The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear Gu

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 Clan’s mining area, digging until his hands were sore.

Just as he had predicted, ever since the Bai Clan was wiped out by the Long Clan, the Long Clan had deployed all their miners to the Bai Clan's mining area, completely abandoning their own.

Every day, the Gu cultivators of the Long Clan enthusiastically rushed over to mine there, even happier than when they were mining their own territory.

Despite the Bai Clan's mining area being smaller, the surface layer contained far more Geng Metal than the Long Clan’s area. Over the past few days, Long Xuan mined until his hands cramped, but after five days, he had finally scoured the entire surface layer 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—it 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.

He thought about placing 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 a large cauldron, showing a progress of 0.4%.

The cauldron was currently refining a Medicinal Gu. Long Xuan had returned to Blackstone 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 calculated that the Gu would be complete in 250 days. After noting the number, he closed the door and left.

As for how he calculated the completion 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, comforting 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 already launched an attack.”

“They’re currently seizing resource points across the various clans, pillaging the wealth from major resource points. It’s clear that their goal is to completely 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 they come here. How can we stay and mine at a time like this?”

Upon hearing this, Long Xuan was shocked. The Great Yin Dynasty had already launched 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 heartland?”

Long Ruoxue smiled bitterly and replied, “They clearly intend to completely annex the Western Lands, so they spared no expense, directly building a large 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 time comes, 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 slaughtering cities everywhere, using Black Moon City as his base. The heartlands 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 Blackstone City at the fastest speed before Western Lands’ reinforcements arrive.”

“Once Blackstone City falls, the Great Yin Dynasty can use the terrain to their advantage and switch from attack to defense.”

“If the forces of Blackstone City are completely 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.”

“Blackstone City is likely already surrounded. The Great Yin Dynasty will stop at nothing to launch a full-scale assault on it.”

“This battle will be the key to the entire war. If the Great Yin Dynasty can capture Blackstone City before reinforcements arrive, the Western Lands will most likely be completely occupied by the Great Yin Dynasty.”

“If Blackstone 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 Blackstone 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 become a primary target of attack next. This place 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 glanced at him, seemingly guessing his thoughts, and said playfully, "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 cleared large swaths of unclaimed land. The Far West Long Clan has long wanted to leave this barren land and develop in more prosperous areas. Do you think they would pass up this opportunity?”

“The Far West Long Clan took over a large amount of the unclaimed land in the Western Lands a long time ago.”

“They formed some kind of Long Clan Alliance, and they do have the strength to swallow up those territories.”

“Since they’ve taken over land 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 glance at Long Xuan.

Hearing this, Long Xuan's face turned dark...

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Meanwhile, in Blackstone City.

Blackstone City had just been unsealed, and now it was about to be sealed again.

At this moment, outside Blackstone City, there was a massive crowd dressed in black. 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 — 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 become 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 Blackstone 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. A large 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, Blackstone 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 clans of Blackstone 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 Blackstone 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 glanced down at the crowd below and said gravely, "It’s the Black 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 a large teleportation formation here. With such a large 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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