Chapter 195: Mining

The Gu formula research was successful. The next task was naturally to collect the Gu formula materials.

He had greedily taken countless spirit insect materials from the Western Lands Long Clan, and currently, they were all frozen into fossils by the Ice Cold Divine Flame and stored away. He wouldn't need to worry about spirit insect resources for a long time.

But even so, he could only collect most of the materials on the Gu formula; the other part still required him to waste time collecting.

Long Xuan pondered for a moment. The contribution on his body had been spent after purchasing the last top-grade dragon boat. Now he could only go to the Western Lands Long Clan to demand the promised 200 million in contribution.

Now that Black Stone City had been unsealed, his 200 million in contribution should also be fulfilled.

200 million in contribution was absolutely more than enough to collect the remaining materials; it wouldn't even take 100 million in contribution.

Just as Long Xuan was thinking this, the Straw Gu suddenly walked over, with a letter in its mouth. He took the letter, opened it, and looked at it, discovering it was a letter from Long Qian.

After reading the content, his eyes soon lit up. It turned out that Long Qian not only came to send him the contribution token but also wanted to fulfill the promise of Geng Metal.

Before going to the Western Lands Long Clan to compete, Long Qian had promised that as long as he won the competition, he would be allowed to enter the Geng Metal mine vein to dig for Geng Metal.

It was just that the Black Stone City incident caused this matter to be delayed for several years.

Now that Black Stone City was unsealed and the operation of all clans had returned to normal, the matter of rewarding the geniuses of the Extreme West Long Clan with Geng Metal should naturally be fulfilled.

Long Xuan quickly packed his things and rushed down the mountain in a hurry.

What kind of value was Geng Metal? Think about how the Bai Clan, in order to obtain the entire Geng Metal mine vein, didn't hesitate to pay the price of a generational gap in family geniuses, and you could completely feel what kind of value Geng Metal had.

Geng Metal was something that even Gu Kings were tempted by; it was worth a fortune. Even with more spirit stones outside, one might not necessarily be able to buy it.

Not to mention the even more precious Geng Metal Essence. A fist-sized piece of Geng Metal Essence was enough to make many Gu Kings fight until their heads were broken, even if they didn't hesitate to pay any price to obtain it.

Geng Metal Essence was considered the hardest metal in the Gu World. If a Gu King's sword added a bit of Geng Metal Essence, its sharpness would be enough to cut through a fourth-tier top-grade spirit sword. One could imagine what kind of value Geng Metal Essence had.

Since Geng Metal Essence had such great temptation even for Gu Kings, not to mention Long Xuan, he would absolutely never let go of the opportunity to dig for Geng Metal Essence.

That was the hardest metal in the Gu World. If his Earth Mover Beetle wore a set of insect armor made of Geng Metal Essence, it would truly be invincible.

Just as Long Xuan walked out of the Magic Cube Grand Array, Long Qian directly threw a black token carved with dragon patterns at Long Xuan.

"This is your 200 million in contribution. Catch it."

"Whatever treasures you lack now, just go to the Western Lands Long Clan's Treasure Pavilion to exchange for them."

"Thanks to you, the Western Lands Long Clan has made a fortune this time. The treasures are piled up so high that the entire Treasure Pavilion can't hold them."

"Inside, there are all kinds of treasures. Basically, as long as it is something produced in the Western Lands, you can exchange for it in the Treasure Pavilion."

"Take advantage of the warehouse being full and go exchange quickly. If you drag it out, the treasures will all be exchanged by others."

Long Qian reminded him after throwing the contribution token to Long Xuan.

Long Xuan caught the contribution token, treasured it, put it into his storage bag, and smiled: "I really lack a portion of treasures right now, and the price is not low. I can't buy them with spirit stones outside."

"However, the matter of exchanging for treasures can be left to my clone to do. Can you take me to the Geng Metal mine vein to dig for mines first?" Long Xuan said somewhat impatiently.

Facing the hardest metal in the Gu World, he would naturally be impatient, wishing he could go over now and dig up all the Geng Metal Essence. The longer it dragged on, the more Geng Metal Essence would be taken away by others. These Geng Metal Essences were all his.

Long Qian smiled: "You are impatient. Very well, then follow me."

"Besides you, Long Panpan and Long Qilin have also chosen to dig for mines in person."

"Only Long Ziyan claimed she wanted to comprehend some Sword Intent and didn't want to be distracted, asking me to send the Geng Metal directly to her."

"It's a pity. Sword Intent is not so easy to comprehend. Instead of wasting time comprehending Sword Intent, it's better to go dig for mines. Cultivation resources for Gu Cultivators are always the first priority. This little girl is putting the cart before the horse."

Long Qian revealed a look of pity.

"What? She is still comprehending Sword Intent inside? Truly playing with things and losing one's ambition! Unseemly!"

Hearing that Long Ziyan hadn't come out of the Zhu Xian Array yet, Long Xuan was suddenly angry.

He somewhat regretted researching that Zhu Xian Great Formation. Ever since the Zhu Xian Array was set up by him, Long Ziyan had become completely addicted to it, running inside every day to liver Sword Intent, not giving up until she comprehended all the Sword Intent inside.

Now it was good; Long Ziyan had no time to accompany him anymore. He had been guarding an empty room for how long? How could Long Xuan not regret it in his heart?

It was also his fault for having itchy hands. Putting one type of Sword Intent inside would have been enough; he had to put over a hundred types of Sword Intent inside. Now it was good; Long Ziyan was addicted to playing inside.

"Alright, let's go. Long Qilin and Long Panpan have been waiting for a long time."

Long Qian smiled, took out a Straw Gu hut from his insect-breeding bag, placed it on the ground, and then said: "Thanks to you, the Longevity Gu you invented allowed that old fox Long Wanli to knock us for another fortune."

"Now we can directly teleport to the Geng Metal mine vein through the Straw Gu hut."

"Originally, we needed to walk for several months to reach that Geng Metal mine vein. Now we can arrive instantly. Truly a great invention of this world. You kid are truly a genius."

"I don't know how your brain is grown, to be able to invent such perverted Gu worms."

"That perverted Gu worm, the Earth Mover Beetle, was also invented by you, right?"

"Tsk tsk, carrying a Mountain-Protecting Great Formation to fight—truly a terrifying thought. Which opponent wouldn't be confused after seeing it? The result of that battle has already spread to the Western Lands. Now, the Gu worm Earth Mover Beetle is already famous."

Long Xuan smiled and didn't speak. He didn't know how Long Qian guessed that those Gu worms were all invented by himself.

But he didn't intend to admit it personally. What if he was bluffing himself?

To avoid the topic, Long Xuan directly drilled into the Straw Gu hut and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

But at this time, Long Qian was in a dilemma. He suddenly discovered a problem: if he also went in, what should be done about this Straw Gu hut? Wouldn't it be impossible to take it back completely?

A Straw Gu hut for cross-regional teleportation was very expensive.

He wished he could slap himself. Actually making such a low-level mistake—truly stupid to death.

Forget it, let's put it here for a period of time. Anyway, those geniuses would still need to come back after digging for mines, and it would be useful.

Long Qian scanned the surroundings a few times, finally dug a cave in the mountain wall nearby, then put the Straw Gu hut into this cave, blocked the cave entrance with stones, and only then drilled into the Straw Gu hut and left.

He didn't know at this time that this Straw Gu hut would be permanently placed in this hidden cave, used as one of the emergency escape points, and never taken back again.

Later, this Straw Gu hut did indeed save his life more than once, and even a strong enemy used great divine ability means to track him directly.

However, because he didn't take the Magic Cube Grand Array nearby seriously, he slipped and accidentally entered it, and never came out again.

Long Qian could be considered to have picked up a small life.

Afterward, he became cunning. Every time he fled, he fled here, then pretended to hide in that array, tricking one strong enemy after another into it, and pit-killing who knew how many famous experts.

Of course, these were all later stories...

When he crawled out of the Straw Gu hut on the other side, quite a bit of time had already been wasted, and the geniuses on that side had already been waiting impatiently.

Long Dan, Long Ruoxue, Long Xuan, Long Qilin, and Long Panpan, all five of them, were looking at him with dissatisfied eyes.

"Sorry, I just had diarrhea, so I delayed a bit of time. I didn't keep you waiting for too long, right?"

Long Qian said apologetically, but his expression didn't have the slightest apology.

"What do you think?" Everyone rolled their eyes together.

"Hehe, this time I was impolite. I'll treat everyone to a meal later. Let's go in and dig for mines first."

"Say it in advance, the family only gives you one month of mining time. Whatever you can dig is yours."

"Even if you dig up a pile of Geng Metal Essence, that is your own ability. The family will absolutely not ask for it."

"If you are unlucky and dig up nothing, then you can only admit you are unlucky."

"Now let's go in."

Long Qian quickly walked toward the Geng Metal mine vein, and the five geniuses behind him all revealed excited expressions, hurriedly following.

Actually, this Straw Gu hut was located on the edge of the Geng Metal mine vein. They were already in the range of the Geng Metal mine vein.

It was just that without Long Qian's authorization, they couldn't wander around and could only wait patiently.

At this time, this Geng Metal mine vein had already been dug out with who knew how many mine tunnels, and countless Gu Cultivators were going in and out, busy without stopping.

That's right, those digging for mines this time were no longer mortals, but actually all Gu Cultivators.

Geng Metal was truly too hard. Mortals couldn't dig it. Digging the Geng Metal mine vein required Gu Cultivators with powerful body refining.

Fortunately, the Western Lands Long Clan had operated in the Western Lands for who knew how many years, and there were many clansmen. Don't ever think that the Long Clan only had those few people in Black Stone City.

The Western Lands Long Clan had branch families distributed in many major cities in the Western Lands, so mobilizing a large batch of branch family Gu Cultivators to come and dig for mines was not a difficult matter. All branch family Gu Cultivators scrambled to do this kind of beautiful job of digging for Geng Metal.

Of course, many branch family Gu Cultivators came here with the intention of taking the opportunity to embezzle Geng Metal. This was unavoidable.

Not long after Long Xuan arrived here, he discovered that more than one branch family Gu Cultivator had been caught for stealing and hiding Geng Metal, and then taken away. Who knew what kind of punishment they would receive.

Greed was the nature of all humans. Wealth moved people's hearts. The benefits of Geng Metal were truly too great. In front of Geng Metal, how many of those poor Gu Cultivators would not be tempted?

"You have already taken enough. Don't ever have other thoughts. The law is merciless. I will be very difficult to do. Even if we are very familiar, don't expect me to open a side door."

Long Qian pulled a long face. After seeing a few people caught for hiding Geng Metal, he suddenly scanned the few geniuses with a serious gaze and warned them.

The few geniuses hurriedly nodded. How could they dare to have other thoughts?

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 196 =====