series of talent battles, with the Long n winning seven out of twelve matches. As a result, the Long n imed the majority of the mine, and most of the tunnels here belonged to them.


    Being watched with such a venomous gaze by a Gu cultivator at the Spiritual Sea stage, Long Xuan felt a bit uneasy. He wondered if this Gu cultivator was nning to harm him secretly.


    ¡°That person¡¯s gaze is a bit strange,¡± Long Xuan said to Long Qian, frowning.


    Upon hearing this, all the geniuses turned their eyes toward that person.


    Long Qian patted Long Xuan''s shoulder andughed heartily, ¡°We crippled all their geniuses; of course they won¡¯t look at us kindly.¡±¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. A gaze can''t kill. If he wants to look, let him look. I like it when they can only look at us helplessly, unable to do anything, hahaha¡­¡±


    Long Qianughed loudly and red back at him.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go in. As long as you don¡¯t cross into the Bai n¡¯s territory, I guarantee nothing will happen to you.¡±


    Ignoring that person, Long Qian led a group of geniuses toward one of the mine tunnels, and the others followed suit, paying no further attention to the matter.


    Only Long Xuan remained wary, frowning deeply. He took this person¡¯s gaze seriously.


    Being resented by a Gu cultivator at the Spiritual Sea stage was not something to be taken lightly. Life is precious and there¡¯s no room for negligence. It seemed he needed to send a clone to keep a close eye on that person.


    Resolving his n, Long Xuan finally caught up with the group and entered the mine tunnel.


    At this moment, Long Qian was distributing maps of the mine and special storage bags to the geniuses, along with various mining tools.


    ¡°This is the map of this mine. It marks areas of low-grade and high-grade ore. The tunnels marked with crosses are dangerous and should never be entered.¡±


    ¡°Of course, you can also open new tunnels on your own, but newly opened tunnels need to be reported and the map updated ordingly.¡±


    ¡°In this area, you can only use the small, low-cost storage bags specially designed for the mining zone. Due to the influence of the formation, although you can still use your own storage bags and insects-rearing bags, you can¡¯t store any metal items in them.¡±


    ¡°The Sou Gu House will also lose its function here due to the no-fly formation. This is all to prevent the miners from hiding any materials. I hope you understand.¡±


    The geniuses nodded in unison, indicating their understanding.


    Long Xuan opened the map and noticed that, despite the Geng Metal mine being newly developed, there were already an unexpected number of mine tunnels.


    The countless tunnels were intricate and intertwined, forming a chaotic maze.


    This ce was like a massivebyrinth. Without the guidance of the map, anyone entering such a vastbyrinth would surely get lost.


    It was impossible for these tunnels to be man-made. There must be a huge natural cavern here, Long Xuan spected inwardly.


    ¡°Remember! Never enter those crossed-off passages, understand? They are extremely dangerous. Even a Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivator could lose their life in there. There are too many unknowns and perils in those areas.¡± ??


    Long Qian, still uneasy, reminded them once more. After all the geniuses shouted ¡°Understood¡± in unison, he finally felt relieved and left.


    The geniuses then dispersed excitedly, clutching their maps as they rushed toward the high-grade ore areas.


    ¡°How about we go together? Where do you n to mine?¡± At this moment, Long Qilin approached, wrapping his arm around Long Xuan¡¯s shoulder enthusiastically.


    ¡°Do you think we¡¯re hunting spirit beasts? We don¡¯t need help for this. If two people dig in the same ce, the yield will definitely decrease. It¡¯s more profitable to mine separately, so no thanks,¡± Long Xuan refused.


    He was joking. What he needed to mine wasn¡¯t just Geng Metal ore but Geng Metal essence. How could he possibly have someone else with him?


    He had to act alone, so he could only decline Long Qilin¡¯s offer.


    ¡°You¡¯re right. I¡¯m nning to use Geng Metal to build a big house, so I need arge quantity of Geng Metal. In that case, let¡¯s split up and see who can mine more.¡±


    ¡°A small bet to liven things up, a big one will hurt. Let¡¯s bet ten pieces of Geng Metal,¡± Long Qilin said with a smile.


    Long Xuan¡¯s smile widened. To think that he dared to challenge him on who could mine more Gengjin. Wasn¡¯t this asking for trouble?


    How could he be so foolish to bet against him? The amount of Gengjin he would dig up would probably not even match Long Xuan¡¯s smallest yield.


    Since he was so eager to be a benefactor, how could Long Xuan refuse?


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s bet ten pieces of Geng Metal. You better be ready to give me ten pieces of Geng Metal. Don¡¯t end up with nothing by then,¡± Long Xuan said with a smile.


    ¡°Hmph! Who are you looking down on? I¡¯m skilled in body cultivation and full of strength. Mining is swift and easy for me. Ten pieces of Geng Metal won¡¯t be enough. Just wait and see, you¡¯re going to lose.¡±


    Upon finishing his words, Long Qilin wasted no time in idle chatter and quickly made his way deeper into the mine.


    Behind him, Long Xuan revealed a sinister smile.


    He suddenly summoned a group of his clones. Could one person''s mining speed reallypete with six? Competing with him in mining speed was simply overestimating oneself.


    If Long Qilin had seen this scene, who knows what expression he would have shown? He''d probably be as ck-faced as a lump of coal, Long Xuan couldn''t help butugh.


    It should be noted that the Long n of the Western Lands had given them one month to mine. No matter how much they mined in this month, the minerals would be theirs.


    Using his clones to mine was a tremendous advantage; it was practically cheating.


    The amount of minerals mined by the other geniuses, evenbined, would likely not exceed what he alone could mine. Long Xuan''s eyes could pinpoint locations; it wasn¡¯t enough to open one cheat, he even opened a double cheat.


    How could Long Qilin possibly beat this cheater? He¡¯d probably lose so badly that he wouldn''t even have his underwear left.


    Long Xuan quickly distributed storage bags and pickaxes to his clones. These items were abundant in the mine, and he had just gathered a bunch of them in front of Long Qian.


    The other geniuses had also taken quite a few pickaxes as spares since pickaxes could wear out over time.


    But none of them had been as crazy as Long Xuan, grabbing so many storage bags as if he could fill them all.


    Watching this, Long Qian''s mouth twitched, but he said nothing in the end. After all, the storage bags here were not worth much, and saying anything would just make him seem petty.


    After distributing the mining equipment, Long Xuan ordered his clones to start mining in different locations.


    The mining vein was too vast, and as long as his clones spread out enough, no one would notice that there were two Long Xuans mining at the same time. Naturally, no one would know he was using clones to mine.


    However, Long Xuan suddenly thought of something and hastily called back his Fire Clone. After a moment of contemtion, he finally said, "You don''t need to go deep into the mine. Just hide on the outer edges."


    "Keep an eye on that Bai n Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivator. If he sneaks in, use themunication talisman to notify me immediately. The Suo Gu can''t be used here."


    After thinking it over, he still didn¡¯t trust that look directed at him earlier. He had a feeling that sinister look would bring trouble.


    What if that Bai n Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivator came in to kill him?


    Although the likelihood seemed low, Long Xuan, being naturally cautious, still wanted to take precautions.


    The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong with that look. What if he had crippled that man''s grandson? This hypothesis was theoretically possible, so he had to be on guard.


    Long Xuan thought for a moment and then took out a Image-Record Gu from his Insect rearing bag. The Image-Record Gu was part of his secondary team of Gu insects and had long been a part of his arsenal, stored in his pouch and having alreadypleted its metamorphosis.


    He took out the Image-Record Gu as a precaution. He knew he couldn¡¯t handle a Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivator. Even if he noticed that person entering the mine, there wouldn¡¯t be much he could do.


    So it was best to use the Image-Record Gu to gather evidence and rely on his n¡¯s strength to resolve any trouble for him.


    "A Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivator has an extremely wide sensory range. You can use the Eye Of Heavenly Secret to monitor from a distance. This Image-Record Gu has already acquired the ability to record from afar after my unique evolution method. You don¡¯t have to worry about being too far away for the recording."


    The Fire Clone nodded, took the Image-Record Gu, and then secretly left the cave, using the Eye Of Heaven''s farsight ability to strictly monitor every move of that Bai n Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivator.


    With this safety measure in ce, Long Xuan finally felt secure enough to venture deeper into the mine.


    Although leaving a clone outside as a lookout meant one lessborer, reducing his Geng Metal yield, he didn¡¯t care. In the face of absolute safety, any profit had to take a back seat.


    Long Xuan activated his Eye Of Heaven''s and used his ability to see the mining progress, quickly scanning the mine.


    In the next moment, dense clusters of progress indicators appeared in his sight.


    Some indicators were stationary, while others were moving, possibly miners at work or hidden dangers lurking in the mine.


    He hadn¡¯t forgotten Long Qian¡¯s repeated warnings earlier: never enter a tunnel marked with an X, as there might be unknown creatures hidden inside.


    In this world filled with spiritual power, many creatures could be sentient.


    The progress indicators with stationary four decimal point, Long Xuan guessed, were Geng Metal.


    The ones with five decimal points he assumed to be Geng Metal Essence.


    And now, in his sight, there was an indicator with five decimal ces.


    Long Xuan¡¯s eyes lit up, and he quickly made his way to that location.


    His clones didn¡¯t have the ability to see progress, so they could only mine ordinary Geng Metal. His true body, on the other hand, had to focus on extracting Geng Metal Essence.


    Allowing him into the mine was the worst decision the Long n had ever made. Not only could he summon a horde of clones, but he could also precisely locate all the Geng Metal Essence and strip the ce bare.


    It could be foreseen that after Long Xuan left, it would be nearly impossible for the Long n to extract any more Geng Metal Essence. Letting him in was like suffering the worst kind of bad luck.


    Not long after, Long Xuan arrived in a rich mineral tunnel. The mine was quite dim; although there weremps on the cave walls, the flickering lights did not illuminate the cave clearly.


    Because it was a rich mineral vein, there were quite a few miners here, most of whom were Spirit Gathering stage Gu cultivators, with a few at the Marrow Cleansing stage. Spiritual Sea stage cultivators acted as overseers and did not enter the cave.


    As soon as Long Xuan arrived, he heard the constant nging of pickaxes hitting rock, creating a deafening noise that irritated him, as he preferred quiet.


    It wasn¡¯t just the noise; there were also too many people here, making it hard to secretly extract the Geng Metal Essence in front of everyone.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 197: Theres a Conspiracy

    When they saw a stranger walk in, all the miners in the cave instinctively nced up at him before quickly lowering their heads again, focusing on mining. They used their pickaxes to chip away at the rock wall, without saying a word.


    Long Xuan nodded slightly, not greeting them further, and directed his attention to the mine.


    After a few nces inside, he finally understood why ordinary people couldn''t be used to mine the Geng Metal vein, and only Gu cultivators proficient in body refinement were suitable.


    There was no soil here, only rock. And it wasn¡¯t just ordinary rock¡ªit was incredibly hard, impossible to break with regr pickaxes. Only spiritual pickaxes could be used, and the higher the quality, the faster the mining speed.


    Geng Metal was the hardest metal in the Gu world, and everyone could imagine how rare it was.


    Even though this was a massive Geng Metal vein, Geng Metal couldn¡¯t be found in clusters. Its density was extremely low, and each miner had to dig for a long time to find even a single piece.


    And the ones they found were all raw ores filled with impurities. It took about dozens of these raw ores to be purified through me to get less than a fist-sized piece of Geng Metal.


    Pure Geng Metal was even rarer. It would be impressive to find a walnut-sized piece after two years of mining.


    Moreover, the rocks here were extremely hard. If you used an Earth Master to dig, their teeth would shatter. Hence, this ce could only be mined manually, making production very low.Otherwise, why would the Long n of the Western Lands be so generous as to allow this group of geniuses to mine here for a month?


    Even given a month, they wouldn¡¯t be able to mine much Geng Metal.


    There were too many people here right now, making it inconvenient to mine the pure Geng Metal. Long Xuan''s eyes shifted as a n formed in his mind. He took out his pickaxe and started chipping away at a stone wall far from where the pure Geng Metal was hidden.


    In his view, there was a raw Geng Metal ore hidden behind this section of the stone wall.


    The geniuses in this batch were given special treatment and used high-grade spiritual pickaxes, while the regr miners were only equipped with low-grade ones.


    As soon as he pulled out his high-grade spiritual pickaxe, it immediately caught the attention of many miners, who gave him envious nces.


    Long Xuan was a master of body refinement, possessing great strength. Combined with his high-quality spiritual pickaxe, his mining speed was naturally far superior to that of the ordinary miners.


    Under his strikes, the noise was deafening, and stone chips fell inrge pieces. The hard stone wall couldn¡¯t withstand his chipping, and before long, he saw the raw Geng Metal ore hidden behind the wall, about the size of a basketball.


    Of course, this was just a raw ore filled with impurities, and after purification, there wouldn¡¯t be much left.


    Long Xuan was overjoyed and quickly dug out the raw Geng Metal ore. Then, with a clear target in mind, he moved on to the next piece of raw Geng Metal.


    Others were blindly using the "fishbone mining method," which meant that even after a hundred tries, it would be difficult to find a piece of raw Geng Metal.


    But every time Long Xuan swung his pickaxe, he found raw Geng Metal. Every strike guaranteed a gain.


    This was why he had asked Long Qian for a pile of storage bags. With his mining efficiency, one storage bag wasn¡¯t enough. At this rate, even five might not be sufficient.


    Before long, Long Xuan had dug out five pieces of raw Geng Metal. He then ced these five pieces into a section of the wall that concealed two more pieces of raw Geng Metal and began shouting excitedly.


    ¡°Hahaha¡­ this mine is so rich! I just dug randomly and found five pieces of raw Geng Metal all in one spot! What great luck!¡±


    Long Xuan¡¯sughter immediately drew the attention of all the miners.


    ¡°What? He found five pieces in the same spot? Where? Let me see!¡±


    Upon hearing this, everyone¡¯s eyes lit up with excitement, and they rushed into the cave from which the sound hade.


    ¡°Let me see!¡±


    ¡°Me too!¡±


    ¡°There really are five pieces of raw Geng Metal!¡±


    Seeing with their own eyes that Long Xuan had dug out five pieces of raw Geng Metal from the wall, everyone¡¯s eyes turned red, and they all began swinging their spiritual pickaxes at the wall next to Long Xuan. ?


    Following normal logic, if five pieces of raw Geng Metal were found in one spot, then the density of raw Geng Metal here must be very high. Naturally, they would all rush to dig in this area.


    Everyone was scrambling to dig at the wall near Long Xuan. More and more people crowded in, quickly pushing Long Xuan out.


    Long Xuan shouted in frustration, ¡°Hey! I found this ce first!¡±


    But no one paid him any attention. Everyone was like madmen, frantically chipping away at the wall. With so many people and theirbined strength, the wall was soon broken down by countless spiritual pickaxes, quickly revealing the two pieces of raw Geng Metal hidden inside.


    Immediately, everyone¡¯s eyes turned red, and the sound of rapid breathing filled the air.


    ¡°Hahaha¡­ there really are more! This is indeed a rich vein!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s mine! Nobody else touch it!¡±


    ¡°What do you mean, yours! I saw it first!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re talking nonsense! I was the first to hit it, okay?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re looking for death¡­¡±


    The crowd was initially filled with noise and quickly descended into chaos, with sounds of fighting erupting.


    There were just too many people rushing into this ce, each believing they were the first to discover the two chunks of raw Geng Metal ore. They ended up fighting over these two chunks.


    Meanwhile, Long Xuan, the instigator of all this, had lured all the miners into the narrow mine shaft and then immediately returned to the original spot, eagerly digging up the Geng Metal Essence.


    Now that everyone was gone, no one would notice him extracting the Geng Metal Essence.


    However, he hadn¡¯t expected his little trick to trigger such a massive brawl. He could only say, ¡°My bad, my bad.¡±


    Next, Long Xuan repeated the same tactic, moving back and forth through the various mine shafts, using the same means to scavenge all the Geng Metal Essence he could find.


    It took him less than a day to strip all the Geng Metal Essence from the surfaceyer.


    Patting his now-bulging storage bag, Long Xuan felt ted, grinning from ear to ear. What he had collected wasn¡¯t ordinary Geng Metal, but all Geng Metal Essence.


    He had gathered almost all the essible Geng Metal Essence by now. The remaining essence was buried very deep and would take a long time to excavate, making it impossible to collect in a short period. Long Xuan could only temporarily give up.


    His gaze then turned to the adjacent mining area controlled by the Bai n, and his thoughts started to stir.


    Although the area controlled by the Bai n was smaller than that of the Long n, the amount of Geng Metal Essence buried in their surfaceyer was far greater than that in the Long n¡¯s territory.


    How could Long Xuan not be tempted? Seeing so many five-digit numbers on the other side, he wished he could fly over and dig up all the Geng Metal Essence right now.


    Long Xuan''s eyes flickered as he considered the situation. It seemed like the risk wasn''t too high.


    After all, while boundaries could be marked on the surface, how could they be marked underground?


    It was too easy to identally dig too far, and it would be difficult for either side to judge if they had crossed the boundary. They probably didn¡¯t even know where the boundary was underground.


    Even if one side did cross the boundary, they would end up in a quarrel, and the matter would be settled through a duel. In the end, the issue would be left unresolved.


    Long Xuan was all too familiar with this scenario. When the various ns in the Far West excavated fossil veins, it wasmon for someone to dig across the boundary.


    The Long and Feng ns, in particr, had many conflicts over this, which were ultimately settled through duels.


    So even if he was caught digging across the boundary, it wouldn¡¯t be a big deal. However, Long Xuan quickly shook his head. By nature, he was suspicious and cautious, unwilling to take even the slightest risk.


    In his view, digging across the boundary still posed some risk and he couldn¡¯t act recklessly, unless he found a way to eliminate the three Bai n overseers at the Spiritual Sea stage. Otherwise, it would never bepletely safe to venture over.


    Just as Long Xuan was contemting this, he suddenly frowned, as if he sensed something. He reached out and knocked on the stone wall beside him, and to his surprise, heard a hollow sound.


    He was shocked to find that there was a hidden passage leading to the Bai n''s mining area. He had just thought about digging a secret tunnel over there, but now an existing passage had appeared right in front of him.


    Was this a coincidence? Wasn''t this luring him into a trap?


    He had just dismissed the idea of digging a secret tunnel to sneak over, and now a ready-made tunnel had appeared to tempt him. How could he resist such temptation?


    Long Xuan took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down, his expression showing deep thought.


    No, this blocked passage was clearly man-made. No ordinary miner would have the guts to dig a private tunnel. It was most likely the work of overseers at the Spiritual Sea stage.


    Was it the work of the three overseers from the Long n, or the three from the Bai n?


    What was their purpose in digging this tunnel? What did they intend to do by sneaking over here? It certainly couldn''t be anything good; there must be a conspiracy.


    He still naively thought that his clones were watching outside, but those Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators from the Bai n coulde over directly through here.


    Long Xuan suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. At this moment, how could he dare to sneak through this ready-made tunnel? What if he ran straight into those three Spiritual Sea stage overseers who wereing over?


    He didn¡¯t even dare to stand next to this tunnel entrance now, let alone go in. He quickly left and moved far away, afraid of identally running into the Bai n overseers. This ce was no longer safe to stay.


    ...


    At this moment, some distance away from the Geng Metal vein, a small boat descended from the sky and slowlynded here.


    Since this ce was far from the mine, the people at the mine didn¡¯t notice the boat approaching and a few uninvited guests disembarking.


    ¡°Haha, I¡¯ve finally been able to wee the three n brothers. With your help, the six of us Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators working together should be able to break through that formation in no more than half a month.¡±


    Bai Ye walked over with a smile to greet the three men. If Long Xuan were here, he would definitely recognize this person as the Bai n Spiritual Sea stage overseer who had previously looked at him with a venomous gaze.


    He was the only overseer here to wee the three, as the other two Bai n overseers were still at the mining site. After all, the mine couldn¡¯t be left unattended, and being able to leave one person was already the limit.


    However, the three Bai n Gu cultivators who arrived by spirit boat did notnd directly at the mine. Instead, theynded far away from the mine, avoiding anyone''s detection, which was rather intriguing.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 198: Long Xuans Sinister Smile

    Three people stepped off the ship. One of them was a peak-grade Spiritual Sea Gu cultivator, while the other two werete-stage Spiritual Sea Gu cultivators.


    The leader, Bai Haoran, who emitted the aura of a peak-grade Spiritual Sea cultivator, nced in the direction of the mine and said, "With me here, breaking through any formation won''t be a problem. The only difficulty is the risk of alerting the Long n''s Gu cultivators."


    "If the Long n hears anymotion and discovers the hidden cave mansion, things will getplicated."


    Bai Yu, standing to the side, snorted coldly. "It¡¯s just the Long n''s good luck. During thend division, they happened to draw the mine where the ancient cultivator''s hidden cave mansion is located. Otherwise, we wouldn''t need to go through all this trouble, being so cautious."


    "Exactly. Those treacherous dogs from the Long n tricked us and took most of the mines. Naturally, they had a higher chance of getting the area with the hidden cave mansion."


    Bai Hua, who appeared older, sighed from the other side. "That ancient cultivator''s cave mansion is extremely important. Even if the mines were divided evenly at the time, the n couldn''t guarantee we would get the area with the hidden cave mansion."


    "So, to y it safe, the n had no choice but to try to monopolize all the mines. The n head proposed dividing the mines through a genius tournament, sacrificing one generation of geniuses to win all the mines."


    "But who would''ve thought the Long n would y dirty, bringing in outside help? As a result, our n only got a small portion of the mines, and we lost an entire generation of geniuses for nothing. It was a total loss."


    "Now, we didn¡¯t even get the mine with the hidden cave mansion. This time, we really suffered a huge loss.""Let¡¯s hope nothing goes wrong this time. As long as we get the items from the ancient cultivator''s cave mansion, we can recover our losses."


    "Heh heh! There''s no way anything will go wrong this time," Bai Ye said, squinting his eyes toward the mine, a sharp killing intent shing through the slits.


    "How could anything go wrong now? We have six Spiritual Sea Gu cultivators, and after Long Qian left, the Long n only has three."


    "Six against three, it''s a sure win. Since you''re already here, why not take the opportunity to profit even more?"


    "Besides, I just saw that the Long n''s strongest geniuses are all here mining."


    "If we take them out, it would be a huge blow to the Long n."


    "Hmph, since our Bai n''s geniuses were wiped out, how can I not let the Long n taste the same pain?"


    Bai Ye let out a twisted grin, then turned to the others and said, "Don''t worry. You don¡¯t need to be concerned about the consequences of doing this."


    "The City Lord has repeatedly emphasized that if any conflicts arise between the ns, it''s definitely a scheme orchestrated by the Great Yin Dynasty. All such matters will be handled by him."


    "We won¡¯t even need to cover up the battlefield. The City Lord willbel it as a plot by the Great Yin Dynasty to sow discord."


    "If the Long n tries to make a big deal out of it, none of the other ns in the city will agree. The City Lord will personally step in to mediate, and the Long n will have no choice but to swallow their anger in silence. They''ll be so furious they''ll want to curse, haha."


    Bai Ye let out a sinister, viciousugh.


    Hearing this, the other three were stunned by his words. They exchanged nces, each seeing the shock and temptation in the other''s eyes.


    This n was too ruthless, but it seemedpletely feasible. They could rest assured and act without worrying about any consequences.


    "Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! You''re one devious bastard,ing up with such a sinister n!" Bai Yu suddenly pped his palm excitedly.


    "Hahaha¡­ Genius! Absolutely genius! Such meticulous nning! Let¡¯s do it!" Bai Hua''s eyes lit up, his face showing excitement.


    "You¡¯re a real piece of work. With this vicious scheme, the Long n will be enraged to death. You¡¯re truly devious," Bai Haoran looked at him with surprise, a glint of interest in his eyes.


    Just moments ago, he was still considering how to break the formation of the cave mansion without alerting the Long n, taking all the treasures silently.


    But now, it seemed his worries were unnecessary. Why not just kill all the Long n members? Why be cautious at all?


    With six Spiritual Sea Gu cultivators on their side and only three on the Long n''s side, victory was assured.


    Bai Haoran''s eyes gleamed brighter, and he praised, "This n is definitely feasible. What¡¯s certain is that after we kill all their geniuses, the Long n won''t dare to dere war on us."


    "You¡¯re right. The City Lord will definitely step in to stop them, and the other ns won¡¯t allow a war to break out between us."


    "There have already been several skirmishes between the ns, with even some geniuses killed, but the City Lord suppressed all of them,beling the events as conflicts instigated by the Great Yin Dynasty."


    "All the ns believe it because there¡¯s been an unusual increase in conflicts recently, which isn¡¯t normal."


    "It¡¯s exactly as the City Lord predicted. The Great Yin Dynasty does intend to stir up n conflicts before the war. The City Lord¡¯s foresight was spot on."


    Bai Haoran squinted and continued, "The City Lord estimates that the Great Yin Dynasty''s invasion of the Western Lands is now a certainty."


    "Not only because of the two princes they lost at our hands, but also because of the Shi Haojun incident, which caused massive losses to all major forces in the Western Lands. Countless Gu Kings have fallen."


    "Shi Haojun refined forbidden Gu, ughtering countless cities and killing too many people. It¡¯s no exaggeration to say that at least 30% of the poption and 30% of the strongest Gu cultivators in the Western Lands have vanished into thin air."


    "The Great Yin Dynasty has long coveted thend of the Western Territories. Now, with the major forces of the Western Territories severely weakened, how could they not take this opportunity to expand their borders?"


    "Thus, regardless of whether those two princes live or die, the Great Yin Dynasty will invade the Western Territories. The death of those two princes simply gives them a legitimate excuse to start a war."


    "Since the possibility of the Great Yin Dynasty mobilizing troops is now 100%, the various ns in the city will certainly prevent the Long n fromunching a war against our n. We can proceed with your proposal boldly, without any concerns."


    Bai Haoran revealed a sinister smile and continued, "But this must wait until after we''ve cracked the ancient cultivator¡¯s cave mansion."


    "If we first ughter the three Spiritual Sea Stage Gu cultivators of the Long n and all their geniuses, it will undoubtedly rm the Long n. They would dispatch arge number of powerful cultivators to investigate, and perhaps even more Spiritual Sea Realm Gu cultivators would be stationed here. By then, it would be much harder for us to crack open that cave mansion."


    The other three Spiritual Sea Realm Gu cultivators nodded in agreement. Bai Ye¡¯s eyes turned cold and malicious as he said, "Fine, let them live a little longer."


    The group let out eerie, chillingughter and then stealthily made their way toward the mines.


    Little did they know, far off in the distance, Fire clone, hidden in a tree, had recorded the entire scene using a Image-Recording Gu.


    Staring at the footage captured by the Image-Recording Gu, Fire clone was in a daze, feeling a chill run down his spine.


    The main body really is wise beyond measure. With just a nce, he suspected that this person harbored ill intentions toward him, and sent me to monitor him.


    It turns out this person truly had treacherous ns. If we hadn''t noticed something was wrong and sent me here in advance, this group of people would have caused us a lot of trouble.


    Bai Ye is truly ruthless. Too bad, no matter how clever his scheme is, he picked the wrong opponent. His plot is destined to fail, and he might even lose his life because of it.


    Fire clone sneered, carrying the Image-Recording Gu as he swiftly ran toward the mines.


    ¡­


    Some timeter, Long Xuan held an identical Image-Recording Gu in his hand. He projected the footage it had captured onto a stone wall and began watching it carefully.


    Although the footage had been recorded from a great distance, there was no need for him to read lips. This particr Image-Recording Gu had been evolved using his unique method.


    It not only had "thousand-mile vision," but also "wind-listening ears." It could directly hear the conversations of those men and their eerieughter.


    As Long Xuan listened, goosebumps rose all over his body, and he couldn¡¯t help but shiver. Cold sweat broke out on his back as he thought to himself how close he hade. Fortunately, he had noticed something wrong in that person¡¯s gaze and made a cautious move. It turns out that person really was up to something.


    What he didn¡¯t expect was that they weren¡¯t targeting him, but were nning to ughter all the Long n¡¯s geniuses and overseers here, then frame the Great Yin Dynasty. How vicious!


    At this point, Long Xuan finally understood why that secret tunnel had been dug.


    It turns out there was an ancient cultivator¡¯s cave mansion hidden within the mines controlled by the Long n, containing unimaginable treasures.


    Given this, the cave mansion must be located somewhere near this mining area. If I search carefully, I should be able to find it.


    A sharp light shed in Long Xuan''s eyes. Where there are miners, there can¡¯t possibly be an ancient cultivator¡¯s cave mansion.


    And where miners do not frequent, the only ces left are the ones marked with X on the map.


    The ces marked with X on the map are all extremely dangerous and off-limits to miners.


    A ce hiding an ancient cultivator¡¯s cave mansion would be filled with formation arrays and perilous traps. Of course, it would be dangerous!


    Given this, the location of the ancient cultivator¡¯s cave mansion shouldn¡¯t be hard to find. All I need to do is explore those marked tunnels.


    Using the Origin Realm to scout the path, this method is second nature to me. There won¡¯t be any danger.


    At this moment, Fire clone spoke up, "I didn¡¯t expect the Bai n would dare to y such a card. If we hadn¡¯t been vignt, they might have seeded. Should I hand this Image-Recording Gu to those Long n overseers outside right now?"


    Long Xuan shook his head, his gaze flickering. After a moment of calm reflection, he said, "No rush. From what they said, they n to loot the cave mansion first and then kill all the Long n Gu cultivators here. They won¡¯t make any moves for now."


    "Since that¡¯s the case, why not see what¡¯s inside that cave mansion first?"


    "What kind of treasure could be inside that would make the Bai n willing to cut off an entire generation of geniuses just to get it? I¡¯m very curious."


    "Once I¡¯ve quietly broken through the protective formations and taken the treasure inside, then I¡¯ll hand over the Image-Recording Gu to the Long n of the Western Lands. By then, those people will be in for a rough time. I¡¯ll let themugh all they want now. We¡¯ll see if they¡¯re stillughingter."


    Long Xuan¡¯s lips curled into a sinister smile, one that mirrored the wicked expressions of those Bai n Gu cultivators projected on the stone wall.

 Chapter 199: Long Panpans Scheme

    As time passed, evening arrived. Large groups of Gu practitioners began walking out of the mine. After eating amunal meal, they returned to the recently built wooden cabins to rest.


    Of course, not everyone came out to rest. Some continued working through the night, and some even boldly slept inside the mine, undeterred by the dangers lurking within.


    Those who stayed in the mine included Long Qilin, who was determined to win the bet and had no intention of resting. He was prepared to stay up all night to dig out as much Geng Metal as possible.


    Another one who stayed was Long Dan, whose eyes were unnaturally sharp. He could spot the weaknesses in the rocks at a nce, easily identifying the stone¡¯s grain. By following the grain, he could effortlessly split the rocks open.


    His mining efficiency was astonishing. In just one day, he had filled up half a storage bag with Geng Metal ore, even surpassing Long Qilin in terms of output.


    With a smirk on his face, he too prepared for an all-nighter to dig up more Geng Metal. Every moment of idleness would result in less Geng Metal, and he was willing to push himself to the limit to mine as much as possible.


    As for Long Ruoxue and Long Panpan, these two girlscked strength and stamina, so they had only mined a small amount of Geng Metal ore. Exhausted, with blisters on their hands, they staggered out of the mine and retreated to their wooden cabins to rest, preparing for the next day¡¯s work.


    However, Long Panpan, the clever one, was no stranger to shirking hardbor. Although she appeared adorably innocent, she wasn¡¯t one to be underestimated¡ªshe was the most devious of them all, always full of schemes.


    Late into the night, while others slept, she started plotting again.She suddenly thought, Why should I dig myself? There are so many miners here; why not let them do it for me? She figured she could exchange something for their Geng Metal ore.


    The miners were required to hand over all the Geng Metal ore they dug up, no matter how much they collected. The only incentive was that the more they mined, the more contribution points the family would reward them.


    While Geng Metal sold for astronomical prices outside, it was dirt cheap in the hands of the miners.


    Long Panpan realized she could use minimal resources to acquire a massive amount of Geng Metal ore from the miners. All she needed to do was offer them something worth more than the contribution points they would earn.


    Moreover, she wasn¡¯t obligated to hand over any Geng Metal ore she gathered herself. By the end of the month, she could carry home an enormous amount of Geng Metal ore, making a huge profit.


    With a sweet smile on her face, Long Panpan drifted off to sleep, her dreams filled with whatever scheme she had concocted.


    Meanwhile, Long Xuan remained unaware of Long Panpan''s sly ns. He also stayed inside the mine, opting not to rest in the wooden cabins.


    Instead, he found a secluded spot, dug out a small cave, and set up a bed inside to rest.


    But he wasn¡¯t truly resting. The moment he closed his eyes, he entered his Origin Realm, eager to explore the marked mine tunnel.


    Long Xuan had already deduced which of the marked tunnels led to the ancient cultivator¡¯s cave.


    The slower the Origin Realm was at replicating something, the moreplex it was. The ancient cultivator''s cave likely contained peak-grade treasures, making it hard to replicate quickly.


    When he noticed a specific area was being replicated slowly, Long Xuan became certain that the ancient cultivator¡¯s cave was hidden there.


    Once inside his Origin Realm, he sprinted toward the marked tunnel.


    Since he couldn¡¯t die in the illusionary realm, he wasn¡¯t cautious despite knowing the danger. He charged ahead recklessly, racing to the deepest part of the tunnel. ??


    In truth, this tunnel was no longer as dangerous as it once was. The three Spiritual Sea level Gu cultivators from the Bai n had entered this ce countless times. If there had been any real threats, they would have been eliminated long ago.


    With his many lives in the illusionary realm, Long Xuan had no fear and continued to charge forward with abandon.


    Before long, he reached the end of the tunnel and mmed into a barrier. The impact threw him back, but he quickly regained his footing, his eyes fixed on therge formation ahead.


    With the Eye Of Heavenly Secret, breaking formations was his forte.


    Long Xuan was no novice when it came to formations. As a formation master capable of setting up deadly arrays, his understanding of formations was unmatched in the region.


    So breaking this formation posed no problem for him. In fact, he could do it much faster than the Bai n¡¯s Spiritual Sea-stage Gu cultivators. Even though they had the advantage of numbers, they couldn''t match someone with his abilities.


    However, this formation had been left by an ancient cultivator, and many aspects of it were beyond his current knowledge, touching upon areas he had yet to learn. Therefore, breaking it instantly wasn¡¯t possible.


    It would take him several days to fully understand the formation¡¯s intricacies before he could sessfully break it. There was no rushing it.


    Still, even at his slower pace, Long Xuan was progressing much faster than the Bai n¡¯s Gu cultivators.


    If nothing unexpected happened, by the time the Bai n''s cultivators managed to break the formation in reality, Long Xuan would already know how to do it in the illusionary realm.


    That night, Long Xuan was breaking through the formation in the illusion, while the group of Spiritual Sea-stage Gu cultivators from the Bai n secretly sneaked over to break the formation at night. Long Panpan, on the other hand, was up to no good, with everyone harboring their own ulterior motives. The night passed silently.


    Long Panpan burst out of the small wooden house, full of energy after quickly eating a few buns and drinking a bowl of porridge, and rushed into the mine.


    Seeing her working so eagerly, the three supervisors from the Long n exchanged smiles. Little did they know that if they learned what Long Panpan was about to do, they wouldn¡¯t be smiling.


    As soon as Long Panpan entered the mine, she began executing the n she had thought up overnight.


    She wasn¡¯t foolish¡ªshe knew she couldn¡¯t be too greedy or make too big a move. If she were to take half of the Geng Metal ore, it would be impossible for the supervisors outside not to notice.


    So, she only nned to take 10% and would only choose clever people to engage in this business with her. The timid and honest people wouldn¡¯t be invited, as they might give themselves away at the sight of a supervisor, making it impossible to keep things secret.


    Thus, while others were busy working, Long Panpan cked off, wandering around selecting potential long-term partners for her scheme.


    As expected, those she approached readily agreed to the deal. Mining, after all, wasrgely dependent on luck. The amount mined each day varied, so secretly sneaking out a few pieces of Geng Metal ore from the cave wouldn''t attract the supervisors'' attention.


    With little risk involved, who wouldn¡¯t take the chance? Who would say no to easy money?


    And so, Long Panpan¡¯s storage pouch around her waist gradually bulged, and her smile grew wider.


    As her activity spread, she sometimes mistakenly identified the dusty Long Xuan, almost blurting out her n.


    After some time, she became puzzled. Wasn¡¯t Long Xuan supposed to be in the west mining area? How was he suddenly in the south mining area?


    Did she see it wrong, or was she imagining things? Long Panpan blinked, her face full of confusion.


    ...


    In the blink of an eye, ten days had passed. Long Qilin, that workaholic, had not rested for even a single day, tirelessly mining for ten days straight, extracting an unknown amount of Geng Metal ore.


    But no matter how hard he worked, he still couldn''t match Long Dan¡¯s output. Long Dan could observe the weak points in the rocks with his eyes, shattering them with a single strike, making his mining efficiency far superior. Even with Long Qilin working all night, he couldn¡¯t keep up.


    As for Long Panpan, there was even less to say¡ªshe was taking thezy way out, skimming off the top from the Long n of Westernnd, taking away 10% of the Geng Metal ore produced by the entire vein.


    However,pared to Long Xuan, Long Panpan¡¯s greed paled inparison.


    Long Xuan not only cheated by using a swarm of clones to mine but could also easily locate all the Geng Metal ore, ensuring that every strike hit its mark.


    He even monopolized the purest Geng Metal ores, showing a level of greed unmatched by anyone.


    With these major yers working together, it was no wonder that the ore production of this entire mining vein was sharply declining.


    The Long n of Westernnd made a grave mistake by letting these greedy people into the mine. With such little vampires in the n, they were bound to suffer misfortune for generations toe.


    That morning, after spending ten nights in the Origin realm, Long Xuan finally cracked the formation in the ancient cultivator''s cave. A proud smile curled on his lips.


    Although it took him ten nights to break the formation in the illusion, he now knew how to dismantle it in reality. It wouldn¡¯t take long at all to break the formation in the real world.


    He could now go to the cave and dismantle the protective formation at any time.


    But there was no rush. First, he wanted to see what treasures the cave held.


    Excitement gleamed in Long Xuan¡¯s eyes as he eagerly rushed into the stone chamber after removing the outer formation in the illusion.


    As he pushed open the door to the stone chamber, the first thing he saw was a skeleton sitting cross-legged on the ground. Who knows which great figure this was in life, but even in death, the aura of authority remained.


    Taking a deep breath, Long Xuan boldly walked into the chamber.


    Since it was an illusion, he acted much more decisively, without his usual caution.


    He quickly inspected the area. The stone chamber was vast and connected to several small hidden rooms, each filled with numerous treasures, dazzling to the eye.


    Unfortunately, the cave had existed for far too long, and most of the treasures had decayed over time. The spiritual energy in the elixirs and herbs had long since dissipated, turning them into dust at the slightest touch.


    The various spiritual tools on the wooden racks were rusted and had lost their spiritual essence.


    The only usable items were some metals and other hard materials, which left Long Xuan feeling regretful.


    Among the few usable treasures, the most valuable were a Soul-Nourishing Tree and three cultivation manuals.


    As Long Xuan gazed at the only still-living spiritual herb in the hidden room, his eyes lit up with burning excitement, and his breathing grew rapid.


    In front of such a treasure, he couldn''t help but feel thrilled. The Soul-Nourishing Tree was one of the rarest in the world, known as one of the three greatest spiritual trees in existence.


    Being given such a title meant that the Soul-Nourishing Tree was one of the most extraordinary spiritual trees in the world. Its rarity and value were beyond imagination.


    ........................................................................


    Read extra chapters on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 200: The Cautious Long Xuan

    Soul Nourishing Wood is an invaluable treasure in the outside world. Its appearance alone is enough to stir up a bloodbath and potentially incite a massive conflict among countless Gu Kings, creating significant chaos.


    This is because the effects of Soul Nourishing Wood are nothing short of miraculous. As long as a Gu cultivator stays near the tree, their innate soul power will naturally increase.


    Just like lifespan, soul power is divided into innate soul power and acquired soul power.


    It''s important to note that the strength of one''s soul power isrgely determined at birth, and it¡¯s extremely difficult to increase itter. Methods to enhance soul power are exceedingly rare.


    Even when soul power is increased, it''s usually the acquired soul power that grows, while innate soul power is fixed and cannot be increased.


    The only exception to this is the Soul Nourishing Wood, which can actually enhance a Gu cultivator''s innate soul power.


    To exin the difference between innate and acquired soul power, consider this: Every time a Gu cultivator advances in rank, their soul power naturally grows. The soul power of a Gu King is never weak, and powerful Gu Kings can even project their soul outside their bodies, taking over another body for rebirth.


    However, every Gu cultivator is a unique individual, and the amount of soul power they can enhance with each rank advancement differs.


    Those with strong innate soul power will experience a more significant increase with each rank advancement.Those with weak innate soul power will experience only a minor increase each time they advance.


    With every rank advancement, the gap between the two widens, and as the number of advancements grows, this gap bes insurmountable, like the difference between heaven and earth.


    The importance of enhancing innate soul power cannot be overstated.


    It can be said without exaggeration that the Soul Nourishing Wood is enough to arouse the greed of anyone in this world¡ªnote the keyword: anyone¡ªregardless of gender, age, or cultivation level. The desire it evokes is universal.


    The allure of the Soul Nourishing Wood is fatal for anyone, to the point where they may lose their rationality and risk everything. Once it appears, it will undoubtedly plunge the world into chaos.


    It''s important to remember that Long Xuan has lived through two lifetimes, and his innate soul power is already incredibly strong¡ªstrong to the point of being inhuman.


    His innate soul power is already so formidable, and now he is about to possess a Soul Nourishing Wood that can further enhance it. What kind of terrifying monster will this create?


    Long Xuan swallowed hard, his throat moving as he made up his mind. Once the six Gu cultivators from the Bai family, all at the Spiritual Sea stage, leave, he would secretly take the Soul Nourishing Wood for himself.


    At the same time, he had to guard this tree carefully. He couldn''t let the Sou Gu use it for building a house, nor could he allow the Dream Dragon Silkworm to secretly eat all its leaves.


    This Soul Nourishing Wood was too precious, the highest-grade spiritual medicine in his entire herb garden, even surpassing the Fire Dragon Fruit Tree and the Living Wood. He couldn''t allow it to be wasted.


    Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Long Xuan forced himself to calm down and finally turned his gaze to the three cultivation manuals.


    Looking at these three manuals, his emotions were mixed.


    One was a body cultivation manual, one was a soul cultivation manual, and thest one was a spiritual power cultivation manual. All three were heavenly-grade manuals, the highest-tier manuals in the Gu world.


    Everyone can imagine how rare the highest-grade manuals in the world are.


    This level of manual only exists in legends; most people have never even heard of them. It was hard to believe that the owner of this cave had three of them.


    Cultivation manuals apany a person for their entire life, and what does a heaven-grade manual mean? If a n were to acquire one, the cultivation speed of its geniuses would far exceed that of other ns.


    The likelihood of a Gu King emerging from that n would be many times greater than in other ns.


    Anyone who cultivates a heaven-grade high-level manual will possess incrediblebat power, and the overall strength of that n would surpass other ns by an immeasurable margin. ??


    It¡¯s no exaggeration to say that if a n masters a heaven-grade high-level manual and is given time to grow, that n could be a great power in the future, a top-tier force in the entire Gu world.


    At this moment, Long Xuan finally understood why the Bai family was willing to sacrifice their n''s future geniuses to seize control of all the mineral veins.


    It was all because of these three manuals. These three manuals were far too important for a n, something worth any price.


    In front of these three manuals, even the value of the Geng Metal ore veins seemed insignificant.


    As long as they acquired these three manuals, the Bai n would be supreme in the future; a small region like the Western Lands would no longer be able to contain them.


    Unfortunately, despite all their scheming, the Bai n ended up with nothing. Even after sacrificing their n''s geniuses, they couldn¡¯t achieve their goal. Truly pitiful andmentable.


    Long Xuan took a deep breath, ignoring the body cultivation manual and the spiritual power cultivation manual, and reached for the soul cultivation manual.


    While the heaven-grade body and spiritual power cultivation manuals would drive others mad, they held no interest for him.


    He could not rece his own ¡°Ten Absolute Scripture¡± and ¡°Purgatory True Demon Technique¡± with two heaven-grade manuals.


    Although he didn¡¯t know what rank his own manuals would be ssified as in this world, he was confident that the ones he created could not be weaker than any manual in this world. He had absolute confidence in his own techniques.


    Thus, no manual from this world, no matter how highly prized by the Bai family, could make him consider switching his techniques.


    So, what the Bai n valued above all else waspletely useless to him.


    He was particrly interested in the Soul Refining technique, as he had yet to practice any soul refining methods.


    The Soul Refining technique is a cultivation method that strengthens the soul, increasing acquired soul power. Such techniques are extremely rare, and even after searching through the Long n¡¯s Library Tower and the Qian n¡¯s Treasury, he hadn''t found a single soul refining technique.


    So far, this was the first Soul Refining technique he had evere across, and it was a Heaven-grade high-tier technique.


    Long Xuan was very intrigued. He was already considering whether he should create his own Soul Refining technique, which would allow him to cultivate his soul, body, and spirit simultaneously, ensuring no weaknesses.


    A strong soul had numerous advantages. For example, the stronger the soul, the higher the resistance to illusions. The stronger the soul, the greater the sensory perception, to the point where even with eyes closed, one could sense opponents attacking from a great distance or from behind.


    Additionally, a strong soul could render one immune to Shi Haojun¡¯s ability to eavesdrop on thoughts. Long Xuan believed that simr abilities certainly existed in this world and that Shi Haojun was not the only one with mind-reading powers.


    Long Xuan had too many secrets in his heart. This reason alone was enough to make him decide to cultivate a Soul Refining technique.


    However, whether to learn an existing technique or to create one of his own, Long Xuan pondered for a moment and decided to first assess the quality of this technique.


    If its power was far inferior to the "Ten Absolute Scripture" or the " Purgatory True Demon Technique" , then, given his personality, he would definitely choose to create his own technique.


    After all, choosing a cultivation method is a lifelong matter. It couldn¡¯t be taken lightly; if he were to learn, he would learn the strongest one.


    Long Xuan opened the first page of the "True Soul Transformation'' and just by reading the first line, he knew this Heaven-grade high-tier technique was extremely dangerous.


    Because the first sentence of this technique read: "If you wish to practice this technique, you must first find a Soul Nourishing Wood, or else certain death awaits."


    The danger of this technique was that without the Soul Nourishing Wood to strengthen the soul, death was inevitable.


    And the Soul Nourishing Wood was one of the three great spiritual trees of this world, extremely rare. Finding even one tree in the entire world would be considered lucky.


    So it could be said that this technique was so dangerous that only one person in the world could practice it.


    And with such a high level of danger, how could the technique be weak? The danger of a technique is directly proportional to its strength, after all.


    At this moment, he finally understood why the cave master had to cultivate a Soul Nourishing Wood in the cave. It was entirely because of this technique. He had no choice but to embark on a journey across the world to find the Soul Nourishing Wood, and fortunately, he seeded in the end.


    It''s just unknown why such a powerful individual ended up dying here. Someone who practiced three Heaven-grade high-tier techniques simultaneously must have had terrifyingbat power in life, Long Xuan could easily imagine.


    He began to look forward to this extremely dangerous technique, but now was not the time to study it.


    He quickly scanned the treasures in the cave and then swiftly exited the illusion.


    After all, the treasures in the illusion were nothing but illusions. To truly obtain them, one had to take action in reality.


    Through the Origin Realm, Long Xuan knew what treasures the cave contained, and he felt the cave was worth a trip.


    The Soul Nourishing Wood alone was worth taking action for. The Soul Nourishing Wood had the effect of increasing innate soul power, which would greatly benefit him.


    Aside from the Soul Nourishing Wood, it would be almost impossible for him to find anything else that could increase innate soul power, so he was determined to obtain the Soul Nourishing Wood in the cave at any cost.


    However, how to retrieve the treasures from the cave required careful nning.


    After a moment of deep thought, Long Xuan decided to take action today.


    From his observations, the six Bai n Spiritual Sea-stage Gu cultivators, in order to avoid alerting the Long n to the cave¡¯s existence, always cautiously broke the formation at night in secret.


    This meant that the six Bai n Spiritual Sea-stage Gu cultivators would note during the day, and those overseeing the work would also need to show themselves during the day.


    He could take advantage of the time when they left during the day to quietly plunder all the treasures in the cave.


    It would be best if he could frame them for the theft of the treasures and have the Long n¡¯s Gu cultivators kill them, leaving no one alive to testify. This n was simply perfect.


    Excited, Long Xuan pped his hands and immediately sent out his Fire Clone.


    It was early morning, and the six Bai n Spiritual Sea-stage Gu cultivators had just left. This was the perfect time to steal the treasures.


    However, Long Xuan was always cautious by nature, and for safety''s sake, he decided not to personally go to the cave but to follow his usual practice of letting his clone handle the task.


    Even though he had sessfully navigated the cave in the illusion, what was achievable in an illusion might not necessarily be possible in reality, and many variables could arise.


    For example, his Origin Realm couldn¡¯t perfectly replicate powerful living creatures. He had to take this factor into ount.


    Who knew if there were still powerful Gu insects in the cave? This was entirely possible, and caution never hurt.


    He had already given the method to break the protective cave formation to his clone. As long as there were no additional variables in the cave, it wouldn¡¯t be difficult for the clone to retrieve all the treasures, and all he had to do was wait patiently.

 Chapter 201: Long Gangs Sinister Plan

    A few hourster, Fire clone broke through the protective formation of the cave abode, effortlessly looting all the treasures inside. He then brought the bulging storage bag to Long Xuan, who was overjoyed and immediately snatched it away.


    ¡°So fast?¡±


    He eagerly opened the storage bag and nced inside. Seeing the three cultivation techniques and the Soul Nourishing Tree, his eyes narrowed, and his smile widened.


    ¡°Well done. Now, go back and transnt this Soul Nourishing Wood into my herb garden.¡±


    ¡°Make sure to guard it with a formation. Don¡¯t let those little creatures ruin it.¡±


    Long Xuan tossed the storage bag back to Fire clone.


    The Sou Gu house couldn¡¯t be used here, but it could be used outside. Otherwise, Long Qian wouldn¡¯t have brought them over via teleportation.


    However, to use the Sou Gu house outside, they still needed to figure out how to get rid of the Long n overseers. Long Xuan''s eyes flickered as a n formed in his mind.


    ...Outside.


    Three Long n overseers in the Spiritual Sea Realm sat around a table, which wasden with a sumptuous feast. There was roasted chicken, duck, a whole roastedmb, and fine wine¡ªeverything one could imagine.


    After two and a half years of lockdown, these three Long n Gu cultivators were utterly exhausted from a life of eating dirt and drinking urine. They were terrified of starving again.


    So, ever since the lockdown in ckstone City was lifted, they had been indulging in revengeful consumption¡ªeating and drinking the best every day, trying to make up for the hardships of the past few years.


    ¡°Boss, something¡¯s not right. Lately, we haven¡¯t found a single piece of Geng Metal, and even the Geng Metal output has dropped drastically.¡±


    At the table, Long Zhan bit fiercely into a chicken leg as he spoke.


    Long Gang, who was sitting at the head of the table, frowned slightly, somewhat uncertain. ¡°Mining Geng Metal is a matter of luck. Fluctuations in output are normal.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not quite right,¡± Long Xunhuan said after taking a sip of his wine, looking toward the Bai n¡¯s direction. ¡°Look over there. They have far fewer mining zones than we do, yet their Geng Metal output is much higher than ours.¡±


    ¡°Yesterday, they even dug up a piece of Geng Metal Essence. The miner who found it was rewarded handsomely by them. I was envious just watching.¡±


    The two others looked toward the Bai n¡¯s direction and saw that their yield was indeed much higher. They instantly felt a sense of injustice.


    Why was it that their side had thergest portion of the vein, yet the Bai n was getting more out of it? It didn¡¯t seem fair.


    ¡°Could it be that they just got lucky and all the richest zones happened to fall into their hands? While we, despite grabbing most of the zones, only got the poor-quality ones?¡±


    Long Gang¡¯s face darkened, and the food on the table suddenly didn¡¯t taste so good.


    Long Zhan tossed away the chicken bone in his hand and hesitantly said, ¡°That could be the case. After all, the mining zones were assigned by drawing lots. Maybe they just got lucky and picked the richest zones.¡±


    ¡°Still, I think we should go check the mine after we finish this meal. There could be some other reason for the drop.¡±


    The other two nodded in agreement, and they decided to inspect the mine after eating.


    Just then, Long Xuan emerged from the mine, walking toward them with a serious expression, as if he had something important to say.


    Seeing someone approaching with what appeared to be urgent news, the three overseers put down their chopsticks.


    Long Xuan walked up to the table and directly said, ¡°I¡¯ve discovered a hidden tunnel in the mine leading to the Bai n¡¯s mining zone. It seems they¡¯ve been digging toward us, and I¡¯ve even recorded their plot against the Long n using a Image record Gu. It¡¯s not convenient to watch the footage here.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Long Gang was furious upon hearing this, immediately standing up in a rage. ¡°I was wondering why the Geng Metal output had dropped. It turns out they¡¯re behind this!¡±


    ¡°Have they been sneaking over through that tunnel to mine our resources? Outrageous!¡± Long Gang mmed his fist on the table in anger.


    ¡°Of course it¡¯s them! Why else would they dig a tunnel? They must have been stealing our Geng Metal. Those sneaky thieves deserve to die!¡± Long Zhan also stood up in fury, ring toward the Bai n¡¯s direction, itching to go settle the score with them.


    ¡°Hmph! I noticed that the Geng Metal output was extremely high just half a month ago, but then it suddenly dropped off a cliff. There was no warning at all! It must be them. No one else could¡¯ve done it!¡±


    Long Xunhuan mmed the table and stood up, his rage directed toward the Bai n, ready to explode.


    Watching the three of them seethe with fury, Long Xuan was slightly taken aback. He hadn¡¯t expected the me to be ced on the Bai n so easily. With the Bai n taking the fall, and once they were eliminated, there would be no one left to prove otherwise¡ªtwo birds with one stone.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you record their crime with the Image Record Gu? Give it to me. I want to see how they n to worm their way out of this!¡±


    Long Xuan handed over the Image Record Gu, which had been prepared in advance. The contents of this Image Record Gu had already been carefully edited, with the beginning and end cut off, leaving only what should remain while everything else had been deleted.


    For instance, their initial discussion about a cave dwelling in the mine had been removed. Long Xuan thought it wise not to let the Gu cultivators of the Long n know about this discovery just yet, so he cut that part out.


    Long Gang took the Image Record Gu from Long Xuan with a grim expression. He was about to review its contents when he remembered that there were still people from the Bai n nearby. This wasn¡¯t the ce to reveal the recording, so he took the Gu and headed towards a secret chamber.


    ¡°I want to see it too. I want to see how they managed to steal the Geng Metal Essence from our n,¡± he said.


    The other two overseers quickly followed him.


    Watching the three overseers depart, Long Xuan waited until they werepletely out of sight before signaling behind him. His Fire Clone immediately dashed away at wind-like speed into the distance...


    ...


    After the three Long n overseers entered a sealed stone chamber, Long Gang impatiently projected the contents of the Image Record Gu onto the stone wall.


    However, the content of the recording surprised them all. The six individuals shown were not plotting how to steal the Geng Metal Essence but were instead conspiring about a massive plot against the Long n.


    They nned to kill all the young talents present and even intended to murder the three overseers, shifting the me to the Great Yin Dynasty. Under pressure from the City Lord, the incident would be swept under the rug.


    Hearing this n, all three of their faces darkened, their temples pulsing with rage.


    ¡°Haha! What a scheme! Truly a brilliant scheme!¡± Long Gang clenched his fists,ughing in fury.


    ¡°How ruthless. The Bai n really harbors such treacherous intentions. If they had seeded, our n would have suffered in silence and lost its most powerful geniuses in this generation,¡± Long Xunhuan said, his face grim. Just thinking about it made him feel a chill. If Long Xuan hadn¡¯t identally recorded their plot, the consequences would have been unimaginable.


    ¡°Damn it! Those bastards are insatiable. Now that the Image Record Gu has captured their entire conspiracy, we have irrefutable evidence. Let¡¯s go to the City Lord and see how they can deny it!¡± Long Zhan, who had a fiery temper, wanted to storm out and confront them immediately. But he paused, realizing they were outnumbered six to three, and decided it was better to let the City Lord handle it.


    ¡°No!¡± Long Gang quickly reached out to stop him. ¡°This Image Record Gu cannot be handed over to the City Lord just yet.¡±


    Long Gang narrowed his eyes with a sinister glint, saying, ¡°The Great Yin Dynasty is about to invade, and the City Lord''s approach to such matters is always to resolve conflicts peacefully. That¡¯s how he has been handling simr incidents recently.¡±


    ¡°If we submit this Image Record Gu now, the City Lord will certainly take a conciliatory stance, smooth things over, and perhaps offer us somepensation. But in the end, nothing substantial will happen.¡±


    ¡°We can¡¯t let those wolves get off so easily. I won¡¯t rest until they pay dearly. So, we cannot submit this Gu.¡±


    Looking at the Image Record Gu in his hand, Long Gang smiled wickedly. ¡°Don¡¯t you think this is a perfect opportunity for a righteous act of killing and seizing treasure? A chance like this won¡¯te again.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t need to do anything. We¡¯ll just wait for them to fall into the trap. When theye to kill us, we can legally defend ourselves and kill them in return. Along the way, we can seize their treasures, including therge amounts of Geng Metal ore and Geng Metal Essence they¡¯ve extracted.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve discovered that this Image Record Gu has the ability to record from a long distance. It can capture the Bai n¡¯s night raid on us in full.¡±


    ¡°Then, we¡¯ll take the recording to the City Lord and im self-defense, saying we identally went too far. No one will me us.¡±


    ¡°On the contrary, with the Great Yin Dynasty invasion looming, the City Lord will be keen to maintain peace in the city. He¡¯ll certainly suppress the Bai n¡¯s aggression against us.¡±


    ¡°All we have to do is sit back and watch. The City Lord will handle everything for us, covering up the matter. This is what we call ''fighting fire with fire.''¡±


    Hearing this, both Long Zhan and Long Xunhuan were stunned. They exchanged surprised nces at Long Gang.


    They thought to themselves, ¡°This Long Gang, with his thick eyebrows and honest appearance, is far more devious than we expected. His n is ruthless. He¡¯s aiming to eliminate all six Spiritual Sea-level Gu cultivators from the Bai n in one fell swoop. The Bai n will surely go mad!¡±


    Long Zhan and Long Xunhuan exchanged looks, and Long Zhan excitedly pped his thigh, eximing, ¡°Brilliant! This n is simply brilliant!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the way to deal with those wolves. We must make sure they can¡¯t walk away from this!¡±


    Long Xunhuan also smiled darkly. ¡°You¡¯ve thought this through thoroughly, even factoring in the City Lord¡¯s mindset. You¡¯re right. We can execute this n without hesitation. Even if we kill all the Bai n Gu cultivators here, the City Lord will cover for us. Haha¡­¡±


    He was even more ruthless, now harboring the idea of exterminating all the Bai n Gu cultivators present. With the City Lord backing them, he waspletely fearless.


    Long Gang nodded with a cold smile, saying, ¡°Since we¡¯re all in agreement, let¡¯s start making arrangements.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll hide this Image Record Gu in a discreet location. Additionally, the three of us should each contact three close allies¡ªones who can fight. That way, we¡¯ll have twelve Spiritual Sea-level Gu cultivators in total.¡±


    ¡°They have six Spiritual Sea-level Gu cultivators. We¡¯ll have twice their numbers, enough to create a two-on-one situation.¡±


    ¡°With traps set in advance, we¡¯re sure to win. Once they¡¯re trapped inside the defensive formation guarding the mine, they won¡¯t escape.¡±


    ¡°Haha! They¡¯ll never expect us to have developed the ability to teleport living beings over long distances. Our reinforcements can arrive instantly.¡±


    ¡°Even if they n to attack us tonight, we¡¯ll have enough manpower to take them down.¡±


    ¡°Haha, when they see how many people we have hidden in the building, they¡¯ll be utterly shocked.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to their expressions. This time, we¡¯ll make sure they can¡¯t walk away from this!¡±


    Long Gang mmed the table with excitement, his eyes filled with a fierce light. The killing intent spread throughout the room.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 202: The Story of the Master Wan Jian of Ten Thousand Swords

    Just like that, Long Xuan''s Image Record Gu, capable of farsight, was confiscated.


    Long Xuan noticed the three overseers from the Long n sat back at the dining table, resuming their eating and drinking,pletely indifferent to the information he had provided. At that moment, he realized they were most likely preparing for a bait-and-trap operation. He couldn''t help but mourn for the six Bai n Gu cultivators at the Spiritual Sea stage.


    What he feared wasn¡¯t the three Long n overseers making a big move, but rather their inaction.


    If they acted forcefully and exposed the situation, the six Bai n Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators might survive.


    But if they did nothing, it indicated they intended to covertly dispose of those six Bai n Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators.


    In other words, the deaths of those six Bai n Gu cultivators were already sealed.


    Long Xuan narrowed his eyes. If those six Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators died, sneaking into the Bai n''s territory to mine would bepletely risk-free.


    Once they were dead, he would sneak over and mine all the Geng Metal Essence from the surface without leaving a trace.


    Although the Bai n had a smaller mining area, the surface Geng Metal Essence on their side was far richer than the Long n''s. If he didn''t take this chance to mine it all, he''d regret it.Based on his calctions, the Bai n would strike tonight. Tomorrow, he could slip over to start mining.


    Don¡¯t ask how he knew they would act tonight. It¡¯s simple¡ªhe had already stolen all the valuable treasures from the cave residence.


    When the Bai n arrived today to break through the formation, they would find a huge hole already in it. They would definitely fly into a rage. How could they not act tonight?


    They would surely believe that the three Long n overseers had secretly stolen the treasures. They would have to kill them immediately to recover the loot.


    Otherwise, if they dyed, the treasures would be transported back to the Long n, and they would lose everything. So, it was impossible for them to wait until the next day.


    Long Xuan smiled wickedly and returned to his ce to rest.


    No mining today¡ªhe would save his energy. Ordinary Geng Metal was no longer worth his time. If he were to dig, it would only be for Geng Metal Essence. He couldn¡¯t help but look forward to the great battle tonight and made sure to get enough rest to watch it unfold.


    ¡­


    Time quickly passed, and by nightfall, the six Bai n Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators, excited, snuck through a secret tunnel, skillfully making their way to the perilous mining path marked on their map.


    "Heh, the Long n members are truly idiots. The ancient cultivator¡¯s cave residence is right on their territory, yet none of them have discovered it. That heaven-grade cultivation technique rightfully belongs to us!" Bai Yu chuckled.


    The protective formation guarding the cave had almost beenpletely broken by the six of them. It would only take a few more days to steal the treasures inside. Just thinking about it made Bai Yu so excited that he couldn¡¯t help butugh.


    "Hehe, we can¡¯t me the Long n for being dumb. That incident happened so long ago. Even we only learned about it through the diary of an obscure Gu cultivator. Who else would waste their time reading such a diary? No one."


    "Following the clues from that story, we hoped to find the Master Wan Jian of Ten Thousand Swords'' cultivation cave. Who would have thought it would be hidden within a massive Geng Metal vein? This is an unexpected windfall."


    "Haha, no wonder the Master Wan Jian was able to control tens of thousands of Geng Metal swords, ughtering hundreds of Gu Kings without leaving a trace."


    "Once he found the Geng Metal vein, it¡¯s no surprise he could refine so many Geng Metal swords."


    "I wonder what cultivation technique he practiced that allowed him to control ten thousand swords at once. It¡¯s terrifying. Anyone who fought him ended up riddled with holes."


    "At the time, no one could withstand his sword formation. Controlling ten thousand swords¡ªhow many consciousnesses would he have to split?"


    "That¡¯s why there must be a Heaven-Grade soul-refining technique on him. Our n must obtain this technique at all costs."


    Bai Ye clenched his fists, his eyes shining with excitement. Just the thought of acquiring such an overpowering soul-refining technique filled him with uncontroble excitement.


    "Sigh! What a shame about that man. Back in the day, the Master Wan Jian''a sword formation was unbeatable. No one in the world could match him."


    "He wasn¡¯t just a master of soul-refining; his body-refining and spirit-refining techniques were also peerless, reaching the highest levels in the world, impossible to surpass."


    "This man cultivated all three¡ªsoul, body, and spirit¡ªwithout a single weakness. His realbat power was no less than Shi Haojun today."


    "But sadly, such a brilliant and talented figure was ultimately brought down by love. On his wedding night, he was ambushed by his wife and died from severe injuries. In the end, he lost his life in his own cave residence. What a tragic andmentable fate."


    Bai Haoran sighed in empathy, genuinely feeling it was a waste of such a heroic figure.


    "Alright, enough talk. We¡¯ve arrived. Let¡¯s break the formation first. I reckon we¡¯ll have it down in less than two days."


    "Once the formation is broken, we¡¯ll take all the treasures and immediately ughter every single Long n Gu cultivator here, then pin the me on the Great Yin Dynasty. Perfect, hehe."


    "I can¡¯t wait to see the expressions of the Long n higher-ups afterward."


    Bai Haoran revealed an extremely insidious smile, but his expression quickly froze, and he fell from joy to sorrow.


    At this moment, he finally realized that the array formation here had already been broken by someone. Someone had beaten them to it and stolen all the treasures in the cave mansion.


    Time seemed to stand still. The three of them were suddenly silent, their bodies stiffening as their faces turned grim.


    "Damn it! Who the hell did this?! I''ll kill them!"


    Bai Haoran was about to lose his mind. He rushed inside like a madman, and upon seeing that the ce had beenpletely looted¡ªeven the useless junk had been taken¡ªhis vision darkened, and he almost fainted.


    He braced himself against the wall to stop himself from copsing.


    "Who? Who the hell did this? The formation was almost broken by us, and they came out of nowhere, taking the treasures without any effort. This is utterly shameless! Absolutely shameless!"


    Staring at the scene that had been ransacked like it had been hit by robbers, Bai Ye¡¯s eyes were bloodshot as he cursed angrily. He was utterly broken at this point, his face twisted with rage.


    Just moments ago, he had been daydreaming about learning a Heavenly-grade high level technique. Reality had dealt him a crushing blow, and he was about to go mad, so furious that he felt like spitting blood.


    The others were just as sullen, madly searching and rummaging through the ce, hoping to find any leftover treasures.


    However, as they say, "one bes red when near vermillion, ck when near ink." Long Xuan had long learned to be crafty from the little medicine boy. Whenever they entered a treasure site, he took everything, regardless of whether it was valuable or useful to him. He didn¡¯t leave a single thing behind, fearing that he might miss some heavenly treasure that appeared worthless on the surface.


    Because of his deep suspicions, Long Xuan had already scoured the ce thoroughly before they arrived, even digging up ayer of the ground. How could they possibly find anything else? Not a chance.


    Seeing that not even a mosquito¡¯s leg was left for them, they were furious. They roared and cursed wildly in the cave mansion, their insults growing more obscene by the second, almost as if they were digging up someone''s ancestors'' graves.


    "Damn it, it must have been someone from the Long n! Besides our Bai n, only the Long n has been here. Since it wasn¡¯t one of us, it must have been one of them!"


    Bai Yu, eyes red with fury, cursed through gritted teeth.


    "Exactly! There¡¯s no one else! The only ones capable of breaking the formation are those three overseers from the Long n. If we go out and skin them now, we¡¯ll surely find the treasures from the cave mansion!"


    Bai Hua shouted murderously, his eyes wide with rage.


    Hearing this suggestion, Bai Ye narrowed his eyes, a fierce killing intent shing in them. He spoke sinisterly, "We¡¯ve only been gone for a day."


    "For them to break the remaining formation, a single day would have been their limit. So, the treasures must have just fallen into their hands recently."


    "They might still be nearby. If we go out and kill them all now, we might still be in time."


    "The treasures must be on one of them."


    "We have to act now. If we give them time to take the treasures back to ckstone City, we¡¯ll have no chance."


    "Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ve been keeping people on watch outside. No one from the Long n hase in during this time. The Long n only has three Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators here. We can definitely kill them with six against three."


    "Since we¡¯re doing this, we might as well not stop halfway. Let¡¯s kill all the Long n miners too and take all the Geng Metal they¡¯ve dug up. We can me it all on the Great Yin Dynastyter."


    The other five nodded in agreement. Bai Haoran''s eyes were filled with murderous intent as he said, "Exactly! We still have a chance. If we act quickly, we might be able to recover the treasures."


    "There¡¯s no time to lose. Let¡¯sunch a night raid on the Long n camp right now. Not a moment can be wasted."


    "Yes! I¡¯ll gather our forces immediately. If we don¡¯t wipe them all out, I won¡¯t be able to rest!"


    Bai Ye clenched his fists and quickly ran toward the surface.


    Just as Long Xuan had predicted, the attack on the Long n camp would happen that very night. Once again, he had anticipated the Bai n¡¯s actions.


    Little did the Bai n know that a trap awaited them, and this was destined to be a sleepless night.


    ...


    Soon after, the sounds of fierce fighting echoed from the surface.


    Bai Ye led a group of Bai n miners, each holding a weapon and wearing vicious expressions, charging toward the Long n camp.


    It should be noted that the people here digging for ore were not ordinary mortals. They were genuine Gu cultivators, each with their own Gu insects, making them formidable fighters.


    The more miners there were, the more Geng Metal they could dig up. The Bai n had no fewer than 800 Gu cultivators here.


    The Long n upied arge area, likely requiring even more miners. Once a battle broke out here, it would be a massive war, not a minor skirmish.


    If things went wrong, the chaos here could escte to the point of shaking all of ckstone City.


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 203: Into the Trap

    "Kill them all!"


    Led by six Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators of the Bai n, arge wave of Bai n Gu cultivators surged into the Long n camp like a tide. Everyone¡¯s eyes glowed with ferocity, revealing a ruthless demeanor.


    The six Bai n Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators, with bloodshot eyes and murderous intent, charged directly towards the residences of the three Long n supervisors.


    Bai Ye led the charge, kicking open the door without hesitation and storming inside. It was obvious his hatred for the Long n was the deepest.


    The other Bai n Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators were not far behind, smashing the windows with vicious grins on their faces before swiftly jumping through them.


    However, the moment they barged into the house, their bodies froze instantly. Their expressions stiffened, and they stood there dumbfounded.


    Because there weren''t just three people inside¡ªnor were there only three Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators.


    There were twelve. A total of twelve Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators from the Long n.


    At that moment, all twelve Long n Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators were grinning viciously at them, and the Bai n group waspletely stunned."We''ve been tricked! Run!"


    Bai Ye, who was the first to charge in, was also the fastest to flee.


    His face had gone pale as he desperately ran for his life.


    He was truly bewildered. His mind was in a haze. He couldn¡¯t understand how so many people could have hidden in that small house.


    How did they get in? When did they get in? Their appearance was utterly bizarre, driving him mad.


    He would probably never have imagined that there was a type of Gu insect in this world that could transport living beings over long distances.


    "Not good! Run!"


    The remaining five Bai n Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators were nearly scared to death. The ferocity they had disyed earlier had vanished. At this moment, they wished they had four legs as they desperately tried to escape.


    However, they had already entered the Long n¡¯s territory, and such an important Geng Metal mine vein would surely be protected by formation arrays.


    As soon as the mine-protecting formation activated, all the Bai n members were trapped inside. Where could they possibly run to now?


    "Hmph! Since you''vee, you might as well stay."


    "Do you really think this is a ce where you cane and go as you please?"


    Long Gang smirked mockingly and swiftly gave chase.


    The others in the house also grinned viciously and followed, their faces filled with excitement, like cats toying with mice.


    Outside, chaos reigned. It was clear that the Long n had been well-prepared for this night. Countless Bai n Gu cultivators charged into the Long n camp.


    But what awaited them wasn¡¯t easy prey; instead, they were met by fully-armored "Earth Masters."


    These Earth Masters were clearly not a ragtag group of miners but an elite force that the Long n had invested heavily in.


    Their armor was uniform, allowing them to form a powerful mountain-guarding formation. The Earth Masters had clearly trained for this, disying an exceptional level of coordination.


    The Bai n Gu cultivators who charged in were immediately met with disaster. The killing formation on the Earth Masters'' backs activated, and the intruding Bai n Gu cultivators were ughtered in waves. In mere moments, the ground was littered with corpses.


    A massive wave of Earth Masters surged forward, crushing the Bai n Gu cultivators in their path. Countless Bai n Gu cultivators were trampled to death by these behemoths. The ground shook as they moved, and the sheer momentum was terrifying.


    The Bai n Gu cultivators were utterly routed after just one encounter. It turned into a one-sided massacre.


    In no time, rivers of blood flowed across the battlefield. Countless bodiesy strewn across the ground, and the wails of the dying echoed as the Earth Masters trampled over them.


    To make matters worse, the mine-protecting formation of the Long n camp had been activated. A solid barrier trapped everyone inside.


    The Bai n Gu cultivators had no ce to run. They were now like fish in a barrel, their faces filled with despair as they desperately tried to break through the barrier in front of them.


    However, how could the mine-protecting formation be something they could easily breach? All their efforts were in vain.


    Upon seeing this scene, Bai Ye''s eyes were filled with rage and despair. These were over 800 Gu cultivators of the Bai n, among whom were not a few talented Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators, not to mention their six Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators.


    If all of these people were to perish here today, the Bai n would suffer an immeasurable loss.


    As the initiator of this mission, Bai Ye would be the n''s sinner. How could he ever face the n elders again? He forced out a pained smile.


    ¡°Run? Where do you think you can run! Stay here obediently, all of you!¡±


    Because the road was blocked by a barrier, the six of them were soon overtaken by the twelve Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators from the Long n. The chaotic battle between the Spiritual Sea stage cultivators quickly ensued.


    However, with six against twelve, how could they fight? This was a battle with no suspense¡ªa one-sided massacre.


    Just in terms of external Gu alone, the Long n had double the amount of the Bai n. One by one, the Bai n¡¯s Gu insects were bitten to death.


    Even before the Long n¡¯s Gu insects could finish off all the Bai n''s insects, the Bai n¡¯s Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators had already begun to fall.


    Suddenly, Bai Yu was struck in the head by Long Qian, who had transformed into a dragon-man, shattering his skull. In front of this dragon-man, Bai Yu couldn¡¯t even withstand a single move.


    His death also caused all of his Gu insects to instantly perish, further worsening the situation for the Bai n on the battlefield.


    ¡°Hahaha¡­ exhrating! As expected of the Dragon Blood Battle Gu! The power! The speed! The defense! I¡¯m invincible now! Take another punch!¡±


    Long Qianughed wildly as he selected his next target, charging toward Bai Ye, the strongest among the crowd.


    Seeing this humanoid monster covered in bone spikes, with a tail and sharp ws, charging at him, Bai Ye waspletely numb.


    What kind of monster was this? How could itsbat strength be so terrifying? Just how many more secrets did the Long n have that he didn¡¯t know?


    But there was no time to think further. The monster was already hurtling toward him like a cannonball, and Bai Ye could only grit his teeth and face it head-on.


    The oue of this battle was obvious without needing much boration. It was a crushing defeat for the Bai n. Whether high-grade or low-grade Gu cultivators, they were all beaten into submission, unable to put up any resistance, and the battle ended in a very short time.


    All the Bai n Gu cultivators who had charged in were ughtered to thest person, with no survivors. Bai Ye fell to the ground, dying with his eyes open in disbelief. Even in death, he couldn¡¯t understand why his seemingly perfect n had failed.


    For this night raid, the Bai n had sent all their forces, leaving no one behind to defend the rear.


    So, after this great battle, there would be no more Bai n Gu cultivators at this mining vein. Their operation at this mine waspletely paralyzed.


    Without any Gu capable of burrowing, it was uncertain how long it would take for them to send arge group of miners to the site.


    This ce was far from ckstone City, and if it had been close, this vein of Geng Metal ore would have long been discovered by the powerful cultivators of ckstone City. There was no way it would¡¯ve been left untouched until now.


    But with such a long gap, it would be more than enough time for the Long n''s miners to dig deep into the Bai n''s mining area. It also gave Long Xuan ample time to mine the Bai n''s Geng Metal essencepletely clean.


    Long Qian immediately decided that all the Long n miners would stop mining their own veins and rush over to the Bai n¡¯s territory to mine instead.


    They would take as much as they could. By the time the Bai n sent people over, they could simply retreat without any problem.


    Everyone went mad with killing that night, but the chaotic battle came and went swiftly. The battle ended quickly, and the Long n¡¯s Gu cultivators began to happily divide the spoils.


    The twelve Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators from the Long n couldn''t stop grinning. The storage bags from the six Bai n Spiritual Sea stage cultivators contained many treasures, and even after being divided among twelve, each person still got a good share of loot.


    Long Gang gleefully stored his share of treasures in his storage bag, smiling at Long Qian as he said, ¡°This Dragon Blood Battle Gu is truly one of the top eight most powerful Gu in our n''s history. It¡¯s absolutely dominating.¡±


    ¡°In that glorious era, perhaps the Dragon Blood Battle Gu wasn¡¯t such a big deal, but in this small ce, it is enough to kill gods and Buddhas alike. Nothing can stop it.¡±


    ¡°If someone could refine a Dragon Blood Battle Gu, they would be invincible among their peers unless they encountered a true prodigy.¡±


    ¡°I really envy you. I wonder when I¡¯ll get my own Dragon Blood Battle Gu.¡±


    Looking at Long Qian¡¯s awe-inspiring half-dragon form, Long Gang¡¯s face was full of envy.


    Long Qian patted him on the shoulder andughed, ¡°No need to be envious. As long as you reach the peak of the Spiritual Sea stage, there¡¯s a chance.¡±


    ¡°In the past, this thing required massive contributions to obtain.¡±


    ¡°But after our n gained a huge amount of resources from the zombie gue siege, we have more Dragon Blood Battle Gu than we need.¡±


    ¡°And with the looming war, the n will definitely distribute them to reduce the loss of our strong cultivators.¡±


    ¡°Of course, they¡¯ll be issued on credit, so the contributions you earn will go toward repaying the debt. Prepare to spend years or even decades paying it off.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± Long Gang¡¯s eyes lit up, clenching his fists with excitement.


    The other Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators also began breathing heavily, their faces flushed with excitement after hearing this news.


    Long Zhan, too, clenched his fists in excitement. He was already in thete stage of the Spiritual Sea, just one step away from the peak.


    He had now made up his mind to break through to the peak as quickly as possible. Such a heaven-defying Gu as the Dragon Blood Battle Gu was surely limited in quantity, and if he broke through toote, there might not be any left for him.


    ¡°Alright! Everyone, keep your mouths shut. Whether it¡¯s the secret of the Sou Gu''s ability to transport people or the secret of the Dragon Blood Battle Gu, none of it can be revealed.¡±


    ¡°The Bai n secretly dug a tunnel into our n''s mining area, and the Geng Metal ore they mined was from our side. I¡¯m taking it all back to the n, which is perfectly reasonable.¡±


    ¡°Also, have Long Xuan send back the footage recorded by the Image Record Gu, and we¡¯ll broadcast it across the city, showing how the Bai nunched a night raid on our n. Let the city lord see who the real victims are here.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t wait to see the expressions on the faces of the Bai n''s higher-ups. They¡¯re destined to suffer in silence this time, unable to say a word. It¡¯s going to be so satisfying! Hahaha¡­¡±


    Long Qian burst intoughter, and the others followed, their joyousughter echoing throughout the night sky.

 Chapter 204: Creating a Soul Refining Technique

    After watching the spectacr scene unfold, Long Xuan followed Long Qian''s instructions and transferred all the footage recorded by his Image Record Gu into Long Qian''s Image Record Gu. The Image Record Gu had the ability to transmit footage over long distances, so Long Qian didn¡¯t need to take it with him.


    Moreover, he couldn''t take it with him anyway. If he were to take Long Xuan''s Image Record Gu to the City Lord, wouldn¡¯t that reveal to the City Lord that the Long n had already mastered the technology of transporting living beings?


    Considering the huge incident that just urred at the mine, there was no way the Bai n wouldn¡¯t notice. They had probably already started to act, so Long Qian had to quickly return with the evidence.


    Thus, Long Qian didn¡¯t bother chatting with Long Xuan. He took the evidence and left the Gu house, heading back to the n.


    It was uncertain what kind of storm would arise in ckstone City, but it would likely cause a major upheaval. Too bad Long Xuan couldn''t go personally to witness the excitement. Feeling disappointed, he silently returned to his residence.


    After pondering for a moment, he finally took out the soul refining technique "True Soul Transformation" he obtained from the cave and started studying it intently.


    He wasn¡¯t going mining tonight. Tomorrow, the Long n would definitely organize people to mine in the Bai n¡¯s area. He could go openly then, so there was no need to sneak around.


    Tonight, he felt restless and considered whether he should initiate his n to create his own soul refining technique.


    His naturally strong soul was an advantage, and he also had the assistance of the Soul Nourishing Wood. He felt that if he didn¡¯t learn a soul refining technique to further enhance his soul, it would be aplete waste of his talent.In the dark, under the flickering candlelight, only the sound of flipping pages could be heard. The shadow of the man sitting at the desk wavered with the me.


    It was unclear how much time had passed before the man at the desk finally closed the book, a glint of light flickering in his eyes, as if he had been struck by inspiration.


    After reading through "True Soul Transformation", inspiration surged within him. Various strange ideas flooded his mind, and he began to outline his thoughts for a new technique.


    He quickly grabbed a pen and paper, excitedly drafting the outline for the new technique:


    "Heavenly Demon Soul-Splitting Technique"


    Ability: Fission


    Humans possess three souls and seven spirits. Each time a practitioner advances a small stage, the three souls and seven spirits will split once.


    The number of soul fragments determines how many tasks can be performed simultaneously. The direct manifestation of this is that all the soul fragments can grow simultaneously. The soul refining speed of "Heavenly Demon Soul-Splitting Technique" surpasses all other soul refining techniques in the world.


    The number of soul fragments also determines how many flying swords one can control simultaneously, how many swarms one canmand at once, how many spiritual herbs one can refine at once...


    A master of this technique could divide their soul into countless fragments. When faced with an unbeatable opponent, these soul fragments could scatter and escape. As long as one fragment survived, rebirth would be possible.


    Long Xuan calcted with his fingers. His soul was naturally different from ordinary people. His three souls and seven spirits were doubled, giving him 20 main souls.


    At the early stage of Spirit Gathering, he would undergo his first fission, resulting in 40 soul fragments.


    At the mid-stage of Spirit Gathering, his soul fragments would double again, totaling 80.


    At thete stage of Spirit Gathering, the third fission would yield 160 soul fragments.


    ...


    Currently, he was at thete stage of Marrow Cleansing, so following this pattern, his maximum limit of soul fragments should be 1,280.


    One might think that 1,280 soul fragments are not much, but his cultivation level was still too low.


    The exponential growth of power was terrifying. He realized that once he reached the level required for immortality, the number of fragments would be in the billions. ?


    By the time he reached the eighth level and became a Gu Immortal, the number of soul fragments would have already surpassed 100 billion.


    If he continued this crazy fission further, Long Xuan''s eyes widened, and he was so shocked that his pen fell onto the table. He didn¡¯t dare to think any further.


    He stiffly lowered his head and saw that the Gu on the table had already made progress. He couldn''t help but feel a shiver down his spine. Could the Heavens really allow such a terrifying technique to exist? Were they insane?


    Long Xuan took a deep breath, trying to calm his frightened heart.


    The idea of soul splitting had been in his mind even in his previous life. He had always hoped to multitask by splitting his soul, refiningrge quantities of spiritual herbs simultaneously, and thus shortening the time required for alchemy.


    But he hadn¡¯t known how to divide his soul. After all, how could the soul be casually split?


    Splitting the soul was incredibly dangerous, almost a matter of life and death. If one made a mistake while dividing their soul, they could end up as a fool.


    Otherwise, why would "True Soul Transformation" of the Sword Master Wan Jian be so dangerous?


    The dangery in the fact that "True Soul Transformation" also required soul fission, making it extremely perilous. Without the assistance of Soul-Nourishing Wood, the unlimited fission would certainly lead to death.


    Long Xuan had found the method for soul Splitting within "True Soul Transformation", which had prompted him to finally begin executing the long-held ideas in his mind.


    As for why he didn¡¯t just cultivate "True Soul Transformation", it was because that technique, even at the peak of the Gu King level, could only produce 10,000 soul fragments. That was far too inferior for him. If he was going to refine a technique, it had to be something powerful.


    However, his newly created technique seemed a bit too extreme. Was it really okay to divide the soul into so many parts? Could his physical body even contain that many?


    Would creating such an exaggerated number of soul fragments be dangerous? Well, if it was too risky, he could just let his Fire Clone practice it instead.


    Long Xuan''s lips curved into a slight smile as he picked up the pen that had fallen on the table and began writing the outline of the "Heavenly Demon Soul-Splitting Divine Technique".


    This time, the content he would focus on was the supporting soul techniques for the technique.


    In this world, abilities powered by spiritual energy are called "Spiritual Arts", and those powered by physical energy are called "Physical Arts".


    Abilities that use mental energy are known as "Illusion Arts" , and naturally, those powered by soul energy are called "Soul Arts" .


    In this world, Spiritual Arts are the mostmon, followed by Physical Arts. Illusion Arts are much rarer than Physical Arts, and Soul Arts are almost non-existent.


    Up to this point, Long Xuan had never seen a single Soul Art, which shows how rare they are.


    Even though the True Soul Transformation technique was incredibly powerful, it only had three apanying ''Soul Arts''.


    The first Soul Art is an ability that uses powerful soul energy to attack the souls of others. This is an extremely rare soul attack that can easily shatter an opponent''s soul, making it extremely difficult to defend against. It is called Finger Of Nirvana.


    The second Soul Art allows the user to transmit sound over a distance of a thousand miles using powerful soul energy. This is a supportive ability and is simply called "Thousand Mile Sound Transmission" .


    The third Soul Art is somewhat sinister. It allows the user to search the soul of an opponent, forcing them into a fate worse than death, extracting all their Gu recipe from their soul.


    The method used by the Long family to prevent the spread of their Gu recipe by cing restrictions on the soul ispletely useless in the face of this powerful "Soul Search Technique".


    Long Xuan could only think of two Soul Arts in a short time.


    The first is a technique that controls numerous soul fragments to quickly possess and take over people attacking him, forcing them to turn on their allies or even self-destruct in the midst of the crowd.


    This technique would be considered a heaven-defying skill. Once mastered, it would render him unafraid of being surrounded by hordes of enemies.


    Long Xuan''s excitement was palpable as he quickly came up with a name for this Soul Art: Heavenly Demon God-Devouring Technique.


    He wrote the name down on the paper.


    The second Soul Art had been in his mind for a long time. It was the ability he needed most right now, but he had never had the means to achieve it before. Now, with the Soul Refining Technique, he decided to fully explore this idea.


    He quickly wrote down the name of the second apanying Soul Art: Soul Library.


    As the name suggests, the Soul Library is a world full of books where one can read.


    However, the flow of time within this world is different from the outside. Spending ten days reading in the Soul Library would only take a day outside.


    Of course, this involves the power of time, and manipting time is beyond Long Xuan''s abilities.


    Instead, he achieves this effect by speeding up his thoughts, thereby creating the illusion of time slowing down.


    The principle behind this idea is to make the spiritual body think faster in a mental world full of books, extending the perceived time and giving the illusion of a slower time flow.


    A book that might take ten days to read outside could be finished in just one day inside this world.


    However, to achieve this, one must have extremely powerful soul energy. Otherwise, attempting such a thing would result in a soul copse.


    The Heavenly Demon Soul-Splitting Divine Technique uses the method of increasing soul power through the growth of soul fragments, which makes the growth of soul power after birth terrifying. This is enough to support Long Xuan in realizing this idea, making it the perfect apanying Soul Art.


    If anyone else dared to practice the Soul Library without cultivating the Heavenly Demon Soul-Splitting Divine Technique, their soul would surely copse.


    Long Xuan had long wanted to develop this idea not just to read books¡ªreading was secondary. His real purpose was to study Gu Recipe within the Soul Library.


    Researching Gu Recipe was too time-consuming. As he continued to research moreplex Gu forms in the future, the time required would only increase. Developing a technique that could shorten the time needed for research was imperative and could not be dyed any longer.


    Otherwise, if he needed to study a Gu Recipe with millions of materials in the future, would he really have to spend decades on it?


    In the soul world, researching Gu Recipe eliminates the need for paper or pens. With just a thought, a word would appear on a phantom sheet of paper, greatly speeding up the process of researching Gu Recipe.


    After writing down the introduction to the Soul Library, Long Xuan was relieved to find that the progress had not disappeared.


    This meant that, in theory, the idea could be realized. As long as he was willing to put in the effort, this ability would one day be created.


    Satisfied, Long Xuan picked up the paper, a look of self-assured pride on his face.


    A terrifying technique that would strike fear into the hearts of everyone in the world was about to be born in his hands. He couldn¡¯t help but feel a sense of pride in creating such an impressive technique.


    It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that the terrifying nature of the Heavenly Demon Soul-Splitting Divine Technique could rival the "Purgatory True Demon Technique" or even the "Ten Absolute Scripture".


    This technique was undoubtedly one of the strongest techniques in the world.


    He could barely wait to see the day when the Heavenly Demon Soul-Splitting Divine Technique would shake the world.


    Long Xuan''s lips curled upward as he picked up his pen again, full of energy, ready to work through the night on this technique.


    ...


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 205: Sky-High Compensation

    At the same time in ckstone City, the City Lord¡¯s Mansion.


    Long Yuanshan, after cutting out the beginning and end of the footage captured by the Image Record Gu, angrily rushed into the City Lord''s Mansion, crying out loud.


    "City Lord! You must seek justice for my n!"


    "The Bai n justunched a night raid on our people stationed at the Geng Metal mine, causing us devastating losses!"


    "This is the footage sent by our people at the mine right before they died, but unfortunately, the Image Record Gu was quickly destroyed by them, resulting in only half the footage being transmitted before it was cut off."


    Long Yuanshan immediately presented the Image Record Gu. The footage it recorded had been edited to omit the part where the Long n''s Gu Masters massacred the Bai n''s Gu Masters. It only showed the Bai n¡¯s Gu Mastersunching a vicious night raid on the Long n¡¯s camp.


    Anyone watching the iplete footage would naturally feel sympathy for the Long n and harbor resentment against the Bai n.


    Yan Pojun appeared fatigued. Recently, he had been dealing with too many simr incidents and was mentally and physically exhausted.


    From his perspective, this was probably another attempt by the Great Yin Dynasty to sow discord and trigger conflicts among the ns of the Western Lands.This matter had to be handled, despite his weariness. He suppressed his exhaustion and took the Image Record Gu, projecting its contents onto the wall.


    The first scene that appeared on the wall showed Bai Ye and three Bai n Gu Masters secretly conspiring while aboard a spirit boat, their sinisterughter echoing, which made Yan Pojun ufortable.


    When he heard their n to ughter the Long n''s geniuses and frame it on the Great Yin Dynasty, then use his position as City Lord to calm the matter, a fierce light suddenly shed in his eyes, and he was filled with rage.


    No one likes being used, and the Bai n had the audacity to exploit his desire to maintain stability during this period, recklessly ughtering the Long n''s Gu Masters.


    Then, they nned to use him, the City Lord, to suppress the conflict. What a scheme! What clever calction! Did they take him for a fool?


    Yan Pojun mmed his hand down, shattering the table in front of him, standing up in fury.


    Thinking back to how he had just assumed this was another one of the Great Yin Dynasty¡¯s ploys and was contemting how to persuade the Long n, his face turned ashen, and his anger surged even more. If it weren''t for this footage, he would have beenpletely fooled by the Bai n.


    "Is the Bai n seeking death? I have repeatedly warned all the ns not to stir up trouble during this time, and they¡¯vepletely ignored my words!"


    Yan Pojun roared in fury, on the verge of exploding.


    The Bai n had dared to exploit his mindset. If other ns followed their example, stirring up chaos and then ming the Great Yin Dynasty, it would be catastrophic.


    By the time the Great Yin Dynastyunched its attack, the ns would already be heavily damaged. Yan Pojun¡¯s face was pale with anger.


    At this point, the footage on the wall showed the Bai n''s Gu Masters, their faces twisted in malice, as they raided the Long n''s camp. The footage abruptly ended there. R?


    It was clear that the owner of the Image Record Gu had been killed, and though the recording was iplete, Yan Pojun could easily guess what happened next¡ªthe Long n must have suffered tremendous losses.


    The Bai n¡¯s premeditated sneak attack, led by six Spiritual Sea Realm Gu Masters, ensured that the Long n would be devastated. Yan Pojun instinctively thought this.


    Just then, a group of Bai n Gu Masters rushed in, sobbing and wailing.


    Bai Zhan was the first to barge in, his face filled with grief and indignation as heined, "City Lord, please seek justice for my n!"


    "The Long n is inhuman! To seize our Geng Metal, they ruthlessly ughtered all our people stationed at the mine!"


    "Over 800 lives lost! All of them were rare-talented Gu Masters, including six Spiritual Sea Realm Gu Masters and many other gifted individuals!"


    "Our n suffered unimaginable losses! City Lord, please deliver justice. If such a vicious and malevolent n isn¡¯t severely punished, it would be a crime against heaven and earth!"


    Bai Zhan¡¯s eyes were red, his voice filled with sorrow and rage.


    Yan Pojun silently watched his performance, a slight smile creeping onto his lips¡ªa smile born of extreme anger.


    If he hadn¡¯t just seen the footage captured by the Image Record Gu, he might have believed Bai Zhan¡¯s lies. This man could truly act.


    After ughtering the Long n¡¯s people, Bai Zhan then rushed over to lodge aint, ying the victim and falsely using the Long n.


    Not only had they killed, but they were now asking forpensation, pretending to be the victims¡ªwhat a vicious scheme! How utterly shameless the Bai n was!


    "Keep acting! Go on! You¡¯re really something! How did I never realize you had such a talent for acting? If I hadn¡¯t spoken up, were you nning to cry for me next?"


    Yan Pojun could no longer hold back and roared, "You think I don¡¯t know what you¡¯ve done? How dare youe here, crying forpensation! Do you really think I¡¯m that easy to fool?"


    "Let me ask you! You just imed that six Spiritual Sea Realm Gu Masters died there. Tell me, why did you station six Spiritual Sea Realm Gu Masters there? Do you have that many Spiritual Sea Realm Gu Masters to spare?"


    The Lord''s roar left Bai Zhan stunned. He was indeed acting, but only with his expressions; everything he said was true.


    The Long n really did wipe out all of their people stationed at the Geng Metal ore vein. How did it suddenly turn into the Bai n wiping out the Long n¡¯s men there? He was utterly confused.


    For a moment, Bai Zhan was left speechless by the Lord¡¯s questioning. He couldn¡¯t possibly exin why he had sent six Spiritual Sea-level Gu cultivators there.


    There was no way he could admit that he had ill intentions and that his n had backfired.


    Seeing Long Yuanshan on the other side, looking at him with a mocking gaze, Bai Zhan instantly became furious. Pointing at him, he angrily said, "Lord! You mustn¡¯t listen to his one-sided ims and form a biased opinion..."


    "Enough!" Before he could finish, Yan Pojun angrily interrupted, "Are you suggesting that I am biased and unable to discern right from wrong? Do you truly take me for a fool?"


    "Your Bai nunched a night attack on the Long n''s miners at the Geng Metal vein, causing severe casualties. The evidence is undeniable. Your Bai n will immediatelypensate the Long n with a portion of the Mithril vein. This is my final ruling on the matter!"


    "What?" Bai Zhan was shocked, unable to remain calm. Although the Mithril vein was notrge, its value was second only to Geng Metal.


    How could they possibly give it up so easily? The loss of the Mithril vein would be a devastating blow to them. Bai Zhan''s eyes turned red, not believing that the Lord would dare to make such a judgment.


    "I refuse! How can the victims be forced to cede territory and offerpensation? This is unheard of, something never before seen in history! The Bai n does not ept such a ruling! I..." Bai Zhan shouted through gritted teeth.


    "Enough! I said the matter is settled! Didn¡¯t you hear me?" Yan Pojun snarled, his patience clearly reaching its limit.


    "I''ll say this onest time. Your Bai n willpensate the Long n with a portion of the Mithril vein. This matter is now closed. Let¡¯s see who dares to cause further trouble!"


    Yan Pojun''s terrifying aura as a peak Gu King radiated outward, oppressing everyone in the room. Bai Zhan''s face went pale as he retreated several steps.


    He opened his mouth but ultimately didn¡¯t dare say another word. He realized that the Lord was truly enraged, and provoking him further would lead to unimaginable consequences.


    He also understood that there were likely other things at y that he wasn¡¯t aware of. Otherwise, the Lord would never have been so furious. Challenging the Lord¡¯s authority now would be unwise and only benefit the Long n.


    After casting a deep, resentful nce at Long Yuanshan, Bai Zhan stormed out with a dark expression.


    The rest of the Bai n members at the door also wore grim expressions as they followed their n leader out.


    The Lord actually wanted them topensate the Long n with a Mithril vein? They felt as though the sky was copsing. After catching up to the n leader, they gloomily asked, "n Leader, the Lord must have been bribed by Long Yuanshan to make such an unfair ruling."


    "We absolutely cannot follow this order. We must seek justice from the elders of each n. ckstone City is not under the sole control of the Lord. He can¡¯t do whatever he pleases here."


    Bai Zhan looked up at the sky and sighed, "Doing that will only antagonize the Lord further, pushing him to the Long n''s side. If we sh with the Long n again, the Lord will definitely take their side."


    "This is the worst-case scenario. We need to first figure out what truly happened. As for the Mithril vein, don¡¯t worry, they won¡¯t be able to take it in the short term."


    "Let¡¯s stall for time. The Great Yin Dynasty will soon attack, and this will be a protracted war. The Lord and the ns will have no time to focus on this matter. By then, we¡¯ll find a way to let it quietly disappear."


    ...


    "Yuanshan, I must ask you to endure this injustice for now. With the Great Yin Dynasty about to invade, we need every capable person we can get. Having the Bai n pay with their lives isn¡¯t possible, so all I can do ispensate you with resources."


    "But I wonder if the value of a Mithril vein is enough to make up for the loss of those few peerless talents. I fear it''s not nearly enough."


    After the Bai n members had left, Yan Pojun looked at Long Yuanshan, troubled.


    Indeed, because Long Yuanshan had selectively edited the footage, Yan Pojun had assumed that those few geniuses were already dead. That was the reason he had imposed such a heavy penalty on the Bai n.


    It wasn¡¯t his fault for misunderstanding. Anyone would have assumed that those geniuses had perished after seeing that footage. No one would think they could survive such a deadly situation.


    "Lord, you¡¯ve overestimated the situation. How could I, Long Yuanshan, fail to understand the bigger picture?"


    "Rest assured, my Long n will not retaliate. But once the war with the Great Yin Dynasty is over, if my n takes any action, I hope you¡¯ll understand."


    Long Yuanshan put on a look of excessive sorrow. Anyone who didn¡¯t know better might really believe that the Long n had suffered heavy losses.


    In truth, he was barely containing hisughter. He hadn¡¯t expected such an unexpected windfall.


    A Mithril vein, whose value was nearly on par with the Geng Metal ore vein! This was an incredible profit. Bai Zhan must be in absolute agony right now. Long Yuanshan nearly burst intoughter.


    Yan Pojun gave him a heavy pat on the shoulder and said with satisfaction, "Good! I¡¯m relieved to hear that. If every n in the city had your sense of the bigger picture, I wouldn¡¯t have to worry so much!"


    "Don¡¯t worry, endure this for now. After the war with the Great Yin Dynasty is over, you can do whatever you wish, and I¡¯ll turn a blind eye..."


    ...


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 206: Body Refinement

    Five days passed in the blink of an eye. During this time, Long Xuan decided to put off cultivating his techniques and instead devoted all his energy to mining Geng Metal Essence in the Bai n¡¯s mining area, digging until his hands were sore.


    Just as he had predicted, ever since the Bai n was wiped out by the Long n, the Long n had deployed all their miners to the Bai n''s mining area,pletely abandoning their own.


    Every day, the Gu cultivators of the Long n enthusiastically rushed over to mine there, even happier than when they were mining their own territory.


    Despite the Bai n''s mining area being smaller, the surfaceyer contained far more Geng Metal than the Long n¡¯s area. Over the past few days, Long Xuan mined until his hands cramped, but after five days, he had finally scoured the entire surfaceyer of the Geng Metal Essence.


    The reason it took so long was that he had also dug up many Geng Metal Essence deposits buried deep underground. Every time he mined a piece, he had to dig a new tunnel and update the map, which naturally extended the process.


    However, for the even deeper Geng Metal Essence deposits, he chose to give up. Some were buried so deep that it would take ten days or even a month to extract them, and he simply didn¡¯t have the time for that.


    That day, physically and mentally exhausted, Long Xuan returned to his residence. Opening the door, he saw a Sou Gu eagerly building a house inside, using the Geng Metal scattered all over the floor as construction material.


    As someone who had mined so much Geng Metal, Long Xuan didn¡¯t mind letting it waste a little of it. But Geng Metal Essence was a different story¡ªit was far too precious. Even though he was close to depleting the Geng Metal Essence vein, he still felt it wasn¡¯t enough and couldn¡¯t bear to let it use it for building.


    At this point, the Geng Metal house had already taken shape, its walls shining with golden brilliance, as if coated in pure gold. It was extraordinarily beautiful, and Long Xuan took an immediate liking to it.There was no doubt that the Geng Metal house was of a higher grade than a fourth-grade Spirit Wood house.


    He thought about cing this Geng Metal house in the Central Region. The strength of Geng Metal should be enough to support cross-Region teleportation.


    Feeling excited, he watched the Sou Gu build the house for a while, and his exhaustion seemed to melt away. Then, he headed into a secret chamber.


    Inside the chamber was arge cauldron, showing a progress of 0.4%.


    The cauldron was currently refining a Medicinal Gu. Long Xuan had returned to ckstone City after applying for materials, using his newly earned contribution points to acquire the remaining ingredients for refining the Medicinal Gu, along with some other useful items, before returning to the Geng Metal mining area to refine the Medicinal Gu while continuing to mine.


    Thanks to the Sou Gu house¡¯s ability to instantly transport between the two locations, the process didn¡¯t take up much of his time.


    Long Xuan observed the progress on the cauldron and calcted that the Gu would beplete in 250 days. After noting the number, he closed the door and left.


    As for how he calcted thepletion time, it was simple. Yesterday, the progress was 0.0%, and today it was 0.4%. With a daily increase of 0.4%, it would take 250 days to reach 100%.


    Satisfied, Long Xuan left the small wooden house, which he had fortified with numerous formations. He didn¡¯t think anyone would be able to sneak into his little house.


    With his current mastery of formations, even someone like Long Qian would have trouble breaking through.


    While Long Xuan was happy, others were looking rather distressed.


    A group of geniuses approached, smiling at first, hoping to dig up some Geng Metal Essence. But after half a month of hard work, they hadn¡¯t seen even a sliver of Geng Metal Essence, let alone mined any. How could they be happy?


    Seeing their gloomy expressions, Long Xuan smiled and walked over,forting them: ¡°Don¡¯t be discouraged, isn¡¯t there still half a month left?¡±


    In his heart, he added: ¡°In another half month, you¡¯ll still find that you haven¡¯t mined any Geng Metal Essence.¡±


    Long Qilin shook his head in disappointment and said, ¡°We might not even have half a month. Word just came in that the Great Yin Dynasty has alreadyunched an attack.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re currently seizing resource points across the various ns, piging the wealth from major resource points. It¡¯s clear that their goal is topletely take over this region, not just for revenge.¡±


    ¡°And this Geng Metal vein is the most valuable resource point. How could they possibly overlook it?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure it won¡¯t be long before theye here. How can we stay and mine at a time like this?¡±


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan was shocked. The Great Yin Dynasty had alreadyunched a massive invasion into the Western Lands? The news was so sudden that he wasn¡¯t prepared at all.


    Unable to suppress his shock, he asked, ¡°How did it happen so quickly? Even if the Great Yin Dynasty did mobilize troops, shouldn¡¯t they start by slowly encroaching from the borders of the Western Lands? How did they suddenly appear in the hearnd?¡±


    Long Ruoxue smiled bitterly and replied, ¡°They clearly intend topletely annex the Western Lands, so they spared no expense, directly building arge teleportation formation between the two regions. With each teleportation, they can send over a hundred soldiers at a time.¡±


    ¡°They set up the teleportation formation right in the heart of the Western Lands, so of course, their troops arrived quickly.¡±


    ¡°This Geng Metal vein will surely be one of their prime targets for looting. We should all prepare ourselves.¡±


    "Don''t go down to mine for the time being. Save your energy. A major battle could break out at any moment. You won¡¯t have the strength to run if we can''t hold the Geng Metal vein."


    Long Dan sneered: "They¡¯re practically seeking death, setting up a teleportation formation right in the center of the Western Lands. It¡¯s as if they¡¯ve surrounded themselves. When the timees, they''ll be attacked from all sides. I¡¯d like to see if they can manage that."


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to say,¡± Long Ruoxue sighed. ¡°Shi Haojun has been ughtering cities everywhere, using ck Moon City as his base. The hearnds are almost emptied. Where would they get the strength to encircle the Great Yin Dynasty forces?¡±


    ¡°We can only wait for reinforcements from the various powers on the borders of the Western Lands, but reinforcements take time.¡±


    ¡°If I¡¯m not mistaken, the Great Yin Dynasty intends to seize ckstone City at the fastest speed before Western Lands¡¯ reinforcements arrive.¡±


    ¡°Once ckstone City falls, the Great Yin Dynasty can use the terrain to their advantage and switch from attack to defense.¡±


    ¡°If the forces of ckstone City arepletely wiped out, the various factions in the Western Lands will be leaderless, a disorganized mess. They¡¯ll have no hope of stopping the Great Yin Dynasty¡¯s invasion.¡±


    ¡°ckstone City is likely already surrounded. The Great Yin Dynasty will stop at nothing tounch a full-scale assault on it.¡±


    ¡°This battle will be the key to the entire war. If the Great Yin Dynasty can capture ckstone City before reinforcements arrive, the Western Lands will most likely bepletely upied by the Great Yin Dynasty.¡±


    ¡°If ckstone City can hold out until reinforcements arrive, the Great Yin Dynasty will be encircled and forced into a passive position.¡±


    ¡°So, the survival of the many powers of the Western Lands hinges on this battle,¡± Long Ruoxue said, looking worriedly toward the direction of ckstone City.


    Hearing this, Long Xuan furrowed his brows slightly. From Long Ruoxue''s words, it seemed the situation in the Western Lands was quite grim.


    This Geng Metal vein would likely be a primary target of attack next. This ce was too dangerous, he had to run!


    A serious look crossed Long Xuan¡¯s face as he suddenly stood up. No, they couldn¡¯t keep mining the Geng Metal vein anymore. He had to flee, even if it meant giving up the remaining half-month of mining time.


    Long Ruoxue nced at him, seemingly guessing his thoughts, and said yfully, "Are you thinking of running?"


    ¡°Unfortunately for you, you can¡¯t leave.¡±


    ¡°Ever since Shi Haojun massacred a bunch of cities in the Western Lands, he clearedrge swaths of unimednd. The Far West Long n has long wanted to leave this barrennd and develop in more prosperous areas. Do you think they would pass up this opportunity?¡±


    ¡°The Far West Long n took over arge amount of the unimednd in the Western Lands a long time ago.¡±


    ¡°They formed some kind of Long n Alliance, and they do have the strength to swallow up those territories.¡±


    ¡°Since they¡¯ve taken overnd in the Western Lands, they¡¯re now part of the Western Lands¡¯ forces, and of course, they¡¯ve been marked for attack by the Great Yin Dynasty.¡±


    ¡°So, you can¡¯t run. You¡¯ll definitely have to fight in this battle,¡± Long Ruoxue said, casting a mischievous nce at Long Xuan.


    Hearing this, Long Xuan''s face turned dark...


    ---


    Meanwhile, in ckstone City.


    ckstone City had just been unsealed, and now it was about to be sealed again.


    At this moment, outside ckstone City, there was a massive crowd dressed in ck. They stood at the foot of the city wall, holding various weapons, staring expressionlessly at those on top of the walls. The sheer number of them was impossible to count.


    There was no need to think about it. The number of people outside far exceeded the number of Gu cultivators inside the city.


    Because in the territories where there were nations in the Lunar Lands, besides Gu cultivators, there was another profession ¡ª Body Cultivators also known as Body Refiners.


    Body Refiners have an extremely low threshold for entry, requiring no special cultivation talent. As long as they had meat to eat and were well-fed, anyone could be a Body Refiners. The number of Body Refiners under such circumstances was unimaginable.


    However, while Body Refiners were generally very weak, with cannon-fodder level Body Refiners barely able to match a Gu Cultivator¡¯s external Gu, the strongest Body Cultivators could indeed be on par with Gu Cultivators.


    But the path of Body Refiners was exceedingly difficult. Very few could refine their physical bodies to the peak, and they needed a body refinement technique on the level of someone like Long Xuan.


    Thus, the strongest people in this world were usually Gu Cultivators.


    Although Body Refiners were weak, their sheer numbers made up for it. Seeing the dense mass of Body Refiners below the city walls, the faces of the Gu cultivators in ckstone City turned pale.


    Even if Body Refiners were weak, could you fight ten of them at once? The enormous number of Body Refiners used in warfare was truly terrifying. Arge enough army of Body Refiners could easily trample most Gu cultivator forces.


    After all, Body Refiners didn¡¯t cost anything. There were as many as you wanted.


    At this time, ckstone City¡¯s Lord, Yan Pojun, finally stepped onto the city wall, escorted by a group of Gu Kings.


    Seeing the countless number of Body Refiners below, his face darkened.


    Although the major ns of ckstone City could muster tens of thousands of Gu cultivators, these forces were spread across various cities in the Western Lands. If they were all crammed into a single city, there wouldn¡¯t be enough resources to go around.


    So, gathering one or two thousand Gu cultivators in ckstone City was already considered good, but it was far from enough to match the Body Refiners army outside.


    Yan Pojun clenched his fists, his face so dark it seemed it could drip water.


    Yao Chen nced down at the crowd below and said gravely, "It¡¯s the ck Fire Legion, the main force of the Great Yin Dynasty. And they¡¯re all wearing armor, even the lowest grade is a set of low-grade spiritual artifacts. This isn¡¯t good!¡±


    ¡°They¡¯ve set up arge teleportation formation here. With such arge number of people, there¡¯s no need to worry about logistics. We might be the ones to get worn down first.¡±


    With those words, everyone¡¯s face turned grim.


    ---


    ........................................................................


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    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 207: The Black-hearted City Lord

    "Don''t panic!"


    The city lord leaned over, looking down from the city wall, and said in a deep voice, "Just likest time when we were surrounded, our mission is simple: stall. Stall until reinforcements arrive."


    "ckstone City is known as a city that can never be breached. It has never been conquered throughout history. They can''t just waltz in and take it."


    "Even Shi Haojun couldn''t do anything to ckstone Cityst time, and neither can they!"


    Upon hearing these words, many people''s expressions eased slightly. His speech helped raise morale, giving the Gu cultivators within the city a newfound confidence for the uing battle.


    "But what if? What if we can''t hold out until the reinforcements arrive?" someone in the crowd asked quietly.


    Yan Pojun narrowed his eyes, revealing a crazed expression, "The Purification Gu didn''t cleanse all of the gue. I secretly kept a portion."


    "If it trulyes to that, I will release the gue on them."


    "No matter how many of them there are, they will die in droves before the gue. If I can''t have it easy, then no one will!" Yan Pojun said venomously, ring down below.As soon as he said this, everyone present couldn''t help but twitch their lips. It was truly ruthless. As expected, the city lord remained as heartless as ever. With such a ck-hearted city lord in charge, they all felt a strange sense of reassurance.


    At that moment, the army of the Great Yin Dynasty below finally made their move.


    Down below, massive cannons with thick barrels were being pushed forward by soldiers and lined up neatly, aimed directly at ckstone City.


    At a rough estimate, there were no fewer than five thousand cannons. Upon seeing this terrifying scene, everyone on the city wall turned pale.


    "This is bad! It''s the Spirit Stone Cannons! Firing just one shot consumes five hundred spirit stones. If they bombard the city¡¯s defensive array, even if the formation isn''t destroyed, it will be severely weakened."


    Yao Chen''s face changed dramatically. Just as he finished speaking, the five thousand Spirit Stone Cannons below began to roar.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    ...


    The dense bombardmentnded on the barrier above ckstone City, producing one earth-shattering explosion after another. The explosions continued without pause.


    The people below covered their ears, their faces pale as they looked up.


    Under the relentless bombardment of the five thousand cannons, the barrier flickered violently, as if the entire ckstone City was shaking.


    Everyone gazed upward in terror, and the sound of crying babies echoed throughout the city.


    After one volley of cannon fire, the barrels smoked white, and soon, another round of cannonballs was loaded. The soldiers then covered their ears and hid behind the cannons. Another deafening explosion followed, and ckstone City''s sky once again turned into a sea of mes. ??


    The second round of bombardment was followed by a third, and the third by a fourth...


    The cannon fire continued without stopping, as if the cannonballs were endless. The countless projectiles pounded the barrier over ckstone City, causing it to tremble and seem on the verge of copse. The bombardment wouldn''t cease until the barrier waspletely destroyed.


    ...


    At the same time, the Geng Metal ore vein was also under fierce attack.


    A group of people armed with knives, spears, clubs, and various spiritual weapons, all of them muscle-bound, were trying to break through the mine¡¯s protective formation under themand of a formation master.


    Outside the protective formation, there were densely packed crowds, numbering at least several thousand. Among them, five individuals exuded the aura of the Spiritual Sea realm.


    Long Xuan rushed out of his small cabin after hearing the sound of an enemy attack. Upon seeing the spiritual weapons in their hands, he was stunned.


    Since arriving in this world, the only spiritual weapons he had seen were swords and des. He had never seen spears, clubs, or hammers... all these different types of weapons.


    But today, he saw them all at once. This group had everything¡ªeighteen types of weapons, not one was missing.


    His first impression was that the counters to his de Gu had arrived. These people were here to deliver experience points to it.


    At this moment, Long Gang shouted loudly, "Most of these people are body refiners! They use all kinds of unconventional weapons, and you don¡¯t know how to handle them. So avoid closebat as much as possible."


    "We can''t let that formation master break through our defenses. Otherwise, the protective formation around the mine will eventually fall. If that happens, we will be in grave danger. Follow me out of the formation, and let''s take down that formation master!"


    Long Gang drew his sword and, with a loud roar, charged outside the formation. The other Long n Gu cultivators followed suit, releasing their Gu insects, and under Long Gang''smand, they surged out like a tidal wave.


    Do not underestimate the defense of the Geng Metal Vein. After all, all the miners here are Gu cultivators¡ªthere are at least a thousand of them.


    This force is already massive enough and has the power to face the iing enemy in battle.


    Long Xuan, caught up in the crowd, had no choice but to follow them outside. It wasn''t as if he could stay behind while everyone else charged out.


    Looking at the formation master hidden at the back of the crowd, Long Xuan understood that whether they could hold this Geng Metal Vein depended entirely on whether Long Gang could eliminate that formation master.


    If the operation failed, and the formation master had enough time to break the array, then the Geng Metal Vein would likely be lost. At that point, Long Xuan would have no choice but to escape using his Sou Gu House.


    The battle quickly erupted as thousands of Gu cultivators shed in a massive melee. The sound of fierce fighting filled the air, and casualties appeared on both sides almost instantly. Every now and then, someone would fall to the ground, letting out a scream of agony.


    Although the enemy forces outnumbered the Long n Gu cultivators several times over, Long Xuan soon noticed that thebat power of the physical cultivators was generally much weaker than that of the Gu cultivators. Often, a single powerful Gu insect was enough to bite a physical cultivator to death.


    Moreover, the Long n had the home-field advantage here. If they were ever in danger or suffered fatal wounds, they could retreat into the formation behind them to save their lives. Therefore, even with a numerical disadvantage, the Long n Gu cultivators were not at a disadvantage inbat.


    At this moment, Long Xuan released his own de Gu. Since he had refined it, it had yet to seebat. This was its first battle.


    Long Xuan was eager to see itsbat abilities. Even as its master, he wasn''t entirely sure how strong it was. Thisrge battle was the perfect opportunity to test it.


    As for his other peak-grade Gu insects, he didn''t release them. Everyone in the Long n knew he had the de Gu, but no one had ever seen his other Gu insects. He was saving them as trump cards, not to be revealed lightly.


    If he used them too frequently, others would eventually study them and discover ways to counter them. When he faced a formidable enemy again, he would be in danger.


    After Little Moon jumped out of his insect pouch and saw therge-scale battle unfolding before it, excitement shed across its face. Without hesitation, it rushed into the fray.


    Ever since it followed this master who specialized in survival, it hadn''t fought a single battle. Its body had grown rusty. This sudden war reignited its battle-hardened instincts.


    Thus, the physical cultivators, armed with various weapons, were in for a disaster. The de Gu, having mastered the Ten Absolute de Technique, could dismantle any weapon in the world.


    The Body Refiners, fighting in closebat with their weapons, were simply no match for this de Gu, their natural nemesis.


    Whether they wielded spears or staffs, the de Gu took them down one by one, as easily as chopping vegetables.


    No matter whether the Body Refiners used hammer techniques or whip techniques, even the most obscure weapon techniques, the de Gu would cut through them with a single sh, instantly killing its opponent.


    Before long, corpses littered the ground around it. The de Gu had gone on aplete killing spree.


    The appearance of this mantis, already ughtering its way through the battlefield, soon attracted the attention of the enemy. The physical cultivators, all showing signs of fear, had no choice but to send ten of their strongest fighters to hold it back.


    Thus, the ten des of the de Gu faced off against ten physical cultivators in the Marrow Cleansing stage, and the battle became a deadlock.


    Seeing this, Long Xuan couldn''t help but be stunned. "Good heavens, it''s taking on ten opponents at once?"


    Even though thebat power of Body Refiners was weaker, fighting ten of them at once was still quite an exaggeration.


    At this point, Long Xuan finally understood the truebat power of this fifty-thousand-material-grade de Gu. It had been worth every material he''d invested in it.


    The advantage of the ten-de style was now fully disyed in this battle. With so many des, it could fight multiple opponents at once without falling behind.


    The Body Refiners facing this monster with ten arms were numb with shock. They were now fully experiencing the advantage of having more hands. It was like cheating¡ªanyone daring to fight this monster one-on-one was asking for death.


    The Ten de Style Technique gained fame in this battle. On this day, the Ten de Style became known, slowly spreading throughout the world.


    This was the breakthrough battle for the de Gu, the fight that would make its name. From this day forward, it would begin leaving its own legend in this world.


    The appearance of the Ten de Style also excited some of the skilled de masters. One man, holding a famous de, smiled as he watched the mantis practicing the Ten de Style. His expression showed deep interest, and his battle spirit grew stronger and stronger.


    "Ten de Style? Interesting! Very interesting!"


    "I, the de Tyrant, have traveled far and wide for so many years, defeating countless de masters. I''ve never seen anyone like this using a ten-de technique, and it''s already be aplete system. Truly fascinating."


    "You all back off. Let me fight this Ten de Style!"


    Hearing that someone was stepping in to deal with the troublesome opponent, the ten Body Refiners heaved a sigh of relief and backed off without hesitation.


    Fighting this monster had them feeling like they were full of ws. The mantis could easily find those ws and kill them in a single strike.


    If not for the fact that it was ten against one, and they had teammates to assist them, they wouldn''t havested this long. If the fight continued, they were sure they''d die. This was the feeling in all of their hearts.


    So when someone volunteered to take over, the ten fighters quickly retreated. As they ran far from the battlefield, they realized their backs were soaked with sweat.


    Seeing all his opponents retreat, the de Gu rushed toward the nearest man wielding a named de.


    "Haha! You''reing at me? Good!"


    The man, battle spirit soaring, charged toward it, gripping his famous de.


    "ng!"


    The sound of des shing rang out as the two passed by each other. A human head flew high into the air before crashing to the ground.


    Then, the headless body followed, copsing heavily with a dull thud.


    Despite the chaos on the battlefield, at that moment, everything seemed eerily silent.

 Chapter 208: The Condensed Dragon Pill

    Upon seeing this scene, Long Xuan''s mouth twitched uncontrobly.


    Just moments ago, this individual had appeared in an imposing manner, exuding overwhelming dominance, holding a famous de, full of an aura of power and control.


    Long Xuan had thought this person was a master, highly skilled in swordsmanship. He was genuinely worried for the de Gu, thinking that facing this person might bring real danger.


    But the result?


    They were taken down in a single strike¡ªwhat a joke!


    However, what Long Xuan didn¡¯t know was that someone wielding a named de, yet not being robbed of it, was no ordinary person.


    But the de Gu had just tested the full power of the Ten Absolute Sword Technique, releasing all ten forms at once. How could any normal person withstand that?


    It seems this so-called de master died rather unjustly.


    At that moment, the ten people who had fled earlier looked back and saw the scene, their faces instantly darkening.They had thought he was a great master, but the result? Just this? Are you kidding me? If you don¡¯t have the skills, why act so arrogantly? Now we''re in big trouble.


    ¡°What do we do now? He got taken down in one strike. That mantis is now unchecked.¡±


    ¡°How should I know what to do? Whoever wants to fight that monster can go ahead, but I¡¯m not fighting it. That ten-de-style monster isn¡¯t something a human can contend with.¡±


    ¡°Run! It¡¯sing this way!¡±


    After finishing off this opponent, the de Gu charged into the crowd again. With each swing of its de, more bodies fell to the ground.


    No matter what weapons the body cultivators were using, under the de Gu''s Ten Absolute Sword Technique, everything was shattered in one strike. Incredibly, no body cultivator on the battlefield could take even a single hit from it.


    With no one to restrain the de Gu, it tore through the crowd as if no one was there, cutting down enemies in and out seven times over. The once formidable group of body cultivators began to crumble in small pockets, all because of a single mantis.


    Seeing the de Gu''s battle prowess with his own eyes, Long Xuan nodded in satisfaction.


    From this battle, he could conclude that Little moon was a perfect counter to body Refiners armed with all kinds of weapons. Anyone who faced it was sure to die.


    It seemed that only supernatural abilities, those that weren¡¯t based on physical attacks, could harm it.


    In a battlefield filled with body cultivators, Little moon was an invincible war god, undefeatable.


    Meanwhile, on the battlefield of the Spiritual Sea Stage Gu cultivators, the two supervisors each engaged two Spiritual Sea Stage Gu cultivators, while Long Gang headed straight for the elderly formation master at the back of the enemy crowd.


    Seeing someone charge toward him, the elderly formation master looked on with disdain. Calmly, he took out four formation gs from his storage bag and nted them in the ground.


    In no time, four barriers rose up, securely protecting him within.


    Afterpleting this, he looked at the approaching enemy with a mocking smile. However, when he saw a humanoid creature with bone spikes and a tail appear before him, his expression froze in shock.


    ¡°What is that thing?¡±


    Just as his words fell, the creature¡¯s sharp ws shattered the barrier he had just set up.


    The ws didn¡¯t stop there; with a single swipe, it crushed his skull.


    He had been careless, distracted for a moment, and didn¡¯t have time to dodge.


    Moreover, he had trapped himself within his own barrier. Where could he have escaped to?


    After dispatching the formation master in one strike, Long Gang was slightly stunned. It was that easy? The mission was so simple that he found it hard to believe.


    He couldn¡¯t help but inwardly praise the power of the Dragon Blood Battle Gu. The formation set up by the formation was weak, but it wasn¡¯t something that could be easily shattered by someone of the same level.


    He was certain that without the Dragon Blood Battle Gu, even if he wore himself out, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to break the barrier and kill the formation master hiding inside.


    If that were the case, they would have been forced to flee back to their own formation in disgrace, and the Geng Metal ore vein would likely have been lost because the formation master would have destroyed the array.


    It could be said that this victory was entirely due to the Dragon Blood Battle Gu.


    He couldn''t help but grow even more fond of this Dragon Blood Battle Gu, though it had been acquired on loan during wartime. The thought of how many contributions were needed to exchange for a Dragon Blood Battle Gu made his heart ache¡ªhe would likely be working off the debt for the next ten years.


    But defending this Geng Metal ore vein was undoubtedly a significant contribution, enough to clear arge part of his debt.


    Feeling exhrated, Long Gang waved his hand and shouted loudly, "The formation master is dead! Everyone retreat to the formation!"


    His mission was to kill the formation master, not to wipe out all the invaders outside.


    Even if he could manage to kill them, it would result in heavy casualties for the Long n''s Gu cultivators. And since they were an isted force, every person lost would be irreceable, while the enemy could send more reinforcements.


    Thus, he decided to preserve his forces and defend the ore vein. Even though their morale was high, he refused to let them engage in further skirmishes.


    Due to the death of their formation master, the body cultivators and Gu cultivators of the Great Yin Dynasty lost their morale. Coupled with the small-scale copse caused by the mantis on the Spiritual Sea battlefield, the four Spiritual Sea Stage Gu cultivators could only order a retreat. Both sides, understanding the situation, withdrew.


    Long Xuan hurriedly picked up the named de and storage bag from the ground. Without taking a moment to admire them, he quickly ran back to the formation.


    At this moment, his heart was overflowing with joy. Having attended the ckstone City auction, he was well aware of how valuable a named de could be.


    He hadn''t expected to gain such a reward in this battle. No wonder everyone enjoys looting after a killrge-scale battlefields truly provide a legitimate opportunity to kill and loot.


    Upon returning to the formation, the Long n Gu cultivators were cheering loudly. Many had gained substantial rewards from the battle. After checking their spoils, theyid out anything they didn¡¯t need to trade in a makeshift market.


    Thus, a small treasure exchange event spontaneously formed, and the various stalls were buzzing with activity. The sound of haggling filled the air.


    ¡°How many materials did you use to refine this de Gu?¡± Long Ruoxue walked over with a serious expression, casting a surprised nce at Little moon, who stood beside Long Xuan.


    This Ten-Armed Mantis was something she had traded away,pletely uninterested in it at the time. But seeing its strength today, far surpassing her own de Gu, left her shocked.


    She felt like she had been pped in the face at light speed, now doubting whether she had misjudged the mantis and identally given away a treasure defying the heavens.


    Was the deformity of the Ten-Armed Mantis actually not a w, but an advantage? She was no longer sure.


    Upon hearing Long Ruoxue¡¯s question, Long Xuan casually replied, ¡°Not much, just over ten thousand materials.¡±


    In his heart, he added a private thought: <em>Fifty thousand is also over ten thousand, so technically I''m not wrong.</em>


    Had it not seemed too absurd, he might have imed it required a hundred thousand materials, but that would feel like an insult to her intelligence.


    Even so, Long Ruoxue still gasped in shock.


    ¡°A de Gu requiring ten thousand materials? That¡¯s already on par with the Dragon Blood Battle Gu. Its strength must be equivalent as well.¡±


    What shocked her the most was that Long Xuan had seeded in refining it on his first attempt. He had only refined a Gu once and managed to produce a ten-thousand-material-grade de Gu.


    Long Ruoxue couldn¡¯t remain calm any longer. Was his luck purchased with years of his lifespan? It seemed even Long Ziyan had also sessfully refined a ten-thousand-grade de Gu, and now, Long Ruoxue was truly envious.


    Eager to admire his de, Long Xuan said no more and hurriedly made his way to the small wooden house.


    Watching his retreating figure, Long Ruoxue turned to Long Dan, who had just arrived, and furrowed her brow. ¡°I don¡¯t think that mantis¡¯s strength lies in its many arms making it impossible to defend against. Its true power is in the de technique that allows it to perfectly leverage the advantage of having so many arms.¡±


    ¡°That de technique is no simple matter. The Ten-de Style has never been seen in this world before. It''s possible he created it himself. Did you notice any way to counter it?¡±


    Long Dan took a deep breath, remaining silent for a long time. His gaze grew serious as he said, ¡°The only way to counter it that I can see is: don''t engage it in debat. Don¡¯t challenge it in any kind of weapon-based duel. Otherwise, you¡¯re as good as dead.¡±


    ¡°If he really did invent this de technique, then he¡¯s truly a once-in-a-generation genius!¡±


    Long Ruoxue gave him a sidelong nce. She had asked how to counter the technique, and though he answered, it felt like he hadn¡¯t said anything at all.


    ...


    In the following days, the body refiners outside the formation remained persistent,unching continual assaults on the Geng Metal ore vein, even attacking day and night without rest.


    Though the formation master had died, the formation could still be broken by brute force. Unfortunately, the body cultivators outside were unusually strong, wielding massive hammers and relentlessly pounding the barrier, causing it to sh with intense light.


    It wasn''t just a matter of whether the barrier could withstand the constant attacks of the body cultivators. Even if it could, the cost of the spirit stones consumed by the formation each day was astronomical.


    Thus, whenever the barrier was on the verge of being shattered by the body cultivators, Long Gang had no choice but to organize a team to rush out of the formation and prioritize killing the hammer-wielding body cultivators. Once the barrier was repaired, they would retreat again.


    However, while the barrier was being restored, Long n Gu cultivators were left dead on the battlefield outside every time. If this kept up, their manpower would gradually dwindle, and it would only be a matter of time before the Geng Metal ore vein was lost.


    The faces of all the Long n Gu cultivators within the formation darkened with worry. They now regretted killing all the Bai n Gu cultivators here.


    If they had left arge number of Bai n Gu cultivators to share the burden, this battle would have been much easier.


    Meanwhile, the relentless battles had allowed the Ten-Armed de Gu to establish a fearsome reputation.


    In every skirmish, the Ten-Armed de Gu ughtered enemies indiscriminately, striking fear into the body refining cultivators outside. Just the mention of it caused them to pale.


    The Ten-Armed de Gu had be infamous among the enemy forces. In every battle, dealing with this Ten-Armed de Gu became their most difficult challenge.


    So many famous experts had already fallen to its ten des in an attempt to subdue it.


    This wasrgely because the attackers were almost all body cultivators, and those who specialized in using metal-based tools needed Geng Metal the most. That¡¯s why almost all the attackers were body cultivators, and they were no match for the Ten-Armed de Gu.


    Had the attackers been Gu cultivators instead, the Ten-Armed de Gu wouldn¡¯t have been able to kill so easily.


    As its owner, Long Xuan had mostly stayed out of the action. His main body remained inside the wooden house cultivating, while he sent out his clone to participate in battles.


    Although he was confident in his invincibility among his peers, he still feared that some unscrupulous Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivator might suddenly sneak attack him without honor.


    Who could guarantee such a thing wouldn¡¯t happen? So, being cautious by nature, he chose to avoid battles and hide in the wooden house, shamelessly bing a deserter.


    But this day, the peace inside the wooden house was suddenly broken as the door was kicked open.


    ¡°Long Xuan, quickly use the Sou Gu House to escape! We can¡¯t hold this ce any longer!¡±


    Long Ruoxue shouted this into the house before anxiously running off.


    ¡°What?¡± Long Xuan was shocked and hurriedly stood up.


    They couldn¡¯t hold the Geng Metal ore vein? What had happened? How could it have fallen so suddenly?


    Wait a minute! How did Long Ruoxue know his main body was here? Did that mean she knew he had been hiding like a deserter all this time?


    How embarrassing...


    ........................................................................


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 Chapter 210: The Success of the Medicinal Gu

    Due to the emergence of the Suo Gu, this war started shifting into a prolonged conflict. The lightning assault of the Great Yin Dynasty on ckstone City also transitioned into multi-front warfare, with battles ring up everywhere in the Western Lands. The entire region was inplete chaos.


    And this was all caused by the appearance of a single Gu insect.


    The result of a prolonged war was an increasing demand for war supplies, such as Blood-Stopping Pills, Healing Pills, Spirit-Recovering Pills, Exploding Talismans, and various life-saving spiritual artifacts. The demand skyrocketed, and so did their prices.


    One particr merchant guild made a fortune from the war. Qian Jinjin had stockpiled a massive amount of war supplies at low prices years ago and was now selling them at exorbitant rates on both sides of the conflict, making an enormous profit.


    Gu cultivators from both sides cursed them as a profiteer.


    As the war dragged on and the number of battlefronts increased, the cities of the Western Lands struggled to cope. They couldn¡¯t unite their forces, and ckstone City¡¯s various ns were stretched thin, constantly scrambling to reim lost mines, only to lose them again the next day in endless, bloody battles over the same resources.


    Almost all major resource points and cities were engulfed in conflict. Every day, n leaders had piles of letters on their tables, issuing countless tasks to their Gu cultivators.


    These cultivators were constantly rushing between locations, defending or attacking mines, or providing support. There was no rest¡ªevery day brought more tasks.


    The only exception was Long Xuan, who remained remarkably idle. He took on no tasks himself, delegating any unavoidable missions to his clones, while he secluded himself in a chamber, focusing on cultivating his techniques, refusing to be disturbed.A year passed in this manner. During this year, Long Xuanpleted the firstyer of his Heavenly Demon Soul-Splitting Divine Art, which was fairly straightforward, taking just a year.


    He also mastered the soul technique "Soul Library", which elerated his thinking. Once you grasped the key, it wasn¡¯t too difficult to realize this method.


    However, the second soul technique, Heavenly Demon God-Devouring Divine Technique, was far more challenging. While he knew how to execute it, it would take a vast amount of time¡ªfar more than just a year.


    This soul technique was incredibly powerful. A technique like this couldn¡¯t be perfected in a short time, and Long Xuan had prepared himself for the long haul.


    Still, he had already mastered the core aspects of the Heavenly Demon Soul-Splitting Divine Technique, enough to cultivate during the Spirit Gathering stage. He was now ready to attempt his first soul split and officially begin practicing the technique.


    However, he considered the technique too dangerous to risk himself, so he tasked his Fire Clone with cultivating it instead.


    He sent the clone to the far west, near the Soul-Nourishing Tree, to cultivate the Heavenly Demon Soul-Splitting Divine Technique.


    This soul-splitting technique was risky. Without strong innate soul power and the support of a Soul-Nourishing Tree, anyone attempting it would surely die.


    Moreover, splitting the soul was excruciatingly painful, a torment worse than death.


    And the cultivation process required splitting the soul multiple times, each split bringing more agony.


    Practicing the Heavenly Demon Soul-Splitting Divine Technique was an act of self-torture, a brutal, relentless suffering.


    So, Long Xuan wasn¡¯t about to practice it himself; he preferred to have his clone endure the torment while he reaped the rewards.


    In that year, the Medicinal Gu was also sessfully cultivated. It appeared as a cute, green caterpir, capable of secreting a green spirit liquid that could rapidly mature spiritual herbs.


    Long Xuan named this liquid Heavenly Creation Liquid. Just a single drop could increase the age of any spiritual herb by a hundred years.


    However, the Medicinal Gu had a cooldown period after producing a drop of the elixir.


    The length of this cooldown was hard to predict, as it depended on how well the Medicinal Gu was fed.


    Being a caterpir, the Medicinal Gu ate leaves¡ªthe higher the quality of the leaves, the faster it could produce the Heavenly Creation Liquid.


    It was quite the spectacle, as this Medicinal Gu now had topete with the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm for food. Their diets and evolution materials were exactly the same, which would surely lead to conflict over resources in the future.


    Long Xuan had his Fire Clone take the Medicinal Gu to the herb garden, so that while cultivating the Heavenly Demon Soul-Splitting Divine Art, it could also use the Medicinal Gu to elerate the growth of the Divine Dragon Trees.


    Many other significant events urred during this year, the most notable being the emergence of many genius warriors through the war.


    These individuals possessedbat power that defied their peers, ughtering countless fellow Gu cultivators of the same level, and became famous across both camps. They became so feared that just mentioning their names struck terror into the hearts of their enemies.


    These individuals were hailed as the "Ten Demonic Prodigies" of the Western Lands and the " Ten Heavenly Talents" of the Great Yin Dynasty.


    Ranked first among the Ten Demonic Prodigies was Long Dan. His Evil Dragon Emperor Eye, empowered by his Limit-Breaking Gu, could break through allws of the world.


    Under his gaze, no one of the same level could withstand a single blow. The geniuses of the Great Yin Dynasty, particrly those at the peak of the Marrow Cleansing stage, were in by him in droves, with more than a dozen already falling to his hand.


    Long Xuan ranked seventh among the Ten Demonic Prodigies of the Western Lands. Despite his lethargic attitude, sending clones to handle battles for him, he still earned the title.


    Even though he waszy inbat, his clones alone were enough to dominate his peers.


    His clones practiced the highest-level techniques, body arts, and spiritual arts. Combined with his Ten Absolute Body and bizarre mutated spiritual power, they were nearly unbeatable for anyone of the same rank.


    Even without giving his clones his best Gu insects, their sheerbat power allowed them to crush their peers.


    Thus, Long Xuan gained immense fame by doing very little. His reputation soared in his camp, and countless young talents worshipped him, constantly seeking his friendship.


    Long Xuan found this quite bothersome. He preferred to keep a low profile, as being too conspicuous could bring unnecessary trouble.


    Currently, on both sides of the battlefield, these twenty individuals were at the peak of their fame. They had killed countless enemies, achieved numerous merits, and became red-hot, star-level figures whose names were known far and wide.


    That day, after all tasks had beenpleted, Long Xuan was contemting whether he should research a particrly longsting Gu technique to try in the Soul Library when the Suo Gu came running out from its little house, holding a letter in its mouth.


    Long Xuan had been deeply absorbed in cultivating his techniques, always fearing that ckstone City might face some sudden upheaval and be breached. So, out of caution, he always kept the Suo Gu¡¯s small house nearby, ready for a quick escape if needed.


    As soon as the Suo Gu emerged, Long Xuan instinctively took the letter and, upon seeing that it was from Wood clone, quickly opened the envelope and began to read.


    Regarding the external war situation, Long Xuan had always let his various clones take turns going into battle, rotating them so they could rest. Today was wood clone on duty, and it seemed the n had assigned another task.


    The Long n had long since established something called the "Long n Alliance," so over the past year, the tasks he had been executing were not assigned by the Long n of the Western Lands nor by the Long n of the Far West. All the tasks he received came from the Long n Alliance.


    After opening the envelope, Long Xuan found, as expected, that the letter contained a task assigned by the Long n Alliance.


    Tasks issued during wartime were mandatory and left no room for refusal.


    Though wartime tasks were highly dangerous, the rewards were also quite generous. Completing them granted a great amount of contribution points.


    Long Xuan was no longer interested in contribution points, but the task itself piqued his curiosity.


    The gist of the task was that the Bai n¡¯s Mithril mine had been upied by Gu cultivators of the Great Yin Dynasty. As an ally, the Long n was obligated to send troops to help the Bai n reim the Mithril mine.


    Upon reading this, Long Xuan¡¯s lips curled into a smile. Anyone withmon sense could see that once the Long n upied the Mithril mine, it would never be returned to the Bai n. Who would give up such a profitable opportunity?


    ¡°A Mithril mine, huh!¡± Long Xuan¡¯s eyes lit up, his interest clearly piqued.


    Mithril was second only to Geng Metal in value.


    If Geng Metal was considered the hardest material in the Gu world, then Mithril ranked second. Mithril was equally priceless and extremely rare toe across in the outside world.


    The thought of Mithril was enough to stir greed in Long Xuan''s heart.


    As soon as he learned of the Mithril mine, three words immediately shed through his mind¡ªMithril Essence. This was a perfect opportunity to seize the Mithril Essence. If he didn¡¯t act now, when would he?


    Excitement shed in Long Xuan¡¯s eyes, and he immediately decided that his true self would personally undertake this task.


    The clone would not be able to find the Mithril Essence¡¯s location, so the matter required his original self to take action.


    Once the Long n captured the Mithril mine, they would undoubtedly need to reorganize the defensive formations and hold it for a while.


    During this time, he could leave his clone outside while his original self sneaked into the mine to excavate the Mithril Essence.


    In this period, he would be able to collect enough Mithril Essence.


    After packing his things, Long Xuan immediately stepped out of his door.


    It had been a year since hest left this small house. It wasn¡¯t easy.


    ...


    Late at night.


    Following the directions in the letter, Long Xuan arrived at a massive underground chamber within the Long n¡¯s estate to meet with the others. Since this mission was not to be made public, it was best to keep a low profile and avoid letting other ns know about it.


    As soon as Long Xuan entered the room, all the Long n Gu cultivators inside turned their gaze toward him in unison. Many of them had expressions of admiration. His reputation as one of the top ten prodigies of the Western Lands had certainly earned him a lot of admirers.


    Long Xuan nodded in acknowledgment before walking inside.


    He swept his gaze across the room and noted that there were quite a few people present¡ªnearly a thousand, if not more. Despite the size of the underground chamber, it was starting to feel a bit crowded.


    Long Xuan was slightly shocked. The fact that so many people were being mobilized meant that the Long n was determined to take control of this Mithril mine.


    With this many people being sent out, it was clear that the Long n intended to capture the mine and hold it indefinitely. There was no way they were going to return it to the Bai n.


    Not only had the Long n deployed close to a thousand Gu cultivators, but among them were one hundred Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators, and four Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators, led by none other than Long Qian himself.


    The Long n was clearly going all out; they would not stop until the Mithril mine was theirs.


    As Long Xuan walked in, Long Qian immediately turned his head toward him and said, ¡°Long Xuan, among the Gu cultivators of the Great Yin Dynasty guarding the Mithril mine, there is one named Ye Xiu. He ranks fifth among the top ten prodigies of Great Yin.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m leaving him to you. You are only allowed to win this battle, not lose.¡±


    ¡°The Great Yin Dynasty has an abundance of Body Refiners, so their numbers will surpass ours at the mine.¡±


    ¡°But our n is fighting on multiple fronts, and this is the most manpower we can spare.¡±


    ¡°You must kill him quickly to crush their morale and boost ours. Only then will we have a chance to capture the Mithril mine in one fell swoop. Understand?¡±


    ........................................................................


    Read extra chapters on >>> /SpiritStrantion

 Chapter 211: Innate Spiritual Treasure

    What else could Long Xuan say? He could only nod in agreement.


    At this moment, his heart was filled with frustration. He had nned to take things easy, but unexpectedly, he was assigned the most troublesome task right away, along with a mandatory order¡ªhe had no choice but to fight.


    It''s worth noting that inrge-scale wars within the Gu world, there exists an unspoken rule: high-realm cultivators cannot attack lower-realm cultivators unless it''s in self-defense or for a justified reason.


    In other words, a Gu King or a cultivator at the Spiritual Sea stage cannot lower themselves to ughter the enemy''s geniuses. However, the gap between the Marrow Cleansing stage and the Spirit Gathering stage is not insurmountable, so they are not subject to this restriction.


    This is an unwritten rule that has existed since ancient times, and no one dares to break it. Otherwise, it would open Pandora''s box, and the side that breaks the rule would inevitably suffer a severe bacsh.


    If a Gu King were to attack and kill a genius, there would be no reason for failure. Once this precedent is set, no genius from any n would survive. In the end, it would lead to mutual destruction, as the death of a generation''s genius could cause a n to decline, possibly never to rise again.


    No one can bear the consequences of such actions. Thus, in the Gu world, every war is fought between generals against generals, kings against kings, and cannon fodder against cannon fodder.


    While there have been those who broke the rules, their oues were always tragic. Not only were their geniuses killed, but all their n members, including mortals with even the faintest blood ties, were massacred by the Gu King, leaving only a shell of their former n.


    Therefore, Long Qian could not personally fight Ye Xiu, who was the target. He could only send Long Xuan, a genius of equal rank, to counterbnce him. That was the reason Long Xuan was brought along for this mission.However, unless absolutely necessary, Long Xuan was reluctant to reveal himself. Even though the rules prevented Gu Kings from attacking geniuses, throughout history, there had always been exceptions, albeit rare.


    Some Gu Kings had secretly assassinated geniuses without anyone knowing, and since they left no trace, it remained undetected.


    Such incidents were not impossible. Long Xuan, being naturally cautious, was always on guard against such possibilities.


    That¡¯s why, in every battle, he sent a clone to keep a low profile, never daring to fully reveal himself. But this time, he had no choice; he had been specifically named.


    Afterward, Long Qian briefly exined the mission n to everyone, emphasizing how to break the protective formation around the Mithril Mine. He then took out a Suo Gu Hut and announced their departure.


    At this point, the method by which the Suo Gu could evolve to transport living beings had long been spread throughout the n. Since outsiders already knew this secret, the Long n saw no reason to hide it any longer.


    Now, any Long n Gu cultivator carried a Suo Gu capable of teleporting living beings.


    Moreover, the Long n had already hidden a hundred Suo Gu Houses in a concealed location near the Mithril Mine. As long as they knew the coordinates of these houses, the entire group could be teleported directly.


    It was like a surprise army descending from the sky. With this method, they couldunch surprise attacks anywhere, making it nearly impossible for the enemy to defend against.


    The Long n had been using this tactic all year, continuously harassing the Great Yin Dynasty¡¯s weaker forces. Each time they attacked unexpectedly and fled using the Suo Gu Houses when reinforcements arrived, enraging the Gu cultivators of the Great Yin Dynasty to no end.


    The Great Yin Dynasty was powerless to defend against an enemy that could appear anywhere at any time, and for the moment, they were stuck in an exhausting stalemate.


    This had also sped up the Great Yin Dynasty''s research into methods to counter the Suo Gu.


    Before long, a hundred peculiar small houses in a concealed cave near the Mithril Mine began to shake, and one by one, ck-d Long n Gu cultivators emerged from them.


    In no time, the cave was packed with Long n Gu cultivators.


    A massive force of Gu cultivators had thus suddenly appeared next to the Mithril Mine, but the Gu cultivators guarding the mine for the Great Yin Dynasty remainedpletely unaware. Who wouldn¡¯t have a headache facing such a sneaky opponent?


    The Great Yin Dynasty had already suffered countless losses at the hands of the Long n. Until they discovered a way to counter the Suo Gu, this tactic seemed unbeatable.


    Inside the cave, all the Long n Gu cultivators wore solemn expressions. No one dared to speak, and the silence was almost suffocating, with only the sound of rapid breathing hinting at their nervousness. ?


    When everyone had assembled, Long Qian finally broke the tense atmosphere in the cave. He shouted, "Alright! Follow me and kill! Let''s do this!"


    With that, Long Qian roared, tearing through his clothes as he transformed into a half-dragon humanoid form. With one powerful kick, he smashed through the rock blocking the cave entrance and led the charge.


    The Long n Gu cultivators immediately felt their morale surge. With a collective shout, they rushed out of the cave, heading straight for the Mithril Mine not far away.


    "Charge with me!"


    "Kill!"


    "Forward!"


    ¡­


    With each battle cry, the protective formation around the mine copsed almost instantly, and arge wave of Long n Gu cultivators flooded the Mithril Mine, killing everyone they encountered.


    This Mithril Mine had been held by the Bai n for a year. Despite their efforts, after suffering heavy losses, the Bai n¡¯s forces had been overtaken by the Gu cultivators of the Great Yin Dynasty just a few days ago.


    The Great Yin Dynasty hadn''t had time to set up a strong formation, and with Long Qian, a master of formations, on the Long n''s side, the protective formation was as fragile as paper.


    Under Long Qian''s guidance, the Long n Gu cultivators relentlessly attacked the weak points of the formation, causing it to copse almost instantly.


    The speed of the formation¡¯s destruction was shocking, and the sudden appearance of the Long n cultivators left the Great Yin Dynasty¡¯s forcespletely unprepared.


    Many of them were still asleep when they were torn apart by the invading Long n Gu cultivators, dying in utter frustration.


    In the blink of an eye, the forces guarding the mine suffered heavy losses.


    "You seek death!"


    Soon, an enraged voice echoed from the camp, followed by the explosive release of Spiritual Sea-stage Gu cultivators¡¯ auras. Figures from the Spiritual Sea stage quickly emerged from the depths of the camp.


    They didn¡¯t even have time to dress properly, grabbing their insect rearing bags and storage bags as they rushed out.


    There was no time for talk. The Spiritual Sea-stage Gu cultivators of both sides immediately shed, engaging in a fierce battle.


    The chaos generated by the Spiritual Sea-stage Gu cultivators was immense. Both sides fought with everything they had, unleashing their full power. The aftershocks of their battle copsed many buildings.


    Lower-realm Gu cultivators nearby paled in fear, quickly retreating to a safe distance.


    On the outskirts of the Spiritual Sea-stage battlefield, Marrow Cleansing-stage Gu cultivators were also locked inbat. Some were fighting one-on-two, others three-on-one, creating a scene of utter chaos.


    Further out, thergest battlefield was among the Spirit Gathering-stage Gu cultivators. Their numbers were overwhelming, and the fight was a chaotic melee, resembling chickens pecking at each other.


    The Spirit Gathering-stage battlefield surrounded the Marrow Cleansing-stage and Spiritual Sea-stage battlefields, with battle cries echoing from all directions.


    For a moment, the battle was locked in a stalemate, with neither side gaining the upper hand.


    Although the Long n had the advantage of a surprise attack, catching the Great Yin Dynasty off guard and inflicting heavy losses before the battle had even started, the fight quickly turned into a fierce struggle.


    However, the number of body refiners in the Great Yin Dynasty was simply too vast, and the dynasty was nning to use arge number of these body refiners for mining.


    Thus, including the miners who were going to extract Mithril, the Great Yin Dynasty had more than two thousand people stationed at this mine.


    If it weren''t for the fact that body refiners had lowbat strength, if all these people were Gu cultivators, even if the Long n had the courage of 800 warriors, they wouldn¡¯t dare attack this mine.


    "Damn it! Which bunch of bastards dared to disturb my beautiful dream! I see you¡¯ve all grown tired of living!"


    At that moment, a fat man with bloodshot eyes stormed out of a house, angrily ring with murderous eyes at the Gu cultivators fighting near his residence.


    "All of you, go to hell!"


    He took out a green bead from his storage ring, and immediately, a cloud of toxic mist was released. The poison was extremely potent, killing anyone it touched instantly. Those affected fell to the ground in the blink of an eye, not even having time to scream in pain.


    In an instant, swathes of Gu cultivators from the Long n dropped dead. However, the poison mist was an area attack, and since the Long n''s Gu cultivators were entangled with people from the Great Yin Dynasty, it also caused coteral damage, killing many from the Great Yin Dynasty as well.


    "Die! All of you, just die!"


    The fat man, clearly having a bad temper after being woken up, began a killing spree, madly ughtering even his own people.


    Under his rampage, both Spirit Gathering stage and Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators were killed inrge numbers, leaving everyone in shock and terror. They quickly distanced themselves from the battlefield.


    "It''s Ye Xiu! Run!"


    "He''s going on another killing spree! Get away from him!"


    "Shit! Is he insane? The forces are in a mixed battle, and he still dares to use the Ten Thousand Poison Bead!"


    ...


    Hearing the chaotic shouts, Long Xuan''s ears twitched. So, this was Ye Xiu? And the bead in his hand was the legendary Ten Thousand Poison Bead. Long Xuan showed a look of surprise.


    His clone had read extensively and indeed came across records about the Ten Thousand Poison Bead.


    In this world, artifact refiners could use various materials to craft powerful spiritual artifacts, with the most powerful being peak-grade spiritual artifacts.


    However, some spiritual artifacts in this world weren¡¯t crafted by artifact refiners; they were naturally born from the heavens and earth, extremely rare and impossible to replicate.


    These naturally born spiritual artifacts are called Innate Spiritual Treasures. They are extraordinarily powerful, far surpassing even the strongest peak-grade spiritual artifacts.


    Each Innate Spiritual Treasure has a heaven-defying ability, and obtaining one makes one invincible within the same realm.


    The most powerful Innate Spiritual Treasures even possess the power to destroy the heavens and the earth, unique in the world, capable of conquering entire realms.


    Although the Ten Thousand Poison Bead wasn¡¯t the strongest of the Innate Spiritual Treasures, it was still ranked in the middle among them.


    The ability of the Ten Thousand Poison Bead is to absorb and release all kinds of poison.


    No matter what kind of poison a Gu cultivator is afflicted with, the Ten Thousand Poison Bead can absorb it, while it can also collect countless other types of poison and release them in battle.


    The toxic mist that the Ten Thousand Poison Bead just released was a fusion of countless poisons, making it extremely lethal.


    The fat man¡¯s Ten Thousand Poison Bead had likely absorbed at least ten thousand types of poisons. The toxicity produced by the fusion of so many poisons was unimaginable. Anyone who touched it was doomed to die, with no cure.


    That¡¯s why the Ten Thousand Poison Bead was a devastating weapon on the battlefield. A single sweep of its poison mist could decimate an entire army.


    It was said that whenever this fat man appeared on the battlefield, the forces of the Western Land suffered massive losses. It was thanks to the Ten Thousand Poison Bead that he gained such a formidable reputation during this war, striking fear into the hearts of the Western Land''s Gu cultivators.


    But if anyone thought that all hisbat strength came from the Ten Thousand Poison Bead, they would be gravely mistaken.


    His personalbat power was equally terrifying. Otherwise, the Ten Thousand Poison Bead would have long been taken by others, and he wouldn''t have earned the title of one of the Great Yin Dynasty¡¯s Ten Heavenly Talents.


    Ye Xiu had cultivated a powerful poison technique. This technique was extremely overbearing, requiring him to devour various toxins for cultivation, making it extremely dangerous.


    His poison cultivation technique and the Ten Thousand Poison Bead were a perfect match,plementing each other. By absorbing the heaven-defying poisons within the Ten Thousand Poison Bead, his cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds.


    He had be a "poisoned person." Even without the Ten Thousand Poison Bead, he could release poison on his own, wiping out swathes of enemies. Once on the battlefield, he was a one-man army annihtor, capable of destroying entire armies by himself.


    However, it was precisely because the poison within the Ten Thousand Poison Bead was so strong that it caused a bacsh. Ye Xiu seemed to have damaged his mind from absorbing too much poison, which made his mental state extremely unstable.


    He acted like a madman, violent and bloodthirsty, prone tounching mass killings at the slightest provocation. Once he lost control, he would even kill his own people.


    Long Xuan¡¯s expression grew serious as he watched the fat man¡¯s cruel demeanor. Seeing him about to release the poison mist for another massacre, Long Xuan finally rushed forward.


    He couldn''t allow him to continue the ughter. He had to find a way to get him away from the battlefield. Otherwise, the Long n would surely lose this battle.


    Long Xuan¡¯s mission this time was to counterbnce this person named Ye Xiu. Now wasn¡¯t the time to hold back. Even though he came for the Mithril inside, he decided to go all out and use all his strength in this fight.


    (End of Chapter)

 Chapter 212: The Eccentric Long Xuan

    "Die! All of you, just die already!"


    The fat man was still arrogantly roaring when suddenly, his hand felt empty. He quickly looked down, only to find that the Ten Thousand Poison Bead in his hand had disappeared into thin air. He was stunned, and when he tried to grasp it again, his prized pearl was nowhere to be found.


    Upon seeing a small four-legged snake flying away, clutching his Ten Thousand Poison Bead, his face instantly twisted with rage.


    "Dammit! You dare touch my stuff? You''re courting death!"


    Ye Xiu (Fatty Ye) cursed the four-legged snake angrily and chased after it.


    As he stormed through the battlefield, everyone in the midst ofbat turned pale with fear and quickly stopped fighting, moving as far away from him as possible.


    In no time, Ye Xiu was lured away from the battlefield, running farther and farther from the crowd. Long Xuan followed closely behind, pursuing at a quick pace.


    Once both of them had left, the path they had taken closed up, and the two warring sides resumed their fierce battle.


    With the seventh-ranked genius now holding off that guy, the Long n''s Gu Masters breathed a sigh of relief. Without needing to constantly guard against the fatty, theirbat power suddenly increased by thirty percent.Despite Ye Xiu round, nearly ball-like figure, his speed was surprisingly fast. Several times, he almost managed to catch up to the Dragon Gu.


    However, the Dragon Gu had the ability to teleport, and it seemed to be deliberately teasing him. It would only teleport at thest moment, right when Ye Xiu was about to grab it, disappearing into thin air with a mischievous smile, driving him into a fit of rage.


    "You little pest! How dare you toy with me? I''ll skin you alive!"


    "So, you can teleport, huh? Let''s see you teleport when I fill the entire area with poison! Let''s see where you go then!"


    Ye Xiu, thoroughly provoked, unleashed a cloud of toxic gas. Centered around him, the nts and trees in the vicinity quickly withered.


    Within just a few breaths, the entire space was filled with poisonous fumes.


    The range of the poison was vast.


    All the surrounding nts, insects, birds, and beasts were killed instantly. The vegetation turned yellow and wilted, and the ground was littered with the corpses of various creatures. The area became a death zone, eerily silent, devoid of all life.


    The Dragon Gu''s teleportation domain was nowpletely filled with the toxic fumes. No matter where it teleported, it wouldnd directly into the poisonous gas. With no space to escape, it could only give up and was instantly engulfed by the poison.


    "Hmph! Run! Keep running! Let¡¯s see where you run off to this time!" Ye Xiu grinned wickedly. But as he watched the Dragon Gu continue to bounce around despite his poison,pletely unaffected, his grin froze, leaving him stunned. ?


    It wasn''t until the Dragon Gu suddenly teleported onto a person''s shoulder, and that person casually retrieved the Ten Thousand Poison Bead from its grasp, ying with it in his hand, that Ye Xiu narrowed his eyes, a serious expression appearing on his face.


    That person had actually walked straight into his poisonous gas and waspletely unaffected. Ye Xiu was shocked.


    How could this be? The poison from the Ten Thousand Poison Bead was identical to the one in the gas. No one should be able to withstand the venom from the pearl. Yet this person was resisting it, walking freely through the poison. How was that possible?


    He saw the blue smoke rising from both the four-legged snake and the person''s body, with faint ck light swirling on their skin under the corrosive effect of the poison. A suspicion began to form in his mind.


    "You freak! Wearing a transparent silkworm armor is one thing, but you even went and tailored one for your Gu insect. You''re an absolute weirdo!"


    Ye Xiu''s mouth twitched uncontrobly. Customizing a silkworm armor for a Gu insect was unheard of, a bizarre tale that would go down in history. This guy was an absolute oddball, as if he had some serious mental illness.


    Long Xuan paused for a moment, surprised that this guy, who didn¡¯t seem that bright, could see through his poison resistance strategy so quickly.


    Indeed, Long Xuan had equipped the Dragon Gu with a Soul Armor. In fact, except for the Earth Master Gu, which was toorge and would waste too much fabric, he had outfitted all his Gu insects with Soul Armor. Each had their own set¡ªit was absolutely insane. Anyone who saw it would be dumbfounded.


    The Soul Armor naturally had poison resistance abilities. It didn¡¯t interfere with vision, breathing, or hearing and providedplete protection with no weak points anywhere on the body.


    Not only was Long Xuan''s Soul Armor resistant to poison, but his Water Bear Gu was also highly resistant to toxins. With both internal and external defenses, it wasn¡¯t easy for Ye Xiu to poison him.


    "You led me here because you were worried that my poison gas would kill all the Long n¡¯s Gu Masters, right? If I unleash my poison, hardly anyone on the battlefield would survive."


    "But let me tell you something¡ªonly in a ce like this, where no one else is around, am I at my strongest. Here, I can freely use my trump cards, ones I can¡¯t afford to reveal in front of others."


    "You, on the other hand, brought me to this deste ce¡ªyou¡¯re just asking to die. You may be clever, but you¡¯re only dooming yourself. Instead of worrying about others, you should worry about your own life first!"


    Ye Xiu sneered coldly and pulled out three top-grade Gu insects from his Insect Pouch¡ªa snake, a centipede, and a mantis. All three werepletely immune to the poison and swiftly charged at Long Xuan.


    "So, this is your hidden trump card? Just three peak-grade Gu insects?"


    Long Xuan smirked. Ye Xiu, unable to reveal his cards in front of others, could only unleash his full power here in this deste ce. But wasn''t that also the same for Long Xuan?


    He too had a horde of peak-grade Gu insects, which he couldn¡¯t casually reveal on the battlefield in front of so many people. Like Ye Xiu, Long Xuan was also at his strongest only in a ce like this.


    Little White, the Water Bear Gu, Eye Of Heavenly Secret, and Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm¡ªnone of these peak-grade Gu insects had ever been revealed in front of anyone.


    Year after year, he intentionally hid his true strength, never participating in any npetitions. For any tasks, he would send his clones to handle them. His peak-grade Gu insects had long rusted from disuse. Now, with no one around, it seemed like a good opportunity to let them out and stretch their muscles a bit.


    After all, you raise Gu for a thousand days to use them in a critical moment. They couldn¡¯t continue freeloading without earning their keep, especially Little white (wine Gu)zy, cunning, and greedy. It was about time it did some work.


    Long Xuan smiled as he reached into his insect nurturing bag, pulling out Little white and the de Gu. He tossed Little white, the de Gu, and the Dragon Gu on his shoulder toward the three iing peak-grade Gu insects.


    The six peak-grade Gu insects immediately shed fiercely. The Dragon Gu faced off against the centipede, Xiao Bai wrestled with the serpent, and the mantis squared off against its counterpart.


    For a moment, the battle between the six peak-grade Gu insects was evenly matched.


    Long Xuan was taken aback. He hadn¡¯t expected the opponent¡¯s peak-grade Gu insects to be so strong, not falling instantly to his own.


    Now he understood why Ye Xiu was hesitant to reveal those three peak-grade Gu insects in front of others¡ªthese three Gu were simply too powerful.


    However, he quickly made sense of it. Every time Ye Xiu entered the battlefield, people fell in droves. He collected storage bags until his hands were numb, amassing mountains of resources. It was no surprise he had refined some heaven-defying Gu insects. If his Gu weren¡¯t powerful, "that" would be the strange thing.


    Seeing that his opponent¡¯s Gu could contend with his own three peak-grade Gu and that his own Gu were starting to lose ground, Ye Xiu was momentarily stunned.


    Noticing that none of his opponent¡¯s Gu feared his poisonous aura, Ye Xiu¡¯s lips twitched in disbelief. Well now, it seemed his opponent had dressed all their Gu insects in silk armor¡ªwhat a bizarre person.


    Recognizing the unmistakable ten-armed mantis, Ye Xiu immediately guessed his opponent¡¯s identity andughed, ¡°So, it¡¯s Long Xuan, ranked seventh on the Western Demonic Prodigy Rankings. A pleasure to meet you.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to have more than just a ten-armed de Gu. Your ranking is too low.¡±


    ¡°But my rank shouldn¡¯t be only fifth either. As a Gu cultivator, your strength shouldn¡¯t rely solely on your Gu. In my presence, Gu strength is useless. Let me experience the skills of the seventh-ranked Demonic Prodigy!¡±


    Ye Xiu sneered disdainfully, then charged toward Long Xuan.


    Since his Gu weren¡¯t enough to win, he would go after the source¡ªdefeat the master, and no matter how powerful the Gu were, they would die instantly.


    Ye Xiu had full confidence in his poison arts. He didn¡¯t need to heavily injure his opponent; just a scratch would do. He believed his poison was potent enough to kill upon contact with blood.


    No one could engage in closebat with him, a poison master.


    ¡°Oh, really?¡±


    As Ye Xiu rushed toward him, Long Xuan smirked and aimed the Ten Thousand Poison Bead at him.


    In an instant, the surrounding poisonous gas was frantically absorbed by the Ten Thousand Poison Bead. In mere moments, the poison in the air waspletely devoured.


    It was well known that the Ten Thousand Poison Bead could absorb all poisons. Since Ye Xiu¡¯s entire body was filled with poison, including his mutated spiritual power¡ªpoison spirit power¡ªit was naturally drawn into the Bead''s range of absorption.


    The Ten Thousand Poison Bead, while useful in helping Ye Xiu cultivate his poison arts, was also his greatest nemesis. In the hands of another, it could absorb him into nothingness.


    Long Xuan, having observed Ye Xiu¡¯s residual restrictions in the Bead through the Heaven¡¯s Eye, swiftly removed them and easily took control of the Ten Thousand Poison Bead. At this moment, Ye Xiu¡¯s fate was sealed.


    Under the Bead''s devouring force, Ye Xiu let out a horrifying scream as his poison and spirit power were absorbed.


    Countless green specks and ck mist flowed out from Ye Xiu¡¯s body, traveling through the air into the Ten Thousand Poison Bead.


    Even his refined Gu insects, all poisonous creatures, were simrly drawn into the Bead''s absorption range.


    The three peak-grade Gu insects shrieked in agony as their poison was quickly drained by the Bead.


    Disrupted by the Bead, the three Gu were easily killed by Long Xuan¡¯s own Gu insects.


    As a Gu cultivator still in the Marrow Cleansing stage, Ye Xiu didn¡¯t have much poison spirit power to begin with. Within just a few breaths, the ck mist around him disappeared, leaving him utterly powerless. He copsed to his knees, seemingly drained of all strength, his face filled with terror and despair.


    ¡°You¡­ you can control my Ten Thousand Poison Bead! How is this possible? How did you do it?¡± Ye Xiu cried out in desperation.


    Long Xuan didn¡¯t bother with any exnations. Since Ye Xiu had uncovered his secret, there was no way he could be allowed to live.


    Now aplete cripple with all his Gu destroyed, Ye Xiu posed no threat. With ease, the de Gu decapitated him with a single sh.


    Long Xuan collected his storage bag and grabbed Ye Xiu¡¯s head, walking toward the battlefield.


    This battle had been unexpectedly smooth. He hadn¡¯t anticipated gaining control of the Ten Thousand Poison Bead, and with it, he was able to kill Ye Xiu effortlessly.


    Had it not been for the Bead, dealing with Ye Xiu would have required more effort¡ªhis terrifying poison arts were indeed something to be feared.

 Chapter 213: Cement Walls

    "Ye Xiu is dead, why don''t you surrender immediately?!"


    Returning to the battlefield, Long Xuan shouted in a booming voice, throwing Ye Xiu''s head high into the sky. He then manipted the Ten Thousand Poison Bead, releasing poisonous gas to ughter the Gu cultivators of the Great Yin Dynasty surrounding him.


    The Ten Thousand Poison Bead, once it has no means of restraint, is truly unstoppable in killing. Any Gu cultivator or body refiner whoes into contact with the released poison mist will surely die.


    However, the Gu cultivators of the Great Yin Dynasty and the Long n''s Gu cultivators were mixed together, so Long Xuan had to proceed with caution. His killing speed was ultimately much slower than Ye Xiu¡¯s had been.


    Still, it was enough to serve as a deterrent.


    Seeing Ye Xiu¡¯s head fly high into the sky, the faces of the Great Yin Dynasty¡¯s Gu cultivators changed drastically, revealing expressions of disbelief.


    They never expected one of the Great Yin Dynasty¡¯s top ten prodigies, Ye Xiu, to be killed so quickly.


    With Ye Xiu dead, there was no one left to bnce the monster ranked seventh in the Western Lands, who now held the Ten Thousand Poison Bead. The battle was bound to turn in their favor.


    Ye Xiu''s death quickly caused morale on the Great Yin Dynasty¡¯s side to plummet.On the other hand, the Long n¡¯s side was energized.


    ¡°Haha¡­ That monster died so easily, I must have overestimated him!¡±


    ¡°Our Long n¡¯s prodigies are truly strong. They easily killed one of the Great Yin Dynasty¡¯s top ten prodigies, Ye Xiu. Their so-called geniuses aren¡¯t much after all!¡±


    ¡°Well done! As expected of the strongest talent of our n! The geniuses of the Great Yin Dynasty are nothingpared to him!¡±


    Cheers erupted from the crowd, and with their morale soaring, theirbat strength suddenly surged by thirty percent.


    Seeing this, the Gu cultivators of the Great Yin Dynasty at the Spiritual Sea stage looked grim.


    Ye Xiu had died too quickly, and his death was a critical blow.


    With him gone, there was no one left to restrain the enemy¡¯s prodigy, one of the top ten evildoers. With the Ten Thousand Poison Bead in hand, the enemy could kill one of their Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators in just a few breaths.


    How many Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators could withstand such killing? If this continued, defeat was inevitable.


    The Spiritual Sea peak Gu cultivator leading the Great Yin Dynasty forces cast a murderous nce at Long Xuan, barely suppressing the urge to rush over and kill him on the spot.


    He knew that if Long Xuan died, they would still have a chance in this battle.


    But he didn¡¯t dare break the rules and start a battle where the strong prey on the weak. Otherwise, if the opposing Gu King made a move, none of their top ten prodigies would survive.


    He took a deep breath, gathered his energy in his dantian, and shouted loudly to the entire battlefield: ¡°We can¡¯t continue this fight. Preserve our remaining forces, retreat! Let them have the Mithril Vein!¡±


    As his voice fell, the Gu cultivators of the Great Yin Dynasty breathed a collective sigh of relief and quickly fled, none daring to linger for fear of being left behind.


    ¡°Heh heh! Don¡¯t run away! Let¡¯s continue this for three hundred more rounds!¡±


    Long Qian, who had already half-dragonized, smirked and taunted them as he held them in check.


    Having won this battle, he couldn¡¯t help but feel a sense of pride.


    He was the leader of this mission, and with this victory, he would be able to gain massive contributions.


    Additionally, the Long n would permanently gain control of another Mithril Vein. How could he not be excited?


    Seeing Long Qian¡¯s smug expression, the Spiritual Sea peak Gu cultivator from the Great Yin Dynasty, who had been entangled with him, was livid.


    ¡°Get lost! If it weren¡¯t for that damned Sou Gu, do you really think your Long n could have taken this ce?¡±


    ¡°Once the Great Yin Dynasty finds a way to counter the Sou Gu, it will be the day ckstone City falls. Your arrogance won¡¯tst long!¡±


    He shook off Long Qian, the stubborn pursuer, and quickly fled into the distance, not even bothering to look back at Long Qian''s taunts.


    In a battle between equals, it was indeed difficult to prevent someone from fleeing if they truly intended to escape.


    Long Qian could only watch as the enemy¡¯s figure grew smaller and smaller, eventually disappearing from sight. Reluctantly, he gave up the pursuit.


    ¡°Oh well, gaining a Mithril Vein for nothing¡­ I suppose I should be satisfied!¡±


    ¡°Now that the Mithril Vein is in the hands of our Long n, the Bai n can forget about taking it back. Haha.¡±


    ¡°Now, I will set up a fierce formation here, turning this ce into an imprable fortress!¡±


    Long Qian''s excitement didn¡¯t fade; he immediately began preparing to set up the formation.


    This matter could not be dyed¡ªno one knew when the forces of the Great Yin Dynasty would return, and no one could predict when the Gu cultivators of the Bai n would arrive.


    He had no choice but to pull a few all-nighters and set up the grand formation as quickly as possible.


    "Everyone, stop pursuing! Follow my orders and start building the defense structures right away!"


    "Construct the cement walls as fast as you can. While it may not stop a Gu King, after inscribing formations, it will be more than enough to block Spiritual Sea-stage Gu cultivators. A Gu King won¡¯t easily participate in attacking a mine..."


    Following Long Qian¡¯s orders, just as Long Xuan had predicted, none of the Long n¡¯s Gu cultivators returned immediately. Instead, they quickly began constructing defensive fortifications here, knowing they needed to hold out for some time.


    Due to the time crunch, Long Qian decided to use cement to speed up the process.


    Once the cement walls were inscribed with formations, he would take his time setting up a formation capable of defending against a Gu King.


    For now, neither side''s Gu King had entered the battlefield. This was a mutual understanding between both sides¡ªGu Kings were incredibly destructive. Once they started damaging things or even perished, the resulting losses would be immeasurable.


    In the absence of Gu Kings, the so-called "trash" material, cement, was proving to be a powerful weapon in this war.


    Using it to defend a position wouldn¡¯t make itpletely impregnable, but it could be quickly formed, giving them a significant advantage in this conflict.


    The Long n had leveraged this cement technology to capture countless areas.


    In this war, many forces in the Western Lands had already been eradicated by the Great Yin Dynasty. The dynasty seized their resource points, and when the Long n recaptured these areas, they naturally became part of the Long n¡¯snd.


    Though this war would cost the Long n greatly, it was also an opportunity for their rise.


    This battle had been a decisive victory, and all the Long n¡¯s Gu cultivators were beaming with joy as they eagerly participated in the construction of defense works.


    The air was filled withughter. The n had seized a mithril vein, a reason for everyone to celebrate.


    As the greatest hero of this battle, Long Xuan naturally became the center of attention. Compliments and praise surrounded him, with the other Long n¡¯s Gu cultivators boasting about how he killed Ye Xiu, exaggerating the story to the skies.


    No doubt, this event would be sensationalized and be the biggest news in the Western Lands, with everyone discussing it. He was about to be famous.


    However, what they didn¡¯t know was that the person they were celebrating wasn¡¯t Long Xuan at all¡ªit was merely a clone he had left behind.


    Long Xuan, cunning as ever, wasn¡¯tboring on the surface. While everyone else was building fortifications, he snuck into the mithril vein to mine the mithril essence himself. Could anyone be craftier than him?


    After killing Ye Xiu, he had immediately gone to the mithril mine. The Long Xuan on the surface had always been his clone.


    He was bold enough to enter the mine at this time because he believed the Great Yin Dynasty¡¯s chances ofunching a counterattack were slim.


    First, once the cement walls were constructed, this ce would be easy to defend and difficult to attack, making it a tough battle for any invader.


    Second, the Long n possessed Sou Gu, a mysterious and unpredictable presence. With it, the Long n¡¯s reinforcements could appear here instantly at any moment.


    How could the Great Yin Dynasty even begin to attack? They were too frustrated by the Long n and had no solution.


    Facing this group of enemies who could teleport across the map, the Great Yin Dynasty was at its wit''s end. They were tired, afraid, and had already decided to give up.


    Thus, Long Xuan believed the odds of the Great Yin Dynasty counterattacking this mithril vein were very low, giving him peace of mind to mine the vein without worry.


    ...


    Ten days quickly passed, and the Long n had used this time to fortify the area into an imprable fortress. Tall cement walls rose from the ground like a massive beast entrenched in thend.


    It was hard to imagine that this giant fortress had been built in just ten days, or even less.


    Now, the Long n¡¯s Gu cultivators sat atop the towering walls, enjoying the view from the heights, talking andughing. The immense walls gave them a deep sense of security.


    At this point, they were actually hoping the Gu cultivators of the Great Yin Dynasty would attack, just to test the fortress¡¯s defenses.


    But despite the passage of many days, scouts reported no signs that the Great Yin Dynasty had any intentions of attacking the mithril vein, leaving them a little disappointed.


    However, the scouts did bring back another piece of news: the Bai n was furious.


    Upon learning that the Long n had seized the mithril vein, they were livid and immediately rushed over to negotiate.


    However, once the mithril vein fell into the Long n''s hands, there was no chance of getting it back. How could they return it?


    The city lord¡¯s previous orders had been topensate the Long n with the mithril vein, so the Long n had every reason to stand their ground, unafraid of the Bai n¡¯s demands.


    In the end, the Long n simply stopped meeting with the Bai n¡¯s Gu cultivators. They shut their gates and let them cause trouble elsewhere, confident in their right to keep the mine.


    The Bai n¡¯s leaders were so enraged they cursed at the Long n¡¯s gates, but there was nothing they could do against the shameless Long n.


    This news had the Long n¡¯s Gu cultivatorsughing uncontrobly atop the walls...


    Meanwhile, in the past ten days, Long Xuan had scoured the mine for all the easily essible mithril essence.


    He also mined arge amount of regr mithril to leave for Sou Gu to build houses.


    Long Xuan had developed a habit of house-building, enjoying leaving behind a Sou Gu hut in every ce he visited, as a way to leave himself more routes for the future.


    It wasn¡¯t just for a quick escape¡ªit was also for convenient resource gathering. In well-known marketces, famous cities, and the critically important ckstone City, he had all left behind a Sou Gu hut.


    Near the Geng Metal vein and the mithril vein, he had also secretly left a Sou Gu hut, ensuring that once the veins were depleted, it would be easy to return and mine more.


    Thus, his demand for Sou Gu huts was immense. Sou Gu, his little worker, had been tirelessly building houses, endlessly excited by the task.


    It didn¡¯t even know who it was building all these houses for or whether it even had ownership rights.

 Chapter 214: Long Ziyan’s Killing Spree

    After Long Xuan had excavated most of the Mithril Essence, he retreated into a small wooden house. Sitting at the table, he finally resumed his previous n¡ªcontemting the creation of an extensive Gu recipe, aiming to test the capabilities of the Soul Library.


    The power that the Soul Library could exert was entirely dependent on soul strength. Currently, his soul was rtively weak, only allowing him to slow time by a factor of three.


    This meant that reading three days'' worth of books in the Soul Library would be equivalent to just one day in the outside world.


    This was akin to saving three times the time cost. With that in mind, Long Xuan decided to aim high and attempt to create a Gu recipe that would require over ten thousand materials.


    He had to put his creativity to good use. What kind of idea would require over ten thousand materials? This wasn¡¯t an easy concept toe up with and required careful thought.


    But Long Xuan enjoyed this kind of brainstorming. It was his specialty, and he had no shortage of wild ideas.


    With excitement, he began to design a Gu recipe with an enormous number of materials.


    Actually, it wasn¡¯t that difficult. All he needed to do was attribute an exaggerated ability to the fictional Gu insect, and the material count would naturally surpass ten thousand.


    The real limitation was the avability of materials. If the ability was too exaggerated, the materials required would certainly be beyond his reach.It would be ideal if he could use materials that he already possessed, focusing the Gu recipe around them to avoid the tragedy of spending decades searching for the primary materials and still not finding them.


    What did he have on hand that could serve as the core material for a heaven-defying Gu recipe? Long Xuan fell into silence.


    After a long contemtion, he finally pulled out the Ten Thousand Poison Bead he had recently acquired, with a thoughtful expression on his face.


    This thing was potent. If he used it as a material to create something, it would definitely be heaven-defying.


    But the primary material for a Gu recipe was usually a living insect. Could he push the boundaries and use an inanimate object instead? This would be a bold experiment.


    A glimmer of excitement shed in Long Xuan¡¯s eyes. Once this bold idea surfaced, he couldn¡¯t hold back. He was eager to give it a try.


    After all, he didn¡¯t need to consume any actual materials to research a Gu recipe. So why not give it a shot? If it failed, he¡¯d lose nothing but a tiny bit of time.


    With that thought, he sprang into action, grabbing a pen and paper. He quickly wrote:


    Gu Recipe


    Primary Material: "Ten Thousand Poison Bead"


    As soon as he finished writing these words, a long string of progress indicators appeared on the paper.


    Long Xuan¡¯s eyes lit up immediately. It worked! Inanimate objects could indeed be used as the primary material in a Gu recipe. He was shocked.


    Could the innate spiritual treasures of this world really be used to refine Gu and be the core materials of a recipe? If word got out, no one would believe it!


    His breathing became slightly erratic, and the inspiration for the next Gu insect began to form in his mind. He was sure that the Gu insect refined from the Ten Thousand Poison Bead would definitely be heaven-defying, perhaps even more terrifying than the bead itself.


    The Ten Thousand Poison Bead had easily killed a genius from the Great Yin Dynasty. How powerful would the Gu insect refined from it be?


    Long Xuan¡¯s heart surged with excitement. He couldn¡¯t wait to give this Gu recipe a name and unleash his creativity.


    Naming the Gu recipe didn¡¯t advance the progress, no matter how many words he wrote. Even writing a million words wouldn¡¯t change the progress.


    However, if the content of the name couldn¡¯t be realized by the Ten Thousand Poison Bead, the progress would vanish.


    Therefore, Long Xuan could judge the feasibility of his idea based on the progress indicators.


    Since the primary material of the recipe was the


    Ten Thousand Poison Bead, the abilities of the resulting Gu insect should resemble or rte to those of the Bead. He just needed to expand on this idea creatively.


    So, what abilities could a Gu insect refined from the Ten Thousand Poison Bead possess? Long Xuan let his imagination run wild, thinking rapidly.


    Soon, his eyes gleamed with an idea. He continued writing on the paper:


    Disaster Poison Gu Recipe


    Primary Material: "Ten Thousand Poison Bead"


    Description: A powerful Gu that thrives on devouring poisons. It can directly convert the consumed poisons into domineering toxic spiritual energy. Each poison it consumes grants it the unique traits of that poison. The more poisons it devours, the stronger the toxic spiritual energy bes.


    The "Disaster Poison Gu" grows by consuming various poisons. To fully evolve, it must devour the most toxic poisons in the world. Raising the Disaster Poison Gu requires gathering poisons from across thend. When it has consumed every type of poison under heaven, it will reach perfection.


    A fully evolved Disaster Poison Gu can simte any kind of poison in the world. Its toxic spiritual energy will epass the characteristics of every poison.


    A perfected Disaster Poison Gu is invincible. It can release a lethal poison that fuses all poisons under heaven. Anything it touches will die without remedy. Where its poisonous mist passes, life within a thousand miles will perish, and no grass will grow.


    As Long Xuan finished writing, his eyes sparkled with excitement. He was amazed by his own creativity and felt like giving himself a pat on the back.


    He was extremely satisfied with this idea. The concept of the Disaster Poison Gu was absurdly powerful.


    Long Xuan was sure that if such a Gu insect could be realized, the material requirement would definitely surpass ten thousand, perhaps by far.


    The ability of the Disaster Poison Gu was to devour and collect all the poisons in the world. If it truly could gather every type of poison and fuse them together, the resulting venom would be the most lethal toxin under heaven, unrivaled by any other.


    After all, it would already epass the traits of every known poison. What poison could possibly surpass a concoction that contained its own essence?


    What kind of poison could be the most terrifying in the world? The mere thought of its toxicity is daunting. The upper limit of a single poison is already enough to kill any living creature, including gods.


    In other words, the upper limit of the Disaster Poison Gu could y gods. It¡¯s unbelievably powerful. How could a simple thought of mine create such a terrifying Gu insect? This is simply beyond measure.


    Long Xuan took a deep, excited breath, noticing that the progress on the paper had already reached 0.0008%.


    This meant that the Gu insect he had imagined could indeed be realized, as long as he was willing to put in the effort.


    Long Xuan carefully examined the digits of the progress, feeling even more excited.


    Introductory text was not counted towards progress, and so far, the only material listed in the Gu recipe was the Ten Thousand Poison Bead. Using this progress, he could estimate that the number of materials required for the Gu form would exceed 100,000.


    A Gu recipe with over 100,000 materials! Long Xuan¡¯s heart raced uncontrobly.


    What kind of concept was a Gu recipe with over 100,000 materials? It was almost certain that no one in the world could refine a Gu insect requiring such a vast amount of materials. It would mean that, once this Gu insect was refined, it would be invincible across the entire world.


    This was truly a Gu recipe of 100,000 levels! The Gu recipe for the de Gu was just casually written and couldn¡¯t be taken seriously.


    If he could truly research and develop a Gu recipe with more than 100,000 materials, it would be akin to bing a god.


    Long Xuan couldn¡¯t wait any longer. He quicklyy down on his bed, closed his eyes, and let his spiritual body enter a library.


    This library was vast, with bookshelves everywhere, filled with all kinds of books.


    All of these books were ones he had read before, meaning that every book he had ever read would manifest here in physical form. This ce stored all of his knowledge and wisdom.


    Even textbooks from his previous life, like physics and chemistry, could be found here, with every word clearly legible.


    This ability essentially allowed him to have a photographic memory. Once a soul book was formed, any knowledge he had almost forgotten would be crystal clear again, and he could recite the text word for word, even backward.


    This was a skill he had discovered unintentionally.


    Using this ability, he could skim through books quickly and store a massive amount of knowledge in his soul library, all of which he could recite without error.


    This ability was terrifying¡ªwho on earth had designed such an extraordinary skill?


    Of course, if he wanted to read new books here, he would need to borrow the power of the Origin Realm.


    When the time came, this space would expand, with many new bookshelves and new books appearing.


    But using this power would greatly increase the energy consumption, and for now, he didn¡¯t need to rely on that.


    His purpose foring here wasn¡¯t to read¡ªit was to grind through the Gu recipe.


    He wanted to see just how long it would take toplete a Gu recipe with over 100,000 materials in his soul library.


    Long Xuan¡¯s eyes gleamed with excitement. Full of motivation, he immediately found the table in the center of the library and sat down...


    ¡­


    Time passed slowly, and in a blink, half a year had gone by.


    During this half-year, without any surprises, the incident of Long Xuan defeating Ye Xiu had spread, making him even more famous. His ranking had risen by two more ces, cing him fifth on the Westernnds¡¯ list of prodigies.


    The first ce was still Long Dan, and Long Ziyan wasn¡¯t even ranked. She had long since be a Gu cultivator at the Spiritual Sea level and had entered the ranks of seniors. Her battlefield was now entirelyposed of Spiritual Sea-level Gu cultivators.


    She hadprehended an unknown number of sword intents, and by fusing all of them together, the power she unleashed was beyond imagination.


    Whenever she appeared on the battlefield, she ughtered everyone in her path, whether gods or Buddhas, defeating the Gu cultivators of the Great Yin Dynasty at the Spiritual Sea level with ease. No one could stop her. The number of Spiritual Sea-level Gu cultivators who had fallen by her hand had already exceeded double digits.


    Faced with this killing star, the Spiritual Sea-level Gu cultivators of the Great Yin Dynasty were utterly terrified. Her mere presence would send them fleeing in fear; just one nce at her, and they would run.


    Her fame was now unmatched, and being both beautiful and powerful, she was even more admired.


    This was the true definition of a monster. Long Xuan hadn¡¯t expected that he would inadvertently create such a terrifying existence, causing such chaos.


    He knew the "Immortal-ying Formation" could aid Long Ziyan inprehending sword intent, but he had never imagined she couldprehend so much.


    Comprehending sword intent wasn¡¯t something easily achieved. His clone had been going into the formation every day toprehend de intent, yet hadn¡¯t grasped a single thing.


    He had always thought his perception was high enough, but it seemed that perception alone wasn¡¯t enough toprehend sword or de intent.


    If even a genius like him found it so difficult toprehend de intent, there was no need to mention others.


    In other words, for anyone else entering the Immortal-ying Formation, it would be impossible toprehend hundreds of sword intents like Long Ziyan did. Such an outrageous feat wasn¡¯t something a normal person could achieve.


    Sword intent that didn¡¯t match one¡¯s own attributes and willpower couldn¡¯t beprehended, no matter how many times you died from it.


    Only someone like Long Ziyan could create such miracles.


    Who knew how she managed toprehend any sword intent she encountered?

 Chapter 215: The Hidden Moves of the Long Clan

    After half a year of effort, Long Xuan finallypleted the recipe for the Disaster Poison Gu.


    Currently, with the strength of his soul, he can only slow time by a factor of three. However, don''t think that this means his speed of crafting Gu recipe only increases by three times.


    On one hand, as he creates more Gu recipe, his umted knowledge and experience allow him to reduce the time needed for future creations.


    On the other hand, in the Soul Library, the paper on the table is illusory. Since the paper can be conjured, so too can the writing on it.


    With just a thought, words instantly appear on the paper, eliminating the need for manual writing. This greatly saves time, allowing him to craft Gu recipe much faster.


    So, even though it took half a year toplete this Gu recipe, that is considered slow. If he hadn''t been frequently interrupted, breaking his concentration, he could have worked even faster.


    At this point, he was no longer stationed at the Mithril Vein. He had returned to ckstone City. After all, sending someone ranked fifth in talent to guard a mere mining vein was somewhat beneath his capabilities, so he was quickly recalled.


    After returning to ckstone City, Long Xuan simultaneously worked on the Gu recipe while sending his clones to collect the necessary materials for the Gu recipe.


    The materials he lists in the Gu recipe must be present in this world, though many of them are rare and difficult to obtain.Fortunately, the Long n¡¯swork of Suo Gu houses has spread everywhere over the years, thanks to the n¡¯s extensive development across various regions.


    Now, even rare species of Gu from other regions, which were once hard to find, are easily collected. All it takes is a trivial amount of contribution points.


    After opening up these resource channels, Long Xuan had ess to ten times more Gu species, providing him with an enormous variety of choices, enough to support his research into a ten-thousand-level Gu recipe.


    However, the number of Gu insects required for a ten-thousand-level Gu recipe is not only vast, but their overall quality is also extremely high. Some even require peak-grade Gu Insect, which left Long Xuan feeling overwhelmed.


    The 200 million contribution points he earnedst time were far from enough. As a result, he had no choice but to submit the recipe for the "Longevity Gu" that could extend human lifespan.


    As soon as this happened, the upper echelon of the Long n went wild. It¡¯s important to note that three Long n patriarchs in the Western Lands were on the verge of death. Their attempt to use Living Wood to extend their lives had failed, and they had been hanging on for a while, but were close to dying.


    However, with the sudden appearance of the Longevity Gu, they became lively once more. Their backs no longer ached, their legs no longer hurt, and they wereughing happily every day.


    With these patriarchs'' lives extended, the Long n effectively gained a few more Gu Kings. The arrival of the Longevity Gu was a massive boon for the n, especially for those near-death patriarchs, like rain in a drought.


    Moreover, with the emergence of the Longevity Gu, the number of Gu Kings in the Long n would far exceed that of the past.


    The increased longevity of all the Gu Kings means that, for a certain period, more Gu Kings will coexist, which greatly enhances the n¡¯s fortune and strength.


    In gratitude, the upper echelon of the Long n rewarded Long Xuan with 200 million contribution points and tattooed a fierce, majestic ck dragon on his back.


    When Long Lao (Elder Long) learned that Long Xuan had finally developed the Longevity Gu form, he couldn''t hold back his tears. That night, he drank several jars of wine and sat at Long Hongyu''s grave for a long time.


    It¡¯s worth mentioning that under the scheming of Long Yuanshan, the three Gu King patriarchs who had consumed the Longevity Gu pretended to die of old age and were secretly buried.


    Long Yuanshan intended to have these patriarchs fake their deaths, hiding them as a secret force for future use.


    In this uncertain war, concealing three Gu Kings would surely prove invaluable and might even save the Long n from a potential extinction crisis.


    Thus, by submitting the Longevity Gu form, Long Xuan gained a massive amount of contribution points. With the Long n¡¯s resourcework across various regions, he used those points to exchange for a vast number of rare spiritual Gu insects.


    He had hoarded so many experimental materials from the Western Lands¡¯ Long n that he still hadn''t used them all. Combining these, he finally managed to gather the necessary materials to refine the Disaster Poison Gu, allowing him to breathe a long sigh of relief.


    However, what now troubled him was that his body was already covered in dragon tattoos¡ªthere was hardly any space left for more.


    The Earth Master, Suo Gu, Cement, Dragon Blood Battle Gu, and two types of Longevity Gu had each added another dragon tattoo on his body. With six ferocious dragons now covering him from head to toe, there was no room left.


    Who tattoos like this? He was quite distressed.


    After receiving the final batch of materials delivered by his Fire Clone, Long Xuan immediately began refining the Gu.


    First, he used the Suo Gu hut to transport himself to a valley filled with toxic gases. The valley had a natural basin-like shape, making it an ideal location for refining Gu.


    It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t want to refine the Gu at home, but the sheer number of Gu insect required for the form was too vast for his home to contain.


    To refine such high-level Gu insect, one must use a valley as the container, with thend itself as the vessel, and even a city could serve as a suitable vessel. Cities with walls, being concave, are also ideal containers for Gu refinement and are often the favorite ces for demonic cultivators to craft Gu.


    Since the best environment for refining the Disaster Poison Gu is one filled with poisonous miasma, Long Xuan had carefully chosen this valley after much deliberation.


    Although it was far from ckstone City, it was a natural toxic zone, forbidden to humans, so hardly anyone ventured there. Thus, Long Xuan boldly decided to refine his Gu there.


    In this remote area, after setting up formations and cing a clone to guard it, everything was in ce for the process to proceed without any risk of failure.


    Long Xuan was not afraid of the toxins from the Ten Thousand Poison Bead, so how could he fear the poison in this ce? Boldly, he walked in and ced the Ten Thousand Poison Bead at the center of the valley.


    Then, along with several of his clones, he opened insect cultivation bags one by one, releasing all the poisonous insects into the valley.


    Indeed, without exception, the spirit insects in the cultivation bags were all poisonous, and each was more venomous than thest. Some species were so toxic they could corrode a hole in the ground.


    It was precisely because this Gu recipe only used poisonous insects that Long Xuan discarded more than half of the spirit insects. This was one of the reasons why the Disaster Poison Gu recipe was developed so quickly.


    To be honest, he didn''t understand the refining principles of the Disaster Poison Gu or the role of the Ten Thousand Poison Bead in the process. He was entirely clueless.


    He had guessed the recipe and had no idea what the Ten Thousand Poison Bead''s function was during the Gu refining process.


    He only needed to follow instructions, throwing the Ten Thousand Poison Bead into the Gu refining site. As for the process, he didn¡¯t need to know; the result was all that mattered.


    His only task was to wait patiently.


    Following the steps from thest time he refined the de Gu, he immobilized all the poisonous insects. After about thirty attempts, he finally saw significant progress at the refining site.


    He smiled, snapped his fingers lightly, and all the poisonous insects instantly regained consciousness. They immediately turned their fierce gazes on each other, and a brutal fight ensued. The battle was intense and thrilling.


    One particrly ferocious poisonous toad, its body bulging with veins, devoured its opponents one by one. It turned the battlefield into its personal feast. Neither high-grade nor peak-grade Gu insects could withstand even one attack.


    But the strong always meet stronger opponents. The poisonous toad was quickly swallowed in one bite by arger, more venomous toad. This toad, in turn, soon encountered a formidable opponent¡ªa giant poisonous snake with a flickering tongue that bit down viciously.


    The scene wasplete chaos.


    This was Gu refining¡ªyou eat me, I eat you¡ªuntil only the strongest remained.


    Thest survivor, having consumed so many poisonous insects, concentrated all the toxins within itself. It would evolve into an even more terrifying existence, bing the king of insects, also known as a Gu.


    After watching with great interest for a while, Long Xuan finally turned and left.


    Judging by the progress, it seemed the Disaster Poison Gu would take a long time toplete, at least over a year. He dared not stay here waiting.


    Knowing the wait would be lengthy, he decided to spend this time studying the second level of the Heavenly Demon Soul-Splitting Divine Art.


    The second level of the Heavenly Demon Soul-Splitting Divine Art was much harder and moreplex than the first, requiring significantly more time.


    At the same time, the second apanying soul technique, Heavenly Demon Devouring God Technique, was also a major time consumer, demanding vast amounts of time to research.


    However, with the Soul Library, a time-cheating tool, he believed he could master both the second level of the Heavenly Demon Soul-Splitting Divine Art and the time-consuming Heavenly Demon Devouring God Technique within two years.


    Time always passed quickly while focusing on cultivation. In the blink of an eye, a year and a half had passed.


    During this long period, the war still had not ended. The Western Lands had be aplete meat grinder, with countless Gu cultivators dying in battle. All the factions suffered heavy casualties and were severely weakened.


    Before the war, the Western Lands had been cleansed by Shi Haojun, and both low- and high-level Gu cultivators had died in great numbers. It would take a long time for their strength to recover.


    When the Great Yin Dynastyunched their attack, the forces of the Western Lands naturally found themselves at a disadvantage.


    At the start of the war, only the Long n managed to gain an advantage. On the other battlefields, the Western Lands forces were clearly at a disadvantage. After all, the physical cultivators of the Great Yin Dynasty were too numerous, and their Gu cultivators were not fewer than those of the Western Lands. How could the Western Lands possiblypete?


    In the end, no one knew what method the City Lord Yan Pojun used, but he managed to draw the forces from the barrennds like the Far West and the West Sea into the war. Through the Sou Gu Hut, the Gu cultivators from these distantnds could instantly appear on the Western Lands battlefield.


    With the support of so many allies, the Western Lands barely managed to halt their decline and began to hold their own against the Great Yin Dynasty.


    Despite the chaos of the war outside, Long Xuan remained indifferent, focusing entirely on his cultivation, ignoring all outside events.


    Whenever a battle arose and the n assigned him tasks, he would pass them off to his clones. He, meanwhile, avoided the war and secretly focused on his cultivation.


    Fortunately, his clones were strong enough, never failing any mission, and earning him massive contributions.


    He had faced extremely dangerous tasks before. Once, one of his Fire Clones had to confront Yu Chao, ranked third on the Great Yin Dynasty¡¯s Prodigy List.


    Without any peak-grade Gu insects, the battle was incredibly difficult for him. Under the fierce assault of Yu Chao¡¯s peak-grade Gu insects, he narrowly escaped death several times.


    In the end, he had to flee in haste, with Yu Chaoughing wildly as he pursued him relentlessly.


    ¡°Never chase a desperate enemy,¡± they say. After chasing for a while, Yu Chao ran into a trap set by Long Xuan''s other four clones. Outnumbered five to one, Yu Chao was beaten to death by thebined attacks of the five clones.


    Yu Chao¡¯s death boosted Long Xuan''s reputation once again, and his rank soared to third on the Western Lands¡¯ Top Demonic Prodigy List. For a time, his fame was unmatched, and his influence reached new heights.

 Chapter 216: Disaster Poison Gu

    Recently, a major event urred in the Western Lands: after such a long time, the Great Yin Dynasty finally found a method to counter the Suo Gu.


    With the Long n losing the advantage of Suo Gu, this war has once again be unpredictable.


    In fact, there are many ways to counter Suo Gu. Any method that can restrict teleportation formations can be used to restrict Suo Gu.


    For example, the Long n used a space-forbidding formation in the Geng Metal vein, which prevented Suo Gu from teleporting. Other forces must also possess simr formations.


    However, Suo Gu used by the Long n could teleport across the entire battlefield, while the array formations only affected a limited area. Suo Gu could simply teleport to the edge of the formation and escape.


    Thus, in this war, space-forbidding formation had little effect on the Long n, who moved freely across the map.


    There are also numerous Gu insects that can kill Suo Gu, but Suo Gu is a particrly slippery type of Gu insect that avoids confrontation with other Gu insects.


    If things turn bad, Suo Gu would escape into the Void Realm, making it impossible to catch. So even though there are many methods to counter it, the Great Yin Dynasty had no way to effectively deal with it.


    The Great Yin Dynasty invested years of nationwide effort into researching ways to restrain Suo Gu, but they never found an effective method. Instead, they suffered heavy losses from the ambushes of the Suo Gu army, losing supplies, and nearly having their teleportation formations destroyed.Finally, the emperor of the Great Yin Dynasty lost his patience. Against the advice of his entire court, he chose to sacrifice a thousand enemies at the cost of eight hundred of his own, recklessly throwing a Realm Pearl into the spatial rift in this region.


    The Realm Pearl is a powerful innate spiritual treasure, and it¡¯s a rare treasure with space attributes.


    Once the Realm Pearl explodes in a spatial rift, it triggers spatial turbulence, creating a massive spatial storm and chaotic currents that make the space highly unstable, preventing any further teleportation.


    This method is used to restrict teleportation formations, and it¡¯s equally effective against Suo Gu.


    Now, neither teleportation formations nor Suo Gu huts can be used in the Western Lands. It''s not that they can''t be used at all, but anyone who tries to teleport now risks mysterious disappearance.


    Yes, this method also restricted the Great Yin Dynasty itself, making theirrge teleportation formation that could transport over a hundred people unusable as well.


    Moreover, spatial turbulence doesn''t conveniently stay confined to just one region. Once it urs, the affected area is vast and the effectsst for a long time.


    Not only the Western Lands and the Great Yin Dynasty were affected, but surrounding regions were also impacted to varying degrees. This was why the Great Yin Dynasty had hesitated to use this method for so long.


    Otherwise, they would have provoked arge number of forces that rely on teleportation formations. Unless they were willing to spend vast amounts of resources to pacify these forces, the consequences would be unthinkable.


    Using such a method would either turn the Great Yin Dynasty into an enemy of all sides, or leave their treasury depleted. It¡¯s truly a strategy of sacrificing a thousand enemies at the cost of eight hundred allies¡ªast resort.


    It seems the emperor of the Great Yin Dynasty was truly pushed to his limit by the Long n''s Suo Gu, forcing him to take this drastic step.


    Both the factions involved in the war and the surrounding forces watching from the sidelines were shocked by the emperor''s madness.


    Perhaps it¡¯s because his lifespan is nearing its end, and he''s running out of time. It¡¯s no surprise for an old emperor, desperate for more years of life, to go to any lengths¡ªeven if it means dragging the entire empire to its grave.


    The inability to use Suo Gu during this time is indeed a significant matter, especially for the Long n, as it is a fatal blow.


    As a result, the Long n has been quiet recently, and Long Xuan¡¯s missions have lessened.


    With more free time, Long Xuan¡¯s inspiration flowed, and he quickly mastered the secondyer of the "Heavenly Demon Soul-Splitting Divine Art" and the "Heavenly Demon Soul Devouring Technique". He immediately had his clones begin cultivating these new techniques.


    Although his clones had only been cultivating the Heavenly Demon Soul-Splitting Divine Art for a few years, a person''s soul aptitude depends entirely on the strength of their innate soul.


    Long Xuan, having lived two lives and possessing a double three-soul-seven-spirit, had soul aptitude far beyond the highest human limit.


    This meant his soul cultivation speed far outpaced his body and spirit cultivation.


    If Long Xuan¡¯s Spiritual cultivation could be considered weak, then his soul cultivation was that of a genius¡ªan unparalleled genius with soul aptitude surpassing even peak-grade.


    Moreover, with five clones cultivating the Heavenly Demon Soul-Splitting Divine Art simultaneously, it was like multiplying the cultivation speed of an already monstrous talent by five.


    So, his soul cultivation speed was frighteningly fast. In just a few years, he had fully mastered the firstyer of the "Heavenly Demon Soul-Splitting Divine Art" , and now it was time to cultivate the secondyer.


    As soon as he developed the secondyer, his clones could take over.


    As for the Heavenly Demon Soul Devouring Technique, his clones could cultivate it concurrently. The ''Heavenly Demon Soul Devouring Technique'' allowed him to split his soul into countless fragments and take possession of people around him. However, dividing the soul into so many pieces naturally weakened each fragment¡¯s soul power.


    Therefore, cultivating the Heavenly Demon Soul Devouring Technique is unlikely to be effective against opponents of simr strength or those specializing in soul cultivation.


    Although this move is defiant against the heavens, it mainly serves as a powerful ability for clearing weaker enemies, allowing him to ignore the encirclement of countless low-level cultivators, remain unafraid of massbat tactics, and even charge in and out of the Ten Great Armies seven times over.


    So, despite the fact that the strength of this move didn''t surpass expectations, Long Xuan still nned to focus on cultivating it.


    One day, the Fire Clone rushed over anxiously. Just as Long Xuan was about to ask what had happened, the clone threw a Insect Bag over to him.


    Long Xuan was momentarily stunned. When he opened the Gu Insect Bag and looked inside, he was immediately shocked and hurriedly stood up.


    "This is the Disaster Poison Gu? You finally refined it?"


    Long Xuan was overjoyed and quickly took out arge, green-skinned toad that was sound asleep inside, hugging it with excitement.


    The toad was quiterge and heavy in his arms, but Long Xuan was smiling broadly, as if he were holding a treasure.


    "By the way! What happened to the Ten Thousand Poison Bead?"


    Suddenly remembering something, Long Xuan quickly raised his head and asked the Fire Clone.


    "It ate it in one gulp. It¡¯s now lodged in its throat, seemingly having transformed into its ''inner core''. All of its tyrannical poisonous spiritual power is stored within this core."


    "The inner core can absorb toxins, release toxins, or even be spat out to attack enemies from a distance."


    "However, the inner core and the Disaster Poison Gu arepletely one entity¡ªit¡¯s a part of its body and must not be separated by too much distance. Otherwise, it will lose its vitality and spirit. Whether the inner core is damaged or lost, the Disaster Poison Gu''s strength will be greatly diminished."


    "The Ten Thousand Poison Bead haspletely fused into its inner core. While this significantly enhances the Disaster Poison Gu''sbat power, it also introduces a major weakness."


    "If the inner core is destroyed by an enemy, the Disaster Poison Gu will essentially be crippled. The inner core created from the Ten Thousand Poison Bead cannot regenerate unless you find another Ten Thousand Poison Bead."


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan nodded, finally understanding the role that the Ten Thousand Poison Bead yed in the refinement process of the Disaster Poison Gu.


    He hadn¡¯t expected that the Ten Thousand Poison Bead would exist in the form of an inner core within the Gu insect. It was indeed a peculiar refinement process.


    After transforming into the inner core, the strength of the Ten Thousand Poison Pearl would only increase, and its power could never be worse than before.


    However, the inner core''s weakness was truly fatal. While it granted the Disaster Poison Gu tremendousbat power, it also became a vulnerability. It could be lost or targeted. Ye Xiu died precisely because of this weakness.


    At this point, Long Xuan had made up his mind: he would ensure that, under no circumstances, would the Disaster Poison Gu ever spit out its inner core. As long as it didn¡¯t expel the inner core, it would be invincible.


    Overall, he was very satisfied with the Disaster Poison Gu and couldn¡¯t resist stroking its smooth back. He had to admit, it was rather slippery.


    As he petted the smooth back of the Disaster Poison Gu, Long Xuan pondered the issue of its evolution.


    He had already known the Disaster Poison Gu¡¯s evolution method from the time he wrote the Gu refinement recipe.


    The Disaster Poison Gu increases its maturity by devouring various poisons, and it undergoes transformations by consuming the most lethal poisons.


    This concept had been included in the form''s description, and since the progress of its refinement hadn¡¯t stalled, it meant his approach was feasible.


    Now, all he needed to do was find the Disaster Poison Gu the deadliest poison, and it would immediately undergo evolution.


    The Disaster Poison Gu''s evolution process required a different type of poison for each stage, and it had to be the most toxic avable.


    This meant he would need to continually search for heaven-defying toxic substances, which was starting to give him a headache.


    He had already been holed up in a secret chamber for years, constantly working himself to the bone, and he really didn¡¯t want to keep doing this. Was there no shortcut to directly finding a poison that met the Disaster Poison Gu''s evolution requirements?


    Long Xuan¡¯s expression turned contemtive. After a long pause, a sharp glint shed in his eyes, and a n came to mind.


    The Western Land had no such heaven-defying poisons capable of meeting the Disaster Poison Gu¡¯s evolution requirements.


    The materials required for a heavenly-defying Gu insect like the Disaster Poison Gu weren¡¯t easy to find, so the first thing he thought of was creating his own poison recipe. But time was of the essence.


    Thus, he came up with a shortcut. This idea would allow him to create an extremely toxic substance without wasting too much time.


    His n was to utilize the magnification ability of the Eye Of Heavenly Secret¡¯s and his powerful soul force to extract metallic elements.


    In his previous life, ''polonium'' was 100 billion times more toxic than cyanide¡ªjust 0.1 grams could kill 100 billion people.


    ''Plutonium'' was 486 million times more toxic than arsenic, and five grams of it could wipe out the half of the entire human race.


    The more Long Xuan thought about it, the brighter his eyes gleamed. These metallic elements from his previous life were invincible when it came to poison. How could this world''s strongest poisonspare?


    Even if they weren¡¯t a perfect match, such toxic substances would be more than sufficient for the Disaster Poison Gu to undergo a evolution.


    Why not let the Disaster Poison Gu devour these elemental toxins andplete its evolution?


    The only question was whether he had the ability to synthesize these metallic elements. But it was certainly worth a try.


    The synthesis principles for polonium and plutonium were publicly avable online in his previous life, and he hade across them by chance. It¡¯s just that in this world, without advanced technology, he wasn¡¯t sure if using the abilities of various Gu insects could assist in synthesizing these two elements.


    If he could seed, the Disaster Poison Gu would truly be invincible.


    Danger oftenes from the unknown. The terrifying poisons from his previous life would bepletely foreign to the people of this world¡ªhow could they know how to detoxify them? If anyone was hit by these poisons, their chances of survival would be incredibly slim.


    A crazed smile appeared on Long Xuan''s face, and he immediately decided to start researching these elemental toxins.


    It seemed that the ''Soul Armor and the ''Water Bear Gu'' could defend against those radioactive elements, so he didn¡¯t even need to worry about the dangers of conducting such experiments. At worst, he could just let one of his clones handle it.


    Polonium was more lethal than plutonium, so the evolution process should progress from easy to difficult. Thus, Long Xuan decided to research plutonium first.


    At this moment, he was once again courting death, forgetting thest time when he insisted on distilling the Wine Gu''s brew and nearly killed the Wine Gu in the process.


    Excess leads to disaster. The Wine Gu, despite being immune to alcohol, almost died from overindulgence. The Disaster Poison Gu, while immune to poison, could it really avoid being poisoned to death?


    He was truly pushing it to the limit, as if he didn¡¯t fear identally poisoning the Disaster Poison Gu to death.


    These elemental toxins weren¡¯t ordinary poisons. They surpassed the realm of regr toxins, and no ordinary living creature could withstand them easily. He really was treating the Disaster Poison Gu like an omnipotent deity.

 Chapter 217: Encountering a Familiar Face Again

    A monthter...


    "What''s happening? Wake up! Wake up! Quickly, wake up!"


    "How could this happen?"


    Long Xuan lifted the Disaster Poison Gu into the air, shaking it back and forth.


    However, the Disaster Poison Gu was as lifeless as a corpse, swaying in the air without any reaction.


    Long Xuan was utterly confused.


    He never expected things to turn out this way. After receiving the assistance of the Eye of Heaven''s Secrets and borrowing the abilities of various unique Gu insects, he had finally managed to research and produce plutonium. Eagerly, he fed it to the Disaster Poison Gu.


    Being naturally cautious, he only fed the Disaster Poison Gu one gram.


    Who would have thought that after consuming it, the Gu would immediately fall into a deepa, unable to be awakened no matter what he did?Pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back, Long Xuan''s face was full of worry.


    A Poison Gu, afraid of poison? And poisoned into unconsciousness? You''ve got to be kidding! Are you messing with me? Long Xuan waspletely at a loss.


    He checked under the Disaster Poison Gu¡¯s nose and found that it was still breathing, which allowed him to finally breathe a sigh of relief.


    Thankfully, it was still alive.


    Recalling that his Wine Gu had experienced a simr situation before but eventually pulled through, Long Xuan felt a glimmer of hope.


    Carefully cing it back into the insect-rearing bag he allowed it to rest and recover.


    What a mess.


    Long Xuan couldn''t think of any way to wake it up. All the detoxification pills in this world were useless against elemental toxins, so all he could do was leave the Disaster Poison Gu in the pouch and wait for it to recover on its own.


    Whether it lived or died was up to its fate now. He had done everything he could.


    A monthter, when Long Xuan took out the Disaster Poison Gu again, he saw that it was still in a deepa. His expression turned bitter, and he finally walked out the door, deciding to go for a walk to clear his mind.


    ¡­


    ckstone City, Marketce.


    Following several consecutive battles, many had died, and some had killed to seize treasures, bing wealthy overnight.


    Those who had taken others'' storage bags often needed to sell off the items they couldn¡¯t use, so in this world, war always made the street markets boom.


    Every day, countless Gu Masters brought the loot from the battlefield to the marketce to sell.


    Some stall owners became rich overnight, while others,cking knowledge of the items they were selling, unknowingly sold off priceless treasures, bing theughingstock of the marketce.


    These kinds of stories spread like wildfire, attracting many who came hoping to find hidden treasures, making the ckstone City marketce bustling with people every day.


    Long Xuan, hearing too many of these stories, also developed a desire to try his luck, frequently visiting the marketce.


    Thanks to his golden finger, he often left with great rewards, though he never unted his findings. As a result, no rumors ever spread about him picking up any treasures.


    When he arrived at the marketce, many eyes followed him, filled with respect and even a hint of fear.


    As one of the top three prodigies of the Western Lands, Long Xuan¡¯s fame had grown too big to go unnoticed.


    In the past, many had tried to befriend him, but they were met with cold indifference. Deliberately disying an aloof and unapproachable demeanor, Long Xuan had now sessfully deterred people from approaching him.


    He didn¡¯t want to waste time on meaningless socializing. Unless someone was worth befriending and could help him in the future, making random friends was aplete waste of time.


    Long Xuan wandered through the stalls, his discerning eyes scanning everything. Few treasures now caught his attention.


    As a result, he quickly nced at most stalls and kept moving.


    Most of the items for sale were weapons used by body refiners,pletely useless for Gu cultivator. Not just weapons, but most things used by body cultivators were of no use to Gu cultivator.


    It was obvious that the Great Yin Dynasty was using cheap body refiners to deplete the Gu cultivators of the Western Lands, so most of the items for sale in the marketce were rted to body refiners.


    Long Xuan wandered for half a day without finding anything worth his attention.


    Just as he was about to lose patience and head back, his insect-rearing bag suddenly moved. The rabbit inside began to frantically thrash around.


    Long Xuan¡¯s eyes lit up instantly.


    Whenever his clones weren¡¯t in the herb garden, he would always bring the rabbit with him.


    Otherwise, if left unsupervised, the rabbit would wreak havoc, doing whatever it pleased.


    He was especially worried that the rabbit would ruin his herb garden while he was away, pulling out the rarest and most precious spiritual herbs for alchemy. When he returned, the garden might have already been destroyed.


    This rabbit was obsessed with alchemy, so he had to be extra cautious. He even brought the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm with him, not daring to leave it alone in the garden.


    Having learned his lesson once, he wasn¡¯t going to let it happen again.


    Unexpectedly, bringing the rabbit along this time turned out to be a good idea, as it seemed to have made an important discovery.


    This rabbit was a treasure-hunting rabbit, with an incredibly keen sense for spiritual herbs.


    No method of concealing the scent of spiritual herbs could escape its nose.


    It also had very high standards¡ªanything less than a fourth-grade spiritual herb wouldn''t interest it.


    And since fifth-grade to tenth-grade spiritual herbs didn''t grow in this world, one could only imagine the grade of the spiritual herb that had excited the rabbit this time.


    Long Xuan¡¯s eyes grew brighter and brighter.


    He couldn¡¯t possibly take out the rabbit in front of everyone, but understanding its message wasn¡¯t a problem.


    Guided by the rabbit, Long Xuan walked straight in a particr direction. Before long, he arrived at a stall.


    The stall owner was an old acquaintance, and the jars and bottles in front of the stall were so familiar that it reminded him of the time when he first crossed into this world.


    "Li Laodao, it¡¯s you? How did you end up here?"


    Long Xuan blurted out in surprise.


    Yes, the stall owner was none other than his first friend in this world, Li Laodao.


    Long Xuan thought they wouldn¡¯t cross paths again, but to his surprise, they met here. He couldn''t help but marvel at how small this world seemed.


    At this point, Li Laodao had already reached the Marrow Cleansing stage, and not just the early stage but theter stage, making him on par with Long Xuan. Clearly, this Child of Destiny had stumbled upon another great opportunity somewhere.


    Moreover, the treasure that the rabbit guided him toward was in Li Laodao''s storage bag. There¡¯s no way a poor rogue cultivator could possess such a heaven-defying treasure¡ªhe must have had another incredible opportunity.


    Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but sigh, thinking that this Child of Destiny truly lived up to the title, as fate seemed to favor him frequently.


    Seeing the familiar face, Li Laodao was momentarily stunned but quickly recovered and smiled wryly, "I didn¡¯t expect you to recognize me."


    "It¡¯s been years, and your reputation now is quite impressive¡ªranked third among the Ten Demonic Prodigies of the Western Lands. I can hardly believe you''re my old friend."


    "When I first met you, I could tell you were no ordinary person. I knew you would achieve great things, which is why I stuck around you every day, trying to befriend you."


    "Looks like my judgment was spot on. Seems like I¡¯ll be hitting it big soon!" Li Laodao joked, showing no signs of difort despite the huge difference in their statuses.


    "You haven¡¯t told me why you''re here. Is Di Xin and Little Medicine Boy here as well?"


    Long Xuan squatted down, curious.


    Seeing someone so familiar with one of the Ten Demonic Prodigies, many people nearby started to focus on them, taking note of Li Laodao¡¯s appearance.


    Some were already considering how to get close to him. Anyone who knew important figures was bound to rise, especially if those figures remembered their past friendships.


    "I¡¯m here for obvious reasons. The City Lord Yan, in order to resist the Great Yin Dynasty, has been selling offnd left and right, pulling in many forces from impoverished areas into the fight against the dynasty."


    "Under the bloodshed from the Great Yin Dynasty and Shi Haojun, arge part of the Western Lands has indeed been vacated. The forces from barrennds dream of expanding to more prosperous regions, so when the opportunity to settle in the Western Lands presented itself, how could they not be tempted?"


    "So, they were all tricked into joining the alliance by City Lord Yan. I had previously joined a faction called the Rogue Cultivator Alliance and was forced into this war as well."


    "As for Little Medicine Boy, thanks to the Spirit Gathering Pill you refined, he had already broken through long before me."


    "Moreover, because he cultivated a technique he found in a certain cave mansion, his progress has been incredibly fast. He reached the peak of the Marrow Cleansing stage quite a while ago."


    "But ever since arriving in the Western Lands, he¡¯s been telling me that he feels like something in the far east is calling to him."


    "He¡¯s been troubled by this feeling, restless, and eventually couldn¡¯t resist the urge to go find the source of that call."


    "No matter how much I tried to stop him, I couldn¡¯t. I have a bad feeling that seeking out that voice won''t lead to anything good."


    "As for Di Xin, she¡¯s been looting the treasure vaults of various ns, to the point where she even dared to target the Seven Great ns, eventually provoking their wrath. She was already being hunted by thebined forces of the Western Lands before I left."


    "When I arrived in the Western Lands, I inquired about her, and it turns out she still wasn¡¯t quiet. She continued to plunder the treasure vaults of various major forces."


    "She ended up offending all the factions of the Western Lands and is being chased by theirbined forces."


    "She couldn''t survive in the Western Lands any longer, so she fled east, continuing her mischief in the eastern regions."


    "At the rate she''s going, wherever she goes, she¡¯ll provoke all the local forces and get hunted by them."


    "She keeps changing regions, fleeing east, and she¡¯ll keep running until she reaches the center of this world."


    "I have a feeling that if she doesn¡¯t die, she will be a devil in the future, and not just any devil, but a rare, heaven-defying one."


    Li Laodao''s expression became solemn, his brows furrowed as he sighed, "Her actions are too wild and too dangerous. Based on what I know of her, she¡¯s not the type to risk her life just for treasure."


    "There must be something in her heart, something driving her to recklessly increase her strength at any cost."


    "With her ordinary mortal body, if she cultivated step by step, she wouldn¡¯t even dream of reaching the Marrow Cleansing stage, even if she trained herself to death."


    "She could only have be a genius cultivator by relying on such thievery and using vast resources to forcefully elevate herself."


    "Where she is now, I have no idea. But she¡¯s definitely not in the Western Lands anymore."


    Hearing this, Long Xuan¡¯s mouth twitched. He was genuinely curious¡ªhow was Di Xin able to survive constant pursuits by major forces without dying?


    It¡¯s a miracle she¡¯s still alive.


    After all, she¡¯s only at the Marrow Cleansing stage, yet she managed to offend every major force in an entire region and still live. How did she pull it off?


    Well, there¡¯s no doubt about it¡ªshe must also be the Child of Destiny. Only someone destined to be a protagonist could be this resilient, and only the protagonist''s aura could keep her alive this long.

 Chapter 218: Dragon Skinning

    "Alright, enough about that. Since you''ve managed to break through the Marrow Cleansing stage and swiftly reach your current realm, I can tell you''ve had some serious opportunities. You must have found quite a few treasures, right?"


    "Hurry up and show me. Let me help you assess them."


    Seeing the rabbit constantly struggling inside the Insect Rearing Bag, Long Xuan finally got to the point.


    "I trust your character, so follow me."


    Li Laodao stood up and packed up his stall. Naturally, it wasn¡¯t safe to reveal the treasures here; they needed to find a secluded spot where no one would disturb them.


    Long Xuan agreed, and under Li Laodao¡¯s lead, they walked into a private room in a Qian n teahouse. After ordering the cheapest pot of tea, Li Laodao ced four formation gs in the room, isting them from any external detection. Only then did he look seriously at Long Xuan and take out one treasure after another from his storage bag.


    When he took out three seeds, the rabbit inside the Insect Rearing Bag became even more agitated, almost kicking a hole through it. Long Xuan immediately realized that these seeds were what had excited the rabbit.


    As expected, these three seeds must be the most valuable items Li Laodao had obtained from his previous encounter.


    ¡°What are these¡­¡± Long Xuan asked, pretending to be casual as he looked at the three seeds.He wasn¡¯t really pretending. He genuinely didn¡¯t know what these seeds were.


    However, two of the seeds showed infinite potential in his eyes, making him secretly thrilled. He knew he had struck gold this time.


    These two seeds were undoubtedly heaven-defying treasures.


    No, to be precise, ''two'' of the seeds were; the third one, which didn¡¯t show any potential, was probably dead.


    Li Laodao smiled bitterly. ¡°Even you don¡¯t recognize them? Honestly, I don¡¯t know what kind of spiritual medicine these three seeds came from either.¡±


    ¡°Even after consulting countless ancient texts, I couldn¡¯t find any mention of them.¡±


    ¡°But the more I don¡¯t recognize something, the less I dare to sell it, for fear it might be some heaven-defying treasure that someone else might snatch up at a bargain.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m only showing these to you because I trust you won¡¯t cheat me. Otherwise, I would never have revealed them.¡±


    ¡°Even though I don¡¯t recognize them, don¡¯t think you can get a bargain. I¡¯m pricing these three seeds as the most valuable of all my treasures.¡±


    ¡°If you don¡¯t offer something equally heaven-defying, there¡¯s no way you¡¯ll get them. And no matter what treasures you offer, I must keep one of these seeds.¡±


    ¡°That way, if I¡¯ve set the price too low, I won¡¯t regret itter. Keeping one seed won¡¯t make my loss too big.¡±


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan secretly admired Li Laodao¡¯s shrewdness. He didn¡¯t even know what the seeds were but had the nerve to set such a high price.


    The treasures on the table weren¡¯t cheap either. Just the five peak-grade Spirit Stones were worth a fortune, with each one worth millions in lower-grade Spirit Stones.


    He dared to price these three seeds higher than five peak-grade Spirit Stones¡ªtruly asking for the moon.


    Looking at the five peak-grade Spirit Stones on the table, Long Xuan sighed inwardly.


    The five stones represented the five elements¡ªgold, wood, water, earth, and fire¡ªexcept that there was no fire stone, and two of the stones were wood.


    If he could exchange the wood-attributed peak-grade Spirit Stone for a fire-attributed one, he couldplete a Five Elements Reversal Formation.


    He had been collecting materials for this formation for years, and now he was just five peak-grade Spirit Stones short, one for each element.


    No matter what, he had to acquire these five peak-grade Spirit Stones today.


    The prices for these stones outside weren¡¯t an issue; it was the three seeds that were the real challenge. Li Laodao clearly didn¡¯t want to be taken advantage of and was sitting on the price. It wouldn¡¯t be easy to get those seeds. ??


    To get them, he would have to offer something Li Laodao truly needed.


    After thinking for a while, Long Xuan reached into his Insect Bag, pulled out a small bottle, and ced it on the table with a smile.


    ¡°Even though you¡¯ve broken through the Marrow Cleansing stage, doubling your lifespan, your speed in breaking through was too slow, costing you too much life force.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why, even though you¡¯ve seeded, you still look so old.¡±


    ¡°With your aptitude, I doubt your remaining lifespan will be enough for you to break through the Spiritual Sea stage. So, you need a treasure that can extend your lifespan.¡±


    ¡°This is a "Longevity Gu" I found in an ancient tomb. Eating one can increase your lifespan by 800 years, allowing you to regain your youth and vitality.¡±


    ¡°Just think of the value of extending your life by 800 years. Remember the auction in ckstone City where the Living Wood that extended life by only 500 years was sold for 40 billion?¡±


    ¡°So, asking 100 billion for this Longevity Gu isn¡¯t too much, is it?¡±


    ¡°But because we have a good rtionship, I¡¯ll give you a 10% discount.¡±


    ¡°I want everything on this table!¡±


    Indeed, Long Xuan was nning to trade his Longevity Gu, which he had developed himself, for Li Laodao¡¯s treasures.


    He had refined a bunch of Longevity Gu when creating one that could extend life by 1,000 years for Long Ziyan.


    These Gu were incredibly valuable, but he had no way to sell them.


    After the disaster over the auction of the Living Wood, he knew even a treasure that extended life by 500 years could lead to bloody battles between Gu Kings. There was no way he could publicly sell his Lifespan Gu¡ªit would be suicide.


    And handing them over to the Long n in exchange for contributions wasn¡¯t an option either, as it would reveal that he had embezzled resources while researching Dragon Blood Battle Gu.


    Thus, these Longevity Gu were effectively stuck in his hands.


    He had already given the 1,000-year Longevity Gu to Long Ziyan, and the highest of the remaining ones could extend life by 800 years. He had three of them, and he was offering one now to tempt Li Laodao.


    Li Laodao was someone Long Xuan couldpletely trust, so he confidently took out the ''800-Year Longevity Gu''.


    At this moment, when Li Laodao heard what Long Xuan said, he felt an overwhelming urge to cough up blood.


    Good grief, he thought he was already asking for a lot, but this Long Xuan was even more outrageous.


    It wasn''t just that Li Laodao was opening his mouth wide, it was like he opened a giant gaping maw.


    He dared to ask for a direct 100 billion! He must be crazy. Who asks for such a price?


    Why didn¡¯t he just rob him? He might as well kill him with a knife¡ªbecause even if he sold everything he had, he couldn¡¯t scrape together 100 billion!


    Li Laodao''s face alternated between ck and white.


    "So, have you thought it over? Either give me ''100 billion, or hand over everything on the table."


    "If you don''t agree, I''ll leave now. Our deal may fail, but at least we¡¯ll still part on good terms," Long Xuan urged.


    Li Laodao''s old face twitched uncontrobly. Good terms? What nonsense. How could Long Xuan dare talk to him about good terms!


    But Long Xuan had truly hit him where it hurt this time.


    It wasn''t just that his ''lifespan'' was running out; the bottleneck between the Marrow Cleansing stage and the Spiritual Sea stage was like a heavenly chasm. Crossing it was like thousands of soldiers trying to cross a narrow bridge¡ªit was exceedingly difficult.


    He needed plenty of time to gather vast amounts of resources to have any chance of crossing that threshold.


    What¡¯s more, the thing about lifespan is that even if he wasn¡¯t desperatelycking it, he would still fight tooth and nail to obtain more, at any cost.


    Who wouldn¡¯t want to live an extra 800 years? Even if it meant selling everything, it would be worth it.


    Li Laodao took a deep breath, staring intently at the Longevity Gu on the table. His breathing grew rapid, as he couldn''t remain calm in front of such a precious treasure.


    But Long Xuan¡¯s price was simply too ruthless. He wanted all of his treasures, or a straight-up demand for 100 billion. This was practically driving him to ruin.


    These items were Li Laodao¡¯s most valuable possessions! This wasn¡¯t asking for his money; it was asking for his lifeblood!


    "So, have you thought it over? If you don''t agree, I''ll be on my way," Long Xuan urged again.


    As he spoke, he reached out for the small bottle containing the Longevity Gu, ready to take it back.


    Li Laodao''s face changed drastically, and in a panic, he hurriedly reached out to block the bottle.


    "Wait! Wait! Fine, I''ll exchange them! I¡¯ll trade! You can have all the junk on the table! I don¡¯t care about them!"


    As he said this, Li Laodao felt like his heart was bleeding. It felt as if all his precious treasures were slipping away, and he was about to return to square one.


    He quickly picked up the small bottle and held it tightly against his chest, as if only this bottle could soothe his wounded spirit.


    "Hahaha¡­ I''ll take a little loss and help you by taking away all these worthless things. No need to thank me!" Long Xuanughed heartily, excitedly sweeping everything on the table into his storage bag.


    Especially those "three seeds"¡ªhe absolutely wouldn¡¯t miss out on them!


    "Wait, we agreed earlier that no matter what treasures you brought out, I must keep one of the three seeds."


    "I, Li Laodao, stand by my word. Once spoken, I never go back on it."


    "So, you can only take two of the seeds; no matter what, you must leave me one," Li Laodao quickly stopped Long Xuan as he was about to sweep the three seeds into his storage bag, hastily shouting.


    "Fine, fine! Seeing how pitiful you are, I''ll take another loss. Who can me me for being so kind-hearted?"


    As he spoke, Long Xuan threw the " dead seed"¡ªthe one without any progress¡ªtowards Li Laodao, pretending to be generous.


    Li Laodao hurriedly caught it, treating the seed like a treasure, and put it back into his storage bag.


    At this moment, regret filled his heart. If he had known earlier, why did he bring out so many treasures?


    Why didn¡¯t he just take out one seed? It was his own fault for being too eager, and now all his treasures had been taken in one go.


    Li Laodao nced at him with resentment, puffing his beard and ring, "You rascal, you¡¯re ruthless!"


    "This time, you''ve cleaned out my entire storage bag. Looks like I''ll have to find another opportunity to refill it."


    "Originally, I was hesitant to go for the next opportunity because of the danger, but now I have no choice but to go and recover some of my losses."


    "Tomorrow, there¡¯s a great opportunity. Are youing with me?"


    As soon as Li Laodao finished speaking, Long Xuan was startled and shivered. Not again?


    This time, he hoped it wouldn¡¯t be another "100% guaranteed safe" adventure. He was genuinely scared. Could Li Laodao please stop dragging him into trouble and go harm someone else for a change?


    This Li Laodao was cursed with bad luck. Everywhere he went, something always went wrong. Following him never led to anything good.

 Chapter 219: Li Laodaos Golden Finger

    "May I ask, how many people died for you to obtain these three seeds this time? What about your teammates?"


    Long Xuan stared intently at him.


    Faced with this soul-piercing question, Li Laodao''s expression became uneasy. Finally, he forced augh and said, "There was a small... mishap."


    "It was originally a sure thing, 100% safe, but then something unexpected happened, and everyone who teamed up with me died."


    "Only I survived, relying on the undying ability of the Little Strong Gu. I managed to stay alive, collected all the storage bags of my teammates, and took all the opportunities they found in the cave mansion, making a profit through tears."


    Hearing this, Long Xuan couldn''t stop his mouth from twitching, and his legs started trembling. He knew it! He knew it! Following this Li Laodao would never end well. Anyone who sticks with him is bound to have bad luck.


    It''s truly a miracle that he hadn¡¯t been killed during the several times he teamed up with Li Laodao. He must have a tough life.


    "So, are you going to tell me again that this treasure hunt is 100% safe? Money lying all over the ground, just pick it up?" Long Xuan said with a half-smiling, half-serious expression.


    Li Laodao nced at him and smiled bitterly, "I understand what you mean, but this time you¡¯ve got it wrong.""This time, I didn¡¯t organize the operation. The people participating in this mission are the top geniuses of the Western Lands. Among them, I am the weakest. How could I dare to stir up this mess?"


    "Not only do I not think this mission is 100% safe, but I also think it¡¯s extremely dangerous."


    "Every time I consider participating in this mission, I get this ominous feeling, and my right eyelid keeps twitching, as if something bad is going to happen."


    "So, I originally didn¡¯t n to participate, but ever since I met you, the ominous feeling disappeared, and my eyelid stopped twitching. Maybe it¡¯s just psychological."


    "But I have this gut feeling that with you, this mission will be 100% safe. Without you, everyone going tomorrow will surely die."


    "I have a lot of faith in my intuition. To tell you the truth, during that trip to the cave mansion in the far west, it was my terrifying intuition that led me to step on the correct stone pirs. Do you really think anyone could be that lucky?"


    "I have been relying on this terrifying intuition to survive up until now."


    "Every time I told you that something was 100% safe, it was because my intuition told me so. I¡¯ve never been wrong."


    "Although there were always unexpected events, we never actually died, right?"


    "As long as we¡¯re not dead, it¡¯s 100% safe. My predictions were never wrong."


    "So this time, I¡¯m telling you again, it will be 100% safe, but only if youe. Otherwise, I¡¯m absolutely not going!"


    "Let me rify in advance: by ''100% safe,'' I mean you won¡¯t die. But like before, there will be all kinds of unexpected incidents, and you might even get seriously injured. Be prepared for that."


    Hearing this, Long Xuan was stunned. He looked at Li Laodao with a surprised expression.


    He secretly sighed, ''Is this the golden finger of a child of destiny? Precise premonitions of death and fortune¡ªif used well, such an ability would be truly invincible.''


    Being able to precisely predict death means that this person can never be killed, essentially making him immortal.


    And someone who canugh until the end is destined to be a force to reckon with in the future, someone who will undoubtedly be one of the strongest in this world.


    Combined with the ability to predict where treasures are located, this person is bound to possess countless heaven-defying artifacts. It would be strange if he didn¡¯t grow powerful.


    Long Xuan¡¯s gaze grew more serious. If what Li Laodao said was true, and his premonitions were 100% urate, then Long Xuan really needed to consider his next steps carefully.


    Li Laodao''s words had some truth to them. Although crises had arisen every time they teamed up, in the end, none of them had died, just as he said¡ª100% safe. His intuition was remarkably urate. R?


    However, Li Laodao''s "100% safe" only meant no one would die, not that there wouldn¡¯t be any unexpected incidents.


    If that¡¯s truly the case, then this mission might really be worth considering.


    Li Laodao had already predicted it would be 100% safe. If his premonitions were as urate as they seemed, then while danger was inevitable, death was not.


    And as long as there was no death, the risk wasn¡¯t too great.


    Long Xuan''s eyes showed a thoughtful expression.


    Just as he was about to inquire about the details of the mission and what treasures might be obtained, his storage bag suddenly stirred.


    He reached into his storage bag and quickly pulled out amunication talisman.


    Since the use of Sou Gu had been prohibited in the small hut, the Long n had reverted to using primitivemunication tools like consumablemunication talismans. It was highly inconvenient.


    He didn¡¯t have many people with whom he exchangedmunication talismans, and Long Dan was one of the few.


    Thismunication talisman was indeed from Long Dan.


    Long Xuan, curious about what it could be, quickly picked up themunication talisman and looked at it.


    The general message was that Long Dan had identally discovered a heaven-defying treasure. He nned to invite all the city¡¯s top geniuses for a treasure hunt tomorrow, and today, everyone would gather at Qian¡¯s Restaurant to discuss the matter. Thismunication talisman was an invitation to Long Xuan.


    However, Long Dan didn¡¯t exin exactly what treasure they were hunting, remaining vague and unclear.


    Long Xuan froze for a moment. Could the ce Li Laodao was talking about be the same as Long Dan¡¯s?


    Could Long Dan be the one organizing this?


    What kind of deadly situation was he getting into this time, and he still wanted to drag Long Xuan into it?


    Based on Li Laodao¡¯s words, if Long Xuan didn¡¯t go, then everyone going tomorrow would be doomed.


    Long Xuan¡¯s eyes flickered, and he decided to go to the tavern first to figure out exactly what this mission entailed.


    ...


    Not long after, Long Xuan and Li Laodao entered the Qian n Restaurant and headed towards Room No. 1.


    As soon as they opened the door, the eyes of everyone inside immediately focused on them. When Long Xuan recognized the owners of these gazes, he was shocked.


    Among these people were not only Long Dan, ranked first on the Ten Demonic Prodigies list, but also Shi Kun, ranked fourth, Lei Shun, ranked sixth, and Bai Youran, ranked seventh.


    Including himself, ranked third, five of the Ten Demonic Prodigies from the Western Land had already gathered.


    What exactly was Long Dan nning, to gather such arge group?


    At this moment, half of the Ten Demonic Prodigies of the Western Land were gathered here, and the rest were all well-known masters from various parts of the Western Land.


    There were not only geniuses from various ns of ckstone City, but also those from outside the city, including many well-known rogue cultivators.


    Around thirty people had gathered here, all renowned experts from the Western Land. A significant number of them were considered invincible at their respective levels.


    The overall quality of this group was extremely high, truly the elites among elites on the battlefield. With such power gathered together, there was no task they couldn''t aplish.


    When they saw that the neer was Long Xuan, ranked third on the Prodigy List, many people''s pupils shrank, and a look of apprehension appeared on their faces.


    "Damn, even the third-ranked powerhouse from the Prodigy List is here. Now, five of the top ten are present. What exactly are you nning, that you need so many experts?" Lei Shun looked at Long Dan, who was seated in the main position, and asked anxiously.


    Everyone else also looked at Long Dan with a serious expression.


    They had all been summoned by Long Dan through amunication talisman. As the number one genius on the Prodigy List, they couldn''t refuse his invitation. So, no matter how busy they were, they had made time to attend this gathering.


    However, upon seeing so many renowned geniuses at this gathering, everyone was shocked.


    No one could believe that Long Dan would need so many renowned geniuses unless it was for something extremely dangerous.


    Thus, everyone was now on high alert, already thinking of excuses to refuse.


    When Long Dan saw Long Xuan enter the room, he was a bit surprised. This guy usually avoided battles and never participated in any missions. He had thought Long Xuan wouldn''te, but he was unexpectedly here. Was the sun rising in the west today?


    Long Xuan was thest to arrive, and after entering with Li Laodao, they found a seat.


    After seeing that everyone had arrived, Long Dan nced around the room and finally spoke, "I originally wanted to gather all of the Ten Demonic Prodigies."


    "Unfortunately, everyone has their own missions toplete, and getting everyone together at the same time is impossible."


    "I could only gather five of us. The others here are top-tier experts, second only to the Ten Demonic Prodigies. Theirbat strength is not far behind."


    "Some are from ckstone City, some from outside the city, and others from different regions, including rogue cultivators. But without exception, those I''ve chosen all possess invincible strength at their level."


    "With such powerful forces concentrated here, I believe you don¡¯t need to worry much about safety."


    "Now, let''s get to the main point. You''ve probably heard about me taking down Qin Tian, right?" Long Dan''s voice suddenly paused.


    Shi Kun smirked and said, "Didn''t you just kill the top genius from the Great Yin Prodigy List?"


    "For the number one genius on the Prodigy List to take him down, isn''t that just a normal urrence?"


    "You don¡¯t need to show off with this. We''ve heard about it so many times that our ears are getting calluses."


    After Shi Kun spoke, a burst ofughter erupted.


    "I''m not bringing this up to boast about anything. I¡¯m not that bored."


    Long Dan lightly sipped the wine in his cup, a gleam of excitement and a hint of worry shing in his eyes. He finally sighed and said, "Before Qin Tian died, he revealed a secret about a heaven-defying treasure, trying to use it to exchange for his life."


    "You all know my nature. When I do something, I leave no loose ends, so after he revealed the secret, I killed him without hesitation, going against my word."


    "Before his death, he told me that there was a divine tree in the Imperial Garden of the ck Wind Kingdom¡¯s royal city, and it bore thirty-six fruits."


    "However, he didn¡¯t know the name of this divine tree. Even after searching through all the records, he couldn¡¯t find any mention of it."


    At this moment, Bai Youran suddenly interrupted, "Since you¡¯ve gone to such lengths to summon so many geniuses, I¡¯m sure you already know the origins of this divine tree. Just tell us directly!"

 Chapter 220: The Mortal Nation

    When the Divine Tree was mentioned, Long Dan''s eyes lit up more and more, showing an excited expression. He finally said, "Do you know of the three Divine Trees of heaven and earth, the four Divine Bamboos, the five Spirit Ginsengs, the six Divine Mushrooms, the seven Divine Lotuses, the eight Divine Flowers, the nine Divine Grasses, and the ten Divine Trees?"


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan was the first to be taken aback, showing a thoughtful expression.


    The three Divine Trees of heaven and earth, four Divine Bamboos, five Spirit Ginsengs, six Divine Mushrooms, seven Divine Lotuses, eight Divine Flowers, nine Divine Grasses, and ten Divine Trees¡ªof course he knew what they were and had even seen them. In fact, he possessed one in his hand right now.


    These divine objects all surpassed even peak-grade spiritual herbs, possessing almost rule-defying powers.


    Each of them was unique in the world. Only one would exist at any time. If destroyed, it would randomly reappear somewhere in the world with an eternal lifespan.


    The Soul Nourishing Tree was one of the three Divine Trees, and Long Xuan was very familiar with it.


    So, when Long Dan mentioned it, Long Xuan immediately realized that the Divine Tree in the ck Wind Nation was likely one of the ten Divine Trees.


    His heart surged with excitement. He had a particr fondness for tree-based spiritual herbs, and not only him¡ªHeavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm, the Medicinal Gu, and the Rabbit all loved them too.


    An elixir that surpassed peak-grade spiritual herb would cause anyone to lose theirposure in front of such a treasure.Seeing the nk expressions on everyone''s faces, Long Dan sighed, "Too few people have seen such unique items of heaven and earth, and there are even fewer records of them in books."


    "It''s no wonder you wouldn''t recognize it. Even the Gu cultivators of ck Wind Nation couldn¡¯t identify it. Otherwise, we wouldn''t even have this opportunity."


    "I won¡¯t keep you guessing. The Divine Tree in ck Wind Nation is none other than the Tenth Divine Tree in the world¡ªthe Heaven-Mending Tree."


    "The Heaven-Mending Tree is extremely rare. Only one exists in the entire world at any given time, so very few people can study its alchemy forms."


    "However, even eating the Heaven-Mending Tree''s fruit raw can unconditionally improve a person''s aptitude by one grade without altering their attributes. This applies even to peak-grade geniuses."


    As soon as Long Dan said this, the whole room was filled with the sound of heavy breathing. Everyone''s eyes turned red with excitement, and some even stood up, their expressions crazed, showing extreme greed.


    An item capable of improving one''s aptitude was something none of them had even heard of before.


    At this moment, everyone present had gone mad. No one could remain calm in front of such a treasure.


    Even Long Xuan''s mood was not calm. After all, he was by no means a natural genius. His aptitude was quite ordinary, to the point where he could be considered a waste. He was the one who needed a treasure to improve his aptitude the most.


    Especially since the improvement in aptitude would ur without changing his Five Elements attributes, making the temptation even greater for him.


    If eating the Heaven-Mending Fruit raw could unconditionally raise one''s aptitude by a full grade, then what if someone could develop an alchemy form using the Heaven-Mending Fruit? How much aptitude could such a pill improve?


    This thought shed through Long Xuan¡¯s mind, and he could no longer stay calm.


    The temptation was far too great for him; how could he possibly resist such allure?


    Bai Youran¡¯s eyes turned red for a moment before she was the first to regain herposure. She hurriedly shouted, "Wait a minute! If there is such a heaven-defying treasure, why are you sharing it with us? Are you sure you¡¯re not hiding something from us?"


    As soon as she said this, everyone instantly regained their rationality and looked at Long Dan with calm eyes, waiting for his exnation.


    Indeed, this kind of heaven-defying treasure¡ªwas Long Dan really generous enough to share it with outsiders? Why wouldn''t he give it all to the members of his own Long n? Something didn''t seem right.


    Long Dan chuckled at himself and said helplessly, "I already told you the reason. It was information revealed to me by Qin Tian before I killed him."


    "Haven''t you considered the possibility that this might be a trap he set for me before his death?"


    Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent, showing thoughtful expressions. Indeed, Long Dan¡¯s concern was not unfounded.


    It was quite normal for someone to set a trap for their enemy right before dying, attempting to take them down.


    In such a case, who could guarantee that the information Qin Tian provided waspletely true? No one could be sure.


    Now, everyone understood what Long Dan meant.


    The truth of the information was uncertain, and recklessly going to seize the Heaven-Mending Tree was indeed risky.


    If Long Dan brought only the members of the Long n and it turned out to be a trap, many powerful cultivators at the Marrow Cleansing stage could die, which would severely weaken the Long n.


    So Long Dan intended to spread the risk, letting the geniuses of all the ns of the Western Lands contribute. If there was a reward, everyone could share it. If there was danger, everyone would bear it together.


    The geniuses in the room exchanged nces, all showing conflicted expressions, their emotions shifting repeatedly.


    It was truly a difficult decision. Choose right, and their aptitude would improve by one grade. Choose wrong, and their lives would be forfeit.


    Humans die for wealth, as birds do for food. Greed is often the cause of death. Everyone understood this, but they couldn¡¯t suppress the temptation in their hearts.


    After a long silence, with only the sound of their heavy breathing filling the room, Lei Shun¡¯s face twisted into a grim expression as he said, "I need more detailed information."


    "For example, what kind of country is ck Wind Nation, and where exactly is it? Why have I never heard of it?"


    "And what is the defensive strength of that ce? What are our chances of sess? You should rify all this, right?"


    "And, are you certain that the Heaven-Mending Tree is really there? You¡¯d better make sure of this information!"


    Long Dan quickly responded, "This is a matter of my own life. How could I not investigate thoroughly and make all the necessary preparations?"


    "I''ve already done my research. The ck Wind Nation is a mortal kingdom controlled by the Great Yin Dynasty. It''s rather inconspicuous, but it''s extremely far from our current location."


    "To be honest, if we were to walk there, it would take several years to reach that ce."


    "However, my Limit-breaking Gu recently gained an additional slot to break the limit, and I¡¯ve already given this slot to my Sou Gu."


    A smile appeared at the corner of Long Dan''s lips, gradually showing his pride.


    "Under the influence of the chaotic spatial turbulence, a normal Sou Gu can no longer use its teleportation abilities. Only my Limit-breaking Sou Gu is an exception."


    "However, considering that my Sou Gu has only evolved once, it can only teleport Gu cultivators at the Marrow Cleansing stage."


    "Before the Great Yin Dynasty detonated the Realm Pearl in the Great Yin Dynasty, I had already ced one of my Sou Gu huts in the royal city of the ck Wind Nation. We can teleport there at any time."


    "Once we kill off all the defending forces in the royal city and snatch the Heaven-Mending Tree, we can teleport back the same day,pletely undetected."


    A sh of sharpness appeared in Long Dan''s eyes.


    At this moment, Long Xuan interjected and asked, "I¡¯ve never heard much about mortal kingdoms. Could you exin to me what they are? Do they have any forces that could threaten a peak Marrow Cleansing Gu cultivator?"


    Long Dan nced at him and patiently exined, "As we all know, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is unevenly distributed in this world."


    "The ces with the sparsest spiritual energy arepletely unsuitable for cultivation."


    "As a result, those barrennds have no Gu cultivators or spirit beasts. Without spirit beasts, there''s naturally no body cultivation either."


    "So, in regions where spiritual energy is almost nonexistent, one mortal kingdom after another is formed. In these mortal kingdoms, cultivation is impossible, so they are mostly filled with mortals."


    "Remember, I said ''mostly.'' Gu cultivation is impossible there, but that doesn''t mean there are no cultivators at all."


    "There are many Gu cultivators who couldn''t make it in the Gu world and havepletely given up on the path of strength. They enter the mortal world, seeking pleasure, and be servants to mortal nobles."


    "These Gu cultivators who couldn¡¯t survive in the Gu world are the weakest of the weak, at the very bottom of the Gu world hierarchy, constantly bullied."


    "In the Gu world, they are trash, but in the mortal world, they are like gods. They be addicted to the wealth and luxury of the mortal world,pletely turning into the dogs of mortal rulers, losing all their dignity as cultivators."


    Long Dan showed a disdainful expression and continued, "So, when I said ''few,'' it was a matter of proportion. There are plenty of Gu and body cultivators in the royal city of the ck Wind Nation."


    "After all, it''s the royal city. You could throw a brick and hit a noble. Every noble keeps a few guards, and when you add them all together, the number of Gu and body cultivators in the royal city is staggering."


    "The number is easily a hundred times greater than ours."


    "Don''t be impatient. Let me finish." Long Dan stopped the few geniuses who were about to speak and continued, "I visited the royal city today through my Sou Gu hut."


    "Due to the ongoing war, the Great Yin Dynasty¡¯s vassal states have sent troops to assist, leaving the ck Wind Nation in a state of military emptiness, with weak defenses in the royal pce."


    "No matter the level of Gu cultivator, none can escape my detection."


    "From my investigation, there¡¯s only e-stage Spiritual Sea Gu cultivator in the entire royal city. However, his aura is quite extraordinary and doesn¡¯t resemble the Gu cultivators of a mortal nation. He¡¯s currently staying in an inn with a young man, quite far from the royal pce. He¡¯s probably just passing through."


    "ording to the rules, higher-level cultivators cannot attack lower-level cultivators. This rule binds us, but it also binds them."


    "Not to mention, this Spiritual Sea Gu cultivator is probably not connected to the royal family. Even if he has past ties, he would likely stand aside and watch, as the rules of war dictate. So, we can mostly ignore him."


    "As for the royal pce, there are about one hundred Gu and body cultivators. But as I said, the Gu cultivators who have be dogs of mortals are worthless trash with terriblebat strength. The few dozen of us can easily sweep through them."


    "However, there¡¯s one National Master and four Vajra Guards in the Imperial Garden who are at the peak of the Marrow Cleansing stage. These five have pure spiritual power and require our extra attention."


    "Outside the pce, there are also two hundred thousand imperial guards and nearly ten thousand body refiners and Gu cultivators raised by the nobles."


    "This force is massive enough to surround and kill us."


    "That''s why I¡¯ve prepared the Five Ghosts Mountain Shifting Formation disk. This formation was acquired by our n during a siege against a powerful female thief. It¡¯s terrifyingly powerful and canpletely shroud the royal pce, isting all the sounds of battle inside so that no one will notice."


    "Even if we¡¯re somehow discovered, it doesn''t matter. The defensive power of this formation is terrifying, and the more people die within it, the stronger the defense bes."


    "To put it bluntly, this formation can withstand the attacks of ten thousand Gu cultivators, including thatte-stage Spiritual Sea cultivator."


    "However, this formation is evil because it draws its energy from human souls. Even if we ughter everyone in the royal pce, the formation will only protect us for half an hour at most."


    "So, our operation time is limited to half an hour. We must kill all the defending forces in the pce within that time, find the Heaven-Mending Tree in the Imperial Garden, divide the Heaven-Mending Fruits, and retreat through the Sou Gu hut."


    "That¡¯s my n. If anyone has concerns or suggestions, now is the time to speak up."


    Long Dan finished in one breath, took a sip of wine to wet his throat, and looked expectantly at the group of geniuses below him.


    ***


    Thanks to the user "<b>Immortal_Dragon_God</b></a>" for the chapters provided!

 Chapter 221: Li Laodao’s Plan

    The group of geniuses exchanged confused nces, unsure of how to respond. Shi Kun was the first to speak: ¡°This n doesn¡¯t match my expectations¡ªit¡¯s way too easy and safe.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re saying that your Five Ghosts Mountain Shifting Formation is enough to block everyone outside the pce, including thete-stage Spiritual Sea Gu cultivator, who might be an unpredictable factor. And inside the pce, there are only about a hundred Gu cultivators and body cultivators left.¡±


    ¡°These Gu cultivators and body cultivators are just weaklings who couldn¡¯t survive in the Gu world. We could easily ughter them.¡±


    ¡°This is an incredibly simple mission. Where¡¯s the danger? Why the need for such a big operation?¡±


    ¡°Not only did you call so many geniuses, but you even summoned five of the top ten talents from the Demonic List.¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you making a big deal out of nothing? To kill those weaklings, you don¡¯t need any of the Demonic List Prodigy. With just yourself and a few dozen ordinary Gu cultivators, it¡¯s more than enough. You didn¡¯t need to summon any of us.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re overestimating those Gu world outcasts. Using a cannon to kill ants¡ªtotally unnecessary.¡±


    The others nodded in agreement, casting strange looks at him.


    At first, when they saw Long Dan had summoned so many renowned geniuses, including five from the Demonic List, they instinctively thought this would be an extremely dangerous mission.For a moment, they were all terrified, even thinking of excuses to refuse.


    But now? It felt like a waste of their concern.


    To take down a group of Gu world outcasts didn¡¯t require Demonic list geniuses. Were they joking?


    Long Dan took a deep breath, ignoring the group¡¯s mockery. He sighed, ¡°No matter what you all think, I believe this could very well be a trap.¡±


    ¡°Although I haven¡¯t detected any immediate threats, when ites to my life, I can¡¯t afford to be reckless.¡±


    ¡°In my investigation, the only real wildcard, aside from thatte-stage Spiritual Sea Gu cultivator, is the peak-grade Marrow Cleansing national master.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why I n to prepare for the worst, using five geniuses to take him down together.¡±


    ¡°I refuse to believe that even if he¡¯s deeply hidden, he can withstand thebined power of five geniuses.¡±


    ¡°If anyone thinks this mission is too easy andcks challenge, you can quit now. This is yourst chance to back out.¡±


    As soon as these words were spoken, everyone fell silent. Not a single person dared to leave.


    It would be a joke¡ªsure, the mission seemed simple, but who would pass up the chance to im the Heaven-Mending Tree?


    Anyone quitting now would be a fool.


    Just moments ago, they were worried about the mission¡¯s dangers, considering backing out.


    But now, their determination to join had only strengthened. Whoever tried to stop them now would have to face their wrath.


    From the looks of it, the mission had no real danger. The Heaven-Mending Tree was practically falling into theirps. Only an idiot would pass up this opportunity.


    It was like a pie falling from the sky, and everyone was smiling in anticipation.


    Long Xuan carefully analyzed the information Long Dan had shared but still couldn¡¯t find any potential threats.


    He frowned deeply. Li Laodao had predicted this mission to be extremely dangerous, iming that without him, everyone would die.


    Where exactly was the dangering from? He was confused.


    Could Long Dan¡¯s intelligence be wrong? Long Xuan considered this possibility but quickly dismissed it.


    The fully activated Evil Dragon Emperor Eyes were terrifyingly urate. He couldn¡¯t believe that any danger in the city could escape its detection.


    The possibility that the peak-grade Marrow Cleansing national master was hiding his true cultivation level was also ruled out. No one could hide their true strength from the fully activated Evil Dragon Emperor Eyes.


    Even if he was deeply concealed, there was no way he could withstand thebined assault of the five geniuses.


    Could the dangere from thete-stage Spiritual Sea Gu cultivator? But that Gu cultivator didn¡¯t belong to the royal family, and the Five Ghosts Mountain Shifting Formation was enough to hold back any Spiritual Sea cultivator for a short time. What threat could he pose?


    Long Xuan was perplexed.


    Just as his head was about to explode from overthinking, Long Dan sent a soul message to him: ¡°Long Xuan, anything can happen, no matter how perfect the n. Unexpected changes can always arise¡ªlike disputes over the division of treasures.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why I need assistance from a fellow nsman. Don¡¯t you dare use a clone this time¡ªsomeone will die if you do.¡±


    ¡°You might be able to fool the iplete Evil Dragon Emperor Eyes with your clones, but you can¡¯t fool me.¡±


    ¡°I need you to go all out this time. Trust me, this mission won¡¯t be as easy as you think!¡±


    Hearing this, Long Xuan looked at him and their gazes met.


    He finally understood why Long Ruoxue knew about his attempt to flee during the Geng Metal mine mission.


    It turned out the Long n had always had an eye that could detect his clones. He had underestimated the fully activated Evil Dragon Emperor Eyes.


    Long Xuan nodded silently.


    Even without Long Dan¡¯s request, he had already nned to use his real body for this mission.


    Li Laodao had said that as long as he participated, he would be 100% safe. Clearly, Li Laodao wasn¡¯t referring to a clone.


    His clone wasn¡¯t a match for Long Dan, let alone any crisis capable of killing Long Dan.


    Using a clone for this mission might just cost him that clone.


    Refining an external clone required restarting the entire cultivation process, which was too costly for him to afford.


    Since there would undoubtedly be unexpected challenges, but no risk of death, he decided to go with his real body.


    Seeing Long Xuan agree, Long Dan felt relieved. He was confident that with Long Xuan by his side, he could essentially ignore any risks. He had a deep understanding of Long Xuan¡¯s truebat power, even feeling a certain fear.


    ¡°Alright! Since no one¡¯s backing out, let¡¯s finalize this. We¡¯ll need some time to prepare, so the mission will begin tomorrow morning.¡±


    ¡°Everyone gather here in this room tomorrow morning. I¡¯ll ce the Sou Gu Hut in this room.¡±


    ¡°However, the matter of the Heaven-Mending Tree is of great importance. It¡¯s a treasure that can enhance one¡¯s aptitude¡ªsomething so heaven-defying it would arouse any Gu King¡¯s greed. If word gets out, the consequences would be disastrous. I don¡¯t need to exin further.¡±


    ¡°So, whatever I¡¯ve said today must not leave this room. I assume no one here is a bbermouth?¡±


    Long Dan¡¯s aura suddenly shifted, his sharp gaze sweeping across the room.


    ¡°Heh! Regardless of whether anyone here is loose-lipped, we¡¯ll establish a rule: if anyone leaks information about the Heaven-Mending Tree, all the geniuses here will execute them together!¡±


    Shi Kun also scanned the room with a smile, but his smile sent a chill down everyone''s spine.


    "Alright, since Brother Kun has suggested it, this rule is now established. It''s not difficult to watch your mouth, and I think none of you here are fools."


    "As for now, let''s eat and drink. Today, it''s my treat!"


    Long Dan raised his wine ss, and the group of geniuses smiled, raising their sses together before drinking it all in one go.


    Long Xuan used his Heavenly Eye to scan the wine and found nothing unusual, so he finished his drink in one gulp.


    He couldn''t help but frown. "What is this? It tastes awful, like horse urine."


    Of course, it was because the recipe he created for wine was too exquisite, spoiling his taste buds. Ever since drinking his own wine, he could never drink anything else.


    The meal didn¡¯tst long. After all, there were important matters to attend to the next morning, and no one wanted to dy them.


    Thus, the geniuses didn¡¯t indulge in the drinks. Once they were full, they quickly dispersed, eager to prepare the supplies they might need for tomorrow.


    Everyone was filled with anticipation for what was toe.


    ---


    The next day arrived in the blink of an eye.


    After a restful night''s sleep, Long Xuan, feeling refreshed, quicklypleted his morning routine. After a simple breakfast, he headed to the agreed meeting point.


    As soon as he stepped out of the Long n¡¯s residence, he saw the elderly Li Laodao, who had been waiting at the door for quite some time, which made Long Xuan pause.


    "You still haven¡¯t taken the Longevity Gu?" Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but ask through spiritual voice transmission.


    At this moment, Li Daode still looked old, with no sign of youth returning. His cultivation progress also showed no changes, so Long Xuan concluded that he had not taken the Longevity Gu.


    Li Laodao smiled and replied, "I¡¯ve always been cautious. If I suddenly use the Longevity Gu and be young, how could people around me not be suspicious?"


    "Anything that can extend life easily stirs greed in others."


    "So, there''s no rush to take the Longevity Gu. I n to wait until after this mission, then hide away for a while. At that time, if my appearance changes, it won¡¯t seem abrupt."


    "But to be safe, it¡¯s better to leave this region entirely and head to the eastern territories. That way, no one will notice that my lifespan has increased."


    Long Xuan nodded and said, "You¡¯ve thought this through. I hadn¡¯t considered it fully."


    "Let¡¯s go together. We shouldn¡¯t keep them waiting."


    ---


    When Long Xuan and Li Laodao entered the room, they found that everyone else had already arrived. They were thest two to show up.


    However, it wasn¡¯t that they werete; it was just that everyone else had arrived too early.


    The treasure that could enhance their aptitude had excited everyone, making them all arrive earlier than expected.


    Only Long Xuan remained calm. No matter what heaven-defying treasures he encountered, he never panicked.


    Seeing that thest two had arrived, Long Dan wasted no words and stood up, saying, "Since everyone is here, let¡¯s set off."


    "I¡¯ll go first. You all line up and follow."


    With that, Long Dan took out the Sou Gu House and ced it in the center of the room, then immediately stepped inside.


    The Sou Gu House was a bit small, requiring Gu Masters to bend over to enter. But it was much better than having to crawl into a tiny Sou Gu hut.


    Everyone stared curiously at the Sou Gu hut, with some even unable to resist reaching out to touch it.


    The fame of the Sou Gu had spread far and wide across the westernnds, and they had heard of it countless times. In their minds, the Sou Gu hut was already shrouded in mystery.


    Now, having the chance to see it up close, everyone¡¯s curiosity surged, and they couldn¡¯t resist wanting to study it further.


    This Gu insect, which could build houses to achieve long-distance teleportation, was truly heaven-defying, and all ns envied it.


    The Great Yin Dynasty had suffered countless losses in the face of this terrifying Gu insect.


    "So this is the small house built by the Sou Gu? It really is fascinating. I wonder which genius came up with such an absurd Gu insect."


    "With a Gu insect like this, the Long n will soar to new heights, unstoppable!" Lei Shun said enviously as he gazed at the Sou Gu hut.


    "Alright! Now''s not the time to study this thing. We have important matters to attend to. First, let¡¯s teleport. Nothing is more important than the Heaven-Mending Fruit."


    With that, Shi Kun was the second to enter the Sou Gu Hut.


    Hearing the words "Heaven-Mending Fruit," the others¡¯ eyes lit up. They quickly stopped examining the Sou Gu House and entered one after another¡­

 Chapter 222: Invading the Empress’s Chambers

    Long Xuan and Li Laodao were thest two to crawl in.


    When Long Xuan emerged again, he found himself on a rooftop.


    The Sou Gu hut was situated right on top of a building¡¯s roof.


    There were four formation gs on the rooftop, forming a barrier that tightly protected the Sou Gu hut.


    This formation also seemed to have an illusion effect, as the patrolling guards below appearedpletely oblivious, unable to see the dozens of people standing clearly on the rooftop.


    At this moment, all thirty-six individuals had arrived, but no one made any immediate moves. Long Dan stood at the highest point, using the Evil Dragon Emperor Eye to survey the pce, observing the positions of all the Gu cultivators.


    At that moment, Lei Shun leaped onto the roof and said, ¡°I¡¯ve ced the formation gs at the four corners of the walls. As expected, now that the Five Ghosts Mountain Shifting Formation has isted this area, no one inside or outside the pce has noticed anything unusual.¡±


    ¡°But the key is that no one can enter or leave the pce during this time. Although it¡¯s the morning court session, when few people enter the pce, it¡¯s still best to act swiftly.¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t the Four Kings of the Imperial Garden and the National Advisor in court the strongest? Let¡¯s rush in, kill them, and leave the rest of the mortals. Once we¡¯ve divided the Heaven-Mending Fruit, we can leave immediately,¡± Lei Shun said eagerly, itching to act.He was the fastest among them. In the brief time the others were arriving, he had already circled the pce and set up the Five Ghosts Mountain Shifting Formation.


    ¡°No!¡± Long Dan¡¯s expression turned serious, and he immediately stopped him, saying, ¡°We can¡¯t be reckless. The National Advisor attending the court is just a clone he left behind.¡±


    ¡°Oh? Then where is his real body?¡± Lei Shun asked, confused.


    Long Dan¡¯s face twisted strangely, and after some hesitation, he finally said, ¡°His real body is in the Empress¡¯s chambers.¡±


    Upon hearing this, everyone¡¯s expressions turned odd. They exchanged knowing smiles, with lustful looks in their eyes.


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan immediately activated his ''Heavenly Eye'' to peer into the Empress¡¯s chambers.


    Sure enough, a lecherous young man was sprawled on the Empress¡¯s bed. Around him were not only the Empress but also dozens of concubines and princesses, all unclothed.


    Their eyes were vacant, as if they were hypnotized, entirely at his mercy.


    What a carefree life he was living.


    For a powerful Gu cultivator, controlling a group of mortals was a simple task. The old emperor had made a mistake by appointing such a powerful Gu cultivator as his National Advisor.


    His honor was already in shambles.


    For a mortal to try and control powerful Gu cultivator was inherently unreliable. If one with ill intentions was recruited, it was akin to inviting a wolf into the house, ultimately ying with fire and facing destruction. Attempting to wield such powerful forces would inevitably lead to being consumed by them.


    The old emperor was already facing light consequences. If this were an evil demon cultivator, it wouldn¡¯t be surprising if he had been reced altogether.


    Even a low-tier Gu cultivator who couldn''t survive in the Gu world would cause massive disasters if they entered the mortal realm. The incredible powers of Gu cultivator were far beyond what mortals could resist.


    ¡°Hahaha¡­ That National Advisor sure knows how to enjoy life. I¡¯m almost envious!¡± Shi Kunughed heartily, looking in the direction of the harem.


    The others joined in theughter, except for Long Dan, who remained serious. He sternly said, ¡°Alright, get serious. Since he¡¯s busy with that, it makes it easier for us tounch a sneak attack.¡±


    ¡°Now, listen to my orders. We¡¯ll split into two groups of eighteen.¡±


    ¡°The strongest will follow me to the Empress¡¯s chambers to deal with the National Advisor and the dozen Gu Masters guarding the ce.¡±


    ¡°The rest will attack the Imperial Garden and swiftly eliminate the Four Kings.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about the other areas. Once chaos erupts in these two ces, the remaining Gu cultivators and Body Refiners wille running to their deaths.¡±


    ¡°Once we¡¯ve neutralized the pce¡¯s forces, we¡¯ll quickly divide the fruits, and then we¡¯ll leave through the Sou Gu hut as fast as possible.¡±


    ¡°And don¡¯t even think about stealing all the Heaven-Devouring Fruits for yourself and running. Let me warn you, while outsiders can¡¯t enter the Five Ghosts Mountains Shifting Formation, neither can anyone inside leave without mymand. No one can return through the Sou Gu hut without my permission.¡±


    ¡°If you all follow the rules, each of us will get one Heaven-Mending Fruit.¡±


    Long Dan cast a sharp nce at the group and then waved his hand. ¡°Now, follow me and attack.¡±


    With that, he was the first to leap off the roof, heading straight for the Empress¡¯s chambers.


    The others shouted in excitement and followed, splitting into two groups and charging in different directions.


    Long Dan, Long Xuan, Lei Shun, Shi Kun, Bai Youran, and thirteen other geniuses from various ns targeted the Empress¡¯s chambers.


    This route was evidently the strongest, as the five geniuses from the Demon Prodigy List were all here.


    Long Dan believed that the National Master was the strongest among them, possibly pretending to be weak to lure him into a trap set by Qin Tian.


    Therefore, he nned for the worst and simply gathered the five geniuses from the Demon Prodigy List to gang up on the National Master. Long Dan thought that no matter how much the National Master pretended to be weak, he could never defeat thebined strength of five geniuses.


    However, everyone thought he was making a fuss over nothing, taking the National Master too seriously. Still, since Long Dan was the one who initiated the mission, they had no choice but to go along with it.


    Not long after they jumped down, they were discovered by the Imperial Guards stationed there. The sound of rapid footsteps immediately rang out, as arge number of armored soldiers charged towards them. Along with them came several Gu cultivators who rushed to the scene. Soon, both sides were entangled in a fierce battle.


    Long Dan let out a loud roar and immediately began to transform, ripping through his clothes as he morphed into a half-dragon humanoid form. With his ws, he tore ate-stage Marrow Cleansing Gu cultivator in front of him in half.


    He then charged into the crowd of mortal Imperial Guards, unleashing a massacre. Wherever he passed, bodies of Imperial Guards fell in heaps, their armor, which they wore for protection, was torn to shreds by his ws as though it were made of paper.


    Seeing Long Dan transform into his half-dragon form, the geniuses behind him all disyed expressions of wariness.


    During the war with the Great Yin Dynasty, the Long n''s Dragon Blood Battle Gu had made a terrifying name for itself. The fame was so widespread that anyone who encountered a Long n Gu cultivator in battle feared for their lives.


    Once a Long n Gu cultivator transformed, they became unstoppable, killing anyone in their way¡ªno one could withstand their power. Their feats of ughter left Gu cultivators of the Great Yin Dynasty trembling at the mere mention of them.


    Now, in the Western Lands, the Dragon Blood Battle Gu was notorious, discussed by many. The geniuses behind Long Dan were shocked to see that he also possessed a Dragon Blood Battle Gu.


    That he would reveal such a powerful trump card in this battle, and use his full strength right from the start, without holding back, surprised everyone.


    They were all slightly stunned. Could the National Master really be such a threat that Long Dan felt the need to go to such lengths?


    Seeing Long Dan act so cautiously, the other geniuses finally got serious and started using more of their power as they made their way toward the Empress''s sleeping quarters.


    Mortals in a battle of Gu cultivators were nothing more than cannon fodder.


    With Long Dan''s ws carving the path, any Imperial Guard in front of him eithery scattered on the ground or was flung high into the air by his brute strength, only tond and crush more soldiers beneath them. There was no one who could withstand a single strike.


    Shi Kun, covered in stone armor by his Stone Transformation Gu,pletely ignored the attacks of the mortal soldiers¡¯ iron weapons. He violently charged into the crowd, sending any Imperial Guard in his way flying through the air. Some flew several meters high, only to crash back down into the crowd, causing more chaos and screams of agony.


    Every time he swung his fist, an Imperial Guard''s head would be smashed, their iron helmets offering no protection whatsoever.


    Lei Shun, on the other hand, was covered in lightning. Any iron weapon that struck him was immediately shattered by the lightning. Despite being shed dozens of times by swords and knives, none could break through his defense.


    He, too, rampaged through the crowd, and anyone he crashed into was instantly reduced to a mist of blood.


    Compared to the others, Bai Youran was much gentler. After cutting through the mortals'' weapons with his spirit sword, he swiftly slit their throats. At least, those who died by his sword had their bodies left intact.


    The rest of the Gu cultivators also charged into the mortal army and started ughtering them. Each one of them seemed like a one-man army, possessing the strength to fight thousands.


    The elite Imperial Guards, handpicked from the nation¡¯s finest, werepletely no match for them. They were quickly ughtered and driven into retreat.


    Before long, the ground was littered with corpses, and the road leading to the Empress''s quarters was flowing with blood.


    No matter how many Imperial Guards there were, they couldn¡¯t withstand such ughter. In no time, the area was emptied of both Imperial Guards and Gu cultivators, all of them wiped out by this small group of eighteen.


    It was a bloodbath from start to finish. None of the eighteen were killed or even injured, and none were out of breath. The vast gap between mortals and Gu cultivators was starkly apparent.


    Hearing the fierce sounds of battle outside, the National Master was so frightened he nearly lost his nerve, but his fear quickly turned into anger as he rushed outside.


    ¡°Damn it! Who dares to disturb my important matters? I¡¯ll rip your souls apart!¡±


    He kicked the door open and, seeing the dozen or so people already nearing the entrance, let out a vicious grin and charged straight at them.


    Seeing the National Master charging towards them, Long Dan''s heart sank.


    They had already cleared out all the Gu cultivators and body cultivators guarding the area.


    If the National Master still dared to charge at them now, that meant he was either incredibly foolish or supremely confident¡ªhe must have a powerful trump card that made him fear none of the eighteen of them.


    Long Dan narrowed his eyes, realizing that there was indeed something strange about this National Master. He couldn¡¯t possibly be some random rogue cultivator who had no ce in the Gu world¡ªhe must have an extraordinary background.


    ¡°Everyone, be careful! This National Master is no ordinary person!¡±


    However, just as he finished speaking, a series of screams echoed from the crowd.


    Five Gu cultivators suddenly copsed into pools of blood, their limbs torn apart as if something had ripped them to shreds, or even devoured them, leaving their corpses in horrific states.


    Even the five strongest prodigies suddenly found themselves under attack. Shi Kun was thrown backward, crashing into a pir and skidding across the ground for a long distance. He crawled up, vomiting blood, though luckily, his stone armor¡¯s defense was formidable. This injury barely counted as anything.


    Long Dan quickly dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding some kind of attack.


    Long Xuan gave Li Laodao a heavy kick, sending him flying face-first into the ground. At the same time, Long Xuan rolled to the side.

 Chapter 223: Void-type Spirit Insects

    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, arge 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¡ªit was the position of the dantian. With arge piece of flesh gouged out from that area, Bai Youran waspletely 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 suchbat 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 andunch 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. ording 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 differentyers of space¡ªthe stronger the Void Insect, the deeper its hidingyer.


    Simrly, the stronger the Eye Gu, the more Void Insects one could see. Only the most powerful Eye Gu could see those hiding in the deepestyers.


    However, how many people in the world possessed an Eye Gu? And most Eye Gu could only detect the Void Insects hidden in the shallowestyers.


    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 n 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, bing a natural counter to them.


    Using the Eye of Apocalypse, Feng Jie controlled all the Void Insects in the world and sealed them within ny-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, ny-nine Spirit Sealing Towers have been scattered across the three realms, each guarded by members of the Feng n.


    Through the Void Insects in the Spirit Sealing Towers, the Feng n continued to study and develop ever more powerful Void Gu.


    Void Gu werepletely invisible to the naked eye, and only powerful Eye Gu could detect them. Most Eye Gu could only detect a small portion in the shallowestyers. ?


    Given how few natural counters there were to Void Gu, it was no wonder the Feng n grew to be one of the most powerful ns 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 n that guarded it was also one of the most powerful ns in the Central Region.


    Therefore, it was easy to deduce the identity of the young man they were fighting¡ªhe was from the Feng n, one of the most powerful ns 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 n would be hiding in a mere mortal nation.


    Long Xuan¡¯s pupils suddenly shrank. Could it be that this person stole the Feng n''s Heaven-Mending Tree and fled here?


    After all, the Feng n was one of the most powerful ns in the world. There¡¯s no way they wouldn¡¯t recognize the Heaven Mending Tree.


    That Heaven Mending Tree in the Imperial Garden was most likely brought here by this person.


    Long Xuan''s heart sank. This was a super genius from the world¡¯s strongest n¡ªit would not be easy to deal with him.


    However, recalling Li Laodao¡¯s words that this mission would certainly encounter unexpected challenges but guaranteed no one would die, he gritted his teeth and decided to go all out.


    He quickly split into five clones, and the six of them intercepted all the Void Gu, allowing the other geniuses to focus all their efforts on dealing with the Feng n traitor.


    ¡­


    Meanwhile, themotion in the pce had already attracted the attention of the outside world. Outside the pce, 200,000 Imperial Guards had fully mobilized and were about to storm in to rescue the emperor, but they were firmly blocked by the barrier raised by the Five Ghosts Mountain Shifting Formation.


    The 200,000 Imperial Guards attacked the barrier relentlessly. Under their fierce assault, the formation¡¯s light flickered, and it was uncertain how long it could hold.


    Gu cultivators and body refiners sponsored by the nobles also rushed to the pce, gathering at the edges to watch the chaos unfold.


    This group was enormous. Within moments, thousands of Gu and body cultivators had arrived.


    These were just the ones closest to the pce. Many more had yet to arrive or chose not to get involved.


    Since they had not received orders to attack or assist in the rescue, they watched the scene unfold with great interest, not taking any action.


    Ate-stage Spiritual Sea Gu cultivator with a ck beard suddenly jumped onto a rooftop and looked toward the pce with an intrigued expression.


    "Interesting, interesting! A group of immature brats dares to blood-wash the pce. Do they really think the pce of a mortal nation is something a group of mere Marrow Cleansing Gu cultivators can easily take down?"


    "Once the great formation outside the pce breaks, the 200,000 Imperial Guards will rush in, along with 10,000 Gu and body refiners from the royal city. No matter how skilled these brats are, they¡¯re sure to die¡­"


    ¡­


    "Protect the Emperor! Protect the Emperor!"


    At this moment, the pce was in chaos, with pce maids and young eunuchs running back and forth, and various items scattered on the ground.


    There was no way to continue the morning court session. Upon hearing that a group of Marrow Cleansing Stage Gu cultivators had attacked the pce, the officials and the old emperor, who were attending the morning session, turned pale and rushed out.


    "Your Majesty, those assassins are not here to attack you. They¡¯ve split into two groups¡ªone group stormed into the Empress¡¯s chambers, while the other rushed into the Imperial Garden, where they are currently battling the Four Great Vajras who guard the garden."


    "We just need to wait for reinforcements; there is no threat to Your Majesty¡¯s life," an elder minister respectfully said to the elderly emperor.


    Unexpectedly, the emperor¡¯s face changed drastically upon hearing this. He eximed in shock, "They''re in the Empress¡¯s chambers?"


    "Not good! My beloved consort!"


    With a re, the old emperor dashed anxiously toward the Empress¡¯s chambers.


    "Your Majesty, it¡¯s dangerous there! Please reconsider!"


    A group of elderly ministers hurriedly chased after him, their old faces filled with worry.


    Before long, the old emperor arrived at the Empress¡¯s chambers, where the battle was already at a fever pitch.


    Long Xuan had created a group of clones and summoned several Gu insects, keeping all the void Gu tied up.


    Meanwhile, the others had encircled the national master,unching an intense assault.


    However, the national master¡¯sbat strength exceeded everyone¡¯s expectations. Despite Long Xuan suppressing all his void Gu, he still managed to hold his own against more than ten Westernnd 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 thebined attacks of the geniuses, and his defeat seemed inevitable¡ªit was only a matter of time.


    At the same time, the strength of these Westernnd geniuses was also beyond his expectations. He hadn''t anticipated that such a backwater ce 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 Westernnd 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 n 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 bodiesy sprawled.


    "This¡­ this¡­"


    The old emperor''s hand trembled as he pointed forward.


    "Poof!"


    Suddenly, he spat out a mouthful of blood and copsed 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 n was sound¡ªif he could reach the Heaven-Mending Tree in time, the Wesnd 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 Westernnd geniuses on the other side, and quite a few of them¡ªeighteen in total.


    No matter how strong the Four Great Vajras guarding the Imperial Garden were, could they withstand thebined assault of eighteen geniuses?


    In no time, the Four Great Vajras were in by thebined 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 w 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.

 Chapter 224: Dividing the Treasures

    "Damn it! Why is this so troublesome? We had so many people attack together, and it still took this long to deal with him."


    "He¡¯s definitely not some wandering cultivator who couldn¡¯t survive in the Gu world. He must have a significant background," said Shi Kun with a gloomy face. His body, covered in stone armor, now had cracks from which blood seeped. It was clear he had sustained some injuries during the battle.


    Lei Shun, with a grim expression, added, "Long Dan, your foresight was spot on. Thankfully, you nned for the worst and brought five geniuses from the Demonic Talent List. Otherwise, we would¡¯ve been in big trouble."


    "If it wasn¡¯t for us, especially Long Xuan, it wouldn¡¯t have mattered how many Gu cultivators we brought at the Marrow Cleansing stage. They¡¯d all be dead. That guy¡¯s abilities are truly bizarre."


    Finally, Long Dan let out a long sigh of relief. He knew that Qin Tian''sst words before dying were most likely a trap, meant to lure him in with the temptation of the Heaven-Mending Fruit, which could enhance one¡¯s potential. No one could resist such an offer.


    Luckily, he had anticipated that the trap would beid by this mysterious national master. By preparing ten times more than necessary, he had finally broken through Qin Tian''s contingency ns with overwhelming force.


    Otherwise, even if he had brought just a few fewer people, the consequences would¡¯ve been unimaginable.


    However, as he looked around at the number of people left with a smile, his heart quickly sank.


    They had started with thirty-six people, but now only twenty-four remained. Attacking the pce of a mere mortal nation had resulted in such heavy losses. It was important to remember that everyone he brought was a renowned genius from the Western Lands, each invincible in their respective stages and capable of fighting multiple opponents."Why are there so few of you? Where are the others? You lost so many people just attacking the Imperial Garden?" Long Dan asked, his face darkening as he looked toward the group that hade from the Imperial Garden.


    "Sigh! Don¡¯t mention it! Those Four Vajra Guards weren¡¯t some wandering cultivators who couldn¡¯t survive in the Gu world. Their strength wasn¡¯t weak; it was outrageously strong."


    "Each of them took at least one of our people with them when they made theirst stand," one person in the group said with a bitter smile.


    Despite their heavy losses, everyone was not mourning. In fact, they were smiling with excitement.


    That¡¯s because the most thrilling part, dividing the treasures, was about to begin.


    The deaths of others didn¡¯t concern them. In fact, the more people died, the better. Fewer people meant more treasures to divide. They secretly hoped more had died.


    Only Long Xuan frowned slightly, his expression troubled.


    Li Laodao had predicted that if it hadn¡¯t been for him, everyone who participated in this mission would have died.


    What exactly was the danger that could wipe out everyone?


    Was it really that powerful National Master?


    Long Xuan fell into deep thought, feeling that this matter wasn¡¯t as simple as it seemed.


    Although the National Master was indeed strong, could he really kill everyone?


    Long Dan, after all, had theplete version of the Evil Dragon Emperor''s Eye, which could see through void Gu. Could this National Master really take Long Dan¡¯s life?


    In Li Laodao¡¯s premonition, the crisis that would kill everyone certainly included Long Dan.


    What kind of danger could there have been that even Long Dan would die?


    Although the National Master was powerful, he absolutely didn¡¯t have the ability to kill Long Dan.


    Long Xuan¡¯s heart sank, and his nerves tightened.


    At that moment, the Gu cultivators had already rushed into the Imperial Garden to divide the treasures, leaving him no time to think. He had no choice but to follow them.


    Unable to figure it out, he decided not to think about it for now. He needed to get the treasures first. After all, Li Laodao had predicted that he wouldn¡¯t die, so no matter what dangery ahead, he would face it as it came.


    ---


    Unbeknownst to the group, at that very moment, on the roof of the small hut where the Sou Gu was stored, Bai Youran was clutching his bleeding abdomen, his face pale as a sheet, his eyes dull and lifeless.


    "Heh... My dantian has been dug out. I¡¯m now a cripple. What¡¯s the point of living?" Bai Youran let out a bitterugh, his eyes filled with despair.


    Suddenly, his gaze turned fierce as he looked toward the direction of the Imperial Garden, and he snarled, "I¡¯m alreadypletely crippled, yet you all get to divide the Heaven-Mending Fruits and soar to new heights? I can¡¯t stand it!"


    "Why is my luck so bad while yours is so good? Heaven is unfair!"


    "If I¡¯m miserable, then no one else will have it easy! You¡¯ll all stay here and die with me! Hahaha¡­"


    "Hahahaha¡­"


    A madman''sughter echoed from the rooftop as he covered his body with talisman explosives. With one final maniacalugh, he dove toward the Sou Gu hut¡­


    ---


    Meanwhile, around a massive Spiritual Tree, which was shimmering with blue light, a group of geniuses wasughing heartily.


    Long Danughed, "Arriving early is nothingpared to arriving at the right moment. The Heaven-Mending Fruits have ripened. There are twenty-four of us left, so everyone gets one, with twelve left over."


    "And only the first fruit you eat has any effect. You can¡¯t take more than one."


    "So, there¡¯s no need to fight over those twelve extra fruits."


    "I didn¡¯t expect we¡¯d lose so many people, leaving twelve Heaven-Mending Fruits unimed."


    "Now¡¯s not the time to discuss how to divide these twelve fruits. The Five Ghosts Mountain-Shifting Formation won¡¯t hold for long."


    "For now, let¡¯s divide these twelve fruits among the four of us on the Demonic Talent List. We¡¯ll discuss the details of dividing them when we return."


    Shi Kun, now in possession of three Heaven-Mending Fruits, grinned and nodded in agreement. "I agree. There¡¯s no time to waste. Let¡¯s divide them among the strongest four for now. We can sort it outter."


    Lei Shun, being one of the strongest four, also nodded with augh, "I agree too. There¡¯s no chance of losing them with us."


    "Not only the Heaven-Mending Fruits, but we should also divide the Spiritual Tree and the high-grade Spirit Soil under it. We can figure out the details when we get back."


    The recent battle had caused quite a disturbance, and the Spiritual Tree had already been affected by the residual energy, dying as a result. The Four Vajras had been responsible, and it wasn¡¯t impossible they did it on purpose.


    However, even a dead Spiritual Tree was full of treasures. Its trunk and leaves were incredibly valuable, and it could be sold for an astronomical price outside.


    Not to mention its other uses, the Sou Gu is already incredibly valuable to the Long n.


    A Sou Gu house built with branches from the Heaven Mending Tree can surely teleport directly from ck Stone City to any location within the Gu world without any issues.


    The branches of the Heaven Mending Tree are a fatal temptation not only to the Sou Gu, but also to the Long n.


    However, the value of the Heaven Mending Tree is so immense that it is impossible for one person to im it entirely. Thus, Lei Shun proposed dividing it equally among the four of them.


    After all, this Heaven Mending Tree is already dead. It can''t be revived, and no matter how many pieces it¡¯s divided into, its value won¡¯t diminish.


    At this moment, the rabbit inside Long Xuan¡¯s insect bag had already gone wild. When it sensed the aura of the Heaven Mending Tree, itpletely lost its mind. Since it had been transported here, it had been thrashing around in the insect bag non-stop.


    The Heaven Mending Tree is a higher-level existence than the Living Wood. After all, the Heaven Mending Tree is unique in the world, while the Living Wood is not.


    This is the highest-grade spiritual medicine the rabbit has seen so far. How could it not go crazy?


    So, when Long Xuan, as one of the beneficiaries, heard that the tree was going to be divided equally among the four, he immediately agreed and decisively shouted, "I agree as well. There¡¯s no time to waste; let¡¯s divide it right now."


    Long Xuan waspletely exhrated at this moment. This was the one and only Heaven Mending Tree in existence! If it were still alive, there would be no way he could im it for himself.


    But now that it was dead, could he perhaps use its branches and grafting techniques to sessfully grow a new Heaven Mending Tree?


    Since it is unique to the world, maybe it could also be unique to his herb garden!


    Long Xuan was delighted at the thought.


    Thus, he had every reason to agree to the proposal. He absolutely had to obtain a portion of the Heaven Mending Tree.


    The four strongest prodigies of the group had agreed, so who would dare raise an objection?


    Besides, the arrangement was reasonable and appropriate. It wasn¡¯t the time to waste on unnecessary disputes, so everyone else nodded in agreement as well.


    Without further dy, they divided the Heaven Mending Tree as quickly as possible.


    Each person received one Heaven-Mending Fruit on the spot, and everyone was beaming with joy.


    The rest of the tree was also divided into four parts, which were then ced into the storage bags of the four prodigies.


    Even the high-grade spirit soil in which the Heaven Mending Tree was nted was divided equally into four portions and quickly distributed.


    However, just as everyone was smiling from ear to ear, an unexpected event urred. A deafening explosion suddenly rang out from the distance, followed by a burst of mes in a familiar location.


    Everyone was stunned.


    "Huh? What just happened?"


    "Where did that explosione from? It was so loud!"


    "That direction¡­ looks a bit familiar?"


    Everyone was confused.


    Long Dan¡¯s face suddenly turned pale as he looked toward the explosion, mouth agape, and cried out, "Damn it! That¡¯s my Sou Gu hut! I''ve lost connection with the Sou Gu!"


    "That ce was protected by a formation! Who could have the power to break through it?"


    Shi Kun¡¯s expression froze, and then he suddenly flew into a rage, his face contorting as he roared, "It¡¯s Bai Youran! Only our people can enter that ce, and he¡¯s the only one who isn¡¯t here right now."


    "What the hell did he do!" His face turned dark.


    "Not good!" Li Laodao, while stroking his beard, pulled out a clump of it in frustration.


    "This Bai Youran, did he really blow up the Sou Gu hut? Damn him!" Lei Shun cursed furiously and rushed towards the explosion like a madman.


    The others went berserk too, and they all charged in the same direction.


    They had every reason to panic. Ever since the Great Yin Dynasty crazily detonated a Realm Pearl, all teleportation formation and Sou Gu houses across the Western Lands and its neighboring areas had been deactivated.


    Only Long Dan¡¯s Sou Gu, which had broken past its limits, could still function normally.


    If anything happened to that Sou Gu, they would be stranded, unable to return, trapped in this distantnd.


    They would have to face 200,000 Imperial Guards and 10,000 Gu cultivators and body refiners outside.


    The terrifying thought of what could happen next drained the color from everyone¡¯s faces, and despair began to fill their eyes.


    When they arrived at the scene, they saw nothing left of the roof¡ªthe entire house had been blown to pieces, and the Sou Gu hut had vanished without a trace.


    Everyone¡¯s eyes were bloodshot, and they were utterly crazed with rage.


    ¡°Pfft!¡± Long Dan spat out a mouthful of blood and staggered several steps backward.


    As he gazed at the 200,000 Imperial Guards relentlessly attacking the Five Ghosts Mountain Shifting Formation in the distance, despair filled his eyes.


    He understood what awaited them.


    A dead end. They were now staring at a dead end.


    Things had reached the worst possible oue, and unless a miracle urred, most of them wouldn¡¯t survive the day.


    ¡°Bai Youran! Even if you die, you¡¯ve dragged us all down to hell with you. You¡¯re ruthless!¡±


    Long Dan clenched his fists and cursed at the sky.

 Chapter 225: The Tyrannical Jun Clan

    "Damn it! This self-serving bastard is only making things worse for everyone! Now we''re in serious trouble!"


    Lei Shun''s face turned grim as he suddenly shouted, "I''ll go grab that old emperor right now. We''ll take him hostage and escape the city. Maybe there''s still a slim chance for us!"


    With that, he turned to leave in search of the old emperor.


    Long Dan shook his head and let out a bitterugh. "It''s no use. The old emperor is already dead. I don''t even know how he died."


    "What terrible luck! It seems like the heavens are determined to wipe us out!"


    Lei Shun stopped in his tracks, his face darkening even more.


    Suddenly, Long Dan''s expression hardened as he yelled, "All the cities nearby are already mobilizing their forces to support the royal capital. If we stay here, more troops will keeping, and our only fate will be death."


    "The only path left to us now is to fight our way through the sea of people and break out of the encirclement of the 200,000-strong army. The longer we wait, the worse it gets for us."


    "Let''s split up and escape now. If even one of us can make it out, that''s something. There''s no other choice."Upon hearing this, everyone¡¯s mood turned heavy.


    Fighting through 200,000 soldiers to escape? Easier said than done.


    After all, there are still 10,000 Gu cultivators and body refiners outside.


    Not to mention, the royal city is protected by a formation barrier. No matter how fast you are, you can¡¯t break out without taking the time to destroy the barrier.


    If you don¡¯t create a mountain of corpses here, don¡¯t even think about getting out.


    No matter how strong they were, they were still just human. Even if they could fight, they''d eventually be worn down and killed. Even if some of them did manage to break through, only a few would survive.


    Despair began to show on the faces of the crowd, fear of death flooding their hearts.


    Bai Youran''s destruction of the Sou Gu¡¯s hut had driven them to a dead end. They had no way out now.


    Just as everyone stood there dazed, the Five Ghosts Mountain Shifting Formation could no longer withstand the attacks of the 200,000-strong army and shattered with a deafening crash.


    With the barrier broken, the 200,000 imperial guards surged into the pce like a flood, their dense footsteps echoing everywhere.


    The sound of their footsteps grew louder and louder, hammering the hearts of everyone present.


    ¡°Hahaha¡­ Losing your head is just a scar the size of a bowl! What¡¯s there to fear? Brothers, follow me into battle!¡±


    Suddenly, Shi Kun let out a madugh and charged at the approaching army.


    ¡°Damn it! We¡¯ll fight! Even if I die, I¡¯ll take ten thousand of them with me! Anyone who wants to die,e at me! Even if I die, I¡¯ll kill as many as I can!¡± ?


    Lei Shunughed bitterly, lightning erupting from his body as he frantically rushed towards the massive army of 200,000!


    ¡°Brothers! In our next lives, we¡¯ll be brothers again! Follow me into battle!¡±


    With a furious roar, Long Dan transformed into a half-dragon humanoid, crashing heavily into the army. People were thrown into the air, their screams filling the sky. Wherever the monstrous figure passed, the ground turned into a hellish battlefield.


    The others, inspired by theirrades, roared and charged towards the armying from all directions.


    In an instant, chaos erupted within the army. The ferocity of over 20 geniuses turned the tide of battle.


    The mortal army was ughtered like wheat before a scythe, with corpses piling up in the blink of an eye.


    Despite the overwhelming numbers of the 200,000-strong army, the group of geniuses carved out several long paths through the soldiers, rapidly closing in on the city''s protective formation.


    ¡°Kill! Keep killing!¡±


    Under the orders of various mortal nobles, the recruited Gu cultivators and body refiners joined the battle, mingling with the army andunching an attack against the twenty or so geniuses.


    These cultivators were far superior to the mortal imperial guards. As they joined the fray, the pressure on the geniuses multiplied.


    Long Xuan threw a punch at a peak-grade Marrow Cleansing body cultivator, the dark force within him instantly shattering the cultivator''s heart. The body was sent flying, knocking over dozens of imperial guards and clearing a path in front of him.


    At that moment, a long sword struck his shoulder from behind. However, protected by his Soul Armor, the attack couldn¡¯t prate his defense. Instead, Long Xuan turned and snapped the attacker''s neck, sending him crashing to the ground.


    The Gu cultivators and body refiners mingling among the mortals were simply too weak. Not a single one could withstand even one of Long Xuan¡¯s strikes.


    In just a few breaths, Long Xuan had easily killed over ten Gu and body cultivators, their corpses scattered across the ground.


    ¡°Heavenly Demon Soul-Devouring Technique! Die, all of you!¡±


    Long Xuan roared as his split souls flew out of his body, instantly seizing control of the souls of several early-stage Marrow Cleansing Gu cultivators, forcing them to charge into the crowd and self-destruct. With more than ten deafening explosions, most of the Gu cultivator and body refiners attacking him were killed.


    The few survivors turned pale with fear and froze in their tracks, too terrified to continue attacking.


    They had never seen someone as ruthless as Long Xuan, who killed those of the same rank as easily as slicing vegetables. Panic-stricken, they turned and fled.


    Long Xuan, eager to break out of the encirclement, decided to reveal his true strength. He nned to intimidate the Gu cultivators and body refiners with overwhelming force, then break through the imperial guard¡¯s encirclement and destroy the city¡¯s protective formation to escape.


    This was not difficult for him. Breaking out of the encirclement was easy, and under the guidance of his ''Eye Of Heavenly Secret'', destroying the city''s protective formation was also simple. This situation posed no real threat to him.


    However, his expression remained tense. What was easy for him, might not be for Long Dan.


    In his half-dragon form, Long Dan could withstand all damage and forcibly break through the encirclement. With the Evil Dragon Emperor¡¯s Eye, he could also easily find the formation¡¯s weak points and break it.


    If not for him, this could have be Long Dan¡¯s death trap.


    Long Xuan¡¯s face grew serious. He didn¡¯t dare underestimate thebat prowess of this genius from the Western Lands. This twist of fate wouldn¡¯t be Long Dan¡¯s death sentence.


    So, the great crisis foreseen by Li Laodao was likely not caused by this twist. Worse dangers were yet toe. The events that followed would be the truly life-threatening ones.


    Long Xuan¡¯s tension grew as he kept his eyes peeled for any looming threats.


    Just as he was about to break through the encirclement, the unexpected happened.


    An exceptionally handsome young man suddenly appeared in front of him, blocking his path. The young man smiled,pletely unfazed by Long Xuan¡¯s fearsome power, and instead, he exuded an intense battle aura.


    "Hehe! Impressive! Impressive! Is this the third-ranked genius on the Demonic List of the Western Lands? Truly lives up to the reputation."


    "Your move is strong, but it can only scare those Gu practitioners in the mortal world."


    "Your Soul Division Technique can only take over the bodies of people whose soul power is much weaker than yours, and your clone''s strength is at best at the mid-stage of Marrow Cleansing. Even taking over someone at the same stage would be difficult."


    "The Gu cultivators in the mortal world, however, have the weakest willpower. Their soul power is much weaker than Gu cultivators of the same level, so you can rampage through this world, killing as many as you want without resistance."


    "Your Soul Division Technique ispletely ineffective against me. If this is your strongest technique, then today will be yourst."


    Long Xuan squinted slightly, looking at the person blocking his way, and asked, "Who are you? You don¡¯t seem like a Gu cultivator from this country."


    "If you are unrted to this country, then please step aside."


    Judging from the person¡¯s luxurious attire and ethereal aura, Long Xuan already guessed that this individual was not somemon Gu cultivator being driven by mortal nobles. Hisbat strength was entirely different from the Gu cultivator Long Xuan had just fought, and he would probably be difficult to deal with.


    "I am Jun Zaitian, from Zhongchuan in the Central Region. I am traveling to defeat the top geniuses of the thirty-six territories in the Western Regions."


    "My current record is thirty-five wins and zero losses. The Western Lands will be my final battle."


    "It¡¯s just that the major teleportation formation around here suddenly stopped functioning, so I had to walk through this area."


    "But since the top geniuses of the Western Lands are all gathered here, I don¡¯t need to go further."


    "My original goal was to find Long Dan, the top genius of the Western Lands, but judging by your level, you seem stronger than him. So, I¡¯ll deal with you first."


    After scanning the surroundings, he arrogantlyughed and said, "It seems there¡¯s no need for a life-and-death contract. You can attack first! Otherwise, you might not get a chance."


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan¡¯s face darkened. What bad luck. Could such a thing really happen to him? And at this critical moment, was he really taking the fall for Long Dan?


    This guy had traveled across all regions and defeated the top geniuses. Just how strong was he? Was Long Xuan destined to encounter such a terrifying opponent out of nowhere?


    At this moment, Long Dan snapped the neck of a peak-stage Marrow Cleansing Gu cultivator, turned, and shouted anxiously, "Be careful! This guy is ruthless in battle. Most of the geniuses who fought him ended up crippled."


    "Do not hold back against him. Use your strongest trump card and kill him. Don¡¯t worry about his n seeking revenge!"


    "The Jun n¡¯s rule is that every genius, after reaching adulthood, must travel and challenge the top geniuses of various regions. The one with the most victories will be the core talent of the family. If they die, they die! It¡¯s their own fault for being weak! Many of their geniuses die in these challenges every year."


    "If you hesitate against this fierce opponent, you will definitely die! Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you!"


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but curse in his heart. This guy wanted to challenge him just for the sake of sparring? He sure knew how to pick his moments.


    Right now, Long Xuan was in a life-or-death crisis. Where was the time for sparring?


    But could this guy really be the threat to Long Dan''s life? Could he really overpower theplete version of the Evil Dragon Emperor¡¯s Eye? After all, Long Dan possessed Limit-Breaking Gu, and there was no telling how many Gu''s had already broken through their limits.


    Could this be another false rm, with an even greater threat lurking behind?


    Long Xuan took a deep breath. There were too many variables, and it seemed endless.


    "You¡¯ve seen my current situation. I don¡¯t have time for a duel. How about we find a quiet ce to fight properly once I get out of this mess?" Long Xuan tentatively suggested.


    Jun Zaitian¡¯s face showed impatience as he replied, "There¡¯s no need for that. Whether you leave or not, you¡¯re dead today. There¡¯s no point in wasting time."


    "If you want to get out of here, you¡¯ll have to kill me first."


    "I gave you the chance to attack first, but you¡¯re useless. If I strike first, you won¡¯t get the chance! Kneel!"


    Suddenly, a ck eye appeared at Jun Zaitian''s brow, radiating an eerie light. Under its gaze, Long Xuan felt as though a mountain was pressing down on him. His knees buckled, almost forcing him to kneel.


    It was only because of his Purgatory True Demon Art, which involved jumping intova and nearly killing himself, that his physical body had grown so strong. He barely managed to resist the sudden increase in gravity with his sheer physical strength. Otherwise, he would have been utterly humiliated today.


    Long Xuan was now truly enraged. He immediately activated the divine power of his Purgatory True Demon Art. As the power erupted, two giant manifestations, a Divine Dragon and a Golden Crow, appeared in the sky.


    The Divine Dragon exuded endless pressure, and the Golden Crow shone with dazzling golden light.


    The Golden Crow spread its wings and soared into the sky, causing the temperature to rise rapidly. The surrounding Imperial Guards immediately shielded their eyes and retreated in panic under the scorching heat.


    The area around Long Xuan instantly cleared.


    With the two manifestations empowering him, Long Xuan felt two enormous forces surge into his body, making his strength rise continuously.


    The overwhelming gravity that had been suffocating him moments ago suddenly felt like nothing. It now seemed like a mere drizzle, having no effect on him at all.


    Looking at the Divine Dragon and Golden Crow dharma forms in the sky, exuding boundless might, Long Dan was visibly shocked.


    Wasn¡¯t the Long n''s ultimate technique, the Dragon Inverse Art, only capable of summoning one manifestation? How could Long Xuan have two? How did he manage it?


    Jun Zaitian was also slightly surprised. The range of his Gravity Eye would alter the gravity of everything in its sight, with the force intensifying the closer someone was to him.


    Long Xuan had been so close to him that the fact he could resist the gravity with just his physical strength had already been impressive. But to now summon two dharma forms and render the gravity meaningless was beyond belief.


    "Interesting! Interesting! Whenever I open the Gravity Eye, most geniuses are crushed under the pressure."


    "Even those few who focus on body cultivation can barely move under the gravity, left at my mercy."


    "But you¡¯re the first genius topletely ignore the effects of my Gravity Eye!"


    "In terms of physical strength, among all Gu cultivators at our level, no one can match you. I acknowledge you as the strongest!"


    "Now, let¡¯s see how many moves you can withstand!"


    Jun Zaitian¡¯s expression grew increasingly excited, his gaze turning more frenzied. With a wildugh, he charged at Long Xuan¡­

 Chapter 226: The Mysterious Woman

    At this moment, in the distance, within a small city, the streets were littered with corpses. The entire city was eerily silent, with a strong smell of blood permeating the air, as if this tragic scene had just urred.


    A woman in a golden robe, her face veiled, flew into the sky above the city. She looked down at the horrific scene with a slight frown.


    "Another city ughtered?" A clear and ethereal voice echoed from the sky.


    Suddenly, she turned her head towards the distance, where a massive golden crow appeared, radiating a dazzling light.


    She murmured in surprise and, in an instant, her body transformed into a streak of light. In a sh, she appeared inside the Imperial City of the ck Wind Nation. The city''s protective formation outside did nothing to stop her.


    By this time, the Imperial City had descended into chaos, with battles raging everywhere. The sound of shing and fighting filled the air, and countless corpses already covered the ground.


    Her gazended on one particr figure within the chaotic battle, and she showed a look of interest. With another sh of golden light, she appeared in a nearby tavern.


    The war was raging outside, but the tavern had already been abandoned, with no one remaining inside.


    She sat by the window, took out a wine jug and a cup from her storage ring, and filled the cup with wine. Then, she looked outside with great interest at the two geniuses locked inbat.Long Xuan was locked in a close battle with Jun Zaitian, only now understanding just how terrifying the gravity was in the area closest to him.


    Engaging in closebat with him meant that one''s speed would be greatly reduced, and one''s stamina would be drained at an elerated rate.


    Under these circumstances, how much of one''s fullbat strength could be utilized?


    It was only due to Long Xuan''s incredibly strong physical body that, although the gravity affected him, it wasn''t enough to stop him in his tracks.


    Had it been anyone else, they would struggle to even move a finger under such terrifying gravity, and they''d be defeated by Jun Zaitian within just a few moves.


    Jun Zaitian clearly understood that the closer someone was to him, the more terrifying the gravity became. Thus, he stayed close to Long Xuan to maximize his gravitational advantage.


    Suddenly, the two shed with heavy fists. Long Xuan''syered internal energy bypassed Jun Zaitian¡¯s external defenses, surging into his body like a massive wave.


    Facing such a strange attack, Jun Zaitian¡¯s expression changed. He mmed his right palm heavily against a nearby wall.


    The force that had entered his body was diverted away, all of it pouring into the wall, causing the building to explode into rubble with a loud bang. Dust filled the air as the structure copsed.


    Long Xuan was taken aback. After attempting a few more attacks, he realized that each time his power was transferred elsewhere, demolishing one building after another. It appeared that this person had an ability to transfer his opponent''s attacks.


    "Heh! It¡¯s useless! I have the Transference Gu. I can redirect any attack, whether it''s physical or non-physical."


    "There is no power in this world that can hurt me. You could say that I¡¯m an immortal, an opponent who can never be attacked, and therefore, undefeatable!"


    "This is how I¡¯ve be invincible in the Western Lands. No one of the same level can defeat me!" Jun Zaitian sneered at his opponent.


    At this point, Long Xuan truly felt how troublesome it was to fight the number one genius of the 36 Lands.


    This was the most difficult opponent he had ever encountered. Of all the enemies he had faced, this one was undoubtedly the strongest. He had nevere across such a thorny foe before, and his expression grew serious.


    "Is that so? Every ability has its limits. Even your Transference Gu can''t move mountains, can it?"


    "If a mountain were to fly towards you, could you still transfer it away?"


    As Long Xuan finished speaking, all the power within his body¡ªhis internal organs, his blood, his muscles, every part of his being¡ªmadly surged towards his right fist.


    He soared into the air and threw a ferocious punch aimed directly at Jun Zaitian''s head.


    It should be noted that Long Xuan still had two great Dharma forms empowering him. How powerful was this punch? It carried the force of a thousand tons!


    Jun Zaitian crossed his arms to block the blow. At that moment, it felt as though a mountain was crashing down on him, and the overwhelming force surged into his body.


    ¡°Pfft!¡±


    Jun Zaitian spat out a mouthful of blood. Under the pressure of this mountain-like force, he fell to one knee. The ground beneath him cracked rapidly, spreading outwards with him at the center, forming a web of fissures.


    Seizing the moment, Long Xuan kicked him in the chest with a force of a thousand tons.


    Jun Zaitian was sent flying like a cannonball, crashing through three buildings beforending in a heap of rubble. Dust billowed up, hiding his form.


    Thete-stage Spiritual Sea expert with the ck beard, who had been watching from a distance, immediately stood up, his face full of disbelief.


    "What kind of body refinement technique is this kid cultivating to possess such terrifying strength!"


    "Even a Spiritual Sea-level Gu cultivator would struggle to have such immense power. Anyone of the same level facing him is doomed. If they touch him, they die. Jun Zaitian has finally met his match today."


    "I thought the weakest of the Western Lands would be the easiest to defeat. I was sure we¡¯d win thisst battle, but who would¡¯ve thought that the geniuses here would be the hardest to fight? It looks like Jun Zaitian¡¯s winning streak is about to end," Jun Mochen said with a serious expression, his brows tightly furrowed as he watched the battle.


    Inside the tavern, the woman in the golden robe smirked. She took a light sip of wine and murmured, "Interesting! Very interesting!"


    From the rubble, Jun Zaitian''s furious roar echoed, "You brat! You''ve made me angry!"


    As soon as the words fell,rge stones flew out from the dust cloud, and a disheveled figure burst forth, charging towards Long Xuan again.


    After shattering all the iing stones, Long Xuan suddenly felt a powerful repulsive force pushing against him. Under this force, his body was uncontrobly flung backwards, crashing through two walls.


    Stomping heavily on the ground, he created a deep pit to stop his momentum.


    "Is this... horizontal gravity?" Long Xuan¡¯s heart sank.


    After a failed strike, Long Xuan suddenly felt two enormous forces tearing at him. A powerful gravity was pulling at his feet, while a strong anti-gravity force was tugging at his head. These two opposing forces acted on him simultaneously, as if they intended to rip him in half.


    However, Long Xuan''s body was incredibly durable, and he didn''t get torn apart by the sh of gravity and anti-gravity.


    He was unharmed, but the rest of the people in the city weren''t so lucky.


    One must know that the range of the gravity extended as far as the Gravity Eye could see. The further away, the weaker the gravitational pull. But just how far can human vision reach?


    Masses of people in the city were ripped apart, with half of their bodies left on the ground and the other half flying into the sky, leaving a mist of blood in the air.


    Even buildings were torn in two, with half remaining on the ground and the other half ascending into the sky.


    The sky was densely packed with debris, and half the city was practically split in two, resembling a scene straight out of the apocalypse.


    With this devastating move,rge swaths of the city''s poption were wiped out, and half of the densely packed 200,000-strong army was massacred by this attack.


    Only the people behind him, who were out of his sight, managed to survive.


    The remaining survivors were all terrified, their eyes vacant as they stared at this apocalyptic scene, as though they had lost their souls.


    Long Dan suddenly felt a hollow around him; all the people who had been surrounding him were now dead. He couldn''t help but swallow hard. "Is this monster something humans can even contend with?"


    Long Xuan could actually stand toe-to-toe with this monster! Is this his true power?


    After another failed strike, the direction of gravity shifted again, turning into a warped gravity. Long Xuan felt forces twisting him from all directions, trying to crush him into a ball.


    Under this immense twisting force, Long Xuan''s body spun uncontrobly, and he felt his internal organs churning.


    Suddenly, he pressed his hands to the ground and leapt into the distance, using Star Stepping technique, and in the blink of an eye, he had fled far away.


    The further from the Gravity Eye, the less the gravitational impact. Long Xuan could only try to run further away to reduce the effect of the gravity on him.


    "Run? Where are you going to run? I can move too!"


    Jun Zaitian charged at him again, and the two engaged in battle once more. Before long, both released their Gu insects, and the two sides'' Gu insects began fighting each other.


    Jun Zaitian''s external Gu consisted of a snake, a toad, a centipede, and a scorpion.


    Long Xuan''s ''Wine Gu'' faced off against his snake, his ''Dragon Gu'' against the centipede, and his ''de Gu'' against the scorpion.


    Then, Long Xuan¡¯s ''Disaster Poison Gu'' was suddenly awakened by the loud battle and ultimatelypleted its evolution by devouring the plutonium element.


    Once it woke up, Long Xuan immediately hurled it toward the toad.


    On both sides, four peak-grade Gu were engaged in one-on-one duels, colliding with each other.


    ''Little White'' could slow down its opponent and speed itself up, making it nearly impossible for the enemy to strike it.


    The ''Dragon Gu'' could teleport all around, asionallyunching sneak attacks on the centipede. Whenever the centipede was about to hit it, the Dragon Gu would teleport away. How could you hit something that could teleport?


    The ''Disaster Poison Gu'' and ''de Gu'' were in a league of their own.


    One was of the 100,000 material-grade, the other of the 500,000 material-grade. How could ordinary Gu insects possibly defeat them?


    As soon as these two towering forces appeared, they immediately overwhelmed the opposing toad and scorpion. It was only a matter of time before the enemy fell.


    Jun Mochen, who had been observing the battle, widened his eyes in disbelief as he watched this unfold.


    "Jun Zaitian¡¯s four peak-grade Gu are all falling behind. How is this possible?"


    "Where did this Western genius'' four peak-grade Gue from? Why have I never heard of them? Just how much material was used to make them so powerful?"


    "Where did this guy evene from? This is bad!"


    He was shocked, and suddenly turned his gaze back to where the two were fighting.


    Despite the Gu battlefield being unfavorable for Jun Zaitian, in the battlefield of Gu Masters, the two were evenly matched.


    Long Xuan was constantly disrupted by gravity from various directions, causing his attacks to frequently miss their mark, leaving him unable to effectively deal with Jun Zaitian.


    Finally pushed to the limit, he simply cheated by releasing all his "Clones".


    In an instant, five phantom dragons and five phantom golden crows appeared in the sky.


    Now there were six golden crows, and thebined heat they emitted caused the temperature on the ground to rise sharply. Under the scorching heat of the six golden crows, the ground became like a giant furnace, hot enough to roast people alive. The people below all showed signs of extreme difort, drenched in sweat within moments.


    As soon as the five clones appeared, they each unleashed two Dharma Forms, and at this moment, the physical strength of each clone was identical to that of the main body.


    Each clone¡¯s full-force punch was something that ''Transference Gu'' couldn¡¯t defend against.


    Jun Zaitian was already struggling to deal with just one Long Xuan, let alone five at the same time!


    He barely dodged one attack, and then had to block the punches of two more clones with his left and right hands. Unable to defend himself, two feet mmed into him heavily.


    He spat out a mouthful of blood and was sent flying, crashing through countless buildings.


    The five clones clenched their fists and grinned cruelly before charging forward again. Within a few moves, Jun Zaitian was once again sent flying, smashing through even more buildings.


    ¡°This is bad!¡± Jun Mochen¡¯s expression changed when he saw Jun Zaitian struggling against not just one, but five clones with strength equal to the original. The six of them ganged up on Jun Zaitian, relentlessly beating him down.


    Inside the roofless tavern, the woman in a golden robe looked up at the six golden crows in the sky, her smile growing wider.

 Chapter 227: Unexpected Rebirth

    ¡°Jun Zaitian, if you admit defeat now, you can still live,¡± Jun Mochen finally spoke.


    ¡°No! I¡¯m just one battle away from an undefeated record. How could I admit defeat?¡± Jun Zaitian stubbornly shouted.


    As soon as he finished speaking, he was once again sent flying by the fire clone.


    Jun Mochen watched calmly, his expression indifferent and his gaze devoid of any emotion.


    Even though the family genius was on the verge of being killed, he had no intention of intervening.


    The Jun n was the most rule-bound of families, and interfering in battles between the younger generation would break those rules. How could he intervene?


    ording to the n''s rules, many geniuses of the Jun n went out to challenge others, and countless had already been killed for losing.


    The Jun n had never made a big fuss over the death of a genius, and today was no exception. They could afford to lose, and they didn''tck for geniuses. Besides, Jun Zaitian had already been given a chance to survive.


    Seeing that Jun Zaitian was determined to court death, Jun Mochen stopped trying to persuade him. Cold-hearted, he shifted his gaze, suddenly pausing as he noticed something among the corpses scattered on the battlefield.Not everyone could kill their way in and out of an army of 200,000 soldiers, especially when there were 10,000 Gu cultivators aiding them.


    The geniuses of the Western Lands had already suffered losses. One genius had even had his storage bag shattered, scattering treasures everywhere, including a Heaven-Mending Fruit.


    As a Gu cultivator from a great n, how could Jun Mochen not recognize such a treasure?


    Seeing the fruit, his breathing quickened, and a greedy look appeared in his eyes. Even as a powerful cultivator in the Spiritual Sea stage, he couldn''t stay calm in the presence of this treasure.


    A person''s natural talent was determined at birth, and improving one''s aptitude was akin to defying the heavens. There were very few ways in the world to enhance one''s talent.


    This item was too rare¡ªit was something that any strong cultivator would go to any lengths to obtain.


    Unable to contain his greed, Jun Mochen rushed toward the Heaven-Mending Fruit at top speed.


    At that moment, Long Xuan''s battle with Jun Zaitian finally ended. Looking down at the lifeless, blood-covered body of Jun Zaitian, Long Xuan sighed helplessly.


    He had originally hesitated to deliver the fatal blow because there was a Spiritual Sea Gu cultivator nearby.


    But Jun Zaitian had insisted on rushing to his death. Even though he no longer had the strength to fight, he still came charging in. In a moment of carelessness, Long Xuan¡¯s punch had killed him.


    After Jun Zaitian''s death, Long Xuan felt a chill and quickly looked toward the Spiritual Sea Gu cultivator.


    Unfortunately, the Spiritual Sea Gu cultivator was also looking at him. Their gazes met.


    Noticing that the Gu cultivator now held several storage bags from Western Lands¡¯ geniuses, Long Xuan¡¯s heart sank¡ªhe realized the situation had taken a turn for the worse.


    ¡°Young man, you¡¯re quite impressive. There are very few in the Gu world who can kill Jun Zaitian at the same level. You can definitely be called a world-ss genius,¡± the Gu practitioner said.


    ¡°Jun Zaitian died in a fair and just duel. The Jun n has always followed the rules, and we can afford to lose. I won¡¯t kill you to avenge him.¡±


    Just as Long Xuan was about to breathe a sigh of relief, Jun Mochen suddenly changed his tone and shouted sternly, ¡°But! Treasures belong to the strong. You¡¯ve taken something you shouldn¡¯t have, so it¡¯s only right that I deal with you. It¡¯s within the rules.¡±


    As soon as he finished speaking, a third eye suddenly appeared on Jun Mochen¡¯s forehead. Under the gaze of this eye, Long Xuan felt as if a mountain was pressing down on his shoulders, nearly forcing him to his knees.


    The weight was much stronger than before. Even with his two Dharma forms powersbined, he found it extremely difficult to move.


    He felt as if he were trapped in a cage, barely able to move. If he couldn¡¯t move, he would be killed in a single strike by the advancing opponent.


    Long Xuan was horrified, cold sweat running down his back.


    He remembered what Li Laodao had told him before they came here: an ident was bound to happen, and it might leave him gravely injured, but he was guaranteed not to die. Moreover, if he hadn¡¯te on this mission, everyone else would have died. ??


    Since arriving, Long Xuan had been trying to figure out what Li Laodao had foreseen.


    Now, he realized the ident wasn¡¯t the mysterious ''National master'', nor Bai Youran¡¯s self-destructive sabotage of the ''Sou Gu Hut'', nor even the overwhelmingly powerful Jun Zaitian.


    The real ident was this Spiritual Sea Gu cultivator is from the Central Region. Once he made his move, everyone would die, including Long Dan.


    Long Dan¡¯s seemingly wless n had encountered four unexpected incidents, and the one that could cost him his life was this final ident.


    But Li Laodao had said that with Long Xuan present, they would all survive. What did he mean by that? Did it mean Long Xuan could kill a Spiritual Sea Gu practitioner?


    What kind of joke was that? That was a ''Spiritual Sea'' stage powerhouse! How could he, Long Xuan, possibly defeat such a being? Was Li Laodao overestimating him? Was his foresight really that urate?


    This was supposed to be a mission where he was ¡°guaranteed not to die¡±? Was Li Laodao crazy?


    This time, it seemed like Li Laodao¡¯s prediction had gotten him killed! If it weren¡¯t for Li Laodao constantly assuring him there would be idents but that he¡¯d survive, Long Xuan would never havee in the first ce!


    Long Xuan¡¯s face grew darker as his opponent drew closer, sweat dripping from his forehead.


    Then, in the nick of time, a sh of inspiration struck Long Xuan. A long-forgotten memory resurfaced, and he finally remembered how to break out of this situation.


    A glimmer of hope appeared in Long Xuan¡¯s eyes. No, he still had a chance¡ªthere was still a sliver of hope.


    Without wasting any more time, he activated a power he had never used before¡ªthe


    "Gate of Life and Death".


    ¡°Profound Gate, open!¡±


    ¡°Martial Gate, open!¡±


    ¡°Spirit Gate, open!¡±


    ¡°Divine Gate, open!¡±


    ¡°Star Gate, open!¡±


    ¡°Heavenly Gate, open!¡±


    In an instant, Long Xuan''s blood, qi, spiritual power, mental strength, life force, and lifespan all ignited.


    A powerful force suddenly surged into his limbs, and his aura began to skyrocket.


    The immense energy pouring into his body made Long Xuan feel like he was about to explode, and his entire body was in excruciating pain.


    He showed a pained expression. If it weren''t for the Water Bear Gu granting him pseudo immortality, his current physical strength wouldn''t have been able to withstand the injuries caused by opening six gates.


    The strain of bearing power far beyond his current realm was causing severe damage to his body. Long Xuan let out a roar, and the sudden surge of power allowed him to break free from the constraints of gravity in an instant.


    At this moment, Jun Mochen had just approached him. Sensing Long Xuan''s rising aura, he was astonished but quickly became serious.


    ¡°A powerful forbidden technique to enhance strength in a short time? But isn¡¯t the strength increase a bit too exaggerated?¡±


    His expression was one of surprise, but there was no time to think further. Long Xuan¡¯s heavy fist was alreadying his way. Instinctively, Jun Mochen met the blow with his own fist.


    ¡°Boom!¡±


    The collision of their fists produced a deafening thud.


    Jun Mochen felt a sharp force seep into his skin, directly attacking his internal organs.


    His face changed dramatically, and he quickly used his Transference Gu to redirect the sharp force into the ground beneath him.


    ¡°Boom!¡±


    The ground beneath him shattered instantly from the redirected force, sending dust flying into the air.


    ¡°You¡¯re courting death! Boosting your power by this much! I don¡¯t believe you¡¯ll survive this!¡±


    Jun Mochen was enraged and charged at him again.


    In a sh, the two exchanged countless blows. Long Xuan¡¯s momentum continued to rise. Despite the heavy gravity, he was shing head-on with a Spiritual Sea Realm expert, holding his own in the short term.


    Fists shed with fists, legs with legs, each attack direct and brutal.


    Jun Mochen, facing an opponent of lower cultivation, didn¡¯t bother dodging Long Xuan''s strikes. Every time Long Xuan threw a punch, he met it head-on, never backing down.


    The sheer force of their battle was terrifying. Buildings around them copsed one after another from the shockwaves, and the sound of their fists shing echoed loudly, shaking the air.


    Everyone watching the fight was stunned.


    ¡°A Marrow Cleansing Realm cultivator can fight evenly with a Spiritual Sea Realm expert? Am I seeing things? Is this Long Xuan¡¯s truebat strength?¡± Long Dan stared in disbelief, utterly shocked by the scene.


    ¡°Crossing such arge gap in realms to fight a Spiritual Sea Realm cultivator, and not falling behind¡ªthis has never happened in history!¡± Li Laodao eximed, deeply moved as he watched the fight unfold.


    The woman in the golden robe no longer had her usual smile; her expression had turned extremely serious.


    Seeing that he hadn¡¯t yet subdued this Spiritual Sea Realm Gu cultivator, Long Xuan grew anxious.


    He knew he couldn¡¯t maintain this state for long, especially after opening the third gate¡ªthe Spirit Gate. Keeping it open for too long could cause his cultivation to drop.


    He couldn¡¯t afford to drag this out. He had to finish it quickly, or the consequences would be disastrous.


    Gritting his teeth, Long Xuan¡¯s expression turned wild as he decided to stop worrying about the consequences and opened the two most dangerous gates.


    ¡°Seventh Gate, Dragon Gate, open!¡±


    ¡°Eighth Gate, Ghost Gate, open!¡±


    Long Xuan roared, his eyes turning blood-red as immense power flooded into his limbs again.


    He let out a pained howl as terrifying energy surged out of him. His entire body was engulfed in red mes, and a shockwave of energy exploded outward, spreading rapidly.


    The red mes burning on his body weren¡¯t ordinary fire but energy so powerful that it overflowed from his body.


    When mental power, soul power, life force, vitality, blood energy, vital energy, spiritual power, and potential all ignite together, the eight forcesbine to form the power of Ghost and God.


    This fusion of power was far more than just the sum of its parts.


    Its energy level far surpassed spiritual power¡ªby as much as a hundred times.


    The power was terrifying beyond belief.


    Long Xuan vividly remembered the description of Ghost and God power in the introduction to the "Gate of Life and Death".


    Ghost and God power could merge with a dharma form, and a dharma form infused with Ghost and God power could attack enemies directly.


    Even someone one whole realm higher than the caster would die if struck by such an attack.


    This was the description of Ghost and God power in the "Gate of Life and Death", and its ultimate move. Anyone without the Water Bear Gu would perish upon using it.


    Without hesitation, Long Xuan condensed the Divine Dragon Dharma above his head, channeling the Ghost and God power into it.


    In an instant, the Divine Dragon Dharma was enveloped in red energy, and it seemed toe to life, bing lifelike.


    Suddenly, the dragon''s eyes opened, emitting a soul-stirring gaze filled with endless dragon might.


    The Divine Dragon roared, its eyes sweeping across the battlefield with supreme arrogance, looking down on all.


    At that moment, it was as though the dragon had been given life.


    The overwhelming aura caused Jun Mochen¡¯s hair to blow wildly in the wind, and he raised his arm to shield himself from the terrifying shockwave.


    ¡°This is¡­¡±


    His expression was filled with shock.


    ¡°This power¡­¡±


    The woman in the golden robe immediately stood up, horrified¡­

 Chapter 228: Creating a New Pill Recipe

    ¡°Die!¡±


    Long Xuan roared, dragging the dragon¡¯s head as he charged forward with great speed.


    Under the impact of the Dragon Form, the ground rumbled loudly. Wherever the Dragon Form passed, a deep trench was carved into the earth, and the entire ground trembled slightly.


    ¡°What is this?¡±


    Jun Mochen¡¯s face changed drastically, revealing a look of shock.


    ¡°This speed¡­ it''s bad¡­¡±


    The dragon¡¯s head smashed heavily into his chest.


    ¡°Pfft!¡±


    He spat out a mouthful of blood as a cracking sound came from his chest.Immediately afterward, his entire body was dragged by the dragon, flying backward at a high speed, smashing through wall after wall. After crashing through countless buildings, his back mmed hard against the barrier of the city-protection formation.


    ¡°Crack!¡±


    The barrier shattered with a loud crash. He had actually broken through the barrier, sliding across the ground for an unknown distance, until he finally stopped after crashing into a mountain wall. Behind him was a straight trench, filled with thick smoke.


    Everyone was stunned, standing frozen like wooden statues, unable to react for a long time.


    Sensing that the aura of the Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivator hadpletely disappeared, Long Dan¡¯s wide-open mouth remained agape.


    A Marrow Cleansing Stage cultivator killing a Spiritual Sea Stage master¡ªthis was unheard of. He was truly shocked.


    Li Laodao''s mouth twitched uncontrobly, and his hand hidden in his sleeve trembled. He waspletely frightened by Long Xuan¡¯s heaven-defyingbat prowess.


    At this moment, he finally understood why it was that without Long Xuan, everyone would die, but with him, everyone would live.


    No one but this monstrous genius could handle that Spiritual Sea Stage Gu Cultivator. To be able to kill a Spiritual Sea Stage expert while being an entire realm lower in cultivation was something likely only Long Xuan could achieve in the entire Gu world.


    His intuition had proven correct once again. As long as Long Xuan was here, this trip would be 100% safe.


    After briefly freezing in shock, he quickly broke through the encirclement and fled. The city-protection formation had already been destroyed by Long Xuan¡¯s ultimate move, and the elite guards besieging him had long since suffered heavy casualties at the hands of Jun Zaitian. They hadpletely lost their will to fight, and the previously hopeless situation now allowed him to escape easily.


    The remaining ten or so geniuses from the Western Land finally came to their senses, showing joy as they split into different directions, madly fleeing toward the outskirts of the city.


    The barrier had disappeared, and this ruined imperial city could no longer trap them.


    As long as they sessfully escaped the city, they would be like fish in the ocean, and the Gu Cultivators of ck Wind Nation would never be able to catch them again.


    All of them wore smiles of relief as they survived the disaster¡­


    ¡­


    In a distant cave, Long Xuan threw Jun Mochen¡¯s storage bag onto the ground before sitting down, gasping for breath.


    At this moment, his entire body felt bloated and painful, his head was about to explode, and pain coursed through every part of his body, causing him to let out a pained groan.


    The side effects of opening all eight gates were immense. He finally realized just how much pain the Gate of Life and Death could cause¡ªit was so excruciating that he wished for death.


    He couldn¡¯t help but smile bitterly. Was this really 100% safe? The fact that he hadn¡¯t died meant it was technically safe¡ªno doubt about it. He just wanted to say that if he ever teamed up with that cursed Li Laodao again, he would be nothing but a fool!


    After swallowing a handful of healing pills, he checked his injuries and immediately felt a sinking sensation in his heart.


    Burning spiritual power, blood, qi, and vitality¡ªthose were all things that could regenerate, so they weren¡¯t much of a concern.


    However, burning the things that couldn''t regenerate was a different matter.


    The external injuries caused by opening the eight gates could be healed with the Water Bear Gu, and the lifespan consumed could be restored by the Eternal Life Sutra.


    The Water Bear Gu could restore both life force and a small amount of mental energy, but at its current recovery speed, it would probably take years to fully recover.


    The damage to his mental energy, however, was a different story. It affected the very core of his being. Without the Water Bear Gu, an ordinary person¡¯s mental energy would never recover if it was damaged at the source.


    Life force was even more mysterious. After losing arge portion of it, he felt that his body¡¯s ability to heal had slowed down. His muscles and cells seemed to have lost vitality, like withering nts, devoid of life.


    Moreover, his heart, liver, and kidneys all began to deteriorate as if his organs were aging, their efficiency dropping significantly.


    At the same time, his digestion, blood production, and detoxification abilities were all declining, and every bodily function was plummeting dramatically.


    It felt as if all the parts of his body were failing. If not for the Water Bear Gu barely holding things together, his body would have copsed instantly.


    Although life force was mysterious, the Water Bear Gu could restore it slowly.


    However, the damage to his innate potential and soul essence was something that the Water Bear Gu couldn¡¯t restore at all.


    His potential talent and soul essence were severely damaged, and these injuries were considered irreversible in the outside world, extremely difficult to recover from. Relying on time to heal them was simply impossible.


    Losing potential was akin to having one¡¯s dantian destroyed¡ªnothing could fix that. If dantians could be repaired, those geniuses from the Bai n wouldn''t still be crippled.


    A chill ran down Long Xuan¡¯s spine. Was he going to be crippled forever? For the first time, he panicked, quickly pulling out paper and a brush.


    He recalled the Heaven-Mending Tree he had just obtained. The tree¡¯s medicinal properties were clearly rted to aptitude. Could he use the Heaven-Mending Fruit as the main ingredient to create a pill that could restore aptitude?


    And the Soul-Nourishing Tree he had identally acquired¡ªits medicinal properties were obviously connected to the soul. Could he use its leaves as the main ingredient to create a pill to repair the soul?


    Although the world had no known method for repairing potential or soul damage, that didn¡¯t mean such methods didn¡¯t exist in theory. Perhaps people hadn¡¯t found them yet, or they had been lost to time.


    It was also possible that these methods already existed, but those who knew kept it a secret.


    Thinking this, hope arose in Long Xuan¡¯s heart. What might be a dead-end for others could potentially have a solution for him.


    He quickly scribbled on the paper:


    ¡°Heaven-Mending Pill Recipes¡±


    Effect: Restores aptitude, repairs the dantian.


    Main Ingredient: Heaven-Mending Fruit.


    As soon as he stopped writing, a progress bar appeared on the paper, and Long Xuan''s heart leaped with joy.


    As long as there was progress, it meant that the effects he designed for the pill could be achieved.


    Indeed, using the Heaven-Mending Fruit as the main ingredient could yield a pill that restored potential!


    Long Xuan was overjoyed. He couldn¡¯t wait any longer and hurriedly pulled out a second sheet of paper. He quickly wrote on the second sheet:


    "Soul Restoring Pill Recipe"


    Effect: Repairs the soul.


    Main Ingredient: Soul-Nourishing Tree Leaf.


    As his brush fell on the paper, progress appeared once again. As expected, a pill that repairs the soul could theoretically be developed using the Soul-Nourishing Tree, which is rted to the soul''s power.


    Long Xuan was ecstatic once again and couldn¡¯t help butugh out loud, ¡°Haha! Heaven never seals off all paths! Heaven never seals off all paths! It¡¯s not my time to die!¡±


    The two issues threatening his life were nowpletely resolved. He only needed to rest for a period of time, and once he hadpleted the development of these two pill recipes, his body would recover as if nothing had ever happened.


    It was also due to his good fortune that pills for repairing one¡¯s aptitude and soul were theoretically possible. However, to refine such heaven-defying pills would certainly require equally heaven-defying materials¡ªmaterials that most people would never find in their entire lifetime.


    Once again, Long Xuan''s good fortune shone through. He just so happened to have both a Heaven-Mending Tree and a Soul-Nourishing Tree.


    Without these two divine trees, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to figure out how to develop pills that could repair aptitude and the soul, no matter how hard he worked.


    With these two matters settled, Long Xuan finally sighed in relief, feeling as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He no longer had any worries.


    Although his injuries were quite severe this time, in a way, it could be considered a blessing in disguise. He had just discovered that his Water Bear Gu had suddenlypleted its evolution, transforming into a powerful Spirit Gu.


    He couldn''t help but smile bitterly. He finally understood what the conditions were for the Water Bear Gu to evolve.


    The Water Bear Gu''s evolution condition turned out to be to "break down before rising again." Every time he was on the verge of death, the Water Bear Gu wouldplete another transformation.


    He despised this method of evolution. He wasn¡¯t some sort of masochist and had no desire to go courting death and then barely survive to evolve.


    Being on the brink of death meant his life hung by a thread, and if the "breaking down" process didn''t go well, it would lead to true death. Why would he want to gamble with his life?


    He let out a bitter smile, then took out the Ice and Fire Hut from his insect bag and ced it on the ground. Soon, the Sou Gu that had been sleeping inside walked out and shook its head at him.


    ¡°Still can¡¯t teleport, huh?¡±


    Long Xuan frowned and took a deep breath.


    His body was in terrible shape¡ªproblems everywhere. He desperately needed to return home to recuperate.


    Right now, he felt most vulnerable. Staying out in the open, where dangers lurked everywhere, gave him no sense of security.


    But since the Sou Gu¡¯s small hut couldn¡¯t teleport in this area, it was truly a life-threatening situation.


    After a brief rest, Long Xuan instructed the Fire Clone to carry him and continue running eastward.


    He didn¡¯t dare to linger here for long. The appearance of the Heaven-Mending Fruit was bound to be exposed soon.


    When that happened, countless Gu cultivators would swarm to this area. The Heaven-Mending Fruit was enough to attract hordes of powerful experts.


    The ck Wind Nation would soon be engulfed in a storm, with innumerable greedy individuals pouring in.


    If he stayed here any longer, it would be courting death. He had to leave ck Wind Nation as quickly as possible.


    Moreover, heading west was not an option. Anyone with a brain would know that the geniuses of the Western Lands would be returning home, and would intercept them along the way.


    He had to go in the opposite direction, moving away from the Western Lands.


    The farther he moved away from the Western Lands, the more likely he would be to escape the influence of the Realm Pearl.


    The Far Western Region was unaffected by the Realm Pearl, and the Sou Gu would be usable there.


    Once he reached a ce where the Sou Gu could teleport, he could instantly return home andfortably recover.


    If he tried to head west and walk all the way back, even if he managed to avoid being hunted down, it would take years to make it home.


    Long Xuan¡¯s only n now was to run as far as possible, until he could use the Sou Gu¡¯s hut and return to hisfort zone.


    For the next three months, his five clones took turns carrying him non-stop, with no rest, running who knows how far.


    He didn¡¯t dare fly on his spirit boat because the sky was wide open, making him arge and vulnerable target. To be safe, he only flew at high speed through areas with trees.


    In fact, his caution was a bit excessive. The mortal nations were isted from the world, and there was no way the news would spread so quickly to external Gu cultivator forces.


    Moreover, space teleportation in this area had long been restricted, so even if outside forces were desperate, they wouldn¡¯t be able to learn about the situation here immediately. Long Xuan had plenty of time to escape.


    During these three months, Long Xuan hadn¡¯t been idle either. His consciousness was constantly immersed in the Soul Library, working on developing the pill recipes.


    The first recipe he researched was for the Heaven-Mending Pill. His dantian had cracked, and energy was leaking out, putting him at constant risk of losing his cultivation level. Repairing his aptitude was the most urgent problem to address.


    Although the soul was equally important, it could be dealt withter.


    Despite his soul¡¯s origin being damaged, which prevented him from refining pills or using soul techniques, he had clones. Whether it was the Soul Library or pill refining, he could borrow the power of his clones.


    Thus, the issue of damage to the origin of his soul¡¯s could wait. It wasn¡¯t immediately life-threatening.

 Chapter 229: The Function of the Two Seeds

    Right now, Long Xuan has quite a number of Heaven Mending Fruits. He originally had four of them, and in the storage bag of that Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivator, there were another six.


    That Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivator had gone mad after seeing the Heaven Mending Fruits, ughtering the Western Lands'' geniuses recklessly.


    If he hadn''t encountered Long Xuan early on, and if he had faced Long Xuanst, all the geniuses of the Western Lands would have been massacred by him.


    So now, Long Xuan has a total of ten Heaven Mending Fruits, more than enough for him to use liberally.


    By borrowing the power of his clone, he stayed in the Soul Library for three months, which is equivalent to spending nine months outside.


    Since he didn¡¯t need to physically write in the Soul Library¡ªwriting there only required a single thought¡ªthe actual time he spent refining the Gu recipes outside amounted to over a year.


    After such a long time, he finally managed to craft the ''Heaven Mending Pill Recipe.''


    Through his research, he discovered that by using the Heaven Mending Fruit as the primary ingredient, and mixing it with different grades of auxiliary ingredients, the quality of the resulting pills could vary.


    In other words, if all the auxiliary ingredients for the Heaven Mending Pill were second-grade spiritual herbs, the Heaven Mending Fruit¡¯s potency would be wasted on those low-quality materials, resulting in a downgraded second-grade pill.A second-grade Heaven Mending Pill can only restore the aptitude of Gu cultivators at the Marrow Cleansing stage, but is ineffective for cultivators above that stage.


    If the auxiliary ingredients were all peak-grade, tenth-grade spirit herbs, the Heaven Mending Fruit would release most of its potency, producing a tenth-grade pill.


    However, tenth-grade spirit herbs do not grow in this world, and even if they did, with Long Xuan¡¯s current cultivation, he wouldn¡¯t be able to refine a tenth-grade pill.


    So, he had no choice but to wastefully userge amounts of lower-grade materials, thus reducing the Heaven Mending Fruit¡¯s efficacy.


    Now that the second-grade Heaven Mending Pill recipe isplete, his next task is to find the necessary ingredients and quickly refine the Heaven Mending Pills.


    However, there¡¯s a major issue: he currently cannot return to his Great Herb Garden, and he didn¡¯t bring many spirit herbs with him on this journey, which means he only has the primary ingredient for the pill recipe.


    In the past, whenever he needed any material, he only had to take a massive amount of contribution points to exchange for them at the Long n.


    But now, trapped outside and unable to return home, gathering the necessary materials has be a real problem for him.


    And don¡¯t think that collecting second-grade spirit herbs is easy.


    Rare species transcend grade levels, and collecting materials for refining a Heaven-defying pill like the Heaven Mending Pill isn''t something that can be done easily.


    Ordinary second-grade spirit herbs are rtively easy to gather, but rare second-grade spirit herbs are much harder toe by.


    To refine the Heaven Mending Pill, over 10,000 ingredients are needed, of which over 300 are rare spirit herbs.


    Even in the Long n''s Treasure Hall, it would be difficult to gather all 300 types of rare spirit herbs.


    He would need to release numerous high-paying tasks at the mission hall and offer substantial rewards over a long period to collect them all.


    Thus, gathering the ingredients for the Heaven Mending Pill has be a colossal problem for him.


    After sighing deeply, Long Xuan took out two seeds from his storage ring and yed with them like precious treasures.


    Over the past three months, whenever he had time, he studied these two seeds, trying to uncover their secrets.


    And sure enough, while Li Laodao couldn¡¯t figure out the mystery of these two seeds, Long Xuan identally made a breakthrough, which filled him with joy.


    Perhaps due to some repelling force between entities of the same level, ever since he ced the Heaven Mending Fruit and the branch of the Heaven Mending Tree into his storage ring, the aura of the two seeds began fluctuating intensely.


    After noticing this anomaly, he immediately took the seeds out for inspection. When his soul power sensed the situation inside the seeds, he was suddenly transported to an enormous, unfamiliar world.


    This world was rich in spiritual energy, with soil, water, flowers, and grass. There was even light.


    However, although this world was vast, it was ultimately limited, like a massive floating ind, surrounded by a hazy, gray voidplete nothingness.


    Long Xuan was utterly shocked at this sight and immediately thought of an entity equal to the Heaven Mending Tree, one of the Ten Great Divine Trees¡ªthe World Tree, ranked second.


    These two seeds appeared to be seeds of the World Tree. He hade across records about them in a hidden text within the Long n, the same book where Long Dan had first learned about the Heaven Mending Tree, which had led to this mission.


    Legend has it that the seeds of the World Tree each contain a vast world.


    This enormous world can house living beings, where one can breathe, sleep, and live. There is sunlight, and the spiritual energy here is abundant. People can move in and live inside the world, and even cultivate.


    Storage spaces like storage bags and rings cannot store living beings, nor can they store anything that moves, or any other storage equipment.


    However, the seeds of the World Tree not only offer vast space but can also store anything, including items that cannot be held in storage bags.


    The usefulness of the World Tree seeds is immeasurable.


    First and foremost, they could allow an entire n to move inside and survive. In the event of a cmity threatening the n''s extinction, everyone could flee into the seed¡¯s world, avoiding annihtion.


    For an individual, the benefits are even greater: a mobile herb garden, a mobile pasture, a mobile insect chamber, a mobile fish pond...


    If all these things could be carried around, one can easily imagine the advantage.


    It was incredibly convenient. With just a small seed, he could carry everything he owned, including his vast herb garden, essentially taking his farm wherever he went.


    Long Xuan¡¯s breath became rapid, and he found it impossible to stay calm in the presence of such a treasure.


    He couldn¡¯t help but want tough aloud. No matter how cautious Li Laodao was, in the end, he had lost everything. This time, he hadn¡¯t just lost; he had lost everything, down to thest scrap.


    The value of these two seeds was immeasurable, worth more than trillions. To know that the spiritual energy inside these two seeds was ten times more abundant than the outside world made it a natural cultivation holy ground. Any n would go mad for such a treasure.


    Li Laodao actually sold it to him at such a low price. If he knew that what he sold so cheaply was actually a legendary World Tree seed, while the one he kept was a dead seed, who knows what kind of expression he would show. He would probably regret it so much he''d be sick to his stomach.


    ¡°Hahaha... So satisfying! This is just too satisfying!¡±


    Long Xuan''s face lit up with an extremely proud smile.


    However, at this moment, another huge problem was right in front of him, causing him immense anxiety.


    He desperately needed to go home and nt this World Tree seed so that it could grow into a towering tree and produce more World Tree seeds.


    But here, he didn''t have any high-grade spirit soil. He only received a quarter of the high-grade spirit soil from the Imperial Garden of the ck Wind Kingdom, which wasn''t even enough to nt one tree.


    Moreover, he needed to nt both the Heaven-Mending Tree and the World Tree¡ªtwo divine trees¡ªat the same time, so the high-grade spirit soil was even more insufficient.


    Although he could search for other high-grade spirit soil here or gather materials to create his own, it would take time, and not a short amount of time at that.


    It must be known that the Heaven Mending Tree and the World Tree are both unique to this world. If either of these two divine trees were to die, they would randomly respawn somewhere in the world.


    Therefore, he had to nt these two divine trees as quickly as possible. If he was too slow and they sprouted elsewhere, it would be impossible for him to cultivate them again, no matter how hard he tried.


    Right now, he was in a race against time. How could he not be anxious?


    But at this moment, being anxious wouldn''t help. His Suo Gu''s ability was disabled, so he could only go with the flow.


    Time flew by, and three more days passed. Long Xuan stopped in front of the gates of arge city named Tianyue City.


    This massive city was incredibly prosperous, even more so than ckstone City. The bustling noise of people echoed throughout.


    So, upon seeing this city, Long Xuan immediately decided to stop here and gather the materials needed to refine the Heaven-Mending Pill.


    By now, his injuries had healed enough that he could walk without assistance. After paying an entrance fee of eight hundred low-grade spirit stones to the guards at the gate, he entered the city.


    He couldn''t help but think it was a bit pricey.


    However, the more expensive the entrance fee, the more prosperous the city. This meant that the materials inside were likely to be abundant.


    He had already been traveling for quite some time and had fully entered the world of Gu Cultivators.


    He was now on thend of the Xuan Yue Empire, a neighboring country of the Great Yin Dynasty. The two nations were of equal strength and had a hostile rtionship.


    Tianyue City was the main city of Tianyue County in the Xuan Yue Empire, and it was filled with powerful individuals, naturally making it incredibly prosperous.


    If the high entrance fee didn¡¯t deter arge number of poor, wandering cultivators, this city would have been overcrowded long ago.


    Upon entering the city, Long Xuan was immediately awed by the bustling scene inside.


    A country¡¯s world truly is different. With well-establishedws and orderly systems, this ce had a sense of structure and order. Chaos was rare here, and scenes like the street brawls between Marrow Cleansing-stage Gu Cultivators in ckstone City were unlikely to happen.


    In ckstone City, power was everything. The rules were made to restrict the weak.


    However, in a country, thews were there to restrain the powerful. Even a Gu King couldn''t ughter at will in this city without facing consequences.


    Additionally, the Xuan Yue Empire used a currency called Yue Coins, but they weren¡¯t epted in other countries. Spirit stones, however, were universally used here, so he didn''t have to worry about bing penniless.


    Long Xuan had no ns to stay in the Xuan Yue Empire for long, so he didn¡¯t intend to exchange arge number of Yue Coins, as they would be worthless in other regions.


    He didn''t have time to admire the city''s splendor. Instead, he immediately sought out channels to trade for spirit herbs. Once he had what he needed, he nned to leave the city as quickly as possible.


    He was far too weak right now, and staying in a city filled with powerful people like Tianyue City gave him no sense of security, even though thews here could restrain Gu Kings.


    Out of habit, he subconsciously began searching for the Qian n Chamber Of Commerce within the city. Upon locating his target, he immediately headed there.


    The Qian n Chamber Of Commerce was arge cross-regional trading firm, with branches in many regions and cities. Even Long Xuan didn¡¯t know how vast the Qian n¡¯swork truly was or how many regions it spanned.


    At that moment, on a massive tform, a fat man with ten spirit rings on his fingers sat arrogantly in the center of the stage, looking immensely proud of himself.


    A long banner hung on the tform with the words ¡°Treasure Seeking Convention¡± embroidered on it, drawing arge crowd of spectators. The scene was extremely lively.

 Chapter 230: The Brainstorming of a New Peak-Grade Gu Insect

    Long Xuan was stunned, not knowing what the Treasure Seeking Convention was, yet everyone around him seemed to understand, and no one discussed it openly.


    Long Xuan looked around and finally found someone who seemed approachable. He walked up to a little girl who was only at the early stage of the Spirit Gathering realm and gently tapped her shoulder.


    This little girl looked to be about ten years old, and herbat strength didn¡¯t seem high. Because of her frail appearance, Long Xuan dared to ask her about it.


    "Little girl, can I ask, what is this Treasure Seeking Convention? Is it that the Qian n Chamber of Commerce is organizing arge group of people to go treasure hunting somewhere?" Long Xuan asked the easy target.


    The cute little girl turned her head, furrowing her brows slightly. After carefully sizing him up from head to toe, she said:


    "You must be from some remote ce if you don¡¯t even know about the Treasure Seeking Conference that the Qian n Chamber of Commerce often holds."


    "Did you really think the Qian n Chamber of Commerce is recruiting people here to hunt for treasure? That¡¯s hrious."


    Suddenly, the little girl extended her hand in front of Long Xuan, not saying another word.


    Long Xuan was puzzled and rummaged through his storage bag, finally pulling out three candies and cing them in her hand.The girl¡¯s lips twitched a few times, and she couldn¡¯t help but roll her eyes. "Who asked you for candy? Do you really think I¡¯m a child? I want money. My information isn¡¯t free."


    At this moment, Long Xuan no longer found her cute. Asking for money just to answer a question? If he weren¡¯t so weak right now, he would have taught her a lesson.


    Long Xuan could only helplessly take out three Spirit Stones and ce them in her hand.


    "Alright, now can you talk?"


    After happily pocketing the Spirit Stones, the little girl finally spoke: "The merchants of the Qian n Chamber of Commerce are incredibly wealthy. Often, some rich show-offs gather all sorts of treasures from around the world."


    "Then, they set up arenas and boast, iming that any kind of treasure can be found in their storage bags."


    "Whatever you are missing, you can find it through trade¡ªspiritual herbs, spiritual tools, pills, cultivation techniques, spiritual arts¡ªanything you can think of, they have it in their storage bags."


    "You can offer any treasure for trade, but the rule is that what you offer must be worth more than what you¡¯re exchanging for."


    "You understand, right? For someone in urgent need of something, even if they¡¯re getting a bad deal, they¡¯ll still make the trade."


    "These multi-treasure merchants gradually snowball their wealth by holding Treasure Seeking Convention all over the world. Slowly, they umte countless mountains of gold and silver."


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan was no longer calm. This was outrageous! To im that they could have anything in their storage bags from all over the world¡ªwhat a bold im.


    Even though Long Xuan was incredibly wealthy himself, he wouldn¡¯t dare make such a im. The variety of treasures he owned was not even one ten-thousandth of what existed in this world. ?


    What did it mean to have every kind of treasure? It was beyond exaggeration. Could anyone in this world really be that rich?


    A single storage bag containing all kinds of treasures¡ªhow wealthy would someone have to be to make such a boast?


    Long Xuan was genuinely shocked.


    "Are you sure that person isn¡¯t bluffing? Does he have Living Wood? And what about various peak-grade Gu insects¡ªdoes he dare im to have those?" Long Xuan pointed to the fat man on the tform, visibly unsettled.


    The little girl rolled her eyes at him and said, "Let me finish. The Treasure Seeking Convention is divided into levels."


    "A Gu King-level multi-treasure merchant can hold a level-4 Treasure Seeking Convention, iming to have any treasure below grade 4."


    "A Spiritual Sea stage multi-treasure merchant can hold a level-3 Treasure Seeking Convention, only daring to im they have everything below grade 3."


    "A Marrow Cleansing stage multi-treasure merchant can only hold a level-2 Treasure Seeking Convention, iming only to have treasures below grade 2."


    "But no matter what level of Convention, things that are extinct or exclusive to specific ns are always excluded."


    "All peak-grade Gu insects in this world are exclusive to various ns. How could he have them?"


    "Other than those exceptions, the fat man''s storage bag contains everything. Whatever you can name, you¡¯ll find it in his bag."


    "That fat man is the third son of the Qian n Chamber of Commerce, and he''s in charge of all the Qian n branches on Earth. So he¡¯s ridiculously wealthy."


    "Right now, he''s at the peak of the Marrow Cleansing stage. So the Treasure Seeking Convention he¡¯s hosting is a level-2 convention. He has everything below grade 2."


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan''s shock didn¡¯t diminish. Although those treasure merchants didn¡¯t possess anything beyond their level, it was still impressive enough, wasn¡¯t it?


    How many second-grade treasures exist in this world? There are so many that they can''t even be counted. And yet, that third son of the Qian family dares to im he has any treasure below second grade. That¡¯s just too arrogant, too outrageous.


    He¡¯s so arrogant, hosting treasure seeking conventions everywhere, unting his wealth. Is he really not afraid of being killed for his treasures?


    Seriously, if his storage pouch has everything in it, one kill would set you up for ten lifetimes. If you¡¯re going to kill a rich fool, who else would you kill?


    Those treasure merchants must have no fear of death!


    Looking at that third son of the Qian family right now, his forehead darkened ¡ª bad luck was clearly not far away.


    At the same time, Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but reflect: how much must Qian Jinjin be disliked? Why does this fat guy get to upy this wealthy Tianyue territory, while she gets banished to that deste, barrennd in the far west?


    Isn¡¯t this treatment too unfair? The favoritism towards men is too serious!


    I heard the head of the Qian Chamber ofmerce assigned each of his children to different regions, and whoever earns the most in their region will be the next head of the guild.


    But their starting points differ by tens of thousands of times! Does Qian Jinjin even stand a chance of winning? Look at the storage pouch of the third son now ¡ª it¡¯s full of treasures, and he¡¯s already bold enough to unt his wealth by hosting treasure hunts everywhere.


    However, I also heard that during the war between the Western Lands and the Great Yin Dynasty, Qian Jinjin, that cunning merchant, made a huge profit from the war. So in the end, who will make the most money? It¡¯s really hard to say.


    "Those treasure merchants love to show off their wealth everywhere, so I imagine the number of cases where they¡¯re killed for their treasures must be pretty high, right?" Long Xuan couldn¡¯t hold back his curiosity and asked.


    The little girl turned her head and said, "How could that not happen? Of course, it happens. But do you know what the strongest unique Gu insect of the Qian n is?"


    "The strongest Gu insect of the Qian n Chamber Of Commerce is the Three-Legged Golden Toad. No contest."


    "The Three-Legged Golden Toad is a very interesting Gu insect. It loves wealth, loves collecting treasures, and it follows those who possess many treasures."


    "The Three-Legged Golden Toad strengthens itself by absorbing the aura of treasures. Itsbat power is directly proportional to how wealthy its owner is."


    "The more treasures its owner has, the more treasure aura the Three-Legged Golden Toad absorbs, and therger it grows when using its gigantification technique. Itsbat power bes stronger as well."


    "Conversely, if its owner is dirt poor and doesn¡¯t even have a single Yue Coin, the Three-Legged Golden Toad will starve from theck of treasure aura, bing so thin and weak that it might not even be able to beat a low-grade Gu insect."


    "Of course, if its owner has a mountain of wealth, the Three-Legged Golden Toad bes enormous, able to blot out the sky and cover the sun. It can shake mountains and swallow moons, making it terrifyingly powerful ¡ª invincible among peak-grade Gu insect, absolutely unmatched."


    "Because the strength of the Three-Legged Golden Toad is tied to its owner''s wealth, its power has no upper limit."


    "If its owner possesses the wealth of the entire world, then the Three-Legged Golden Toad would be strong enough to kill anything."


    "It''s also worth mentioning that the Three-Legged Golden Toad has a stomach that holds an infinitely growing storage space, the size of which is also directly proportional to the number and quality of treasures stored."


    "As long as the owner stores their valuables inside the toad''s belly, it can continuously expand its storage space by absorbing the treasures¡¯ aura."


    "That''s why treasure merchants have enough space to carry so many treasures when they go out. It''s safe to say that every Qian n treasure merchant will refine a Three-Legged Golden Toad."


    "In addition to being able to store items and use gigantification, the Three-Legged Golden Toad has another ability called Devouring Heaven. Devouring Heaven allows it to swallow anything and kill anything, with its strength entirely dependent on the amount of treasure it has."


    "And since every treasure merchant carries a ridiculous amount of treasures, you can only imagine how powerful their Three-Legged Golden Toads are. Who would dare mess with them?"


    "Trying to kill a treasure merchant for their wealth? In front of the sky-blotting Three-Legged Golden Toad, you''d better think twice."


    "There have been cases in history where treasure merchants were sessfully killed for their wealth, but they are extremely rare."


    "Without exceptional skills, no fool would dare to show off their treasures."


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan revealed a contemtive expression, his eyes growing brighter.


    Suddenly, inspiration struck him. He now had a breakthrough idea for his next peak-grade Gu Insect.


    Seeing the Three-Legged Golden Toad, his imagination soared. What if hepletely overhauled the Three-Legged Golden Toad Gu recipe and added the seed of the World Tree?


    He realized the small world inside the World Tree seed was still too small for his liking. He wanted something bigger ¡ª he wanted to rece the storage space inside the Three-Legged Golden Toad¡¯s belly with the small world inside the World Tree seed.


    That way, the more treasures the Three-Legged Golden Toad swallowed, therger the small world would be, growing infinitely over time, eventually bing a real world.


    That would be terrifying.


    Wouldn''t that make him a creator god? That¡¯spletely overpowered.


    It''s important to note that the space inside the World Tree seed is not just a simple storage space; it''s a real world, no different from the outside world.


    In that world, he could nt spiritual herbs and raise all sorts of living creatures. People could even enter to cultivate.


    But the storage space inside the current Three-Legged Golden Toad clearly couldn''t support living things.


    If the storage space inside the Three-Legged Golden Toad were reced with a real world, what kind of changes would that bring?


    It would mean that, previously, the Three-Legged Golden Toad could only store dead objects and absorb the aura from non-living treasures.


    But now, things would be different. The new Three-Legged Golden Toad could not only store dead objects but also living creatures, allowing it to absorb both dead and living treasure auras simultaneously.


    He could even grow spiritual herbs inside the Three-Legged Golden Toad, turning it into a mobile herb garden.


    Therger the herb garden, therger the toad¡¯s internal space, and the bigger it would be when using the gigantification technique.


    He could also turn the toad¡¯s belly into a pasture, raising spiritual fish and creating an insect chamber. All of these living creatures could contribute to the toad¡¯s growth.


    Even his collection of increasingly powerful peak-grade Gu insects, once stored inside the Three-Legged Golden Toad¡¯s belly, would greatly enhance the toad¡¯s power.


    Could the original Three-Legged Golden Toad increase its strength by storing living creatures? Obviously not.


    A Three-Legged Golden Toad that could store both dead and living treasures would have a far higher potential ceiling than one that could only store dead objects.


    The difference between the two is like heaven and earth, as if they were twopletely different species.


    Long Xuan had alreadye up with a name for this new species ¡ª Heaven-Devouring World Toad.


    In the future, the belly of the Heaven-Devouring World Toad would contain a real world, a space no smaller than the Gu world. He could even raise mortals inside, establish a nation, and create unique species, forming new ecosystems and building aplete biosphere.


    He would be a creator god!


    A god worshiped by all mortals in this new world.


    They would erect statues in his honor, build temples and altars, and organize various rituals, all to worship and offer sacrifices to him. Who knows, perhaps he might even gain some sort of power of faith ¡ª that would certainly be interesting.


    However, this n could only be implemented once he became a god in the future.


    Long Xuan''s eyes sparkled with excitement. This gave him plenty to think about regarding the Three-Legged Golden Toad''s Gu recipe.

 Chapter 231: The Arrogant Third Young Master

    He had already made up his mind: with the two World Tree seeds, he would nt one and refine a Gu with the other.


    Just as he was thinking this, the plump man on the tform surveyed the crowd. Seeing that a sufficient number of people had gathered, he finally stood up and spoke.


    ¡°Hehe, it¡¯s an honor that all of you have graced us with your presence at my treasure seeking event.¡±


    ¡°I am the Third Young Master of the Qian n Chamber Of Commerce. You can just call me ¡®Third Young Master¡¯. Now, I can arrogantly tell you that I have everything under the second grade in this world!¡±


    ¡°Whatever you¡¯re missing, you can ask me. No matter what youck, I guarantee I¡¯ll have it!¡±


    ¡°If you don¡¯t believe me,e and fight! The treasure seeking event officially begins now. If anyone doubts me,e up, and I¡¯ll take you all on!¡±


    The Third Young Master¡¯s domineering voice boomed across the crowd, and his tone was as arrogant as it could be.


    The crowd immediately erupted into chaos. Arrogant¡ªhe was truly too arrogant! He dared to boast that he had anything below the second grade. His wealth was so immense that everyone was utterly shocked.


    Even Long Xuan was stunned. Was he really not afraid of being beaten to death with such arrogance?Suddenly, someone in the crowd couldn¡¯t hold back and shouted, ¡°I want a pill that can help me break through to the Spiritual Sea stage. Do you have it?¡±


    The Third Young Master nced at him indifferently, his face expressionless as he said, ¡°I have 137 types of second-grade breakthrough pills. Which one would you like?¡±


    ¡°Hiss¡­¡± As soon as he said this, the entire crowd gasped.


    ¡°So arrogant! I want a peak-grade spiritual weapon. Do you dare say you have that?¡± Another dissatisfied voice echoed from the crowd.


    The Third Young Master gave him a cold look and said calmly, ¡°There are too many types of peak-grade spiritual weapons. Excluding those with secret techniques, I currently have 2,608 peak-grade spiritual weapons. How many do you want?¡±


    ¡°Hiss¡­¡± Once again, the crowd collectively sucked in their breath.


    ¡°I want beauties! I refuse to believe you have those too!¡± someone shouted boldly.


    The Third Young Master yawnedzily, shot him a condescending nce, and said, ¡°I have tens of thousands of contracts for women. Do you prefer the cute type, the fiery type, or the cold and aloof type?¡±


    ¡°Hiss!¡± At this point, everyone felt a chill in their gums. He really had everything! Could anyone stop this arrogant Third Young Master? Everyone waspletely in awe of him.


    Who coulde forward and knock down his arrogance? He hadpletely overshadowed everyone.


    At the same time, the wealth of this Third Young Master once again left everyone astounded. How rich did he have to be to im he had everything? The Third Young Master was just too wealthy.


    His fortune made everyone green with envy.


    At this point, people had already started rushing onto the tform to trade for the materials they needed.


    The rule of the treasure seeking was that no matter what the trader wanted, they had to offer something of higher value in return. It was an unequal trade¡ªanyone who traded would be at a loss.


    But even so, people were still flocking to trade with the Third Young Master, eager to do business with him.


    Even Long Xuan was tempted. He wasn¡¯t afraid of spending more; he was only worried about not being able to gather what he needed.


    Now, with the Third Young Master around, collecting any material was incredibly convenient. Long Xuan¡¯s Heaven Mending Pill required 10,000 different ingredients, and it seemed like the Third Young Master might have them all. It was simply terrifying.


    Long Xuan¡¯s eyes gleamed, and he didn¡¯t hesitate any longer. He immediately handed his storage bag to Fire clone, instructing him to cover his face and go trade with the Third Young Master. Meanwhile, his real body quietly retreated and hid in the crowd.


    He didn¡¯t want to wait. Even though the Third Young Master imed to have everything, each item must have a limited quantity. Once it was traded away, it would be gone.


    So, while the Third Young Master¡¯s treasure collection was at its fullest, he needed to hurry and make the trade. Whoever dyed would suffer a loss.


    Thus, when the first trader finished and walked off the tform with a smile, Fire clone rushed up as the second.


    With his Star-Stepping speed, no one could be faster than him.


    Seeing him appear before the Third Young Master in a near-teleportation manner, the others, who had barely taken a step, could only pull their feet back in frustration.


    The Third Young Master nced up at himzily and asked, ¡°What do you want?¡±


    Long Xuan¡¯s clone immediately produced a thick list of materials and said, ¡°All the materials on this list, plus one peak-grade fire-attribute spiritual stone, and two portions of high-quality spiritual soil equivalent to two Spirit Trees. Do you have these?¡±


    Long Xuan looked at him. Thest two items were beyond the second grade, and he wasn¡¯t sure if the Third Young Master would have them.


    ¡°Naturally, I do. The question is, can you offer something more valuable than these in return?¡±


    Upon seeing the second trader asking for so many expensive items, the Third Young Master gave a devilish smile.


    He took Long Xuan¡¯s list of materials, scanning it with his soul force, and in a very short time calcted the total value of the items.


    Seeing no change in his expression, Long Xuan was even more astonished. Many of the materials needed to refine the Heaven Mending Pill were extremely rare, nearing extinction. Many people wouldn''t encounter them in a lifetime, but this Third Young Master actually had all of them?


    Once again, Long Xuan realized how incredible this man''s wealth was. When he said he had everything, it turned out to be true.


    However, because these nearly extinct spiritual herbs were incredibly valuable¡ªon top of the high-grade spirit stones and superior spirit soil he also requested¡ªit left Long Xuan in a difficult spot, wondering what treasure he could offer to surpass their value.


    His space was limited, and he only brought so many things with him. Most of his treasures were at home, and the most heaven-defying items couldn''t be brought out in public. So, for a moment, he truly didn¡¯t know what to exchange for the materials.


    But then he remembered that the rules of the Treasure Seeking were that any type of treasure could be exchanged, and it seemed like the value of all junk treasures could be added together.


    With that thought in mind, he quickly came up with a n. He filled a storage bag with items he didn¡¯t need and handed it to the Third Young Master.


    Long Xuan had many unused treasures. He had just packed up the Li Laodao''s belongings. Although the value of those treasures was incredible, there were few he could actually use.


    There was also the storage bag from Jun Zaitian and the one from that Spiritual Sea Stage Gu cultivator. Both of them had impressive backgrounds, and their storage bags contained no shortage of good items.


    He picked out what he didn¡¯t need and tossed them all into the storage bag, then handed it to the Third Young Master.


    After receiving the storage bag, the Third Young Master scanned it quickly with his soul force. Despite therge number of treasures inside, he estimated the value in a very short time.


    "This will do. The value of all the treasures in this bag is about ten percent higher than the materials I asked for. We can proceed with the trade."


    As soon as he finished speaking, the three-legged golden toad beside him suddenly opened its eyes and opened its mouth wide. One after another, treasures flew out from its mouth.


    Before long, a mountain of materials was piled up.


    Each spiritual herb was packed in a medicine box to prevent the medicinal properties from dispersing. With thousands of boxes piled together, the sight was truly impressive.


    Among them, Long Xuan quickly sensed the box containing the peak-grade fire-attribute spirit stone and dozens ofrge bags of superior high-grade spirit soil.


    Long Xuan felt somewhat dazed. Had he really just gathered everything he needed in an instant? Was this a dream? Previously, he had grown white hair worrying about how to quickly collect all these materials. Who would¡¯ve thought that, when push came to shove, everything would go so smoothly? What seemed like an impossible task was now effortlessly aplished. Truly, fate was unpredictable.


    Today, he could nt the two divine trees into the World Tree seed and begin refining the Heaven Mending Pill.


    Without dy, he quickly swept all the boxes on the ground into his storage bag and hurried off the stage.


    The Third Young Master picked up the storage bag Long Xuan had left behind, dumped all the treasures into the mouth of the three-legged golden toad, and said with a smile, "Apologies, that man traded for so many rare items that at least four hundred types of treasures are now avable again."


    "But, he did leave behind a lot of new items, so my treasures won¡¯t be exhausted anytime soon. Who else wants to trade?"


    Upon hearing that four hundred treasures were now avable again, the crowd below panicked.


    By now, they had realized that although the Third Young Master¡¯s treasures were increasing with each trade, the rarer items were growing scarcer. Theter they traded, the worse off they would be.


    Worried that the items they needed might be traded away by those ahead of them, the crowd surged forward in a rush, creating chaos.


    As for Long Xuan, after trading for arge number of materials, he feared someone might follow him. He first ordered his Fire Clone to leave the city, and after confirming no one was tailing it, he confidently left the city himself.


    However, entering and exiting the city twice had cost him a whopping sixteen hundred low-grade spirit stones. The fee was truly outrageous.


    Tianyue City could make a fortune just from collecting entrance and exit fees without doing anything else.


    After leaving Tianyue City, Long Xuan immediately found a secluded ce in a remote area. Using the Earth Master''s ability, he quickly dug out a cave, then rushed inside to begin refining the Heaven Mending Pill. He could no longer wait.


    The reason he had chosen this remote location to refine the pill rather than staying in Tianyue City was simple: in this world, refining a heaven-defying pill would inevitably attract strange phenomena or even a lightning tribtion.


    He was certain that a pill capable of mending one''s aptitude would definitely be ssified as a heaven-defying pill, and once it waspleted, it would surely attract a phenomenon from the heavens.


    Themotion caused by such a phenomenon was too great and could attract people from far away. If he refined the Heaven Mending Pill inside the city, the oue would be obvious. The moment the phenomenon urred, it would draw the attention of everyone in the city, and he¡¯d be in deep trouble. Whether or not he could keep the pill would be questionable.


    It¡¯s worth mentioning that in this world, the birth of any heaven-defying object would either draw a phenomenon or a lightning tribtion.


    This applied to spirit pills, spiritual artifacts, Gu insects, cultivation techniques... even people.


    However, only items of fourth grade and above would attract a lightning tribtion. Second-grade treasures could only summon a phenomenon at best.


    So, he wasn¡¯t worried about the Heaven Mending Pill attracting a lightning tribtion. Otherwise, there would be no point in refining it at all. Given his current strength, if the pill did summon a lightning tribtion, it would surely kill him before the pill was evenpleted.

 Chapter 232: Phenomenon Arises from Pill Creation

    Before refining pills, there was still one major task to bepleted.


    Long Xuan suddenly smiled and ced one of the World Tree seeds, like a precious treasure, on the table. With a thought, his consciousness entered the space within the World Tree seed.


    Looking at the surrounding green fields, Long Xuan took a deep breath of fresh air and feltpletely rxed. He smiled slightly, ready to nt the divine tree immediately.


    There¡¯s a particr trait of heaven-defying spiritual herbs, that is: no other herbs can survive around them.


    Low-grade herbs nted next to heaven-defying spiritual herbs would have all their nutrients absorbed and wither. If two heaven-defying spiritual herbs are nted close to each other, they will fight, and in the end, neither will survive.


    Therefore, when nting heaven-defying spiritual herbs, the distance between them must be incrediblyrge,rge enough to span multiple mountains, ensuring they are never clustered together.


    This was something Long Xuan had learned while nting the Divine Dragon Wood.


    So, in the northernmost part of the World Tree seed space, he nted the Heaven-Mending Tree, and in the southernmost part, he nted the World Tree.


    It didn''t take too much time, after all, nting the Heaven-Mending Tree only required sticking in a branch, and nting the World Tree only required burying a seed. It wasn¡¯t muchbor at all.In the end, his luck was quite good. Neither of these divine trees had yet randomly spawned in this world.


    After he finishedying down the high-grade spiritual soil, he soon saw growth progress on both divine trees, which filled him with great joy.


    Now, he was the owner of two divine trees, with another equally powerful divine tree, the Soul-Nourishing Tree.


    He was looking forward to seeing how big the Heaven Devouring World Toad''s body would grow if he ced these three heaven-defying treasures into its stomach.


    These are truly one-of-a-kind treasures in the world, surpassing even the twelfth-grade heaven-tier spiritual herbs. There is nothing in this world with a higher grade than them.


    Even if that Third Young Master''s second-grade treasures were numerous, could theirbined value be higher than that of these three heaven-defying spiritual herbs?


    He only needed these three heaven-defying spiritual herbs to make the Heaven Devouring World Toad''s size surpass that of the Third Young Master''s three-legged Golden Toad. Moreover, he had many earth-tier and heaven-tier spiritual herbs.


    When ites to treasures, quality is more important than quantity. No matter how many low-tier treasures the Golden Toad stores in its belly, its power will always be limited.


    Long Xuan took a deep breath in excitement and finally turned his attention away from the two trees, preparing to begin refining the Heaven-Mending Pill.


    He only had one chance to refine the pill. The materials required to create the Heaven-Mending Pill were far too rare. Even the wildly wealthy Third Young Master could only provide him with a single set of ingredients. As soon as the transaction waspleted, the Third Young Master''s treasure trove had 400 fewer items.


    What limits the number of heaven-defying pill recipes is not the number of pill-refining geniuses, but the scarcity of the materials.


    However, for someone like Long Xuan, who has an almost supernatural advantage, even one chance is more than enough. He immediately began the refining process without a trace of nervousness.


    At this moment, the rabbit excitedly ran out from the insect bag, circling the enormous pill furnace, which wasrge enough to hold ten thousand ingredients, and frolicked wildly.


    This pill-refining rabbit''s favorite thing in the world was refining pills, especially heaven-defying spiritual pills. Seeing the rare materials made it nearly lose its mind.


    Now that Long Xuan was about to refine a heaven-defying pill, how could it not be excited? It immediately ran over to observe, eager to witness the birth of the Heaven-Mending Pill.


    Seeing the overjoyed rabbit, Long Xuanughed and teased, "Are you here to secretly learn my techniques?"


    "My tuition fees are quite expensive, you know."


    "But since we''re so familiar, I''ll give you a 10% discount. You can work to pay me back slowly."


    With a mischievous grin, Long Xuan finally brought out all the spiritual herbs and began the first step of pill refining: extracting the essence of the herbs.


    A ball of icy blue mes suddenly rose from his hand, releasing an astonishing chill. Under the control of his numerous split souls, the Divine Ice me was divided into 160 portions, each separately burning 160 different types of spiritual herbs suspended in the air.


    This is one of the benefits of cultivating the "Heavenly Demon Soul Splitting Divine Art." By using split souls, he could multitask, and refining herbs with mes became incredibly convenient.


    Otherwise, extracting the essence of 10,000 spiritual herbs one by one would take forever.


    It was because he had only recently begun cultivating the "Heavenly Demon Soul-Splitting Divine Art", and had only split his soul four times, creating a total of 160 soul fragments. The quantity was indeed a bit low; otherwise, he would have wanted to split out 10,000 souls in one go and refine all the spirit herbs at once.


    The refining of the Heaven Mending Pill this time was of utmost importance. He wasn''t nning to let his clones, whose alchemy skills were slightly inferior, participate. After all, the clones couldn''t monitor the progress.


    To be cautious, he had to personally take charge. Otherwise, with the help of the clones, his refining speed could have been much faster.


    Time passed bit by bit, and the rabbit beside him sat quietly, watching him refine the pills with extreme seriousness. Its expression was solemn, and it didn¡¯t even blink.


    In this way, the man and the rabbit sat there for a whole month.


    On this day, dark clouds suddenly began to gather above the mountain cave, stretching endlessly across the sky. The ck clouds rumbled with thunder, shing with lightning, but no rain fell.


    Immediately afterward, a strong wind started blowing, sweeping up the sand and rocks on the ground, as if a dust storm had broken out. The area with the most intense disturbance was right above the mountain cave. In the sky, the ck clouds formed a massive ck funnel, its tip pointing directly at the cave and spinning rapidly.


    Just moments ago, the sky had been clear, but now, dark clouds filled the heavens, and fierce winds howled. This was clearly a heavenly phenomenon, indicating that some rare treasure was about to be born nearby.


    Even though Long Xuan had specifically chosen a remote and deste location for refining, the phenomenon was still noticed by many people.


    In the southeast direction, a green boat was rapidly flying toward this ce. There were both men and women on the boat, all of them Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators.


    There were six of them in total, all wearing the same style and color of clothing, a light green, which clearly indicated they were from the same faction.


    The handsome young man at the front of the boat stood at the bow, gazing in the direction of the phenomenon with a look of astonishment.


    ¡°Just moments ago, the weather was calm, and the sky was clear. Now, all of a sudden, the sky is covered with dark clouds, and the wind is raging. Such a drastic change without any warning can only mean that a rare treasure is about to appear. Moreover, I am 80% certain that it is a treasure refined by someone.¡±


    The young man spoke excitedly, his eyes filled with greed.


    ¡°Senior Brother, how can you be so sure that this phenomenon is caused by a treasure appearing? And how do you know it¡¯s something man-made and not something naturally born?¡± one of the younger disciples on the boat asked curiously.


    ¡°Hmph! Do you really need to ask? This is a barren and remote area with extremely scarce spiritual energy. Any treasure naturally formed by heaven and earth would be born in a ce rich in spiritual energy, not in such a deste location,¡± the young man exined.


    ¡°So, this treasure that triggered the heavenly phenomenon must have been refined by someone. They are probably refining pills or crafting artifacts so powerful that they attracted this phenomenon.¡±


    ¡°Most of the people who stay in such godforsaken ces are weak rogue cultivators. They hide here because they fear being killed for their treasures. Now that this phenomenon hassted so long without a Heavenly Tribtion descending, it¡¯s likely that the person refining the treasure has a low cultivation level. If we go, we should be able to seize this heaven-defying treasure.¡±


    ¡°Snatching the treasure is one thing, but the real prize is the pill recipe or artifact blueprint that caused this phenomenon. If we get that and hand it over to the Gu Spirit Sect, we could exchange it for a huge contribution to the sect.¡±


    Upon hearing this, everyone¡¯s eyes lit up with excitement. A treasure that could trigger a heavenly phenomenon was bound to be heaven-defying. Who wouldn''t be tempted by such a treasure?


    However, a female Gu cultivator wearing a white veil frowned slightly and hesitated. ¡°Are you nning to lead us to kill someone and steal their treasure?¡±


    The young man turned to look at her with disdain. ¡°Are you trying to y the saint? In the Gu world, saints don''t live long. If you feel too kind-hearted, you can get off the boat. You won¡¯t get any share of the treasure.¡±


    The veiled woman remained calm and continued, ¡°Someone capable of refining a treasure that causes a heavenly phenomenon isn¡¯t an ordinary person. Facing such an individual carries great risk. Are you so confident you can defeat them?¡±


    ¡°We have an important mission toplete. Our distinguished guest is nearby. I advise you not to cause unnecessaryplications. Your life is insignificant, but ruining the sect''s mission is a serious matter.¡±


    The young manughed, ¡°The Gu Spirit Sect is the number one sect in the Xuan Yue Empire. I am one of the top ten geniuses in the sect, and with the assistance of my junior brothers, who could we possibly lose to?¡±


    ¡°Besides, this is just a brief detour. How much time could it possibly take? It won¡¯t dy our mission at all. I think you¡¯re just being overly cautious.¡±


    He suddenly turned to his junior brothers and said, ¡°We have a major disagreement here. You can either choose to listen to me and join me in killing that person, or you can listen to her and prioritize the mission.¡±


    ¡°If you choose to follow me, stay on the boat. If you choose her, get off the boat with her.¡±


    As soon as he finished speaking, the group of juniors averted their eyes from the veiled woman and did not move a step.


    The veiled woman sighed softly and jumped off the boat,nding gently on a giant butterfly.


    ¡°Hmph! What a sanctimonious hypocrite. Let¡¯s not bother with her. I¡¯ll lead you to great fortune¡­¡±


    Momentster, the green boat stopped in front of the swirling ck cloud vortex. Everyone on board was shocked by what they saw.


    Treasures capable of causing heavenly phenomena were extremely rare. Even the well-informed disciples of the Gu Spirit Sect were witnessing such a phenomenon for the first time. Their faces were filled with awe.


    ¡°My master is currently in seclusion here. Please leave to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings!¡± a voice called out.


    The voice belonged to Fire clone, who stood atop the tip of a tree, hands sped behind his back, shouting at the figures in the sky.


    Hearing the voice, the group of geniuses on the boat looked down. They saw a person standing on the highest leaf of a tree, motionless, as if lighter than a feather, without bending the leaf at all.


    Everyone was stunned. How was this even possible?

 Chapter 233: The Three-Legged Golden Toad Unleashes Its Power

    Witnessing this disy of skill, the five individuals on the boat instantly realized that this person was far from ordinary. All of them exchanged heavy nces, their expressions growing serious.


    The young man leading the group finally discarded his earlier dismissiveness and cautiously asked the figure standing on the tree leaf, "I am a disciple of the Gu Spirit Sect. May I ask the esteemed name of your master?"


    "Gu Spirit Sect? Never heard of it. I don''t have time for idle chatter. Either leave, or face the consequences," the Fire Clone responded coldly.


    The young man¡¯s face flushed between shades of green and white. Someone had dared to im they didn¡¯t know of the Gu Spirit Sect¡ªa sect that was the top power in the Xuanyue Empire, even feared by the royal family. This person was clearly mocking him, and the insult cut deep.


    "To think someone would dare to disregard my Gu Spirit Sect. If we retreat today, how will we ever dare to call ourselves its disciples again? Failing to punish this person would be a disgrace to our sect!"


    The young man, seizing the opportunity to attack, dered angrily, "You brat! Today, I will make you pay for your words and actions!"


    With a twisted expression, he steered the Green Boat straight toward the figure on the tree.


    "Courting death!"


    The Fire Clone no longer held back. In an instant, a divine dragon and a golden crow appeared in the sky. Empowered by their divine aura, heunched a powerful fist directly at the oing Green Boat."Boom!"


    In a split second, the boat shattered into pieces, its debris scattering. All the passengers were thrown into the air by the force.


    "My precious high-grade Green Boat! You dare destroy it? I''ll kill you!"


    The young man, now beyond furious, flipped mid-air beforending gracefully on the ground and charged toward the figure in the tree.


    The other prodigies who had been thrown from the boatnded unscathed and immediately rushed forward to join the battle.


    However, before they could close the distance, four identical figures emerged from the cave, blocking their path.


    Simultaneously, five divine dragons and five golden crows materialized in the sky once again. The dragons exuded an overwhelming aura of dragon might that sent shivers down the spines of all present. The golden crows radiated intense heat, so scorching that even the Gu cultivators struggled to endure it.


    "What¡­ what is this?"


    The prodigies were stunned and horrified.


    The Fire Clone¡¯s duplicates had unleashed their full power from the start, summoning divine Dharma forms even before the battlemenced. They were determined to eliminate these intruders with swift and overwhelming force. They knew that more people were likely to be drawn by the anomalies, and the fight had to end quickly and decisively.


    In the meantime, several formidable Gu joined the fray¡ªWine Gu, Dragon Gu, Disaster Poison Gu, and the Ten-Arm de Gu¡ªall rushing out of the cave, eager to join the battle. ??


    The arrival of these terrifying creatures sealed the fate of the prodigies. The battlefield was soon filled with the sound of screams, which were abruptly cut short¡­


    ---


    Inside the World Tree Seed


    Long Xuan gazed at the three golden pills resting in his palm, his breathing in short, excited bursts.


    The pills emitted a faint golden glow, wisps of white pill energy swirling around them. The rich aroma they gave off was so intoxicating that it felt as though they were divine pills, with an ethereal quality about them.


    Taking a deep breath, Long Xuan felt a strange sensation, as if he were about to ascend to the heavens on the spot. Startled by this, he quickly put the three pills into separate bottles, safely storing them.


    He didn¡¯t consume the Heaven-Mending Pills immediately. It wasn¡¯t the right time yet; the pill¡¯s power required time to fully absorb. Moreover, the anomaly caused by refining the pills had already drawn attention, even though he had chosen a remote location. More Gu cultivators would inevitably be attracted. This was not a ce he could stay for long.


    He had to leave quickly and find a new, secluded ce to absorb the pill''s energy in peace.


    Without wasting any more time, he stored the three pill bottles, and with a thought, reappeared outside. He also retrieved the World Tree Seed from the table and ced it, along with the table itself, into his storage ring.


    The World Tree Seed emitted no aura of a high-grade spiritual herb, which was why Li Laodao had overlooked it. Thus, Long Xuan could confidently carry it outside, knowing no one would detect its true value. Keeping it in the storage ring might causeplicationster on.


    As Long Xuan stepped out of the cave, he found five fresh corpses lying on the ground. Blood still oozed from them, and the bodies were warm¡ªclearly, they hadn¡¯t been dead for long.


    The Fire Clone approached and said, "These people imed to be from the Gu Spirit Sect. Arrogant, all of them. Tried to break in, but we put them down. Their storage bags were full of good stuff."


    "Gu Spirit Sect?" Long Xuan thought for a moment before dismissing it. "Never heard of it. Doesn''t matter. We can''t stay here any longer. Let''s move quickly."


    With that, he raised his hand and unleashed a ming palm strike, incinerating the five bodies into ashes. Together with his clones, Long Xuan swiftly left the area.


    ---


    Just as they vanished, a young girl, veiled in silk, arrived riding a giant butterfly.


    Her eyes widened in shock as she saw the scorched remnants of the battlefield below.


    "So the battle ended this quickly? He¡¯s one of the top ten geniuses of the Gu Spirit Sect, yet he, along with his four junior brothers, was defeated in an instant. How is this possible? Who exactly is this person?"


    "Oh no, the mission item is lost..."


    Suddenly realizing something, the veiled young woman¡¯s expression changed drastically, and she quickly rode off on a butterfly, disappearing from sight...


    Half a dayter.


    Under Long Xuan''s Eye of Heavenly Secrets, he caught sight of a massive three-legged Golden Toad from afar.


    The size of the three-legged Golden Toad was unbelievably exaggerated¡ªabout the size of a mountain, seemingly covering the sky and blocking out the sun. It let out a deafening roar.


    With its mouth wide open, a massive suction force was released, pulling in countless trees, rocks, soil, and even arge number of people from the ground. They were all sucked into its gaping mouth, apanied by endless screams. The scene was utterly terrifying.


    Upon seeing this behemoth, Long Xuan¡¯s gaze couldn¡¯t tear away from it. He stopped in his tracks, his face showing shock.


    "Isn¡¯t this the third young master¡¯s three-legged Golden Toad? How did it grow sorge? What in the world happened?"


    He quickly focused again. Through the Heavenly Eye, the scene ahead became crystal clear.


    It seemed that a group of unidentified people was attacking the caravan of the Qian n¡¯s Chamber Of Commerce, and the third young master was in that caravan.


    The group¡¯s target was obviously him, as the death squad relentlessly charged at him. At this moment, the third young master had already sustained serious injuries.


    The three-legged Golden Toad, now asrge as a mountain, had gone berserk, its eyes bloodshot as it ughtered the Gu cultivators below.


    Every step it took caused the ground to shake as though an earthquake had struck, emitting thunderous booms.


    Each movement of its feet left deep craters in the ground, and even water began seeping out. The earth rapidly cracked under its stomping.


    With each breath it took, violent gusts of wind formed below, kicking up flying sand and stones. Many Gu cultivators were either blown away or sucked into its mouth.


    Countless Gu cultivators were crushed to death under its feet, while many others were swallowed whole. Even many Gu cultivators from the Qian n were caught in the crossfire and killed by the terrifying aftershocks it produced.


    The sight was horrifying.


    Long Xuan had never witnessed such a terrifying battle scene before. He stood there in a daze, his mouth agape, staring at the scene, unable to move.


    "Is this the killing power of the Qian n¡¯s first exclusive Gu, the three-legged Golden Toad? This is far too terrifying!"


    No wonder so few people are able to kill the multi-treasure merchants. With such a terrifying creature at their disposal, who could possibly rival them? Even if a hundred thousand soldiers were deployed, they likely wouldn¡¯t be enough to fill this creature''s teeth.


    And this is only the three-legged Golden Toad of a Marrow Cleansing stage multi-treasure merchant, a Spirit Gu that has only undergone one evolution.


    If just a single Spirit Gu is already this horrifying, how powerful would the three-legged Golden Toad of a Gu King-level multi-treasure merchant be?


    And what if the three-legged Golden Toad of a multi-treasure merchant evolves over ten times? By then, wouldn¡¯t the clouds only reach its toes?


    Just thinking about this terrifying image made Long Xuan shiver uncontrobly. It was simply too frightening. Is this still a Gu insect?


    Long Xuan dared not imagine further. He waspletely shocked.


    This is only a weakened version of the three-legged Golden Toad. How ridiculous would his upgraded version, the Heaven-Devouring World Toad, be? How big would it grow? Just thinking about it made Long Xuan''s scalp tingle.


    At this moment, he finally understood the terrifying existence he was about to research. Is it really okay to study something so frightening? He couldn¡¯t help but wipe the cold sweat from his brow.


    Looking back at the battlefield, he couldn¡¯t help but sigh, ¡°I knew it, his aura was dark¡ªmisfortune was bound toe, and it happened just as I predicted.¡±


    "Bringing so many treasures and parading around¡ªof course he got targeted. What a pity."


    Shaking his head, Long Xuan took out a chair, sat down on the side to enjoy the show, and even grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds to snack on as he watched the battle with great interest.


    However, the more he watched, the more rmed he became. The three-legged Golden Toad was already this terrifying, yet it seemed to be at a disadvantage in this battle.


    There is always someone stronger. This group of unidentified people was clearly well-prepared, with specific methods to counter the three-legged Golden Toad.


    They released countless unknown small insects that managed to bite through the skin of the Golden Toad and burrow inside, gnawing wildly.


    Despite its massive body, it had no way to deal with these small creatures, and it howled in pain,pletely losing control and going mad.


    It not only stomped numerous attackers to death but also trampled many of the Qian n¡¯s Gu cultivators. Both sides suffered heavy losses under the massive feet of the creature.


    Fortunately, this situation didn¡¯tst long. The immensely powerful three-legged Golden Toad was actually bitten to death, and soon after, ity on the ground, motionless, with no signs of life.


    The death of the three-legged Golden Toad marked the end of the battle.


    Not long after, all the Qian n¡¯s Gu cultivators were ughtered by the group, who then took all the valuables from the caravan and left, taking with them the enormous corpse of the three-legged Golden Toad.


    Watching them run farther away, Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but be stunned. A battle powerhouse like the three-legged Golden Toad was actually killed so easily?


    This wasn¡¯t just any three-legged Golden Toad¡ªit belonged to the multi-treasure merchant.


    The three-legged Golden Toad in the hands of a multi-treasure merchant was a thousand times stronger than those of others. How could it be so easily dealt with?


    That this group was able to eliminate the multi-treasure merchant¡¯s three-legged Golden Toad so quickly was truly shocking to him, and he found it hard to believe.


    It wasn¡¯t difficult to guess that this group¡¯s origins were anything but simple. A gleam shed in Long Xuan¡¯s eyes.

 Chapter 234: Internal Conflict in the Qian Clan

    After the group hadpletely disappeared into the distance, Long Xuan finally mustered up the courage to approach the battlefield, hoping to scavenge anything that might have been left behind.


    They had left in a hurry, so there was a possibility that some treasures had been overlooked and left behind.


    As soon as he arrived at the battlefield, he was stunned by the terrifying aftermath of the battle. The ground was riddled with giant craters, stomped out by the fierce fighting.


    Many Gu cultivators had been trampled to death, their bodies so mangled they were too gruesome to look at.


    Had he not killed enough people himself already, Long Xuan might have thrown up upon witnessing such a scene for the first time.


    Suppressing his difort, he stopped looking at the disfigured corpses and focused on his task¡ªcleaning up the battlefield and looting whatever he could, intending to leave as soon as possible.


    The fat man who had been addressed as Third Young Master was clearly the most promising target, so Long Xuan instinctively headed toward him first.


    Looking at this blood-soaked, ragged figure, Long Xuan couldn''t help but sigh.


    Not long ago, this same man had been unting his wealth in Tianyue City, but now, had he ever imagined this would be the oue of his arrogance? Had he foreseen that unting his riches would make him a target for those who despised him?Shaking his head, Long Xuan inspected the body of the Third Young Master carefully from head to toe and soon spotted something hidden within his chest area.


    His heart leaped with joy¡ªthere was indeed treasure left behind! He immediately reached out to im it.


    However, just as his hand slipped into the fat man''s clothing, the man¡¯s previously shut eyes suddenly opened wide, ring at him.


    At that moment, anyone would have been scared half to death.


    Long Xuan,pletely unprepared for the corpse to e back to life," was caught off guard and jumped several steps back in shock.


    His heart pounded wildly in his chest as he stared at the Third Young Master in disbelief. He was still alive!


    How could this be possible? Those people were so thorough in their actions¡ªhow could they leave someone alive? Did they not know how to ensure the kill? How could they make such a rookie mistake?


    ¡°Cough, cough!¡±


    The Third Young Master coughed up several mouthfuls of blood, his face pale as he weakly said, ¡°Disappointed? I¡¯m still alive. Don¡¯t be fooled by the fact that my dantian has been destroyed¡ªit¡¯s not hard for me to take your life. If you¡¯re smart, you¡¯ll leave now, and I¡¯ll pretend this never happened.¡±


    After calming his startled heart, Long Xuan curiously asked, ¡°You¡¯re hiding a storage ring in your clothes, aren¡¯t you? I didn¡¯t expect you hadn¡¯t stored all your valuables in the Three-Legged Golden Toad¡¯s belly.¡±


    ¡°I believe a multi-treasure merchant like yourself must have some hidden trump cards¡ªsomething that could threaten me.¡±


    ¡°But I¡¯m really curious: how did you manage to fake your death and fool those people?¡±


    ¡°They didn¡¯t finish you off, nor did they check your clothes for the storage ring. If it were me, I¡¯d have burned the body to ashes after the kill. Even if you weren¡¯t faking your death, the corpse might still have clues revealing my identity.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s easy to deduce the identity of the killer from the wounds on the body. How could they make such a rookie mistake?¡±


    Long Xuan¡¯s thoughts raced. Although he was wary of the treasure merchant, he didn¡¯t leave immediately.


    He needed the Three-Legged Golden Toad Gu Recipe, and with the merchant now weakened, and the strongest of the toads dead, this was the best opportunity to seize the recipe. How could he just walk away?


    If he didn¡¯t grasp this opportunity today, collecting the form for the Three-Legged Golden Toad Gu would be nearly impossible in the future.


    The strength of the Qian n¡¯s merchant guild far surpassed that of the Long n. It would be no easy feat to get their hands on the recipe for such a powerful Gu.


    ¡°Heh,¡± the Third Young Master let out a bitterugh, his face still pale as he spoke, ¡°Do you really think they¡¯re that stupid?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m telling you, in this world, there are no fools. Fools don¡¯t survive in this world.¡±


    ¡°If they were really that stupid, could they have nned such a perfect assassination? They nearly killed me.¡±


    ¡°There aren¡¯t many sessful assassinations of multi-treasure merchants throughout history, but they pulled it off.¡±


    The Third Young Master¡¯s eyes shed with fury, and a murderous intent surged as he said angrily, ¡°The reason I¡¯m still alive isn¡¯t because they¡¯re stupid¡ªit¡¯s because they purposely left me alive!¡±


    ¡°The Fake Death Pill I took was useless. Any smart person would have pulverized my body, leaving no chance for the Qian n to find the culprit.¡±


    ¡°Heh! They could have killed me, but they didn¡¯t. They merely crippled my dantian. Did they really think I¡¯d be so easily fooled?¡±


    ¡°My so-called brothers really took me for a fool. If it were outsiders who attacked me, they¡¯d definitely kill me. Only members of my own n would spare my life.¡±


    ¡°They didn¡¯t do it out of kindness or brotherly love. They left me alive because they¡¯re overly cautious and want to leave themselves an escape route, in case this ever gets exposed.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no secret that doesn¡¯t eventuallye to light. Killing a fellow n member is a capital crime, while merely injuring one carries a much lighter punishment.¡±


    ¡°Killing a n member means paying with their life, no matter their talent or status. Injuring a n member, however, is not a death sentence, and in time, it might even be forgotten.¡±


    ¡°They feared the risk of death, so they left me alive and simply crippled my dantian.¡±


    ¡°As long as I¡¯m a cripple, I can no longerpete for the position of n leader. Whether I live or die no longer matters to them, and that¡¯s how I managed to keep my life.¡±


    ¡°Heh! My dear brothers, still not ruthless enough. They feared death too much to eliminate mepletely.¡±


    ¡°Do they really think that just because I¡¯m now a cripple, stripped of my power, that I can¡¯t do anything to them? So naive!¡±


    The Third Young Master clenched his fists, his teeth grinding in seething hatred as he roared.


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan finally understood.


    So this was all a power struggle for the position of n leader, a case of siblings turning against each other.


    Such scenarios were all toomon inrge ns. Even within the Long n, such events urred frequently. For example, Long Buhui had been imprisoned in the Holy Tree Grounds for a long time, forced to guard the sacred tree.


    The Qian Chamber Of Commerce was vast and powerful, and thepetition for the position of n leader must have been even fiercer.


    The current leader of the Qian n had fathered over a dozen talented offspring, all potential candidates for the leadership. Their internal strife was far more chaotic.


    The head of the Qian n, in his wisdom, granted each of the n leader candidates authority over a region, with the understanding that the one who earned the most wealth would be the next n leader.


    While this method certainly ensures that the most capable leader will be chosen, its drawbacks are equally clear.


    Each candidate is given too much power, and each one controls wealthparable to a nation. They all possess the potential for immense destruction.


    If these ten or so candidates fail to handle matters properly, it could lead to internal strife within the Qian n, or even deal a significant blow to it.


    Currently, the Qian n is already beginning to show signs of disorder, and it is unclear what kind of crisis might arise in the end. Whether Qian Jinjin, one of the candidates, will survive this crisis unscathed is also uncertain.


    Long Xuan started to let his imagination run wild. He was contemting whether he could forcefully seize the recipe for the Three-Legged Golden Toad Gu from the Third Young Master.


    Despite being in a weakened state and unable to act personally, Long Xuan¡¯s five clones had terrifyingbat power.


    Right now, the Third Young Master had suffered serious injuries, and the most powerful Three-Legged Golden Toad was dead, making this an extremely rare opportunity.


    Although the Third Young Master, as a wealthy merchant, surely had many powerful cards up his sleeve, Long Xuan was confident that his own chances of sess were still greater.


    However, this thought didn¡¯tst long before he quickly abandoned it.


    It wasn¡¯t that he feared losing to the Third Young Master. Instead, it was because he shared the same concern as the mastermind behind the assassination attempt on the Third Young Master¡ªthe fear of being discovered and then hunted down by the Qian n¡¯s business association.


    This potential consequence had to be carefully considered. Long Xuan had always been cautious by nature and never willing to take unnecessary risks.


    The Qian n¡¯s business association spanned across various regions and controlled vast, incalcble wealth. Its ranks were filled with powerful individuals, and there were likely countless Gu Kings among them¡ªdefinitely not a force Long Xuan could afford to offend in his current state.


    He could never guarantee that after killing someone, the Qian n¡¯s business association wouldn¡¯t trace it back to him.


    If even the other n leader candidates who targeted the Third Young Master couldn¡¯t be sure of avoiding detection, how could he? He wasn¡¯t that arrogant.


    In this world, Gu insectse in countless strange and unpredictable forms, with abilities more bizarre and astonishing than the next.


    So one should never assume they¡¯ve covered their trackspletely.


    For instance, there are Gu insects with divination or prophetic abilities in this world, which could directly reveal the identity of the perpetrator. What good is it to act discreetly then?


    Thus, out of caution, Long Xuan ultimately abandoned the idea of killing and robbing. Instead, he nned to acquire the recipe for the Three-Legged Golden Toad Gu through a trade.


    No n would easily trade a secret Gu recipe, but nothing is ever absolute.


    Under normal circumstances, even if Long Xuan offered a fortune, the Third Young Master would never trade away the n¡¯s secret Gu recipe.


    But now, things were different. The Third Young Master''s dantian was destroyed, and his cultivation path was ruined for life. No Gu cultivator could ept bing a cripple.


    But what if something could repair his dantian at this moment? To regain his life and seek revenge, would he betray his n and trade the secret Gu recipe?


    Long Xuan believed the Third Young Master would likely choose to make the trade. In fact, most people in this world would probably make the same decision in such a situation.


    Humans are selfish. When their own survival is at stake, who would care about anything else? Who could endure being a cripple for the rest of their life?


    Since he wasn¡¯t nning to kill and seize the treasure, Long Xuan had only one option left¡ªoffering the Heaven Mending Pill. He took a deep breath and said, "How about we make a trade?"


    "I have something that can repair your dantian, but you must trade me the recipe for the Three-Legged Golden Toad Gu."


    "I assure you, I only need the recipe for reference and will never actually refine the Three-Legged Golden Toad Gu."


    "As long as I don''t refine it, no one will ever know you leaked your n''s secret Gu recipe. You can safely make this trade with me."


    As expected, Long Xuan¡¯s words immediately caused the Third Young Master¡¯s eyes to widen in disbelief. His breathing quickened, and he looked at Long Xuan as if he wanted to devour him, his emotions highly agitated. "Is that true? Do you really have something that can repair my dantian?"


    "Impossible! Absolutely impossible! You¡¯re lying! As a head of the Qian n¡¯s business in this region, I¡¯ve handled countless treasures and am the most knowledgeable person around, yet I have never seen any pill that can repair a dantian."


    "Forget seeing it, I¡¯ve never even heard of such a thing! A pill that can repair a dantian? That¡¯s unheard of. You must be trying to deceive me!"


    The Third Young Master shook his head frantically, unable to believe that such a pill existed in this world. It was too coincidental that right after he was crippled, someone would conveniently show up with something that could repair his dantian.


    If such a pill truly existed, he would have been dead long ago. His enemies would never have just crippled his dantian.


    It was precisely because a destroyed dantian couldn¡¯t be repaired in this world that he had lost the ability to rise again, and his enemies spared his life.


    Though he was convinced the news was false, the Third Young Master still looked at Long Xuan with hopeful eyes, wanting to believe but afraid to, trapped in deep internal conflict.

 Chapter 235: Another Member Added to the Second Team of Gu Insects

    Seeing his expression, Long Xuan knew there was a chance, so he immediately threw a pill bottle toward him and said, "Why don¡¯t you just appraise it to see if it¡¯s real?"


    "Every Qian n merchant is the greatest treasure appraiser. I believe you have the ability to identify unknown treasures, right?"


    The third young master quickly caught the pill bottle, immediately poured the pill into his palm, and sniffed it deeply. A look of surprise shed across his face.


    At that moment, his right eye suddenly emitted a golden light, scanning the pill in his palm.


    This was another unique Gu technique of the Qian n, called the Golden Eye, which could parasitize the eyeballs of Qian n merchants.


    The Golden Eye had powerful calction abilities. No matter how many spirit stones were inside a storage bag, this eye could instantly calcte the total number.


    Even if there was a mountain of treasures in front of it, the Golden Eye could estimate the total value with a nce.


    That was only the basic ability of the Golden Eye. Its most terrifying feature was its ability to appraise treasures.


    The Golden Eye could identify any treasure in the world, even unknown and newly born treasures. This eye could appraise them all and reveal their exact function.It could even instantly determine whether a cultivation method filled with text was real or fake.


    Thus, the third young master didn¡¯t need to experiment on someone to discover the effects of the Heaven Mending Pill; a nce with the Golden Eye would suffice.


    Before long, the third young master¡¯s face flushed, and his breathing became rapid. He abruptly lifted his head, staring at Long Xuan with fiery eyes, and said:


    "This pill can truly repair a person¡¯s dantian! I didn¡¯t expect there really to be a pill that can mend a damaged dantian in this world. Truly, heaven does not cut off all paths! There is always a way!"


    "Hahaha¡­"


    "My dear brothers, you never expected this, did you? I actually found a divine pill that can restore my dantian! You¡¯re bound to be disappointed. I¡¯ll see how you dare fight me once my dantian is repaired!"


    The third young master suddenly stood up,ughing wildly in excitement. Then he looked at Long Xuan with a serious expression and said, "I never imagined you would possess such a divine pill. You want the Three-legged Golden Toad Gu recipe? Let¡¯s be clear then."


    "I wasn¡¯t going to give you the Three-legged Golden Toad Gu recipe no matter what."


    "You must understand, Gu recipe of the Thief n poisoning arts, are not hard to obtain. There are countless ways to steal them."


    "In this world, there are only perfect offenses, no perfect defenses. No method canpletely prevent the leakage of exclusive Gu recipe."


    "Stealing the Gu recipe is easy, but once you refine the Gu insect, they¡¯ll sense it. The entire n will then hunt you down."


    "This is why so few people refine the unique Gu insects of various ns. It¡¯s not that they can¡¯t steal the recipe, it¡¯s that they don¡¯t dare to refine them."


    "As soon as you dare to refine such a Gu insect, you will certainly be exposed. So under no circumstances would I have let you take the Three-legged Golden Toad Gu recipe."


    "But, if you can truly promise never to refine the Three-legged Golden Toad Gu and never record its recipe on paper to pass it on, I will have no reservations about giving it to you!" ?


    Upon hearing this, Long Xuan was overjoyed. As expected, the crippled third young master couldn¡¯t resist the temptation of a pill that could repair his dantian. The n had worked, and his Heaven-Devouring World Toad was about to be obtained.


    "Third young master, rest assured. I¡¯ve never gone back on my word."


    "I promise to memorize the Three-legged Golden Toad Gu recipe and destroy it afterward. I¡¯ll never pass it on, and I swear I¡¯ll never refine the Three-legged Golden Toad Gu." Long Xuan immediately vowed with conviction.


    The third young master shook his head and stared straight into Long Xuan''s eyes. "I don¡¯t believe in vows, nor do I believe in anyone¡¯s word. You must refine a Integrity Gu. Only by being bound by the Integrity Gu will I feel at ease."


    "Otherwise, I won¡¯tplete this transaction under any circumstances."


    Hearing this, Long Xuan was taken aback. Was this a "buy one, get one free" deal?


    Giving away one unique Gu recipe was not enough, but giving he''s giving away two?


    Well, it didn¡¯t matter¡ªone or two made no difference at this point. The third young master had nothing to lose anymore.


    "You¡¯re sure you want to give me another exclusive Qian n Gu recipe? And even let me refine it? If I refine the Integrity Gu, won¡¯t the Qian n¡¯s Gu cultivators sense it and expose my theft of the Qian n¡¯s secret Gu recipe?" Long Xuan asked in surprise.


    The third young master shook his head and said, "The Integrity Gu is different. This kind of Gu insect can be loaned out within our n. Many families possess Integrity Gu."


    "When the timees, I¡¯ll just say that you¡¯re my sworn brother and that I lent you the Integrity Gu. Don¡¯t worry, no Qian n Gu cultivators wille looking for you."


    Hearing this, Long Xuan immediately recalled the time they went to the Empress''s ancient tomb, when Long Lie borrowed a Integrity Gu to check if any of the Long n¡¯s geniuses were hiding secrets. Long Bao had been caught on the spot because of it.


    This showed that the Qian n¡¯s merchant guild indeed allowed the Integrity Gu to be loaned out. This made Long Xuan feel more at ease.


    Thinking about it, he was rather tempted to refine a Integrity Gu. Not being deceived in future transactions was one benefit, but more importantly, with a Integrity Gu, no one would ever be able to lie to him.


    Anyone plotting against him would have to think twice.


    It could be said that having a Integrity Gu would allow him to avoid most plots and schemes, significantly increasing his safety. The Integrity Gu was definitely worth refining.


    Long Xuan¡¯s eyes lit up, but he suddenly thought of the drawback: the Integrity Gu couldn¡¯t tolerate lies, even from its master.


    This could be troublesome. Refining this Gu insect would restrict others but also himself.


    Never being able to lie again in the Gu world was not necessarily a good thing.


    It looks like after getting his hands on the Integrity Gu''s recipe, Long Xuan nned to modify it. He would change it so that the Integrity Gu would only work on others, not on himself. Heh heh.


    Immediately, Long Xuan said to the Third Young Master, "No problem, I can refine the Integrity Gu, and I promise in front of the Integrity Gu that I will never reveal the recipe for the Three-Legged Golden Toad Gu."


    "But I grew up poor, and I''ve been gued by bad luck. It might take a long time for me to refine the Integrity Gu," Long Xuan feigned poverty.


    This was naturally a ploy to buy more time, so he could have enough time to modify the Integrity Gu''s recipe.


    "You don''t need to worry about the materials. The ingredients for the Integrity Gu are cheap, I''ll just give them to you."


    "You''ll refine the Gu right here, and I guarantee you¡¯ll have enough materials until the Integrity Gu isplete."


    "My own Integrity Gu was just killed in battle, so I need to refine one too. Let¡¯s do it together."


    With that, the Third Young Master reached into his shirt and pulled out a ne hidden inside¡ªit was a rare storage ne.


    This storage ne could not only store inanimate objects but also living creatures.


    Before long, the Third Young Master took out the materials needed to refine the Integrity Gu andid them on the ground, piling up various bottles and jars into a small mound.


    At the same time, he transmitted the Integrity Gu''s recipe to Long Xuan through soulmunication.


    Clearly, the secret recipe wasn''t something he would carry on his person; it could only be stored in his memory. Even if someone killed the Third Young Master, they wouldn¡¯t find the recipe on his body.


    After transmitting the recipe, the Third Young Master ced a Heaven-Mending Pill into a bottle and reluctantly tossed it to Long Xuan.


    Merchants of the Qian n were known for their rules. Since the deal wasn''tplete, he couldn¡¯t just put the Heaven-Mending Pill into his storage ne.


    But in his mind, this Heaven-Mending Pill was already as good as his. He just had to wait for Long Xuan to refine the Integrity Gu, and then it would be time to collect it. There was no rush.


    Long Xuan gathered all the materials and immediately went to a cave to refine the Gu.


    The Third Young Master didn¡¯t follow. He needed to tend to his injuries, handle the death of his nsmen, and refine another Integrity Gu for himself. ording to the n¡¯s rules, any member of the Qian n who didn¡¯t possess an Integrity Gu was not allowed to conduct business, so he had plenty of things to do.


    This made Long Xuan breathe a sigh of relief. He was refining an irregr Integrity Gu, so the Third Young Master definitely couldn''t be around.


    With the Third Young Master upied, Long Xuan was free to modify the recipe without holding back.


    After entering the cave, Long Xuan immediately blocked the entrance with stones, released a clone to stand guard, and sat down with closed eyes. His spiritual form entered his Soul Library to study the Gu recipe.


    Modifying a Gu recipe was much easier than creating one from scratch. In the Soul Library, Long Xuan only needed ten days to sessfully design the irregr Integrity Gu.


    Due to the inclusion of many new materials, it was fortunate that the Third Young Master was wealthy and well-stocked, almost having everything.


    With the materials from the Third Young Master, Long Xuan quickly gathered the more than one thousand ingredients required for the recipe and immediately began refining the Gu.


    Half a monthter, Long Xuan held a gleaming, golden toad in his hands, stroking its back with an obsession he couldn¡¯t hide.


    At this moment, Long Xuan was so happy that he couldn''t close his mouth. Thanks to his modifications, the current Integrity Gu was much more interesting.


    The Integrity Gu now had two souls. One soul despised people who told the truth, while the other soul hated people who lied.


    The two souls could be switched at will under Long Xuan¡¯s control.


    When he wanted to lie, he would release the soul that hated the truth. When he wanted to know if someone was lying, he would release the soul that despised liars.


    It was simply perfect.


    In this way, the Integrity Gu¡¯s major drawback of controlling its owner waspletely resolved.


    At this moment, Long Xuan felt he was truly a genius foring up with such a clever idea.


    "Heh heh..."


    With a sinisterugh, Long Xuan walked out of the cave holding the irregr Integrity Gu, ready to confront the Third Young Master with it.


    The Third Young Master¡¯s residence wasn¡¯t far away. After so much time had passed, his injuries had mostly healed, except for the damage to his dantian.


    The Third Young Master had been anxiously waiting, and when he saw Long Xuan finally emerge with a golden toad in his arms, his eyes lit up, and he hurried forward.


    "Hahaha¡­ You¡¯ve finally seeded! You¡¯ve kept your brother waiting. Quick, let me see this honest little fellow!"

 Chapter 236: I Want to Be the Captain

    The third young master gazed intently at the Integrity Gu in Long Xuan¡¯s arms, excitedly walked over, took a closer look, and then burst intoughter: "I, Qian Gao, am the most handsome man in the world!"


    As soon as the words left the mouth of this nearly spherical fat man, the Integrity Gu in Long Xuan¡¯s arms emitted a golden light from its eyes, blindingly bright. Only an outrageous lie could make its eyes shine so intensely.


    Seeing how dishonest this person was, the Integrity Gu immediately became furious, ring angrily at the fat man, ready to pounce and devour him.


    Long Xuan was shocked and hurriedly held it down, gently stroking its head to calm it.


    This little guy had quite a temper.


    However, the third young master was not frightened; instead, he was delighted. The stronger the temper of the Integrity Gu, the more binding its power.


    With a smile, the third young master said, "I¡¯m very satisfied with this Integrity Gu. Now swear in front of it, and we canplete our transaction quickly."


    Long Xuan nodded. He did not switch the Integrity Gu to the state where it loves hearing lies because he truly had no intention of refining the Three-Legged Golden Toad. Switching its state would only backfire.


    He raised three fingers and spoke directly to the Integrity Gu: "Today, in front of this Integrity Gu, I swear that in this lifetime, I will never refine the Three-Legged Golden Toad, nor will I pass on its Gu technique in any form.""If I break this oath, let the Integrity Gu devour me whole!"


    As soon as Long Xuan finished speaking, the third young master immediatelyughed, warmly embracing him and saying, "Good! With that vow, I¡¯mpletely at ease."


    "I will now give you the technique for the Three-Legged Golden Toad!"


    With that, the third young master transferred the technique for the Three-Legged Golden Toad directly into Long Xuan¡¯s mind using his soul power.


    At the same time, he took out the Integrity Gu he had just refined to prove that the technique he handed over was genuine, with no tampering.


    The technique involved a staggering twenty thousand materials, and the soulmunication took quite a long time toplete.


    Long Xuan was utterly shocked. The Three-Legged Golden Toad¡¯s technique required over 200,000 materials¡ªan unbelievable amount.


    But then he recalled the overwhelming battle power of the mountain-sized Three-Legged Golden Toad he had seen earlier, and it no longer seemed surprising.


    The Three-Legged Golden Toad¡¯s power was indeed worthy of so many materials, perhaps even more.


    As long as the Three-Legged Golden Toad¡¯s stomach could hold enough treasures, it could truly be an invincible Gu insect. Its strength varied depending on the quantity and quality of the treasures stored within, meaning its power had no upper limit.


    Such an extraordinary Gu insect, costing 200,000 materials to refine, was not expensive at all. In fact, it was quite cheap.


    But there was a major downside: collecting so many materials would be an enormous challenge.


    Gathering 200,000 materials would be a nightmare, and obtaining the prime Gu insects required would take a long time. The resources he would need to spend were astronomical.


    These materials couldn¡¯t be collected from the third son; otherwise, it would clearly signal his intent to refine the Three-Legged Golden Toad.


    Thus, the task of gathering materials for the Gu technique became a headache for Long Xuan.


    But at this point, all he could do was take things as they came, one step at a time.


    After tossing a bottle containing the Heaven-Mending Pill to the third young master, thetter immediately beamed with excitement. He hurriedly caught it, pouring the pill into his hand and using his Golden Eyes to verify its authenticity. ?


    Seeing no issues with the pill, the third son smiled and carefully ced it back into the bottle, storing it away safely. He then turned to Long Xuan and said:


    "You¡¯ve saved my life. I, Qian Gao, always repay my debts. From now on, you¡¯re my brother."


    "When I get through this crisis,e to my house as a guest. I¡¯ll introduce you to my sister!"


    "That¡¯s an offer I can¡¯t refuse. If the third young master invites me, I will certainly ept," Long Xuan said with a smile, lowering his guard slightly.


    Qian n merchants rarely lied, so when the third young master said this, he genuinely considered Long Xuan his brother, without any malice.


    Wait, the Qian n merchants rarely lied. Could it be that he was serious about introducing his sister to him? Long Xuan¡¯s expression turned strange.


    After their transaction wasplete, both parties were pleased.


    The third son had to return to Tianyue City to deal with many matters and also needed time to go into seclusion to refine the Heaven-Mending Pill¡¯s medicinal power.


    Long Xuan also needed to find a quiet ce to refine the pill and restore his aptitude as soon as possible.


    So, they quickly parted ways.


    Long Xuan didn¡¯t meticulously choose a secluded location. He simply found a hilltop, used an Earth Master technique to dig out a cave, and prepared to use it as a temporary retreat.


    Inside the cave, Long Xuan took out a blue jade stone and a letter, falling into deep thought.


    These two items had been dropped by the junior members of the Gu Spirit Sect.


    Coincidentally, the primary material for the Three-Legged Golden Toad was the Golden Toad, a rare treasure-hoarding spiritual insect that only appears once every century and is extremely difficult to find.


    There was no way such an extraordinary Gu insect as the Three-Legged Golden Toad could be easy to locate. Even if someone spent ten lifetimes, they might never see a trace of a Golden Toad.


    Even the Qian n merchants struggled to collect the materials for the Three-Legged Golden Toad, making it exceedingly rare for anyone to sessfully refine one.


    At this moment, Long Xuan was wondering how to find this elusive Golden Toad when, as if by fate, he discovered that the letter recorded the hidden location of the Golden Toad.


    How convenient was that? Long Xuan couldn¡¯t help but feel as if this was all part of some script, giving him a sense of unreality.


    Wait, his clone had just killed those five Gu Spirit Sect disciples, and a few stepster, he had seen the third young master being ambushed.


    The two groups were so close to each other. Could it be that the five Gu Spirit Sect disciples had been nning to trade information about the Golden Toad with the third young master?


    The third young master had taken such a risk toe out, likely for this transaction. The allure of the Golden Toad would have been irresistible to a Qian n merchant.


    But the deal had gone awry. The third young master had narrowly avoided an assassination, and the five Gu Spirit Sect geniuses had unexpectedly died. The letter and the mysterious jade had fallen into Long Xuan¡¯s hands.


    Long Xuan took a deep breath. The more he thought about it, the more usible it seemed.


    However, instead of feeling pleased about his fortune, Long Xuan frowned, his expression conflicted.


    He wasn¡¯t stupid. The hidden location of the Golden Toad was bound to be extremely dangerous. Otherwise, the Gu Spirit Sect disciples would have captured the Golden Toad themselves rather than trading its location with the third son.


    After all, the value of the Golden Toad itself far exceeded the information about its location by a hundredfold.


    This made it clear that the hidden location of the Golden Toad was incredibly perilous, far beyond the reach of the Gu Spirit Sect.


    Long Xuan could easily imagine that the Gu Spirit Sect was a major power in the region. If even they didn¡¯t dare approach the area, the level of danger there must be unimaginable.


    So, Long Xuan hesitated.


    If it were any other treasure, he would have given up by now, no matter how valuable. He would never risk his life for it.


    However, the Golden Toad was precisely what he needed most, and it was extremely difficult to obtain. If his luck wasn¡¯t good, he might never see a Golden Toad in his entire life.


    If he missed this Golden Toad today, he couldn¡¯t guarantee he would ever see a second one in the future.


    Even if a second Golden Toad did appear, it would surely be taken away by the Qian n Chamber Of Commerce, who would rush to the scene upon hearing about it.


    Whether it was in terms of financial power or the speed of gathering information, he had no chance ofpeting with the Qian n Chamber of Commerce.


    Moreover, the world knew how important the Golden Toad was to the Qian n Chamber of Commerce Once someone found the Golden Toad, they would certainly run to the Qian n to drive up the price. In such a case, he would have no chance at all.


    Considering all of this, Long Xuan''s thoughts slowly began to lean toward taking a risk.


    After a long while, Long Xuan let out a heavy sigh, picked up the letter, and carefully read it over.


    ording to the letter, the location of the Golden Toad was on Sky Ind in the Endless Sea.


    Sky Ind surfaced every five hundred years and remained submerged under the sea at other times. There was a ruin on the ind that only those in the Marrow Cleansing stage could enter, and it was filled with countless treasures, one of which was the Golden Toad. The letter also detailed the hidden location of the Golden Toad on the ind.


    Whenever Sky Ind reappeared, it attracted countless Gu cultivators in the Marrow Cleansing stage who would ascend the ind in search of treasure. And now, only two years remained before Sky Ind would next surface.


    As for how dangerous the Sky Ind ruin was, the letter didn¡¯t go into much detail. Third Young Master must have already known about it, so there was no need for further exnation in the letter.


    However, just the Endless Sea alone was enough to give Long Xuan a headache.


    The Endless Sea was far from the maind, and it would take a year¡¯s journey by ship to reach it.


    Small boatscked defense, were slow, and had poor endurance, making them incapable of handling the many dangers of the ocean.


    To safely reach the distant sea, he would need to build arge ship. Only if the ship¡¯s surface area wasrge enough could he engrave a formation strong enough to resist the attacks of Sea Dragon beasts.


    In the face of a Sea Dragon, sailing in a small boat was certain death.


    This meant he would have to research shipbuilding techniques to construct arge vessel.


    However,rge ships were costly to build, and the hull had to be made of materials hard enough to withstand the attacks of sea beasts, which made building arge ship extremely expensive.


    The cost of constructing a ship capable of resisting a Sea Dragon was astronomical, far beyond what a single faction could easily bear, let alone an individual.


    Long Xuan tapped his fingers lightly on the table, pondering the feasibility of this n.


    He didn¡¯t have enough space on him, having left most of his treasures at home before setting out, and the wealth he currently had with him was certainly insufficient to fund the construction of arge ship.


    Although he had many heaven-defying items on him, selling even one would provide enough money to build the ship.


    For instance, the Heaven Mending Fruit, Soul Nourishing Tree leaves, Longevity Gu, as well as various heaven-defying techniques he had developed.


    But how could he dare sell these? He would rather starve to death than sell these treasures.


    After much contemtion, Long Xuan finally gritted his teeth and decided to build therge ship.


    Because he suddenly realized that he had an ability no other shipbuilder possessed ¡ª the ability to engrave small formations with the help of the Eye of Heavenly Secret.


    Other shipbuilders needed to engrave a massive number of formations to defend against the Sea Dragon¡¯s attacks, which required building arge ship.


    But he didn¡¯t need to build such arge vessel. A medium-sized ship would be enough to resist the Sea Dragon¡¯s attacks.


    This would save him a great deal of material.


    So, if he built the ship, it wouldn¡¯t cost as much as he initially imagined.


    If he worked his subordinates like theboring rabbits and had his clones work overtime, and if he soldrge quantities of Spiritual Pills along with some other resources, he should be able to gather enough money to build a medium-sized ship.


    Long Xuan''s eyes brightened, but he realized that once the ship was built, he would need to recruit a crew with experience in the distant seas.


    After all, he knew nothing about the dangers of the ocean, and he waspletely unfamiliar with navigating the seas.


    Sailing required extensive professional knowledge, and in this area, he was an outsider. He couldn''t just blindly charge forward on his own.


    Furthermore, the sailors he recruited couldn¡¯t be too weak, nor could their numbers be too small. Whenever Sky Ind surfaced, it drew countless ships, each captain having arge number of helpers.


    Each captain came from different regions, and those fromrger regions would be incredibly powerful and not easy to deal with.


    Thus, he would need to form an alliance with some people to counter against captains from different regions.


    This treasure hunt required a team. Otherwise, if he was the only person on the ship, it would be easy for other crews to attack him, putting him in danger.

 Chapter 237: Brainstorming About the Ship

    After Long Xuan swallowed the Heaven-Mending Pill, he split his soul to multitask.


    While refining the medicinal power of the Heaven-Mending Pill, he also began researching the form for the Soul Restoration Pill.


    He had tested it before¡ªhis split soul couldn''t track progress effectively. Therefore, he had to set aside his research on the ship temporarily and focus on the Soul Restoration Pill, as repairing his soul was the highest priority, far more important than building arge ship.


    With intense concentration, time flew by quickly. In the blink of an eye, two months had passed.


    His efforts were not in vain. After two months of hard work in the Soul Library, he finallypleted the recipe for the Soul Restoration Pill.


    The main ingredient for the Soul Restoration Pill was not a concern. Although the Soul-Nourishing Wood was left in his herb garden and not with him, he still had some leaves of the Soul-Nourishing Wood, as they were the food for the Heavenly Dream Silkworm, and he always kept some on hand.


    However, while the main ingredient was easy to solve, the other ingredients were a problem. He didn''t have any of the supplementary materials listed in the pill recipe apart from the main one.


    The Soul Restoration Pill required as many as 7,000 spiritual herbs, many of which were extremely rare and valuable, including some that were over a thousand years old, making them exceedingly difficult to collect.


    This time, he couldn¡¯t rely on shortcuts like he had with the Third Young Master; he would have to spend a tremendous amount of time slowly collecting them. It was unclear how long it would take to gather all the ingredients.In the following days, Long Xuan sent his clones out to collect the materials for the Soul Restoration Pill, while he began researching the technology for building arge ship.


    Once a ship reached a certain size, it was no longer just a spiritual tool; it became abination of a spiritual tool and a formation array, essentially a different type of treasure.


    Thebination of inscription patterns and formation patterns was no easy task, and not just any faction could build arge ship.


    Mastering the technology ofrge shipbuilding was a specialized skill, and very few forces were capable of doing so.


    Long Xuan named his not-yetpletedrge ship the "Shenlong"- (Divine Dragon).


    He had learned the technique of harnessing sr energy from the Empress''s Tomb and definitely nned to incorporate it into the Shenlong.


    He had also gathered the materials for the Five Elements Reversal Grand Formation, which would further strengthen the defense of the Shenlong once installed.


    Long Xuan was confident in solving the defense issue of the Shenlong. The only challenge that troubled him was the ship''s propulsion system. After all, propulsion was the most critical aspect of a ship.


    In this world, there were many ways to enhance a ship''s propulsion. For instance, one could hang sails on the ship and use formation arrays to generate powerful winds, allowing the ship to travel at unimaginable speeds.


    Additionally, inscription formation could be carved at the bottom of the ship to reduce its weight, or arrays could be used to control the movement of seawater, pushing the ship forward at lightning speed.


    Some spiritual ships even had automatically rotating oars, enabling fast travel without the need for manpower.


    In this mystical world, there were indeed countless ways to provide power for ships.


    However, the main difficultyy in the limited surface area of the ship''s body. Only one or two propulsion formation could be used at most.


    If too many speed-enhancing formation were inscribed, there wouldn''t be enough space for defensive formations, which would reduce the ship''s defensive capability.


    Given the limited surface area, the shipbuilder had to choose between building a sturdy ship or a fast one¡ªor they could strike a bnce, but the ship''s overall performance would end up being mediocre.


    Moreover, the formation needed on a ship were not limited to just these two types. This meant that a shipbuilder had to carefully n theyout of the arrays on the ship, as they couldn¡¯t just inscribe whatever they wanted.


    However, Long Xuan made an immediate decision: his Shenlong would have all the propulsion formation possible. The Shenlong had to be the fastest ship in its ss.


    As for the problem of insufficient space for too many formation, Long Xuan wasn¡¯t worried at all. With the Heavenly Eye, he could inscribe as many formation as he wanted. His Shenlong could hold them all.


    Thus, Long Xuan didn¡¯t have to rack his brain like other shipbuilders over how toy out the formation. Without any hesitation, he soonpleted the blueprint for the Shenlong.


    Raising the sketch of therge ship, Long Xuan smiled in satisfaction.


    The exterior design of the Shenlong was now finalized.


    Since his soul didn¡¯t belong to this world, many of the ship''s design elements and structures were based on his previous life. The ship''s body even included threerge propellers.


    It¡¯s worth noting that propellers were an invention from his previous world and didn¡¯t exist in this one. This was undoubtedly a major innovation for this world.


    Since this world had technology that allowed oars to move automatically, it wouldn¡¯t be difficult to adapt this technology to make the propellers spin¡ªeven faster than those from his previous life.


    He believed that the propulsion provided by the propellers would far exceed that of oars, making the development of propeller technology absolutely necessary.


    If he had a better understanding of nuclear power, he would have developed nuclear propulsion, which would make his ship even more fearsome.


    Additionally, on a whim, he designed a massive cannon for the Shenlong. The cannon was huge and extremely eye-catching on the blueprint, radiating an aura of overwhelming power.


    Since the Shenlong was an ocean warship, it certainly needed cannons. So, Long Xuan brainstormed and designed his own giant cannon.


    He had seen the spirit stone cannons of the Great Yin Dynasty, and the Long n had even seized a few, so he was familiar with the technology.


    However, the power of spirit stone cannons was still somewhat limited, so he decided to drastically increase the size of the cannon, making it sorge that it would have to be fixed to the ship and couldn¡¯t be moved by hand.


    With arger cannon camerger cannonballs, which would result in even more destructive explosions. This was obvious.


    Long Xuan also nned to improve the technology of the spirit stone cannons.


    For example, spirit stone cannons typically used low-grade spirit stones for energy. In his view, low-grade spirit stones had too little energy. What would happen if they used high-grade or even peak-grade spirit stones?


    The moment this idea crossed his mind, Long Xuan was eager to try it out.


    Using peak-grade spirit stones as cannonballs was definitely a genius (and extravagant) idea. No one in their right mind would waste such resources like this, and such technology didn¡¯t exist in this world.


    Of course, Long Xuan wasn¡¯t willing to use peak-grade spirit stones as cannonballs on a regr basis, but he could afford to use high-grade spirit stones asionally. Firing a few shots over the ocean just for fun wouldn''t hurt, he thought.


    However, he decided not to eliminate the option of using peak-grade spirit stones. Even if they weren¡¯t used often, it was important to have them in case of an overwhelming enemy. Using peak-grade spirit stones as cannonballs might produce extraordinary results in critical moments.


    With such imaginative ideas, the world''s first ''giant cannon'' of the Gu world was about to be born. It was impossible to predict what kind of shockwaves his cannon would cause once it was unveiled.


    But that wasn¡¯t the end of it. Long Xuan also wondered if he could use ''gravity formation'' to sink the Shenlong underwater, transforming it into a second form¡ªlike a ''submarine'' that could navigate underwater.


    It was unclear if the concept of a submarine existed in this world, but Long Xuan believed it was worth a try. This could be another groundbreaking innovation in the shipbuilding world. His eyes sparkled at the thought.


    Next, while refining the medicinal power of the Heaven Mending Pill, Long Xuan simultaneously studied the blueprints of the Shenlong Ship. At the same time, he ordered the Alchemy Rabbit and various clones to frantically refine pills, umting resources for building the Shenlong Ship and gathering materials for crafting the Soul Restoration Pill.


    Refining the Soul Restoration Pill took priority over building the Shenlong Ship, so Long Xuan focused primarily on collecting materials for the Soul Restoration Pill.


    As for the materials needed to craft the Three-legged Golden Toad, his current financial situation was limited, so he had to set it aside for now.


    Crafting the Three-legged Golden Toad required 200,000 materials, and after his modifications to the Gu recipe, it would certainly require far more than that. The number of peak-grade spirit insects needed was unknown, and such a huge expense was not something he could easily afford right now, so he had to n carefully.


    Coincidentally, he was now near the sea, close to a coastal city called Xinghai City, which was thergest port of the Xuanyue Empire. It was also the Empire''srgest shipyard and the biggest trade hub for maritimemerce with various regions, with countless ships of all sizes docked there.


    whenever Long Xuan didn''t understand something, he would just go back to the origin world to copy thoserge ships, and then dismantle them in the illusion. What technology could he not understand?


    As a result, his research on the Shenlong Ship''s blueprints progressed at an astounding speed, with the entire process flowing smoothly without a hitch.


    He easily solved any problem that arose, and in just four months within the Soul Library, he sessfullypleted the research on the Shenlong Ship''s blueprints.


    This included researching the cannon and propeller technologies, both of which he mastered.


    Now, as long as he had the materials, he could start building the ship.


    Long Xuan was excited and eager to get started, wanting to begin the construction of this ship, which would be far ahead of anything in this world.


    At the same time, during this half-year period, he had also fully restored his qualifications, making it a double blessing.


    However, not everything was perfect. The issue arose when he had his clones sell pills everywhere to quickly collect materials for the Soul Restoration Pill and shipbuilding.


    Since the Gu cultivators in this area were mostly concentrated in Xinghai City, the Fire Clone simply rented a small shop in the city and started selling pills.


    But the shop hadn''t been open long before it became incredibly popr, with a constant stream of customers, almost overwhelming the door.


    At the same price, the pills refined by Long Xuan had far greater medicinal power than those from other alchemists. Naturally, those who bought his pills became loyal customers, returning only to his shop.


    Good wine needs no bush. Even though Long Xuan didn''t do any advertising when he opened the shop, word of mouth alone caused his reputation to soar.


    Now, the entire city knew that a highly skilled alchemist had arrived in Xinghai City, hailed as the best alchemist in the city. His alchemy skills were unrivaled, with no one in the city able topare.


    This was overpraise! They were praising me to death! Long Xuan was stunned when he heard that he had somehow be Xinghai City''s top alchemist.


    He hadn''t expected that, as a mere second-grade alchemist, he would end up with the title of Xinghai City''s best alchemist.


    This title would easily make him the target of jealousy from his peers, and it attracted far too much attention. He truly didn¡¯t want it!


    "I told you to keep a low profile when refining pills! How did you manage to cause such a mess in just a few months while I was in seclusion?!"


    Inside the World Tree Seed, Long Xuan frowned and kicked the Fire Clone.


    The Fire Clone scratched his head, puzzled. "I did hold back! I only used 30% of my strength. Any less and there would have been a failure rate, wasting a lot of materials!"


    Long Xuan was speechless...


    "Forget it! If we''re going to be high-profile, so be it. It¡¯s not like it''s a life-threatening issue. How is the material collection for the Soul Restoration Pill going? How much more do we need?" Long Xuan sighed helplessly and changed the subject, asking about the important matter at hand.


    "I''ve posted a full list of the materials we need in the pill shop, so the Gu cultivators who want to buy pills can only exchange the materials listed on the wall."


    "This method is quite fast for gathering materials. I''ve already collected about 70 to 80% of the materials needed for the Soul Restoration Pill."


    "However, without offering higher-value pills, it¡¯s unlikely we''ll be able to gather the rarest materials."


    "Especially the Thousand-Year-old spiritual herbs. Very few are willing to trade them unless we offer something that truly excites them."


    "Right now, we''re still short of about 100 materials. These 100 are the most valuable ingredients in the Soul Restoration Pill recipe, mostly consisting of thousand-year-old spiritual herbs, which are extremely difficult to collect."


    "To gather these 100 materials, we''ll likely need to attend a high-level trade fair."


    "I''ve heard that in half a month, Xinghai City will be hosting a trade fair for Gu cultivators at the Marrow Cleansing stage. This trade fair is of the highest caliber."


    "As I understand it, Xinghai City is thergest port in the Xuanyue Empire, attracting Gu cultivators from all regions. The city¡¯smerce is highly prosperous, and supplies are very abundant."


    "As long as we offer something attractive enough, we¡¯ll certainly be able to collect all the materials for the Revival Soul Pill in this city."


    "Moreover, we should also be able to gather all the rare materials needed for the Shenlong Ship here, since it is thergest shipyard in the Xuanyue Empire. It all depends on whether you''re willing to spend enough."


    "The trade fair in half a month will bring together a massive number of Gu cultivators from different regions. Only the extremely wealthy and powerful can participate, so it¡¯s a golden opportunity for us."


    "However, we need to prepare arge amount of valuable trade items. Ideally, these items should be universally appealing and irresistible to all Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators."

 Chapter 238: The Alchemy God Palace

    Long Xuan nodded and pondered, ¡°The only thing that can tempt all Gu cultivators in the Marrow Cleansing stage is the Breakthrough Pill.¡±


    ¡°From now on, everyone will focus on refining Breakthrough Pills. Also, I¡¯ve already figured out the technique from the ¡®Great Cauldron Alchemy Technique.¡¯ I refuse to believe we can¡¯t lure them in with a pile of Breakthrough Pills!¡±


    A smirk appeared on Long Xuan¡¯s lips as he handed a rtively thin book to the Fire Clone.


    The idea of the ¡®Great Cauldron Alchemy Technique¡¯ came to him not long after he first crossed into this world. However, despite years of effort, he had not seeded and even thought about giving up at one point.


    But ever since he began cultivating the ¡®Heavenly Demon Soul-Splitting Divine Art,¡¯ everything came naturally, and the ¡®Great Cauldron Alchemy Technique¡¯ waspleted in less than two days. He had casually worked on it during his free time, and it was nothing short of a miracle.


    At that moment, he finally understood that to master the ¡®Great Cauldron Alchemy Technique,¡¯ one must split their soul and multitask. Without these capabilities, this technique would be impossible toplete.


    This was because the Great Cauldron Pill required the ingredients for a single pill to be multiplied tenfold or even a hundredfold and ced into one alchemy furnace, which would result in ten or a hundred times the usual output of pills.


    However, how could one person possibly manage such an enormous quantity of spiritual herbs at once? It undoubtedly required soul division and multitasking.


    Thus, after practicing the ¡®Heavenly Demon Soul-Splitting Divine Art,¡¯ everything naturally fell into ce, and he sessfully developed the ¡®Great Cauldron Alchemy Technique.¡¯With this technique, his clone only needed to dedicate a small amount of time each day to alchemy, withoutpromising too much on cultivation time.


    However, the ¡®Great Cauldron Alchemy Technique¡¯ did have its limitations, as it couldn¡¯t be used for all types of spiritual pills.


    He could currently refine as many first-grade pills as he wanted with no pressure.


    But if he were to challenge a heaven-defying pill like the Heaven-Mending Pill using this technique, it would be far beyond his control.


    The least of the problems would be an explosion of the furnace. What he feared most was that the strange phenomena caused by the pill might change, potentially triggering a heavenly tribtion, which would be extremely troublesome.


    The Fire Clone eagerly epted the ¡®Great Cauldron Alchemy Technique¡¯ and began reading it enthusiastically.


    Even the rabbit came over to join the fun, seemingly very interested in this miraculous alchemy technique. It hopped next to the Fire Clone and secretly observed, clearly fascinated.


    There weren¡¯t many words in the ¡®Great Cauldron Alchemy Technique,¡¯ so both the clone and the rabbit quickly finished reading it. Eagerly, they both pulled outrge alchemy furnaces and began experimenting with refining Great Cauldron Pills.


    At the same time, the other clones finally returned withrge quantities of materials for the Sea Converging Pill.


    Yes, Long Xuan had nned for the clones to refine Sea Converging Pill.


    The Sea Converging Pill could improve the sess rate of breaking through from the peak of Marrow Cleansing to the early Spiritual Sea stage by 5%. Though the rate wasn¡¯t high, it was enough to drive every Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivator mad.


    The recipe for the Sea Converging Pill was acquired by the clone when doing business at a pill shop.


    In the world of Gu, there¡¯s an unspoken rule when ites to hiring alchemists: You must provide your own materials and pill recipe, and the alchemist takes a cut of the refined pills.


    This trading rule is favored by all alchemists because they can gain a free pill recipe.


    The recipe for the Sea Converging Pill was obtained through this method, but because it wasn¡¯t an exclusive recipe of any particr n, its medicinal potency was limited, only offering a 5% breakthrough rate for those at the peak of Marrow Cleansing. ??


    For Long Xuan, who possessed the Ten Absolute Body Physique, such weak medicinal power was utterly useless.


    However, once the Sea Converging Pills were mass-produced, they would generate enormous profits for him¡ªmore than enough to fund the construction of arge ship.


    It was well-known that among pills of the same grade, the Breakthrough Pill was always the most expensive, valued a hundred times more than other pills of the same grade, if not more.


    Even hundreds of second-grade Spirit Enhancing Pills couldn¡¯t be traded for a single second-grade Breakthrough Pill.


    Despite both being second-grade pills, the price difference between them was absurd.


    Thus, refining Breakthrough Pills was highly lucrative. If he used the ¡®Great Cauldron Alchemy Technique¡¯ to mass-produce Sea Converging Pills, he would be able to amass an incalcble amount of wealth.


    Though the medicinal power of Sea Converging Pills was weak, there was an advantage to that: the materials needed for weak pills were generally easy to collect.


    As long as he had enough money, he wouldn¡¯t need to waste time gathering materials himself.


    A single furnace could produce five Sea Converging Pills. With the ¡®Great Cauldron Alchemy Technique,¡¯ he could produce fifty pills per furnace.


    When all the clones worked together to refine Sea Converging Pills, with their sess rate, they would easily produce hundreds of pills within half a month. Such vast wealth would be more than enough to build arge ship.


    To be honest, his alchemy furnaces weren¡¯trge enough, nor did he have enough soul divisions. Otherwise, even ten times the current output wouldn¡¯t be his limit.


    To speed up the process, Long Xuan also joined in refining the Sea Converging Pills.


    By using his soul splitting to simultaneously extractrge quantities of spiritual herbs, his efficiency in alchemy was astonishingly fast. Extracting herbs, the most time-consuming step in alchemy, was now a breeze. His alchemy speed far surpassed that of an average alchemist.


    Breakthrough Pills, however, were not easy to refine. One consistent characteristic of Breakthrough Pills was that their difficulty in refinement was high, and they required arge quantity of ingredients, making the process long and drawn out.


    For this reason, Breakthrough Pills couldn¡¯t be mass-produced. Factoring in the failure rate, even the best alchemists needed a long time to produce a single furnace of Breakthrough Pills.


    Yet Long Xuan had forced the mass production of Breakthrough Pills and reduced the time-consuming process of refining Sea Converging Pills to less than half a month.


    His method of making money was nothing short of robbery.


    Thus, half a monthter, the five main clones each refined two furnaces, failing one furnace each and producing a total of 250 pills.


    Long Xuan refined two furnaces, both sessful, yielding 100 pills.


    As for the rabbit, it refined two furnaces and failed both, producing nothing. Long Xuan harshly scolded it afterward.


    In the past half-month, Long Xuan had refined a total of 350 Sea Converging Pills. It''s important to note that these are all breakthrough pills, and the sheer number of them is quite staggering.


    Today is the day when the Marrow Cleansing Stage Trade Fair begins.


    After cing the 350 Sea Converging Pills into individual pill bottles, Long Xuan suddenly remembered something. To avoid being scammed during the trade, he pulled out the Integrity Gu from the World Tree Seed and hid it inside his clothes, near his stomach.


    With the Integrity Gu as his safeguard, Long Xuan finally felt at ease and confidently headed to the trade fair.


    [TL: Xinghai City from now on will be referred to as Starsea City]


    The trade fair was held in a private estate in Starsea City, covering a vast area. Hundreds of Marrow Cleansing Stage Gu cultivators attended.


    Only well-known and powerful Marrow Cleansing Stage Gu cultivators were eligible to participate in the trade fair. In short, you had to be wealthy¡ªpoor, rogue cultivators were definitely not qualified to attend.


    Since Long Xuan was the top alchemist in Starsea City, his fame was immense, and his wealth was unquestionable, so he naturally received an invitation to the trade fair.


    The invitation was from the owner of the estate, Mo Bufan, the eldest son of the Mo family, who held significant power in Starsea City and was hosting the event.


    When Long Xuan arrived at the estate gate, he was stopped by two peak Marrow Cleansing Stage Gu cultivators. He presented his invitation, and the Gu cultivator on the right nced at it before allowing him to pass.


    "Oh, it''s Master Ye. Pleasee in!" The two Marrow Cleansing Stage Gu cultivators at the entrance immediately made weing gestures, full of enthusiasm.


    Long Xuan nodded and entered.


    "Ye Xuan" was his alias. Whenever he used a false name outside, he would always use the surname "Ye"¡ªnot for any special reason, he just thought it sounded cool.


    After entering the estate, Long Xuan was about to find a quiet corner to wait for the trade fair to start, but he was immediately surrounded by a group of Marrow Cleansing Stage Gu cultivators with smiles on their faces.


    Long Xuan revealed a helpless expression. There was no escaping the downside of being too famous.


    Because he was the top alchemist in Starsea City, everyone wanted to curry favor with him and form connections.


    Never underestimate the title of Starsea City¡¯s top alchemist. If he so much as raised his arm and called for a fight, there would immediately be a crowd of people rushing to be his enforcers. This was the terrifying influence of an exceptional alchemist.


    Many people believed that his future, at the very least, would see him as a third-grade alchemist, with the possibility of reaching fourth grade. Naturally, countless people would be eager to build rtionships with him. He was definitely seen as a valuable investment with great potential.


    Long Xuan now fully understood why he had be the top alchemist in Starsea City.


    There were third-grade alchemists in Starsea City¡ªmore than one, in fact¡ªbut people seek to rise higher, and water flows downward. Once famous, many people no longer wanted to stay in small ces like this and would move torger areas for better opportunities.


    Most alchemists in remote regions, once they reached third grade, would choose to join a powerful organization called the Alchemy God Pce.


    The Alchemy God Pce was one of the top ten forces in the entire Gu world, with influence spanning across all regions.


    Its power was so great that it dared to determine the rankings of alchemists worldwide, even creating its own standards to assess all alchemists.


    In other words, an alchemist''s rank was determined by the Alchemy Pce. After advancing in grade, each alchemist had to go to an Alchemy Pce branch to be assessed, then obtain their alchemist badge and uniform. Any alchemist without an official badge was considered untrained.


    The Alchemy God Pce was just that domineering.


    However, the world recognized the standards set by the Alchemy Pce, and it became the dream of every alchemist to join, viewing it as a sacred ce. Joining the Alchemy Pce was a lifelong ambition for many.


    At the Alchemy Pce, one could learn more pill recipes and easily collect rare spiritual herbs, significantly boosting their growth. Plus, they''d have ess to the broader central regions.


    Thus, any third-grade alchemist with even a bit of ambition would choose to join the Alchemy Pce and wouldn''t stay in their impoverished hometown. This was only natural.


    Of course, Elder Long, whocked ambition, was an exception.


    After passing the assessment for third-grade alchemists at the Alchemy God Pce''s branch, he took his third-grade alchemist badge and simply returned to his family.


    Then, he casually tossed this badge, which all alchemists regarded as a symbol of honor, onto his desk like trash.


    His life''s goal was to work for the development of his family, and he had no intention of abandoning them to pursue greater prospects elsewhere.


    As for Long Xuan, he had no interest in traveling far to the Alchemy Pce''s branch for an alchemist rank assessment. Why would he need someone else¡¯s certification for his alchemy skills?


    Instead, he used the Heavenly Eye to analyze theponents of the third-grade alchemist badge Elder Long had casually left on the desk, then perfectly forged a replica of the badge.


    After all, since he had fabricated a mysterious alchemist master, this third-grade alchemist badge mighte in handy when he impersonated that master.


    Thanks to the existence of the Alchemy God Pce, it was difficult to find a third-grade alchemist in most less affluent areas. If you did encounter one, it was likely someone with poor talent, whom the Alchemy God Pce didn''t want.


    Yet, Long Xuan was invincible among second-grade alchemists, so wherever he went, he would be recognized as the top alchemist of that region.


    It was no surprise that he had be the top alchemist in Starsea City.

 Chapter 239: The Integrity Gu Glows

    At this moment, on the other side.


    ¡°Butler, why are you here? I¡¯m hosting a Marrow Cleansing stage trade fair, and as a Gu King, you can¡¯t participate.¡±


    A cheerful-looking young man reluctantly walked over, ncing at a stern-looking old man.


    ¡°Young Master, the n Head suspects that you are using the trade fair as an excuse to selectpanions for an overseas adventure.¡±


    ¡°So, the n Head ordered me to watch you and make sure you don¡¯t act recklessly.¡±


    The old butler looked warily at the young man before him, sighing inwardly.


    The n Head¡¯s lineage had everything going for it¡ªexcellent cultivation talent, good looks, and intelligence. But they had one fatal w: a strong desire for danger.


    This line of the family had a gic inclination toward adventure, and from birth, they were drawn to exploring all corners of the world.


    Especially the mysterious, unknown overseasnds, which seemed to spark an insatiable curiosity within them.But curiosity killed the cat. The survival rate of adventurers wasn¡¯t high.


    As a result, too many from the n Head¡¯s lineage had perished in foreignnds, causing the family to dwindle. By this generation, there were hardly any left.


    Now, only Mo Bufan remained, thest of the line. The old n Head was determined to protect him, ensuring he wouldn¡¯t go on any reckless expeditions.


    Up until now, Mo Bufan had only seen the sea from afar but had never set foot on a ship. Yet, this only intensified his curiosity about the world beyond, making the future uncertain.


    The n Head knew his son well. Upon noticing Mo Bufan¡¯s unusual behavior, he immediately sent someone to monitor him.


    Upon hearing the butler¡¯s words, the cheerful expression on Mo Bufan¡¯s face froze, slowly falling.


    ¡°How could that be? I organized this trade fair to meet the world¡¯s heroes. I never even considered going on any overseas adventures! How could you use me of such things?¡±


    ¡°I have no interest in ocean expeditions! I¡¯m not curious about the world outside, especially not that Sky Ind Ruins! I don¡¯t want to go there at all!¡±


    Mo Bufan fumed, looking as if he had been deeply wronged.


    The old butler nodded, saying, ¡°Since you say so, I¡¯m relieved. But since you¡¯re not interested in ocean expeditions, why don¡¯t you trade away those ten nine-hundred-year Ironwood trees at this fair?¡±


    ¡°Ironwood is the best material for ship hulls. Since you¡¯re not going to sea, there¡¯s no use for them. You might as well exchange them for something more useful.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m guessing this trade fair was organized for the sole purpose of selling off those nine-hundred-year Ironwoods, right?¡±


    Hearing this, Mo Bufan¡¯s expression stiffened.


    Soon after, many servants in the manor began to move, shovels in hand, as if preparing to dig something up. Before long, teams of twenty people carried massive trees into the trading area.


    The Gu cultivators carrying the trees were all panting and drenched in sweat. When they ced the iron-like trunks on the ground, there was a sharp metallic ng that echoed through the area, loud and clear.


    Everyone in the crowd froze, halting their conversations and turning to stare at the ten giant trees, their eyes filled with astonishment. The ce instantly fell silent.


    For the first time, it became quiet around Long Xuan.


    ¡°Trees that look like they¡¯re made of metal¡­ Could these be the legendary Ironwood? This is one of the best materials for building ships!¡± someone in the crowd eximed, their eyes glowing.


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s definitely Ironwood. Ironwood is neither purely wood nor metal. It has the hardness of metal but the buoyancy of wood when ced in water, making it the perfect material for ship hulls. Mo Dashao is really generous, putting such treasures up for trade. What a noble man!¡±


    ¡°Haha, but this isn¡¯t ordinary Ironwood. I can tell these ten trees are at least nine hundred years old, almost reaching the level of Thousand-Year Ironwood. Unfortunately, they¡¯re not quite there yet. Even being just a hundred years short, the value difference between Nine-Hundred-Year and Thousand-Year Ironwood is astronomical. What a shame.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t Mo Dashao being a bit too hasty? If he had waited another hundred years, allowing these trees to grow into Thousand-Year Ironwood, he could have sold them for much higher prices. Now, it seems like he¡¯s exhausting the resources too soon. Ah, young peopleck patience,¡± an elderly man in the crowdmented regretfully.


    The crowd gathered around the ten Ironwood trees, pointing and discussing excitedly.


    Finally, Mo Bufan stepped forward and stood beside the ten trees. ¡°Alright! Quiet down!¡±


    ¡°You really think I¡¯d be so short-sighted? The Mo n is a shipbuilding family. No one values shipbuilding materials more than us.¡±


    ¡°Not all spirit herbs can grow indefinitely. Most spirit herbs will wither and die once they reach a certain age. All living things under heaven have a lifespan limit, and spirit herbs are no exception.¡±


    ¡°My Mo n, being experts in shipbuilding, has a way of determining the lifespan of wood. These ten Ironwoods have a lifespan of just over nine hundred years. If they don¡¯t reach a thousand, they will wither and die.¡±


    ¡°Otherwise, do you really think I¡¯d be foolish enough to sell Nine-Hundred-Year Ironwood? Do you think I, Mo Dashao, need the money?¡±


    ¡°Even if I wanted to squander the family¡¯s wealth, they wouldn¡¯t let me do it!¡±


    ¡°Now that these ten nine-hundred-year Ironwood trees have been dug up, there¡¯s no point in burying them again.¡±


    ¡°As the host of this trade fair, I¡¯ll kick things off. I¡¯m willing to trade these ten Ironwood trees for Breakthrough Pills. If you have them,e forward to trade!¡±


    Upon saying this, Mo Bufan¡¯s heart was bleeding.


    Although he had been stuck at the peak of the Marrow Cleansing stage for a long time, he genuinely didn¡¯t want to break through.


    Because once he advanced to the Spiritual Sea stage, he would no longer be able to visit fun ces like the Sky Ind.


    But he couldn¡¯t refuse the Breakthrough Pills. The old butler was trying topletely crush his dreams of visiting Sky Ind by forcing him to trade for the pills and enter closed-door cultivation.


    Even if he didn¡¯t agree, the Mo n had extensive resources in Starsea City and could easily obtain the Breakthrough Pills for him.


    Upon hearing that someone wanted to trade ten Ironwood trees for Breakthrough Pills, Long Xuan¡¯s eyes immediately lit up.


    Thousand-Year Ironwood was the best material for ship hulls. He knew that. Initially, he thought it was too rare and in high demand, so he had given up on the idea of using it to build his ship.


    Unexpectedly, fortune had smiled upon him, offering a chance to obtain ten Thousand-Year Ironwood trees.


    Yes, in his eyes, these were Thousand-Year Ironwoods.


    Don¡¯t forget, he had the Medicinal Gu, a heaven-defying existence. Its ability was to elerate the growth of spirit herbs,pletely bypassing their natural lifespan limits.


    In other words, if a spirit herb had only a hundred years left to live, the Medicinal Gu could mature it into a Ten-Thousand-Year spirit herb, and its remaining lifespan would still be a hundred years, unaffected by the process.


    Although the Medicinal Gu was being kept in his herb garden and not brought out, Long Xuan had carried several dozen drops of the Heavenly-Creation Liquid that the Medicinal Gu had spat out with him, just in case it was needed.


    This was to prevent a situation where he needed millennium-grade spiritual herbs for alchemy, but couldn''t gather them, and would have to force them to mature on the spot.


    With this mindset, he always carried dozens of drops of Heavenly-Creation Liquid with him whenever he went out, and unexpectedly, this time it came in handy.


    There were a total of ten nine-hundred-year-old ironwood trees. He only needed ten drops of Heavenly-Creation Liquid to mature them into Ten Thousand Year Old-grade ironwood trees, which would be more than enough.


    A gleam shed in Long Xuan''s eyes, and he immediately spoke up eagerly: "I''ll offer ten Sea Converging Pills! Can I trade them for your ten ironwood trees?"


    However, with so many Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators present, how could Long Xuan be the only one who wanted the ironwood?


    Long Xuan was just the fastest to speak up because he was anxious. As soon as he finished, an elderly voice immediately shouted, "I¡¯ll offer eleven Spirit Gathering Pills! Would Young Master Mo kindly yield it to me?"


    Long Xuan frowned slightly. ncing at the elder, he quickly raised his offer: "I''ll offer twelve Sea Converging Pills!"


    The old man gave Long Xuan a sideways nce and sneered, "I''ll offer fifteen Sea Converging Pills! Competing with me in Sea Converging Pills? You''re overestimating yourself."


    Long Xuan couldn''t help butugh at his words. He had already recognized the old man as Elder Sun, a second-grade alchemist from Starsea City, who was naturally capable of offering that many Sea Converging Pills.


    Unlike Long Xuan, who was an unlicensed alchemist, Elder Sun was certified, bearing the prestigious second-grade alchemist medal granted by the Alchemy God Pce. The standards for receiving such a medal were exceptionally high.


    But it was unfortunate for Elder Sun. If he wanted topete with Long Xuan in the number of Sea Converging Pills, he had picked the wrong person. If Long Xuan had more than just fifteen days to refine pills, he could have drowned Elder Sun in Sea Converging Pills.


    "I''m sorry, but I also need the ironwood. I''m afraid I can''t part with it. I''ll offer twenty Sea Converging Pills."


    When Long Xuan made this offer, Elder Sun''s expression turned dark.


    Although Elder Sun could also offer twenty Sea Converging Pills, he was frustrated that he could have secured the deal with just ten pills earlier. Now, someone else had intervened, and he would need more than twenty pills to win, making it a significant loss. Even with his abundant supply of Sea Converging Pills, he wasn¡¯t willing to waste them like this.


    However, he was determined to get the nine-hundred-year-old ironwood, and he didn''t want to lose face here. So, he immediately raised his offer: "I¡¯ll offer twenty-one Sea Converging Pills! Competing with me in Sea Converging Pills? Young man, don¡¯t let your youthful arrogance get the better of you!"


    At this moment, the manor was abuzz with chatter.


    "I didn''t expect Elder Sun and Master Ye, this rising star, to get into a bidding war. I wonder who wille out on top."


    "It should be Elder Sun. His specialty is refining Sea Converging Pills. It''s his signature skill. Who canpete with him in Sea Converging Pills?"


    "It''s hard to say!" someone shook their head. "Although Master Ye has never sold Sea Converging Pills, the quality of the other pills he refines is exceptionally high, far surpassing Elder Sun''s. I suspect Master Ye is quite skilled at refining Sea Converging Pills too."


    "Haha! The bidding has already reached twenty-eight Sea Converging Pills. What a grand gesture! If I had that many breakthrough pills, I¡¯d definitely be a Spiritual Sea stage powerhouse," someone said, their face flushed with excitement.


    "I''ll offer thirty Sea Converging Pills! Kid! Do you even have that many Sea Converging Pills? Don¡¯t shout empty words!"


    After shouting out this price, Elder Sun could no longer sit still. He quickly stood up and yelled angrily.


    This number was nearly his limit.


    Although he was a master at refining Sea Converging Pills and had a high sess rate, no one would stockpile so many pills.


    Both spiritual herbs and spiritual pills have a shelf life. If kept for too long, their spiritual energy would dissipate, and they¡¯d spoilpletely.


    Even with Elder Sun¡¯s high sess rate, he would never hoard that many Sea Converging Pills. No one in this world would be foolish enough to do so.


    "Whether I have that many Sea Converging Pills or not is none of your concern. I¡¯ll offer thirty-two Sea Converging Pills."


    Without turning his head, Long Xuan calmly continued bidding.


    Elder Sun clenched his fists tightly, his face twisted as he red at Long Xuan. "Fine! I¡¯d like to see just how many Sea Converging Pills you really have. I''ll offer thirty-four Sea Converging Pills."


    At this point, Long Xuan finally fell silent. He turned his head and gave Elder Sun a strange look.


    Just then, the Integrity Gu hidden in Long Xuan¡¯s clothes suddenly became furious and was about to crawl out to devour the liar.


    Long Xuan was shocked and quickly held down the enraged Integrity Gu.


    Only Elder Sun had spoken just now, which meant that Elder Sun had lied. He didn¡¯t have thirty-four Sea Converging Pills; he was inting the numbers.


    Was he crazy? Daring to lie? Was it just to make Long Xuan spend more? To deliberately disgust him?


    What if Long Xuan stopped bidding at this point? How would Elder Sun back out of the situation? He was ying with fire.

 Chapter 240: A Lot of Sea Converging Pill

    Seeing that Long Xuan remained silent, Old Sun showed a disdainful expression, but in reality, he was panicking inside.


    What was going on? Just now, Long Xuan had been bidding without changing his expression and raising the price swiftly, clearly having much more leeway.


    Thirty-four Sea Converging Pills should be far from his limit, right? So why did he suddenly stop raising the price? This didn¡¯t make sense.


    It was precisely because Old Sun had seen how confident this person was that he decided to raise the bid by a few more pills to trap him, waiting for a hint of hesitation before withdrawing.


    But who would have thought that with just one additional bid, Long Xuan would stop bidding altogether? This was a big problem now¡ªOld Sun was starting to sweat.


    ¡°Hmph! Why don¡¯t you keep bidding? Weren¡¯t you very confident just a moment ago? And now you¡¯ve given up so soon?¡± Old Sun taunted, trying to provoke him.


    At this point, he had no choice but to use reverse psychology to push Long Xuan into bidding again. He swore that as long as Long Xuan raised the bid by one more Sea Converging Pill, he would immediately back down.


    Long Xuan gave him a faint nce and shook his head silently.


    Since the other party was clearly bluffing, there was no way Long Xuan would foolishly keep raising the price. What if Old Sun continued to falsely bid another thirty pills? Would Long Xuan still be obliged to follow?Although Long Xuan could easily refine Sea Converging Pills, they weren¡¯t something that just fell from the sky. Besides, he needed them for trading other materials, and there might not be enough.


    Since Old Sun had the intention to scam him, then he could go to hell. He was not worthy of sympathy.


    After giving Old Sun an indifferent nce, Long Xuan suddenly smiled and said, ¡°You¡¯ve won! Since Old Sun is so determined to have these ten pieces of Ironwood, I¡¯ll graciously let you have them!¡±


    Old Sun instantly felt like coughing up blood. "Graciously let me have them?" He finally understood what it meant to shoot oneself in the foot.


    Cold sweat poured down his back as his face turned pale.


    This was a big problem now¡ªhe didn¡¯t have nearly that many Sea Converging Pills. How was he going to get out of this?


    With so many people watching, today he was surely going to make a fool of himself in front of everyone, and his reputation would be ruined.


    Old Sun sighed internally and pretended to search through his storage pouch. As he pulled out thirty-two pill bottles, his expression suddenly changed:


    ¡°Oh no! I forgot that I traded away two Sea Converging Pills this morning. I only have thirty-two pills now.¡±


    Old Sun put on a look of embarrassment and turned to Young Master Mo, saying, ¡°I sincerely apologize. I miscounted the pills. How about we settle with thirty-two Sea Converging Pills and let this young friend take the Ironwood?¡±


    As soon as he said this, everyone¡¯s expressions twitched, and they looked at Old Sun with strange faces.


    None of them were fools; it was obvious that Old Sun had tried to raise the price maliciously and now was stuck with his own trap.


    And now, with Young Master Mo asking for the Sea Converging Pills, Old Sun couldn¡¯t deliver. This was the biggest joke of the day.


    They had attended countless trade fairs, but this was the first time they had seen such a blunder, and everyone couldn¡¯t help but smile, ready to enjoy the show. ?


    ¡°What? You don¡¯t have enough Sea Converging Pills? Then why were you bidding recklessly!¡±


    Young Master Mo¡¯s face darkenedpletely. Daring to shout random prices at his trade fair and then back out¡ªwasn¡¯t this sabotaging his event?


    If he let Old Sun off easily, how would he maintain his authority, and how would the following trade fairs continue if no one respected the rules?


    Just as he was about to speak, a strong presence emanated from Mo¡¯s steward in the distance, releasing the aura of a Gu King. He spoke up:


    ¡°Enough. Since Old Sun can¡¯t produce the full amount of Sea Converging Pills, we¡¯ll dy it. Master Ye can take the Ironwood in exchange for thirty-two Sea Converging Pills.¡±


    ¡°But this kind of behavior cannot be tolerated. Otherwise, how can future trade fairs continue, and where would our Mo n¡¯s face be?¡±


    The steward¡¯s expression suddenly hardened as he sternly said, ¡°Old Sun, you broke the rules first, so I¡¯ll fine you thirty-two Sea Converging Pills. Is there any objection?¡±


    The steward¡¯s Gu King aura enveloped Old Sun, filled with a threatening tone.


    Old Sun broke out in cold sweat, his face twitching uncontrobly.


    What a ruthless move¡ªhe was going to take all of his Sea Converging Pills. This was as good as taking his life.


    This steward was truly taking advantage of the situation, extorting him for all he was worth. He was simply too greedy.


    But under the pressure of the Gu King¡¯s aura, Old Sun had no choice but to submit. Otherwise, it would be seen as ack of respect toward the Gu King, and Mo the Skinner would have an excuse to deal with him. At that point, he would lose even more.


    He took a deep breath, stiffly turned his head, and forced a smile toward Young Master Mo, suppressing the pain in his heart:


    ¡°Apologies, it was my foolish mistake. I deserve to be punished. These thirty-two Sea Converging Pills are a gift to Young Master Mo as an apology. I hope you won¡¯t hold a grudge against an old man like me.¡±


    Old Sun slowly walked over to Young Master Mo and reluctantly ced thirty-two pill bottles containing the Sea Converging Pills on the table. He averted his gaze with difficulty and stepped back.


    At this moment, his heart was bleeding. Those were thirty-two Sea Converging Pills¡ªwhat an enormous fortune! Any Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivator would have to sacrifice nearly half of their assets to obtain them. Only heaven knows how much time he spent refining those thirty-two pills, how much cultivation time was lost in the process.


    The loss of thirty-two Sea Converging Pills was devastating for any ordinary alchemist.


    Young Master Mo stared nkly at the thirty-two Sea Converging Pills on the table. Soon, Long Xuan ced another thirty-two Sea Converging Pills on the table, and Mo¡¯s head started to ache.


    Good heavens, that¡¯s a total of sixty-four Breakthrough Pills! Even if a pig ate that many, it would probably break through, right?


    He honestly didn¡¯t want to break through. If he pretended to fail, wouldn¡¯t it be too obvious? His father would surely break his legs if he found out.


    He showed disdain for these Breakthrough Pills, but the hundreds of Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators below him had their eyes gleaming with greed as they gazed at therge number of pills.


    With these Breakthrough Pills, there was a chance to ascend to the Spiritual Sea stage. Who wouldn¡¯t want to be a Spiritual Sea stage expert? The allure was too great for them to resist. They wished they could rush forward and snatch all the pills, but they were deterred by the Mo family¡¯s strength and had to suppress the urge.


    Not everyone was like this strange Young Master Mo, who had no desire to break through or im the Breakthrough Pills.


    After collecting all the pills, Young Master Mo sighed helplessly and said, ¡°Alright, the ten nine-hundred-year-old ironwood trees are yours. You can take them all now.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re treasures I¡¯ve painstakingly umted. You better treat them well.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll make sure they¡¯re put to good use.¡±


    Long Xuan looked at Young Master Mo with surprise. He hadn¡¯t expected someone to remain so calm in the face of so many Breakthrough Pills, without a trace of joy. This showed incredible mental fortitude¡ªhe was truly an extraordinary person.


    With these thoughts, Long Xuan quickly walked over to the ten ironwood trees and stored them all in his storage ring.


    Luckily, his storage ring was of arge size, and he had already transferred his treasures into the World Tree seed inside. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to fit ten ironwood trees, as normal storage equipment couldn¡¯t easily hold suchrge items.


    If these ironwood trees had been older than nine hundred years, their size would have been evenrger. It¡¯s said that once they reach a thousand years, they undergo a qualitative leap, with both their size and hardness increasing significantly.


    As Long Xuan put away the trees, Young Master Mo, unable to bear watching his treasures being taken away, had already walked off the stage.


    ording to the rules, the next person to step up would be Long Xuan. This helped save time. Of course, he could choose to forgo showing any treasures and simply walk off, as someone else would eagerly step up.


    Long Xuan confidently walked to the table, hanging a list of over a hundred types of spiritual herbs in front for all to see.


    Everyone gasped upon seeing the list.


    Good heavens, half of them were thousand-year-old herbs! The others were at least five hundred years old. These were all rare and priceless items, incredibly hard to find.


    What kind of pill could require so many expensive herbs? Everyone was shocked.


    But the real surprise came afterward. Master Ye, who had just casually offered thirty-two Sea Converging Pills, now ced a hundred more on the table. The entire crowd froze in disbelief. They instinctively stood up, their eyes dull, and their breathing became rapid.


    So many Sea Converging Pills! How many Spiritual Sea stage experts could break through with these? No one had ever seen such a terrifying quantity of Breakthrough Pills. Everyone was dumbfounded.


    Did Master Ye¡¯s family make these pills for free? He was practically giving them away. Everyone thought the thirty-two pills earlier were already astonishing, but this was nowhere near his limit.


    Old Sun looked at the Sea Converging Pills that covered half the table. His mouth twitched, and he stood there, dumbfounded. He wished he could p himself. How could he have been so foolish as to challenge this man to a contest of Sea Converging Pills?


    With a smile, Long Xuan arranged the hundred pill bottles on the table and addressed the crowd of Gu cultivators below him: ¡°These were all refined by my master during his spare time. I¡¯ve been entrusted to sell them.¡±


    ¡°My master needs the items listed on this paper. A thousand-year-old herb will be traded one-for-one, and for five-hundred-year-old herbs, the exchange rate is two-for-one. So, who¡¯s interested in making a deal?¡±


    Long Xuan scanned the crowd with a smile. The items listed were the remaining materials needed to refine the Soul Restoration Pill.


    Thousand-year-old spiritual herbs were impossible to gather on the market. His only chance to collect them was at this trade fair.


    The Gu cultivators in the Marrow Cleansing stage present were all renowned figures from various regions, and their wealth was considerable. There was a good chance he could gather everything he needed today.


    With some luck, he could refine the Soul Restoration Pill by tonight.


    Upon hearing this, Old Sun clenched his fists and finally realized he had hit a wall. He hadn¡¯t expected this person to have a mysterious alchemist master who could casually refine over a hundred Sea Converging Pills.


    If he had known earlier, he wouldn¡¯t have dared to challenge him. This was like courting death.


    Then again, how could such a genius alchemist not have a powerful master behind him? He should have thought of this sooner. Old Sun¡¯s face turned an ashen gray.


    ***


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