LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 142: Dragon Pill
"Are you really agreeing to let me learn the secret Gu method of the Western Land Long clan? You're not lying to me, are you?" Long Xuan asked again, in disbelief.
"Haha! We're all family. Family learning family secrets—why would we need to discuss that?"
"If you want to refine Blade Gu, just tell me. Once we reach Western Land, I'll immediately take you to select the primary materials for refining Blade Gu."
"The primary material for refining Blade Gu is our clan'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 clan's intentions were in letting him refine Blade Gu, as long as they didn't impose any conditions, he'd accept it gladly.
At this moment, the battle between Long Ziyan and the Blade 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 her lack of a complete sword cultivation inheritance, and not having another sword cultivator to spar with regularly 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 glanced at Long Ruoxue, who was watching the show from behind the Blade Gu, and said, "I haven't even released my external Gu yet. Although I can't defeat this Blade 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 Blade Gu was currently holding its own, if Long Ziyan released her external Gu, no matter if she used Gu insects to restrain the Blade 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 clan has lost to the Far West Long clan in two rounds."
"But I'm not the strongest genius of the Western Land Long clan. That Long Biao isn't considered a genius at all in our clan."
"Currently, the strongest genius of the Western Land Long clan is Long Dan. Even though you're strong, you may not be a match for Long Dan."
Long Ruoxue retracted the Blade 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 clan.
But she hadn't expected her plan 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 barren land.
At this moment, she finally understood the family's deeper intent in seeking external assistance from the Far West Long clan. The family's strategy was brilliant—once they brought these prodigies back, the Bai clan would surely suffer, possibly to the point of questioning their existence.
"Alright! Now that the warm-up is over, come 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 flavorful. 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, loudly complimenting 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 to land 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 clan.
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 places.
Under the Eye Of Heaven, they could see a massive black city standing in the center of a plain from afar. Since the dragon boat was flying in this direction, this must be the Western Land Long clan's stronghold.
This black 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 formula, it would be difficult to apply cement widely in this world.
Curious, Long Xuan asked, "Is this the Western Land Long clan's city?"
Long Qian quickly shook his head with a smile, "How could that be? This strong city is jointly controlled by the ten clans of Western Land, and the city lord is chosen through fair competition among the families."
"This city is called Blackstone City, named after the Blackstone 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 Blackstone was just garbage material."
"A Blackstone mine happens to be nearby, which is why Blackstone City was built here."
"This city has withstood countless beast tide attacks. It's because Blackstone 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 clans are so eager to cram into this city."
"This city is so safe that the clans are willing to do whatever it takes to secure a piece of land here."
"This is why the grand scene of the ten strongest clans of the Western Lands gathering in one city has come to be. It also results in this city being filled with experts, with Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators everywhere and Gu Kings as common as dogs. The majority of the powerful individuals from the Western Lands have converged here. You can completely imagine how much the land prices in the city have surged.
"Even though the Long Clan is incredibly wealthy, we could only afford a small piece of land, which is far from enough to accommodate all our clansmen.
"So, the current structure of the Long Clan in the Western Lands is that the main family resides in Blackstone City, while the branch families are scattered across various parts of the Western Lands, managing the Long Clan's industries in those areas.
"The branch families consist of Long Clan 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 Clan in the Western Lands, and his words were also meant for the others to hear.
As they conversed, the dragon boat slowly descended, landing 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 of landing 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 barren lands, who had come 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 clans of the Western Lands seem to excel at cultivating Spirit Insects, leading to fierce competition in the Spirit Insect market. As a result, Spirit Insect resources in this region are extremely cheap—three 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 the combat 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 Clan was so excited about setting up a teleportation gate between the two regions. If the Long Clan 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 delayed by unexpected events.
The group had already entered the marketplace under the Long Clan'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—one wore black clothing and the other white. Both sides were Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators. The black-clad group had only about ten people, while the white-clad 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 place truly lives up to its reputation as a major region, where Marrow Cleansing stage experts are as common as dirt.'
Back when he was quietly developing in the marketplace in the Extreme West, there were only a handful of Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators in the entire marketplace, right?
Even after joining the family, the number of Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators wasn’t large. 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 Clan.
Although the number of black-clad Gu cultivators was small, their leader was particularly 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 glances 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. His combat 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 by comparison.
Because of his presence, despite the disparity in numbers, the black-clad faction did not fall behind.
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