The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear Gu

"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 clan of the Western Lands planned to hire external help to deal with the Bai clan in the arena competition, he was momentarily stunned. Isn't this cheating? The Long clan of the Western Lands is too shameless!

What made him even more speechless was that the Long clan of the Western Lands had a good eye, picking him out right away and planning to invite him over.

His brow furrowed even deeper. The Western Lands—such a distant place from here—it'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 assimilation highly inconvenient.

There wouldn't even be time for memory assimilation. 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 plans. 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 a larger region and broaden his horizons—after 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 delay 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, replaced 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 flaw, allowing Long Qian to exit successfully 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 him completely 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, glanced at the few people who had just come 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 clan of the Western Lands, our relatives in a way. This young man wants to spar with you. Just give him some pointers—it'll count as a friendly exchange between our two clans."

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 villain, 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, glaring 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, combat 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 glanced 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 a combination 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 flaws, 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 was completely stunned—there were no flaws! How was that possible?

His expression changed drastically.

This hesitation made it too late for him to dodge the punch, so he hurriedly raised his fist to collide with the Steel Fist.

"Bang!"

A muffled sound of fists clashing 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 out completely.

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 clash 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 uncontrollably, his face turning completely black.

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 relatives?

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 clan. I only brought him along as a favor to Ruoxue. I didn’t expect him to be so lacking."

Long Qian gave an awkward laugh, 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 relationship 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 clash with someone who possessed the Ten Absolute Physique. No wonder his name was Long Biao—he truly lived up to it![1]

A heavy silence fell over the scene, with no one knowing how to break the awkward atmosphere.

Long Biao lay on the ground for a long time, with no one attending to him.

1. In the context of the name "Long Biao" (龙彪), "Biao" likely means "Bold/Fierce" that's why he truly lived up to his name lol.

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