The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear 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 the late 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 Clan 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 Clan.

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 replaced by the external reinforcements.

Due to Long Biao’s disappointing performance, Long Qian had already decided to replace 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, becoming increasingly satisfied as he looked.

He forgot the earlier awkwardness, retracted his gaze, and slowly smiled. "I believe the family head has already explained 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 clan. Winning each match will bring unimaginable benefits."

"I promise that whoever wins a match for our clan, 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 Clan was willing to spend lavishly to secure more of the Spirit Metal ore vein, offering so much Spirit Metal to entice them—who 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 upcoming 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 Clan. 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 placed a green dragon boat, identical to the one from the Far West Long Clan, on the ground. The dragon boat gradually enlarged until it was big enough to accommodate 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—there was no one else available.

Now, it was the same. What could be done? As a clan 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 accept 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 placed 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 plan 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 to complement 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 Clan 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 Clan.

Because they couldn’t guarantee that the Gu King from the Hun Clan wouldn’t attack, they had to place one of the space small houses at the Western Land Long Clan as a precaution.

If the Gu King from the Hun Clan attacked, the Western Land Long Clan’s experts could immediately teleport over through the space small house, providing the fastest support possible.

Otherwise, the Western Land Long Clan 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 clan to facilitate communication between the two clans.

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-term commitment.

"This is the space cabin our clan has developed for teleporting living beings, including people. Take this Sou Gu small house back to your clan, and our two clans' Gu cultivators will be able to come 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 clan 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 placed 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 clans?" 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 clan 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 clans to communicate. If there's ever a war, we can support each other, but they can't be used for commercial 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 clan sent over, I'm well aware of its value."

"But even so, it will still be enough for our two clans 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. Only large 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 places, allowing resources to flow between them."

"Our two clans 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 clan's warehouses are stocked with goods, just waiting for you to place 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 clan'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 clan, and the elders will discuss it."

"But in my opinion, there shouldn't be a problem. The profits from this teleportation gate could come faster than mining. If our clan 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 succeed.

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 clan 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 places 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? Success 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 clan'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 places 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.

...