Chapter 71

Originally, Long Xuan wanted to continue searching for top-grade spirit insects, but upon hearing that a large-scale beast tide had broken out in the Ten Thousand Mountains, he dared not linger any longer. He had to abandon this plan and team up with the two of them to head home.

The journey back was smooth, and they didn't run into any more small beast tides. After all, with Long Xuan's Heavenly Mechanism Eye, it would be difficult to accidentally stumble into a beast tide.

In this way, the three of them finally returned to the market that was familiar to them, without any danger.

Seeing this market, the three of them immediately felt a sense of having found home. At this moment, they were finally relieved; the three of them let out a long sigh together, and their tense nerves finally relaxed completely.

The three of them looked at each other and smiled.

However, they soon couldn't smile anymore.

A beast tide had broken out in the Ten Thousand Mountains, and the people returning from the mountains were far more than just their group. Now, the area in front of the market was packed with people, and everyone was injured. Clearly, they were all in a bad state and urgently needed to rest and recover.

But at this moment, everyone was being blocked outside the market by a burly man named Shi Jian. Not only was no one allowed to enter the market, but no one was allowed to leave either.

Long Xuan heard the overwhelming curses from the loose cultivators around him and quickly understood what was going on.

It was nothing more than the beast tide arriving, and a large amount of manpower being urgently needed.

Defending against the beast tide was everyone's responsibility; the clan Gu cultivators were simply using such high-minded principles to organize the loose cultivators to fight the beast tide.

This was just great. Having just escaped from the Ten Thousand Mountains, they were now being forced to fight the beast tide. It would be strange if the loose cultivators had any pleasant expressions.

But this group of loose cultivators only dared to be angry but not speak out. With weak strength, they had no say; they didn't dare to defy the will of the clan Gu cultivators.

Now, this clan Gu cultivator was standing on the moral high ground. If you dared to resist, he would have sufficient reason to deal with you. Even killing people and seizing treasures in broad daylight wouldn't be condemned by morality. Who would dare to be the first to stick their neck out?

This Gu cultivator named Shi Jian was one of the seven guardians of this market. He was an expert at the peak of the Essence Refining stage, and among all the Essence Refining peak Gu cultivators, he was a top-tier existence. Who would dare to provoke him?

Therefore, although there was whispering in the crowd, not a single person dared to stand up and resist.

Finally, Long Xuan bravely raised his hand at this moment. Just as Shi Jian revealed a ferocious grin, thinking that there was finally someone to make an example of, he heard him say, "This junior is Old Long's Medicine Boy. I don't know..."

However, before he could finish speaking, Shi Jian immediately interrupted, "He still owes me five million Spirit Stones to this day. Do you think mentioning him is useful?"

Shi Jian looked at Long Xuan playfully, "If you want me to give him face, then you've miscalculated."

"His face isn't worth a penny to me. Not only will I not give him face, but when the beast tide comes, I will order you to be the first to charge up," Shi Jian grinned ferociously.

Long Xuan's body stiffened. He knew it—he just knew it. Once something happens outside, you must never mention Old Long's name. Otherwise, not only would it have no effect, but the situation would actually get worse.

Is this Old Long's debtor list everywhere? He actually ran into a creditor of his just by meeting a random person. How exactly does he live? Long Xuan was truly impressed.

However, he had already prepared himself for this scene in his heart, so he really wasn't trying to use Old Long's face this time. He had long known that mentioning Old Long outside was useless.

"Senior, you've misunderstood! Old Long previously ordered this junior to go to the Ten Thousand Mountains to search for a type of spirit medicine. Now that the spirit medicine has been found, this junior urgently needs to deliver it to Old Long. This junior will return immediately and will definitely not delay for long," Long Xuan said cautiously.

Hearing this, Shi Jian looked at him with suspicious eyes and said, "The monk can run, but the temple can't. I'll assume you don't dare to run. Go and return quickly; I'll wait for you here. By the way, help me ask him when he will pay me back the Spirit Stones!"

"Definitely! Definitely! This junior will certainly convey Senior's words." After Long Xuan said this, he immediately ran toward Big Stone Village at his fastest speed, not daring to stay here for a moment longer.

There was a reason why he made up this sentence, of course; this was where his wisdom lay.

As soon as Long Xuan returned home, he immediately released his Flame Clone, letting it follow the main force to fight the beast tide, while he hid at home and hid honestly.

Beast tides and such were simply too dangerous. Whoever wants to go can go; in any case, he would just stay at home comfortably.

As soon as he returned home, he closed the doors and windows tightly, locked the windows and doors, and sat down in his familiar spot again, starting to grind out Gu formulas.

Originally, he was quite worried about collecting nine types of top-grade spirit insects, but now he was finally no longer worried.

This time, a rare and massive beast tide had broken out. Not only would a large number of Gu cultivators die, but wouldn't spirit beasts also die in droves?

This was his opportunity. As long as enough spirit beasts died, a large amount of beast materials and spirit insects would inevitably flow into the market.

Top-grade spirit insects are rarely seen in normal times, but during the beast tide period, top-grade spirit insects might appear on the market frequently.

As long as he prepared sufficient funds, whether it was the remaining seven types of top-grade spirit insects or beast king materials carrying the King's Qi, it was possible to collect them all in this battle.

In this way, he was full of motivation, striving to grind out the Dragon Gu formula before the beast tide ended.

He could take this opportunity to collect any missing materials; otherwise, once the beast tide passed, it would be difficult to collect any materials again.

Thus, while others were fighting to the death outside, Long Xuan was hiding at home grinding out Gu formulas, perfectly safe. He was truly too cunning.

If those Gu cultivators on the front lines knew that there was such a slacker in the rear, I wonder if they would be angered to death.

And just as Long Xuan had anticipated, this Gu formula was extremely long, and creating it was fraught with difficulties.

In terms of creative difficulty, it was even higher than the Heavenly Mechanism Eye and the Wine Gu. Just balancing the power of the nine top-grade spirit insects alone gave him a massive headache.

Creating the Dragon Gu formula was far from a one-year task.

Just like that, Long Xuan hid comfortably in his little home, and two months passed quickly.

At this time, he was staying in his own medicine garden, protected by the Ice Cold Great Array; no one knew he was here.

He didn't know when he had gotten a stone table and a stone chair, and a large pavilion was built over the stone table and chair, which could be used to avoid the wind and sun, and could also be used to avoid the pouring rain.

And at this moment, he was sitting on the stone chair inside this pavilion.

On the stone table were paper and pens, fine tea, a plate of tea eggs, and a small flower pot to refresh his mind.

As for that plate of tea eggs, they were good stuff. The eggs were undoubtedly Brother Chicken's; its eggs were the largest and roundest, full of spiritual power, and the most nourishing.

And the tea leaves used to make the tea eggs were all picked by him from the tea garden. You must know that his tea garden had transplanted many of Di Xin's fourth-grade tea trees; fourth-grade tea leaves could be considered luxury goods.

Brother Chicken's eggs, plus a brew of fourth-grade tea leaves—the tea eggs made were incredibly fragrant. It is no exaggeration to say they were ten times more delicious than the tea eggs from his past life. In short, he was completely addicted.

He sat on the stone chair, grinding out Gu formulas while eating tea eggs. Occasionally, when he choked, he would take a sip of fourth-grade spirit tea to wash it down. That little life was lived so comfortably, simply wonderful.

However, he was happy, but he didn't know what kind of life that group of Gu cultivators on the front lines was living.

Not to mention not having enough to eat or wear, every day they had to carry their heads on their belts, ready to lose them at any moment.

This beast tide was unprecedented; people were dying in droves, and the Gu cultivators of the Far West Region suffered extremely heavy losses.

Whether it was the loose cultivators participating in the war or the forces of the various great clans, all suffered heavy damage.

It was also fortunate that forces from other regions had already sent a large number of experts to support them; otherwise, relying solely on the power of the Far West Region, they would never have been able to withstand this beast tide.

Of course, it wasn't just the Far West Region where the beast tide broke out; it was all the regions bordering the Ten Thousand Mountains. It is said that the scale of the beast tide in the Far West Region was already considered the smallest.

Because the Far West Region had the most barren resources, spirit beasts didn't want to go there. I don't know if this is a thing to be fortunate about or to be sad about.

Long Xuan suddenly put down his pen, stretched a comfortable stretch, grabbed a teacup at will, and then drank it in one gulp, the fragrance lingering in his mouth.

The Dragon Gu formula was simply too complex. Even though two months had passed, he had only ground out less than one-tenth of the progress.

He was already prepared for a protracted war.

The more heaven-defying a Gu formula is, the harder it is to research. If a Gu formula could be created easily, he would instead question the strength of that Gu species.

Looking at the spirit bees flying back and forth in the medicine garden, he was in a great mood.

The fourth-grade peach tree in the medicine garden blooms once every ten years, bears fruit once every ten years, and matures once every ten years.

At this time, the peach tree was in its blooming period, and the nectar was plentiful. Seeing the full tree of fourth-grade spirit flowers, that group of spirit bees was like they had been injected with chicken blood, rushing over one after another.

Almost every flower on the peach tree would have a spirit bee burrowing into it, revealing half of its butt.

As they entered, the flowers swayed non-stop. It looked like the spirit bees were using a lot of force. I don't know if they would damage them and cause them to fail to bear fruit.

However, Long Xuan searched for a long time and never saw that little glutton that he praised as having the bearing of a Bee King.

Not seeing this familiar figure, he frowned slightly and began to search frantically for its figure in the medicine garden.

After searching for a long time, he finally used his slight perspective ability to discover its figure in one of the secret chambers in the beehive, which finally made him let out a long sigh of relief.

Looking at this little figure that was sleeping soundly, Long Xuan was completely excited.

He wouldn't be stupid enough to think that this little glutton was really sleeping.

The fourth-grade flowers outside were in full bloom. With this little glutton's gluttonous and death-defying personality, how could it possibly sleep?

As long as the fragrance of the fourth-grade spirit flowers entered the beehive, its nose was sharper than a dog's; it would have to be the first to run out. Who in the entire beehive could compete with it?

Now that it was indifferent to the fragrance of the fourth-grade spirit flowers, there was only one explanation: its body was undergoing an unknown change.

The unknown change could be good or bad, but Long Xuan was more inclined to think it was good.

Because this spirit bee had eaten honey made from ten-thousand-year ice mountain snow lotus nectar.

That was honey made from ten-thousand-year spirit flower nectar. With such high-quality honey, how could it not have some effect after eating it?

Looking at the progress on the little glutton's head again, sure enough, a type of progress appeared on its head again, and this progress was 0%.

"Once this progress reaches 100%, could this little glutton evolve into a Bee King?" Long Xuan thought excitedly in his heart.

It's no wonder he thought this; he had been looking forward to this for a long time.

Only by blood-contracting a Bee King could he eat the fourth-grade honey made by this group of spirit bees without restraint; otherwise, if you dared to touch the fruits of their labor, you would only get stung.

At this moment, he placed high hopes on this little glutton. Whether he could eat endless honey in the future all depended on it.

Long Xuan no longer paid attention to it and began to look at Brother Chicken, who was showing off its power in the medicine garden, its gaze extremely sharp, patrolling back and forth in the medicine garden like a security guard.

It was as if this medicine garden was its own; no one could touch its private property, completely treating this place as its territory.

As for Old Long's original medicine garden, it had long been ruthlessly abandoned by it.

The spirit insects in that broken medicine garden were low-level and didn't taste good. It had already endured it for a long time. How could they compare to the delicious spirit insects in this medicine garden?

This medicine garden was full of high-grade spirit herbs, and the spirit insects produced were incredibly delicious. What had it been eating before?

Thus, Old Long's medicine garden was once again disliked by a chicken.

Ever since Brother Chicken arrived here, like that group of spirit bees, it also relied on this place and never left again.

At the same time, after Brother Chicken ate the spirit insects produced by high-grade spirit herbs, the eggs laid were more full of spiritual power, more delicious, and more nutritious, so they were all used by Long Xuan to make tea eggs...

After paying attention to Brother Chicken, he finally stood up, packed his things, and walked out of the array.

He was also helpless; it was really impossible for him to stay quietly in the medicine garden grinding out Gu formulas forever.

Although he had let the Flame Clone replace him on the front lines, even if it died, it would be the Flame Clone that died.

But he really couldn't just let the clone be free-range forever. Through his research, his clone was very stable; as long as it was kept by his side, there would never be any problems.

But this premise was that it had to be kept by his side; it could never be placed in a very distant place and left free-range, otherwise, he couldn't guarantee what would happen.

He had to frequently assimilate the clone's memories; only by being in frequent contact with the clone could he guarantee peace of mind.

So he had to end his closed-door cultivation state and hurry to the front-line battlefield to assimilate the Flame Clone's memories once.

By the way, he would see if there were any materials for the Gu formula in the memories. If there were, he would just swipe them back.

Thus, this coward finally left his comfortable little home and had to set off for the front lines once.

Long Xuan already had some understanding of the movements on the front lines. The difficulty in dealing with the beast tide was that there were simply too many mortal villages that needed to be taken care of.

Mortal villages had no ability to deal with the beast tide, and the Gu Cultivator Alliance had to take care of them. After all, mortal villages were related to their food. Once there were large-scale deaths and injuries among mortals, it would be enough to shake the foundation of a Gu cultivator family.

But there were simply too many mortal villages. If Gu cultivators were dispersed to guard so many mortal villages, their power would be too scattered. When the beast tide came, how could they hold on with this little power? The final result would be that they couldn't hold on anywhere.

Therefore, defending was the least advisable method. They could only keep the battlefield away from the mortal villages to minimize the losses of mortals to the greatest extent.

The method was also very simple: take advantage of the time before the beast tide impacted the villages and the residences of the various great families to send people in advance to lead the beast tide in other directions.

Try every possible way to split the beast tide into countless groups. Small groups of beasts would be directly concentrated and annihilated, while large groups of beasts would continue to be led and dispersed. This was destined to be a protracted war.

However, the people responsible for executing the task of leading the large groups of the beast tide were miserable. This was destined to be a mission with a nine-in-ten chance of death.

Once someone was sent to execute this mission, there was an 80% chance they wouldn't come back.

Of course, no one was willing to execute such a death mission. Everyone was selfish, and no one was willing to do such a thing of sacrificing the small self for the sake of the many.

It is said that the candidates for such missions were all decided by drawing lots, and then the great clans would forcibly plant Gu in them. If they didn't return after executing the mission, the Gu wouldn't be removed.

Through such means, a large number of Gu cultivators were made to follow one after another to their deaths, allowing the mortal world to be spared from the impact of the beast tide.

Long Xuan couldn't help but feel fortunate that he hadn't gone; otherwise, once Gu was planted in his body, even if nothing happened, he would still be disgusted.

By traveling without regard for consumption, he arrived at the front lines in just three days, and using the connection in the dark, he walked toward the location of the clone...

Somewhere in the valley.

About dozens of Gu cultivators were fighting in a melee with over a hundred wolves, and there was a flock of nearly a hundred eagles in the sky harassing them from time to time.

Rather than a melee, it was more like this group of Gu cultivators was encountering a pincer attack from two major beast groups: wolves and eagles.

And it was a pincer attack from both land and air; being completely annihilated was only a matter of time.

And this group of dozens of Gu cultivators was clearly an elite force. It seemed they were not ordinary loose cultivators, but an elite team pieced together by the various great clans, so much so that facing the siege of the two major beast groups, this group of Gu cultivators could actually persist for so long.

However, the difference in numbers was simply too great, and they couldn't run away. There were eagles in the sky; no matter how fast a person's speed was, how could it be faster than an eagle?

At this time, running away would only expose their backs to the eagle flock, and they would die even faster. What was placed in front of this team was a proper dead end. If no variables occurred, not a single Gu cultivator in this team would be able to escape.

"Damn it! Who can tell me where this flock of eagles popped out from! How could they suddenly appear! We're in big trouble now!"

Lei Yun's face was livid, and he roared angrily.

They were all genius Gu cultivators from various clans, and at a young age, they were already at the peak of the Spirit Gathering stage.

It could be said that this was a genius team; all seven great clans of the Far West had geniuses in this team.

How could a team full of geniuses be sent to execute a dangerous mission? Once there were casualties, every clan would feel heartache.

The reason this team was able to be combined together was also mostly for the sake of experience. Every clan intended to let the family geniuses temper their actual combat ability through this beast tide.

So the mission this team received was 100% not going to be dangerous. The arrival of this eagle flock was simply too mind-boggling.

It wasn't just the eagle flock; how the wolf pack on the ground came about also made them a bit confused.

Things happened simply too suddenly. First, they were inexplicably surrounded by the wolf pack, and after fighting for half a day, a flock of eagles suddenly flew over in the sky, and their target was clear, directly joining the battlefield and catching them off guard.

Quite a few geniuses lacking actual combat experience had already been grabbed into the sky by the flock of eagles, then torn apart alive and eaten by the eagle flock, which made them terrified, and fear shrouded everyone's heart.

"I don't know, I also don't know how these two groups of spirit beasts appeared here, but I have already sent a communication talisman to the clan for help. As long as we persist for a while longer, we can wait for the clan's rescue," another person in the crowd shouted loudly.

"Wait for a fart! By the time the rescue arrives, we will have long since been eaten by the spirit beasts. It's impossible for us to persist for that long!"

"Now, whoever still has trump cards, don't hide them anymore. Now is not the time to be stingy. If we are still reluctant to use them, everyone today will die here!"

"What kind of trump cards could we possibly have? Whose trump card could clear so many spirit beasts all at once!"

The crowd was full of noise, but after a long time, they couldn't argue out a result.

At this time, behind a giant rock in the distance, a youth wearing blue clothes was hiding behind it, revealing a sneer.

Want to run? Is his arrangement something you can just run from if you want to?

Just obediently die here for me!

His eyes revealed a cruel look.

That's right, this group of spirit beasts was exactly what this blue-clothed youth had led over.

He was extremely skilled in speed and had methods of concealment, enough to lead the spirit beast army to any location where they shouldn't appear.

There is always such a small group of people in this world who, when others are doing their best to deal with the beast tide, not only don't deal with the beast tide but instead attack their own people.

This youth named Lei Guang was this type of person. He was clearly the first genius of the Lei Clan, one of the seven great clans, and his combat power was invincible among his peers, but he didn't think about how to fight the beast tide or how to repay the clan, but instead kept pondering how to undermine his own people.

In his view, spirit beasts were not as valuable as the storage bag of a Gu cultivator.

Just like this batch of geniuses on whom the various great families placed high hopes, everyone's storage bag was extremely fat.

And after the spirit beasts killed them, they would only eat them, but they wouldn't eat their storage bags. Gu cultivators' storage bags couldn't be used by spirit beasts either, so they could only be abandoned on the ground.

At that time, just waiting for this group of spirit beasts to retreat, he could easily collect the storage bags of dozens of super geniuses, thereby becoming rich overnight.

This wealth would make it not impossible for him to refine two top-grade Gu insects, and it might even be more.

This was his plan, a cruel plan to quickly plunder resources using spirit beasts.

For him, this beast tide was an opportunity for him to rise quickly.

He didn't know how many times he had used similar methods, and he didn't know how many geniuses he had killed.

This time was considered his biggest move, leading two beast groups in one breath, intending to kill dozens of geniuses.

He decided to stop after finishing this last job, hide to avoid the limelight, and make plans after using the resources collected this time to refine a few top-grade Gu insects.

After all, the backgrounds of these dozens of geniuses were more terrifying than the last. Once they died, it would inevitably shock the high-level officials of the various great families. At that time, it would inevitably lead to investigations by experts. How would he dare to commit crimes against the wind again?

A person who likes to do bad things is often not stupid.

He looked at a few Lei Clan geniuses in the crowd. Facing the death struggle of his own clan, he didn't reveal the slightest shame, nor did he have the slightest pity; instead, his expression became increasingly cruel.

What is kinship in front of the path of the strong? That genius named Lei Yun was even his own older brother, but so what?

On the path of the strong, kinship is a stumbling block; kinship is the most boring thing. Even if his older brother was very good to him, he wouldn't give up this plan.

If you want to blame someone, blame him for his bad luck. Since he was in such a team, don't blame his own younger brother for being ruthless and killing his brother to follow the righteous path.

Lei Guang's mouth curled up, revealing an evil smile.

Suddenly, seeing a person who didn't look very old in the distance rushing here at high speed, he hurriedly hid. The next moment, his body turned into the exact same color as the stone, just like merging with the stone.

People passing by here probably wouldn't see that there was still a person hiding here.

And unsurprisingly, the person rushing here at high speed was exactly Long Xuan, who had strayed into this valley.

At this time, Long Xuan's eyes were fixed on the huge eagle king in the sky, his eyes shining with light, revealing an extremely greedy look.

Truly, "the iron shoes were worn out in the search, but it was found without any effort"!

His Gu formula was just missing a top-grade spirit insect related to an eagle, and also missing eagle claw beast materials carrying the King's Qi.

This eagle king completely met his requirements. As long as he slaughtered this eagle king, he could collect two types of top-grade materials in one breath.

How could he let go of such a good opportunity?

Thus, seeing this eagle king from far away, his eyes immediately shone, and he rushed over in a hurry.

As for these two beast groups, he wasn't blind; he saw them all.

In his view, the reason these dozens of people could resist the siege of the two major beast groups for so long was not because they were strong enough, but entirely because most of these two beast groups were spirit beasts below the late first rank.

As for the peak first-rank spirit beasts that were on the same level as the peak of Spirit Gathering, they were actually about the same in number as that group of geniuses.

As long as he cleared those small fry with a big move, the remaining geniuses would be enough to deal with those dozens of peak first-rank spirit beasts, including that eagle king.

Since he could clear the rat tide and the black beetle swarm with the Blazing Flame Palm, clearing the wolf pack of a low level with the Blazing Flame Palm was naturally no problem at all, completely reasonable.

The logic is the logic, and it's fine that small fry can be cleared with a big move, but the problem is, who can possess such a big move?

What Long Xuan didn't know was that the people gathered here were the strongest batch of geniuses from the seven great clans, and even they didn't have such a big move.

Otherwise, why would this beast tide make every clan have a headache? Wouldn't it be over if they just cleared it with a big move?

He probably hadn't realized how terrifying the spirit techniques he had created himself were, and what level they were in this world.

Including the cultivation method he created himself and the mutated spiritual power he researched, he had no clear understanding of what level they could be rated as in this world, or what status they could occupy in this world.

He truly didn't know how terrifying those things he had blindly tinkered with were in this world...

(End of chapter)