"Hehe, you’re finally back. If you hadn’t returned soon, I would have suspected that old geezer Long Yuanshan had detained you," Long Wanli laughed heartily, patting Long Xuan on the shoulder.
“Hmph! If it weren't for this crisis, who knows how many more years our clan's genius would have been detained by them?” The Great Elder also walked over, disgruntled.
Everyone around stopped talking because the geniuses of the Western Land Long Clan were emerging from the space cabin. Naturally, they all put on smiling faces to welcome them, to avoid any breach of etiquette.
The first to come out was Long Dan. Upon seeing him, the high-ranking members of the Far West Long Clan all looked at him curiously, marveling secretly.
They had heard about this young man possessing the innate limit-breaking Gu, which was a talent of the highest order in the world. His combat power could sweep through those of the same level, so they couldn’t help but take a few extra glances.
The second person to come out was Long Ruoxue, her small face still showing signs of stubbornness and reluctance.
The high-ranking members were very familiar with this genius and welcomed her with smiles.
Over there, the geniuses of the Western Land Long Clan seemed to have been forcibly ranked according to their talents. Even those who didn't want to come had been forcefully sent over by Long Yuanshan.
One after another, the geniuses of the Western Land Long Clan appeared, and before long, the most talented of them had all come through.
The last one to arrive was Long Qian, who was in a coma. After that, no one else came through.
The high-ranking members of the Far West Long Clan waited for a long time and, seeing no one else was coming, left with the group of geniuses to welcome them properly.
The geniuses of the Western Land Long Clan had come to visit, so they had to be well-received with good food and drinks, fulfilling their duties as hosts. The banquet was extremely lively, with singing, dancing, and cheerful conversations.
Compared to the oppressive atmosphere of Blackstone City, it was much more festive here, full of life.
Many of the Western Land Long Clan’s geniuses gradually began to smile as well.
The banquet continued late into the night before it finally ended. The head of the clan arranged for the guests to be taken to their accommodations, and they were led away one by one.
Long Xuan finally finished his socializing and, heavily drunk, made his way home.
He rushed with all his strength using his "Star-Stepping Technique". However, as soon as he entered the familiar cube formation and reached the top of the mountain to see a bare tree, he immediately sobered up.
He couldn’t help but widen his eyes, then rubbed them hard as if his eyeballs would pop out.
“Who did this?! Show yourself! I promise I won’t beat you to death!” Long Xuan shouted loudly, his voice echoing conspicuously in the silent night.
At this moment, how could he not recognize the bare, barkless tree as the Living Wood?
If not for the conspicuous ∞ symbol, he would have completely ignored this bare tree and not even recognized what it was.
The rabbit instantly jumped out of the insect-rearing bag. Seeing the bare tree, it was also stunned and couldn’t help but rub its confused rabbit eyes.
It soon started squeaking frantically, pointing at the Living Wood and then at Long Xuan, screaming incessantly, obviously furious.
“Calm down! Calm down! Getting angry is bad for your health.”
Long Xuan hurriedly patted its head, trying to comfort it. This little one had too much of a temper.
The tree wasn’t of much use to Long Xuan, so he didn’t feel too much, but the rabbit was truly furious. It had planned to use this tree for alchemy, and now that the bark and leaves had been stripped off, it was about to faint from anger.
Long Xuan suddenly understood the rabbit’s intention to use the Living Wood for alchemy. Just as he was about to call it wasteful, he froze.
How could a recipe with Living Wood as the main ingredient be simple? It would be surprising if none of the ingredients were extinct.
So what’s this rabbit thinking, trying to refine pills? It can’t even gather all the materials; how does it plan to refine pills?
It’s just happy over nothing, going to great lengths to obtain Living Wood, but in the end, all its efforts will be in vain.
This rabbit—no, this spirit herb—probably doesn’t even know that many spirit herbs in this world have already gone extinct. It’s really just a foolish rabbit.
Long Xuan didn’t know how to console it, or whether to tell it this harsh truth.
Forget it, better take it to the Library Tower and give it a lesson on this kind of common sense.
...
Two months later, Long Xuan picked up a low-grade Gu recipe containing hundreds of ingredients, showing a faint smile.
As expected, the recipe sent by the rabbit was of immense reference value. After understanding the principle of the recipe’s longevity effect, it only took him two months to create the Longevity Gu recipe.
However, this Gu recipe was just a low-grade one, only capable of extending life by sixty years, and only effective on the Sou Gu insect.
He ordered his clone to quickly gather the ingredients listed in the recipe and immediately start refining the Longevity Gu. He was eager to know whether the Longevity Gu he envisioned could elevate the Sou Gu from its current low-grade status to a mid-grade one.
If the Sou Gu could be upgraded to a mid-grade Gu insect, could it possess the ability to carry living beings for teleportation? These were all things he was eager to find out and experiment on immediately.
As for the materials needed for the Longevity Gu, the Long Clan of the Western Lands had already given him quite a few ready-made ones. A few missing ingredients could be gathered quickly, as low-grade Gu insect materials were not expensive. If things went smoothly, he could begin refining the Gu today.
If luck was on his side and the Longevity Gu achieved the intended effects, then his Sou Gu could complete its transformation in just a few days. Yes, continuously devouring the Longevity Gu was the evolution path Long Xuan had devised for the Sou Gu.
It’s just that whether this evolution path was reliable or not still needed to be verified.
Satisfied, Long Xuan stored the Longevity Gu recipe in a small box. This time, the rabbit had truly made a great contribution.
Just as he was contemplating matters related to the Sou Gu, it suddenly appeared, holding a letter in its mouth, which it quickly handed over to Long Xuan.
He casually took the letter and opened it, discovering it was from Long Qian, who was looking for him. He immediately left the pavilion on the mountain peak and went down.
Arriving outside the Rubik’s Cube Formation, he saw Long Qian standing honestly in front of the formation, deep in thought.
This time, he had learned his lesson. No matter what, he didn’t dare to enter again and directly used the Sou Gu to send a letter to summon Long Xuan.
As soon as Long Xuan came out, Long Qian retracted his gaze and said bluntly, “I’m here to deliver materials to you. The Clan wants you to speed up the progress of researching the Dragon Blood Battle Gu recipe.”
“Except for the endangered and peak-grade spirit insects, we’ve sent you almost every type of spirit insect from the Western Lands.”
Only then did Long Xuan notice the breeding bags piled up nearby, stacked into several mountain peaks, truly forming a small mountain range.
Long Xuan was immediately shocked. Did the Long Clan of the Western Lands go on a looting spree? How did they collect so many spirit insects?
They even managed to cover almost all the spirit insect species from the Western Lands. It’s truly frightening. When did they become so wealthy?
With a look of disbelief, Long Xuan asked in astonishment, “What exactly did you do? Where did you get so many spirit insects from? Who did you rob?”
He wouldn’t believe, not even if beaten to death, that the Long Clan of the Western Lands was this rich. They must have robbed someone.