Chapter 294: 294. Chapter 294: The Golden Toad Secured

294. Chapter 294: The Golden Toad Secured

Relying on his formidable physical strength, Long Xuan charged straight through the Puppet Army, quickly penetrating deep into their ranks.

At this moment, the Gu Cultivator army had not yet fought this deep; the area was filled with puppets, severely hindering his advance.

Long Xuan grew extremely anxious; he could not be sure how long that Ninth Young Master would be delayed, so he now had to race against time, seizing the Golden Toad at maximum speed and absolutely not lingering here too long to avoid complications arising from delay.

Finally, a sudden inspiration struck Long Xuan's mind; he abruptly activated the Heavenly Demon Soul Devouring Technique, sending wave after wave of Split Souls flying from his body to drill into nearby puppets.

He was unsure whether his Clones could achieve Possession over the puppets, but it was worth a try; even if he failed, he would lose nothing.

Not much time passed before Long Xuan's face lit up with delighted surprise.

He discovered that these puppets were controlled by Sea Beast souls of extremely weak spiritual strength, souls that existed in a muddled, dazed state, possessing no Intent whatsoever.

His Clones could easily shatter them, thereby completely seizing control of the puppets.

Matters proceeded with unexpected smoothness, so smooth that even Long Xuan found it unbelievable.

He effortlessly achieved Possession over vast numbers of puppets, then manipulated them to launch frenzied attacks against their own comrades.

The Puppet Army in this region instantly descended into chaos; countless puppets began slaughtering one another, attacking each other until puppet heads and arms flew everywhere, creating an incredibly fierce scene.

"Have I accidentally found a bug in the Divine Mechanism City?" Long Xuan stood there completely bewildered.

At this point, no puppets were attacking him; all puppets were attacking neighboring puppets, their low intelligence rendering them unable to distinguish between comrades and traitors.

Wherever Long Xuan walked, chaos ensued; wherever he went, puppets slaughtered each other; although numerous, the puppets could no longer block his path.

Thus, escorted by a host of puppets, Long Xuan easily arrived at the house where the Golden Toad was hidden.

Long Xuan's breathing grew rapid, his gaze burning as he stared at the house; after manipulating his Split Souls to effortlessly possess the two puppets guarding the entrance, he slammed a heavy fist onto the Barrier at the doorway.

"Boom!"

A dull thud rang out; Long Xuan retreated several large steps, yet the Barrier remained unmoved; he lifted his head, revealing a look of surprise.

One must remember that he was no ordinary Marrow Cleansing Peak Gu Cultivator; he possessed the Ten Absolute Body, meaning his attacks far exceeded those of a typical Marrow Cleansing Peak Gu Cultivator.

It could be said that his attack simply did not represent the power of a mere Marrow Cleansing Peak Gu Cultivator.

Yet, if even his attack failed to pierce this Barrier, then other Cultivation Stage: Essence Refining Gu Cultivators need not even dream of breaking through it.

Long Xuan was secretly alarmed in his heart; could it be that only the power of a Spirit Sea Stage Gu Cultivator could shatter this Barrier?

"Do I have to use the first four gates of the Life and Death Gate again?" Long Xuan frowned.

"So be it; that old bastard in the city center is a shameless scoundrel; without cheating, a normal person could never deal with this Barrier, so I have no choice but to cheat."

Long Xuan took a deep breath, quickly opened the first four gates of the Life and Death Gate, shattered the Barrier with a single punch, and then closed the Life and Death Gate in less than a second; the Backlash from this Forbidden Technique on him was extremely minimal.

After rushing inside, he immediately spotted a rather large treasure chest on the table.

He ran over excitedly, quickly opened the chest, and upon seeing a huge Fossil inside, he hastily closed the lid, stored it in his Storage Ring, and fled far away.

With this, the mission for his journey to the Sky Island was completely accomplished; upon returning, he could immediately begin Gu Refining, and Long Xuan's heart filled with immense anticipation.

As for the Repair Gu held by that Gambler God, he could collect it or not, entirely up to fate.

If circumstances proved impossible, he had already prepared himself to abandon the collection of the Repair Gu.

After leaving the house, Long Xuan quickly ran toward Di Xin's location.

Earlier, the two of them had agreed on the boat to join forces with her to eliminate one person.

He did not know who the person Di Xin wanted to eliminate was, but he should reunite with her as soon as possible.

After leaving that area, Long Xuan deactivated the Face-Changing Gu's ability, restored his original appearance, and ceased using the ability to manipulate large numbers of puppets.

He had no intention of using the puppet-manipulating ability again in the future.

The mysterious man who took the Golden Toad possessed such an ability; naturally, Long Xuan dared not use it again, or else he would be exposed.

It was not that he particularly feared the Ninth Young Master, but he had to be nine-tenths wary of the Qian Clan Merchant Association standing behind the Ninth Young Master.

Once the Qian Clan Merchant Association learned that he had gone to great lengths to collect the Golden Toad, they might inevitably suspect that he possessed the Gu Formula for the Three-Legged Golden Toad; how could Long Xuan leave behind such a massive hidden danger?

Therefore, he absolutely could not use the puppet-manipulating ability again.

Since he had abandoned the ability to manipulate puppets, his travel speed slowed considerably, forcing him to avoid areas with the highest density of puppets and take a wide detour.

Along the way, he finally encountered a crew member frantically attacking a house's Barrier.

His crew members had long scattered to various rooms in search of treasures, so encountering a crew member on the road was hardly a coincidence.

The crew member he happened to meet was none other than Leng Yan; at this moment, Leng Yan was wielding a Spirit Sword, hacking wildly at the Barrier of one of the rooms.

Yet, even though she exerted every ounce of her strength, the Barrier remained stubbornly unmoved under her sword.

At this moment, fine beads of sweat had formed on Leng Yan's forehead, her eyes revealing an anxious expression.

Long Xuan shook his head helplessly, walked over, and directly unleashed the Five Elements Jade with full force, slamming it heavily against the Barrier.

The Barrier could not even withstand the strike for a second; it shattered instantly at the impact.

The sturdiness of this Barrier was far, far weaker than those of the houses in the city center; Long Xuan needed not open the Life and Death Gate at all, as his own attack, which far exceeded that of a Marrow Cleansing Peak cultivator, was already fully sufficient to shatter this Barrier.

"Go on in! You owe me another favor; remember to repay it later."

Long Xuan smiled at her, completely uncurious about what lay inside the house, and once again headed toward Di Xin's location.

Leng Yan watched his departing back with a complex gaze, sighed softly in her heart, and finally ran into the room.

Not long after, she found the treasure chest within the room; after excitedly opening it, three white fruits soon appeared before her eyes.

Leng Yan immediately displayed a look of delighted surprise; it was actually Face-Keeping Fruit, and three of them at that; her face flushed crimson, and her breathing instantly became rapid.

At this moment, she recalled Wu Yaoyao's prophecy regarding her; had one of the prophecies already come true? She had indeed found Face-Keeping Fruit within the Sky Island Ruins.

And with the Black Dragon Pirate Group crippled, it was obvious that Big Solitary Island was the victorious party in the war; this second prophecy had also come true.

Now only the final prophecy remained; would this last prophecy also come true?

Leng Yan suppressed her smile, finally stored the three Face-Keeping Fruits in her Storage Ring, and left the room.

When Long Xuan arrived at Di Xin's location, he discovered that the Barrier of the adjacent house had already been shattered, and the treasures inside had long been scavenged clean.

At the entrance, she was currently engaged in battle with a handsome young man dressed in Green Clothes.

Di Xin had not released a single Gu Worm, whereas this young man had unleashed a swarm of Gu Worms to launch a coordinated attack against her.

But Di Xin was famously multi-armed; she truly did not fear fighting many alone, for her hundreds of arms could each release a Spirit Technique to strike the charging Gu Worms.

The two sides fought back and forth; currently, the battle had reached a stalemate, with neither side gaining the upper hand.

Gu Tianyi turned his head to glance at the newcomer, the corner of his mouth curling into a cold sneer: "Hmph! Another one arriving? No matter how many come, all will die; my Gu Clan is the nemesis of all Gu Cultivators under heaven!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he diverted five Gu Worms from the battlefield to launch a coordinated attack against Long Xuan.

Long Xuan was just about to retrieve five Gu Worms from his Insect Breeding Bag to meet the enemy when he suddenly furrowed his brows.

Only now did he finally discover that all his Gu Worms were actually in a state of slumber; not only were his Outer Gu unusable, but all his Inner Gu had also fallen into slumber, and no matter how he tried to communicate with them via Intent, they would not awaken.

In other words, he could not use a single Gu Worm at this moment; somehow, all the Gu Worms on his person had been banned.

Long Xuan was greatly shocked; what sort of bizarre ability was this, capable of disabling all Gu Worms of a Gu Cultivator?

The majority of a Gu Cultivator's power stems from their Gu; if a Gu Cultivator lacks Gu, what kind of Gu Cultivator are they? A Gu Cultivator without Gu loses at least half their strength, leaving them entirely at the mercy of others.

This ability is simply invincible; where exactly did this person emerge from, to be so terrifying?

"This person possesses the Gu King Gu; its ability is to disable all Gu Worms under heaven, be careful!" Di Xin's voice arrived at that moment.

Long Xuan's expression turned grave; he had no time for detailed thought now, and since he could not use any Gu Worms, he could only resort to using his Clones.

He immediately released all his Clones to confront the various Gu Worms charging toward him.

One must not assume he was rendered useless simply because he could not use Gu Worms; Long Xuan was different from other Gu Cultivators, for if other Gu Cultivators were subjected to Forbidden Gu, they would truly be finished.

But he had always neglected his proper duties, researching far too many things unrelated to Gu Worms; even without the ability to use Gu Worms, his combat prowess was by no means weak.

To say nothing of other things, just these Clones of his were each no weaker than a single Extreme Grade Gu Worm.

How could these five Gu Worms released by Gu Tianyi possibly do anything to him?

Very quickly, these five Gu Worms were stalled by Long Xuan's five major Clones, fighting to a standstill, which greatly reduced the pressure on Di Xin's side.

Gu Tianyi was greatly alarmed; he had intended to instantly kill the newcomer with five Extreme Grade Gu Worms, then concentrate his forces to besiege that troublesome female Gu Cultivator.

He had anticipated that, under conditions where Gu Worms could not be used, no one could resist the coordinated attack of five Extreme Grade Gu Worms, and this person would inevitably be instantly slain by his five Extreme Grade Gu Worms.

However, the development of events greatly exceeded his expectations; this person, despite being unable to mobilize Gu Worms, possessed equally terrifying combat power, showing not the slightest fear of the coordinated attack by his five Extreme Grade Gu Worms.

Gu Tianyi secretly cursed in his heart; what the Ghost had he encountered today? He most feared meeting Gu Cultivators who neglected their proper duties, spending all day not researching Gu Worms but instead focusing entirely on non-Gu powers; such people were the nemesis of his Gu Clan.

Yet, against all odds, he had encountered two such nemeses in a single day today; it was simply bad luck, and he secretly thought things looked grim, fearing that under the coordinated attack of these two nemeses, his chances of survival today were slim.

At this moment, he was extremely decisive; knowing full well he could never defeat the combined efforts of these two, he did not hesitate to take out that Dinghai Pill and throw it into his mouth.

Since he was bound to use it sooner or later anyway, he naturally had no qualms.

In an instant, a painful, ferocious expression appeared on his face as his aura began to climb step by step upon his person. (End of Chapter)