The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear 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 Blackstone City also transitioned into multi-front warfare, with battles flaring up everywhere in the Western Lands. The entire region was in complete 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 particular 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 Blackstone City’s various clans were stretched thin, constantly scrambling to reclaim 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, clan 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—every 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 Xuan completed the first layer 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 accelerated 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—far 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 successfully cultivated. It appeared as a cute, green caterpillar, 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 caterpillar, the Medicinal Gu ate leaves—the 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 to compete 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 accelerate the growth of the Divine Dragon Trees.

Many other significant events occurred during this year, the most notable being the emergence of many genius warriors through the war.

These individuals possessed combat power that defied their peers, slaughtering 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 all laws of the world.

Under his gaze, no one of the same level could withstand a single blow. The geniuses of the Great Yin Dynasty, particularly those at the peak of the Marrow Cleansing stage, were slain 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 was lazy in combat, 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 sheer combat 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 been completed, Long Xuan was contemplating whether he should research a particularly long-lasting 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 Blackstone 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 clan had assigned another task.

The Long Clan had long since established something called the "Long Clan Alliance," so over the past year, the tasks he had been executing were not assigned by the Long Clan of the Western Lands nor by the Long Clan of the Far West. All the tasks he received came from the Long Clan Alliance.

After opening the envelope, Long Xuan found, as expected, that the letter contained a task assigned by the Long Clan 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 Clan’s Mithril mine had been occupied by Gu cultivators of the Great Yin Dynasty. As an ally, the Long Clan was obligated to send troops to help the Bai Clan reclaim the Mithril mine.

Upon reading this, Long Xuan’s lips curled into a smile. Anyone with common sense could see that once the Long Clan occupied the Mithril mine, it would never be returned to the Bai Clan. 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 to come 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 flashed through his mind—Mithril Essence. This was a perfect opportunity to seize the Mithril Essence. If he didn’t act now, when would he?

Excitement flashed 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 Clan 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 he last 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 Clan’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 clans know about it.

As soon as Long Xuan entered the room, all the Long Clan 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—nearly 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 Clan was determined to take control of this Mithril mine.

With this many people being sent out, it was clear that the Long Clan intended to capture the mine and hold it indefinitely. There was no way they were going to return it to the Bai Clan.

Not only had the Long Clan 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 Clan 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 clan 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?”

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