A month later...
"What's happening? Wake up! Wake up! Quickly, wake up!"
"How could this happen?"
Long Xuan lifted the Disaster Poison Gu into the air, shaking it back and forth.
However, the Disaster Poison Gu was as lifeless as a corpse, swaying in the air without any reaction.
Long Xuan was utterly confused.
He never expected things to turn out this way. After receiving the assistance of the Eye of Heaven's Secrets and borrowing the abilities of various unique Gu insects, he had finally managed to research and produce plutonium. Eagerly, he fed it to the Disaster Poison Gu.
Being naturally cautious, he only fed the Disaster Poison Gu one gram.
Who would have thought that after consuming it, the Gu would immediately fall into a deep coma, unable to be awakened no matter what he did?
Pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back, Long Xuan's face was full of worry.
A Poison Gu, afraid of poison? And poisoned into unconsciousness? You've got to be kidding! Are you messing with me? Long Xuan was completely at a loss.
He checked under the Disaster Poison Gu’s nose and found that it was still breathing, which allowed him to finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Thankfully, it was still alive.
Recalling that his Wine Gu had experienced a similar situation before but eventually pulled through, Long Xuan felt a glimmer of hope.
Carefully placing it back into the insect-rearing bag he allowed it to rest and recover.
What a mess.
Long Xuan couldn't think of any way to wake it up. All the detoxification pills in this world were useless against elemental toxins, so all he could do was leave the Disaster Poison Gu in the pouch and wait for it to recover on its own.
Whether it lived or died was up to its fate now. He had done everything he could.
A month later, when Long Xuan took out the Disaster Poison Gu again, he saw that it was still in a deep coma. His expression turned bitter, and he finally walked out the door, deciding to go for a walk to clear his mind.
...
Blackstone City, Marketplace.
Following several consecutive battles, many had died, and some had killed to seize treasures, becoming wealthy overnight.
Those who had taken others' storage bags often needed to sell off the items they couldn’t use, so in this world, war always made the street markets boom.
Every day, countless Gu Masters brought the loot from the battlefield to the marketplace to sell.
Some stall owners became rich overnight, while others, lacking knowledge of the items they were selling, unknowingly sold off priceless treasures, becoming the laughingstock of the marketplace.
These kinds of stories spread like wildfire, attracting many who came hoping to find hidden treasures, making the Blackstone City marketplace bustling with people every day.
Long Xuan, hearing too many of these stories, also developed a desire to try his luck, frequently visiting the marketplace.
Thanks to his golden finger, he often left with great rewards, though he never flaunted his findings. As a result, no rumors ever spread about him picking up any treasures.
When he arrived at the marketplace, many eyes followed him, filled with respect and even a hint of fear.
As one of the top three prodigies of the Western Lands, Long Xuan’s fame had grown too big to go unnoticed.
In the past, many had tried to befriend him, but they were met with cold indifference. Deliberately displaying an aloof and unapproachable demeanor, Long Xuan had now successfully deterred people from approaching him.
"When I first met you, I could tell you were no ordinary person. I knew you would achieve great things, which is why I stuck around you every day, trying to befriend you."
"Looks like my judgment was spot on. Seems like I’ll be hitting it big soon!" Li Laodao joked, showing no signs of discomfort despite the huge difference in their statuses.
"You haven’t told me why you're here. Is Di Xin and Little Medicine Boy here as well?"
Long Xuan squatted down, curious.
Seeing someone so familiar with one of the Ten Demonic Prodigies, many people nearby started to focus on them, taking note of Li Laodao’s appearance.
Some were already considering how to get close to him. Anyone who knew important figures was bound to rise, especially if those figures remembered their past friendships.
"I’m here for obvious reasons. The City Lord Yan, in order to resist the Great Yin Dynasty, has been selling off land left and right, pulling in many forces from impoverished areas into the fight against the dynasty."
"Under the bloodshed from the Great Yin Dynasty and Shi Haojun, a large part of the Western Lands has indeed been vacated. The forces from barren lands dream of expanding to more prosperous regions, so when the opportunity to settle in the Western Lands presented itself, how could they not be tempted?"
"So, they were all tricked into joining the alliance by City Lord Yan. I had previously joined a faction called the Rogue Cultivator Alliance and was forced into this war as well."
"As for Little Medicine Boy, thanks to the Spirit Gathering Pill you refined, he had already broken through long before me."
"Moreover, because he cultivated a technique he found in a certain cave mansion, his progress has been incredibly fast. He reached the peak of the Marrow Cleansing stage quite a while ago."
"But ever since arriving in the Western Lands, he’s been telling me that he feels like something in the far east is calling to him."
"He’s been troubled by this feeling, restless, and eventually couldn’t resist the urge to go find the source of that call."
"No matter how much I tried to stop him, I couldn’t. I have a bad feeling that seeking out that voice won't lead to anything good."
"As for Di Xin, she’s been looting the treasure vaults of various clans, to the point where she even dared to target the Seven Great Clans, eventually provoking their wrath. She was already being hunted by the combined forces of the Western Lands before I left."
"When I arrived in the Western Lands, I inquired about her, and it turns out she still wasn’t quiet. She continued to plunder the treasure vaults of various major forces."
"She ended up offending all the factions of the Western Lands and is being chased by their combined forces."
"She couldn't survive in the Western Lands any longer, so she fled east, continuing her mischief in the eastern regions."
"At the rate she's going, wherever she goes, she’ll provoke all the local forces and get hunted by them."
"She keeps changing regions, fleeing east, and she’ll keep running until she reaches the center of this world."
"I have a feeling that if she doesn’t die, she will become a devil in the future, and not just any devil, but a rare, heaven-defying one."
Li Laodao's expression became solemn, his brows furrowed as he sighed, "Her actions are too wild and too dangerous. Based on what I know of her, she’s not the type to risk her life just for treasure."
"There must be something in her heart, something driving her to recklessly increase her strength at any cost."
"With her ordinary mortal body, if she cultivated step by step, she wouldn’t even dream of reaching the Marrow Cleansing stage, even if she trained herself to death."
"She could only have become a genius cultivator by relying on such thievery and using vast resources to forcefully elevate herself."
"Where she is now, I have no idea. But she’s definitely not in the Western Lands anymore."
Hearing this, Long Xuan’s mouth twitched. He was genuinely curious—how was Di Xin able to survive constant pursuits by major forces without dying?
It’s a miracle she’s still alive.
After all, she’s only at the Marrow Cleansing stage, yet she managed to offend every major force in an entire region and still live. How did she pull it off?
Well, there’s no doubt about it—she must also be the Child of Destiny. Only someone destined to be a protagonist could be this resilient, and only the protagonist's aura could keep her alive this long.