The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear Gu

The next day, just as the sky began to brighten, Long Xuan opened his tired eyes and looked at the branches he had already planted in the high-grade Spiritual Soil. His eyes revealed a glimmer of excitement.

Clearly, he had sacrificed sleep and worked through the night to conduct his research.

But in the end, his efforts paid off. Through repeated experiments in the Origin Realm, and with the help of his golden finger, he actually managed to develop the technique for propagating spiritual trees through cuttings.

At this moment, he had successfully planted four branches of the Divine Dragon Wood in the southeast, northwest, and northeast of Little Strong Peak. As soon as the progress was made, Long Xuan knew that these four trees would definitely take root and thrive. His technique for cuttings was a success.

Through continuous experimentation and research in the Origin Realm, he discovered that low-grade spiritual herbs would be deprived of nutrients from the surrounding soil and spiritual energy from the sky when planted near Earth-grade spiritual herbs.

Therefore, Earth-grade spiritual herbs must be planted at a considerable distance from each other. They cannot be planted too closely together, or the nutrients in the soil won't be sufficient.

Furthermore, if low-grade spiritual herbs are planted near Earth-grade spiritual herbs, they will also be deprived of nutrients and will not survive.

This led to the conclusion that, despite having developed the technique for cuttings, it was still impossible to cultivate Earth-grade spiritual herbs on a large scale. He could only plant a few of them.

Cultivating Earth-grade spiritual herbs requires too much land.

However, Long Xuan was satisfied with just planting four Divine Dragon Woods. Four trees were more than enough for his needs, and there was no need to plant more.

Excitedly, Long Xuan folded up the paper on which he had written the cutting technique and stored it in a small box.

Although the research time for the cutting technique was short—he had only taken one night to succeed—there was no doubt that the cutting technique was yet another great invention in this world. If it were to be revealed, it would be a revolutionary breakthrough.

Earth-grade and Heaven-grade spiritual herbs, while possessing endless longevity, are extremely difficult to reproduce. The world is fair; where there is a heaven-defying aspect, there must be a limitation.

However, with this technique, even the most difficult-to-reproduce Earth-grade and Heaven-grade spiritual herbs could be propagated. This was an astonishing, even heaven-defying breakthrough.

Imagine, if the Long Clan were to cultivate many Divine Dragon Woods, then all of the Long Clan's Gu cultivators' Evil Dragon Emperor Eyes could undergo a perfect Evolution. There would no longer be a need for them to fight tooth and nail at the Gu Battle Tournament for a single eye-cleansing spot.

It’s no exaggeration to say that, despite being only a few sheets of paper, this technique is worth billions.

He could never reveal this technique to anyone and must keep it sealed forever, using it secretly by himself.

If such a powerful technique were to be exposed, it would undoubtedly bring about calamity, potentially even triggering chaos across the land.

No matter how much money this technique could fetch, Long Xuan would never dare to trade it, not even with his own clan.

Now that the Divine Dragon Woods had been successfully planted, it was time to prepare a large amount of blood to water them.

To cultivate four Divine Dragon Woods, he needed to establish a vast pasture, and this had to be done immediately—it couldn’t be delayed.

As soon as the sky brightened, he went down the mountain again, preparing to trade for a large number of herbivorous spirit beasts, such as cattle and sheep.

Although he hadn’t slept all night, he was full of energy and had no intention of resting. Instead, he busied himself once more.

Long Xuan headed straight for the Long Clan’s marketplace. The marketplace was another trading venue within the clan, where a large number of Long Clan disciples would set up stalls every day to trade various treasures from their storage bags.

The marketplace was a place for the Long Clan’s Gu cultivators to barter with each other.

The biggest difference between the marketplace and the Treasure Pavilion was that the treasures in the Treasure Pavilion belonged to the clan, while the items at the marketplace stalls were all privately owned.

Since he wanted to establish a pasture and trade for a large number of spirit beasts, he needed to trade with the Long Clan’s Gu cultivators who operated pastures. Therefore, the marketplace was the most suitable place to go.

As soon as Long Xuan entered the marketplace, he felt as though he had entered a bustling bazaar. The noise was loud, and the sounds of haggling were constant—it was very lively.

The only difference was that the stall owners and traders in the marketplace were all Gu cultivators of the Long Clan, members of the same family. This reduced the sense of caution and added a touch of familiarity.

Long Xuan didn’t immediately start trading for young animals—there were plenty of them, so there was no rush. He decided to stroll around first to see if there were any other treasures he needed.

Before long, he stopped in front of a stall selling fish. The water tank was filled with spirit fish of various colors, swimming back and forth.

It was easy to see that the stall owner ran a family business—a fish pond—making a living by selling spirit fish to earn cultivation resources.

The reason Long Xuan stopped at this stall wasn’t that he thought he could find a bargain, but because he remembered that his Little Strong Peak had a spiritual spring. The spring was rich in spiritual energy, making it ideal for raising spirit fish.

If spirit fish were to live in the spiritual spring, nourished by abundant spiritual energy, they would certainly grow quickly, become fat and delicious, and make for an exceptional delicacy.

Since the spiritual spring was currently unused, he thought it might be a good idea to use it for raising some spirit fish. Since he already had a pasture, he might as well set up a fish pond too, so that he could enjoy fresh spirit fish in the future.

He missed the fish stew from his previous life and imagined that the spirit fish in this world, nourished by the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, would taste even more delicious.

So Long Xuan Immediately Decides to Buy Some Fish Fry to Start a Fish Pond

"So, how much are these fish? Do you have any high-grade ones? What's the most delicious fish species?" Long Xuan asked the stall owner.

As he took a closer look, he realized that the stall owner was someone he knew well—though not exactly well, but someone who had left a deep impression on him. The stall owner was none other than Long Panpan, whom he had once given a stern talking to.

At this moment, Long Panpan was sitting on a piece of white cloth in a "duck sitting" posture. She raised her head and gave him a brief, blank stare before quickly returning to normal. Clearly, she also had a deep impression of this man.

"So, it's you! You're actually choosing spirit fish based on how tasty they are? Looks like you're quite the foodie."

"But you've come to the right person. The most delicious fish in the world is definitely the Golden Dragon Fish. It's said that the meat of the Golden Dragon Fish has the delicacy of a dragon's flesh, and eating it is like eating dragon meat. That's why it's highly sought after by foodies, and its price has skyrocketed."

"However, any creature with the word 'dragon' in its name isn't ordinary. The Golden Dragon Fish is extremely rare and hard to find. Even if you find one, it's difficult to farm. The Golden Dragon Fish is a very delicate spirit fish, and very few people know how to raise them."

"Because of its rarity, the Golden Dragon Fish is considered a luxury item in this world—it's highly priced, but there's no market for it. Even with a lot of spirit stones, it's hard to buy one."

"You really did come to the right person. My sister manages the family's fishing industry, and this morning, the fleet just caught five Golden Dragon Fish. They're still alive, and fresh fish is the most delicious when cooked."

"But, sorry to say, I'm a foodie too, and I plan to keep the Golden Dragon Fish for lunch—it's not for sale!"

Long Xuan was taken aback. If you're not selling, why are you babbling on about it? Isn't that just teasing?

There were plenty of stalls selling spirit fish, and he didn't have to buy from this one. But she had just described the Golden Dragon Fish as a rare delicacy with a taste similar to dragon meat, which piqued his curiosity.

What does legendary dragon meat taste like? His cravings were instantly aroused.

It seemed that she was the only one who had Golden Dragon Fish, and after arousing his curiosity, she frustratingly said it wasn't for sale.

She's doing this on purpose! This little minx is infuriating.

Long Xuan thought for a moment. He was indeed quite interested in the Golden Dragon Fish—not only because it was the most delicious but also because very few people knew how to farm them. That was the key.

His various abilities were perfect for research, and figuring out how to farm Golden Dragon Fish wouldn’t be difficult for him.

He liked raising things that others couldn't; if everyone could raise them, there was no point in putting in the effort to raise them in his spirit spring. The spirit spring should be used for high-quality fish, not for raising common fish that everyone had.

Having made up his mind, he immediately said, "You claim you're not selling, yet you spent all that time introducing the Golden Dragon Fish to me? Since you've gone into such detail, you must want to sell, but you're just trying to raise the price."

"I won't waste words. I picked up quite a bit of mid-grade Spirit Soil from the Empress's Tomb and gave half to the Long Qilin. I still have the other half left."

"If you give me a pair of Golden Dragon Fish, one male and one female, the mid-grade Spirit Soil is yours."

Long Xuan knew exactly how to strike at the heart of the matter. He was aware that Long Panpan needed mid-grade Spirit Soil—indeed, every Long Clan Gu cultivator who worked with Earth Master Gu needed it.

Mid-grade Spirit Soil was extremely rare in this barren region. An Earth Master Gu that evolved using mid-grade Spirit Soil would undoubtedly be far stronger than most of its kind within the clan.

So, mid-grade Spirit Soil had a deadly appeal to every Long Clan Gu cultivator.

As expected, upon hearing that Long Xuan was willing to trade mid-grade Spirit Soil for the Golden Dragon Fish, Long Panpan's eyes lit up with joy.

Long Xuan had actually underestimated the importance of mid-grade Spirit Soil to her.

Mid-grade Spirit Soil does more than just strengthen Earth Master Gu. It’s well known that Earth Master Gu is a Gu insect that the family heavily supports, and every year the clan holds various Earth Master Gu competitions with astonishing rewards.

If her Earth Master Gu could undergo the strongest evolution, it could easily outperform others in the clan, making it easy to win the top prize in the Earth Master Gu competition—a huge contribution reward.

And since the Earth Master Gu competition is held every year, it would be like a steady stream of income—a stable financial path for her.

So, in her mind, mid-grade Spirit Soil was equivalent to a large amount of contribution points. She was determined to obtain it, no matter the cost.

Long Panpan immediately licked her lips in excitement and said, "Are you sure you want to trade your mid-grade Spirit Soil for my Golden Dragon Fish? No regrets?"

Long Xuan had high-grade Spirit Gathering Soil, so he didn’t care about this bit of mid-grade soil. He quickly replied, "Of course I won't regret it. If you agree, we can make the trade right now."

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