Chapter 91: Seeing Long Lie Again

Long Xuan was stunned. The tomb actually contained a terrifying array thirty times more powerful during the day than at night. It truly opened his eyes. Sunlight was also energy; could it be that the people of this world already understood how to utilize solar energy?

To think they could actually incorporate solar energy into an array—what a brilliant idea. He hadn't expected someone to have researched such a great creative concept before him.

He wondered if anyone was competing with him to combine arrays with wind energy, gravitational potential energy, water energy, geothermal energy, or nuclear energy.

Just as Long Xuan was lost in thought, a large hand suddenly slapped heavily onto his shoulder again.

Long Xuan was startled once more, his heart pounding. He had been so deeply engrossed in his thoughts this time that he nearly suffered a shock-induced mishap.

Soon, a large face leaned over from behind again, staring at him as it said, "Finally found you, kid! Are you looking for death? You dare to participate in such a dangerous mission? Do you not want your life anymore!"

Long Xuan turned his head to look at this large face. It was yet another acquaintance, the top-tier relative he hadn't seen in a long time, Long Lie, who could be considered his closest blood relative.

Long Xuan kept patting his startled little heart. *Good grief*, did everyone in this world enjoy ambushing people from behind?

He had to make sure no one slapped him from behind while inside the ancient tomb; scaring people could truly scare them to death.

Long Xuan gave him an annoyed look and said, "Because I want to contribute to the clan, I want to shed my blood and sacrifice myself for the clan—is that not allowed?"

Of course, these words were all nonsense. He spoke with righteous indignation, but others probably wouldn't believe him.

Long Lie looked at him deeply, sniffing wildly at his shoulder.

Long Xuan naturally knew what he was sniffing for. Having suffered a loss once, could he possibly fall for it a second time?

This time, he guaranteed that Long Lie wouldn't be able to smell the scent of alcohol on him again.

It was very difficult to completely dissipate a scent, and Long Xuan had no way to do so. Was he supposed to take ten baths every time he went out? Besides, even ten baths wouldn't be a guarantee.

So, he had come up with a clumsy idea: keep his spirit armor activated the entire time he was out, sealing the scent inside completely.

Although keeping spiritual power covering his whole body would increase consumption, he possessed the Ten Extremes Body; his spiritual power was abundant, and he had the capital to squander it at will.

Furthermore, keeping the spirit armor on the whole time could not only prevent the scent from spreading but also effectively guard against other dangers.

This world had many methods to kill invisibly, and even Long Xuan couldn't guarantee he could see through every underhanded trick in this world.

Being careful was definitely not a bad thing for him.

Long Lie sniffed Long Xuan for a long time but couldn't smell any alcohol. In his surprise, he finally discovered the reason.

Long Xuan, this kid, was keeping his spirit armor activated the entire time even in a place as safe as the clan. Long Lie was truly shocked. Was his spiritual power free? To think he dared to squander it like this.

"I say, is it necessary, kid? As long as you bathe every day, there are very, very few people in this world who can smell the alcohol on you."

"I can guarantee that in the entire clan, I am the only one with such a sensitive nose. You don't need to be this careful at all; even the Ancestor wouldn't be able to smell the alcohol on you."

Long Lie leaned close to his ear and whispered.

Long Xuan was, of course, unmoved by his words. Even if he didn't refine Wine Gu, he had decided to cultivate this habit. Caution is the parent of safety.

"Why are you here? With your cultivation level, you shouldn't be able to participate in this mission, right?"

Since he knew Long Lie was his Great Uncle, Long Xuan spoke much more casually, addressing him directly as "you" instead of calling him "Senior."

"I already broke through to the Spirit Sea Realm long ago. As the team leader for this mission, of course I would appear here."

"Don't tell me you don't even know who the team leader for this mission is?"

"Don't tell me you came to participate in this tomb-robbing operation without understanding the situation at all?"

Long Lie widened his eyes. Since he didn't even know the team leader for this mission, it was enough to show how lacking he was in intelligence gathering. To dare to blindly follow the trend to rob a tomb without knowing anything? His guts were truly huge.

Long Lie couldn't help but show a worried expression, holding a skeptical attitude toward his safety on this trip.

He put on a serious expression and looked at Long Xuan very earnestly, saying, "Time is running out. I'll only remind you of two things: First, you must come out in time before dawn on the second day. You only have half a day to scavenge for treasures. Don't ask why."

"Second, stay away from the genius Gu cultivators of the Great Clans. Top-grade Gu worms are very, very rare in terms of proportion; there isn't even one in the world of loose cultivators, and there are only a scattered few among the hundreds of Gu cultivator families in the Far West. But the top-grade Gu worms of the seven strongest clans in the Far West are very numerous."

"Among the Great Clan geniuses going to rob the tomb this time, there will definitely be people carrying top-grade Gu worms. This is a 100% certainty; there might even be far more than one person."

"If you encounter a genius Gu cultivator from a Great Clan, you must stay far away from them, understand?"

"Forget it! You kid probably don't even know who the geniuses of the major clans are or what they look like, so you wouldn't know who to avoid. Just perish; you're a goner, kid!"

Long Lie couldn't help but slap his own forehead, feeling that his grand-nephew was beyond saving and could start preparing his funeral arrangements in advance.

"Fine, I'll just give you one piece of advice: Remember, after entering the tomb, you must stick firmly behind your Senior Sister. Having her is enough to ensure you are foolproof."

Finally, Long Lie gave the same advice as Long Qilin, which was enough to show how much faith both had in Long Ziyan's personal combat power.

"By the way! Give me some more of that wine from last time. Don't misunderstand! I don't want to drink it; that wine is best used for refining Gu. Drinking it would be a waste."

"Just give me the spicy wine; I want to refine Wine Gu. I'll trade you with top-grade spirit insects."

Long Xuan stared at him blankly.

Didn't he say time was running out? With time running out, he was still asking him for wine?

Why did he feel like this was what Long Lie actually wanted to say, and everything before was just a setup?

However, he was indeed a bit interested in the top-grade spirit insects Long Lie mentioned, but this wasn't a good place for a transaction.

So, Long Xuan said, "Didn't you say time was running out? With time running out, you're still standing here!"

This time, it was Long Lie's turn to be stunned.

"Alright! Time is indeed running out."

Long Lie looked at the sky, showing a serious expression. He finally left and walked toward the very front of the grounds. As the team leader for this mission, he didn't have any opening remarks; he directly took out a dragon boat with a dragon head carved on the bow from his storage bag and placed it on the ground.

The dragon boat enlarged bit by bit, and only when it was large enough to accommodate a hundred people did its volume stop growing.

Long Lie waved his large hand and shouted to board the ship, and he was the first to jump onto the bow. Accompanying him were two Law Enforcers at the Marrow Cleansing stage, their black clothes embroidered with three-clawed divine dragons. These two seemed to be there to supervise those boarding the tomb.

The others also climbed onto the ship one after another, sitting down excitedly.

Boat-type spirit artifacts were very rare, each one worth a fortune and very hard to buy.

Moreover, this dragon boat, which could change its size at will, was of immeasurable value. It was forged by the most famous artifact refiner using the entire clan's strength back in the day.

This was a top-grade spirit artifact, the clan's treasure. Its flight speed was extremely fast, and when controlled by a Spirit Sea stage Gu cultivator, it could exert a speed comparable to a Gu King.

Not to mention riding such a top-grade spirit artifact, even seeing one was usually difficult. Today, having the fortune to ride a top-grade spirit artifact to travel, everyone showed excitement.

Even Long Xuan was no exception. He touched this and looked at that on the dragon boat, full of interest.

Shouldn't all things follow the law of conservation of mass? How exactly did this ship inexplicably become larger? He couldn't figure it out, and his interest grew ever stronger.

His hobby was research; in his past life, he was a research fanatic, and any novel thing would pique his high interest.

He had just been interested in what energy an array should use, and now he was interested in spirit artifacts. His interests were indeed a bit numerous; he couldn't keep up.

After jumping on, Long Xuan sat directly at the stern of the ship and subconsciously looked behind him. This time, surely no one would slap his shoulder again, right? If there could still be someone behind the stern, it could only be a ghost.

It was also at this moment that a fragrant breeze came, and Long Ziyan sat down beside him.

A person who likes quiet always likes to sit in a corner; her choosing to sit here wasn't exactly a coincidence.

After she sat down, she didn't say a word, sitting there quietly reading a book.

Long Xuan subconsciously scanned the book she was reading and discovered it was the same book she had been reading in the silkworm room that day. The characters were strange, and he couldn't understand them at all.

However, Long Xuan did know what these characters were from his clone's memory: these were Divine Texts, a type of script belonging to gods.

He hadn't expected this Senior Sister to be a theology enthusiast, proficient in theological scripts. Long Xuan was somewhat surprised.

One had to know that this world had many mythological stories and mythological ruins. Unlike the previous world, where mythological stories were fictional, the mythological stories in this world were very likely to have truly happened.

Therefore, mastering Divine Texts was very useful. At this moment, Long Xuan had just become interested in spirit artifacts, and now he was very interested in Divine Texts again.

He decided that when he had time, he would let his clone learn Divine Texts. Having more skills is never a burden; mastering this script would definitely be beneficial for his future. Who knew when a mythological ruin might appear that could be a huge help to him.

When everyone was seated, the dragon boat finally started. It didn't know what it used for power, but it slowly rose and finally flew toward the distance.

The dragon boat was very fast, and in just a day's time, they arrived at their destination. It was already dusk, and the sun was about to set.

They had arrived at the right time; only after the sun set was the best time to enter this fierce tomb. It would have been useless even if they had arrived early; arriving early would only mean sitting here waiting in vain.

At this time, a large number of Gu cultivators had already gathered here. This was a tomb-robbing operation held jointly by the seven great clans. Even if each family only sent about a hundred people, the total was already seven hundred. The number could be said to be huge.

And the Long family was considered the last to arrive; the other six families had already arrived, with only the Long family missing.

The sudden appearance of the dragon boat in the sky also attracted the gaze of everyone present.

The dragon boat slowly descended, and several people came to greet them below.

"You Long clan members are too slow. Everyone was just waiting for you. So it was you leading the team; no wonder. Did you mess things up by drinking again? Was that person who slept for three days at the Qian family restaurant last time you!"

Just as the Long clan members got off the ship, someone on the side said sarcastically.

Long Xuan looked toward the source of the voice and saw that the speaker was wearing red embroidered with a phoenix, revealing the aura of a Spirit Sea stage Gu cultivator. He suddenly realized; he had long heard that the Long clan and the Feng clan were world-enemies, basically bickering wherever they went. Now it seemed it was indeed so.

Hearing someone belittle him like this, Long Lie was furious on the spot and roared, "You're talking nonsense! Which eye of yours saw me drinking? It's clearly the Long family that's furthest from here, okay! I already flew over; how fast do you want me to be!"

"Besides, did I ask you to wait for me? You can go down into the tomb now! No need to wait for me! I don't have any objections!"

Feng Yu looked toward the direction of the sun and found that the sun hadn't completely set yet. How would he dare to go down now? Going down now would be seeking death.

"Alright, calm down, everyone. The time to enter the tomb must be when the sun has completely set; arriving early or late is the same."

At this time, a Spirit Sea stage Gu cultivator from the Shi clan stepped out to smooth things over.

Long Xuan took a look and saw it was an acquaintance. Wasn't this Shi Jian, who had forced loose cultivators to confront the beast tide last time?

When he saw him last time, he was only at the peak of the Marrow Cleansing stage. He hadn't expected that in just a few years, he would have transformed into a Spirit Sea stage Gu cultivator.

As expected of a Great Clan Gu cultivator, the cultivation speed was indeed fast.

"I didn't expect that after a few years, you've also reached the Spirit Sea stage. Truly worth congratulating. You just broke through to the Spirit Sea stage and were sent to execute this mission?" Shi Jian walked toward Long Lie and laughed loudly.

"No choice, who told me I'm a newcomer? They call it training newcomers, otherwise I'd be too lazy to do this errand work," Long Lie said with a bitter smile.

He suddenly looked at Feng Yu again and said loudly, "Last time we bet on who would break through to the Spirit Sea stage first. You cheated and won a top-grade Gu worm from me. How about we bet again this time? Let's bet on who has the biggest harvest from this tomb robbing. Do you dare to accept my bet?"

Hearing this, Long Xuan's eyelids twitched first. This Long Lie was truly cunning; he was clearly setting a trap for Feng Yu.

Because previous tomb-robbing attempts had resulted in too many casualties, this time all clans had jointly decided that each clan could only send Spirit Gathering stage Gu cultivators into the tomb.

Yet the Long clan was playing dirty, mixing in a clone of a Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivator. If they played this kind of bet, who could outplay the Long clan?

Although what entered was only a clone of a Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivator, the clone's true cultivation level was indeed the Spirit Gathering stage.

But this kind of loophole-exploiting behavior would definitely not be allowed. Otherwise, what if other families sent a Gu King clone in?

Even if the cultivation level of this Gu King clone was only at the peak of Spirit Gathering, its combat power was completely worlds apart from an ordinary Spirit Gathering stage Gu cultivator. Once a Gu King clone entered, it would be like a tiger entering a sheepfold, with no one able to check it.

Now, whoever dared to accept this bet would be unlucky. It just depended on whether Feng Yu would fall for it. Long Xuan looked at Feng Yu and felt that the possibility of him accepting the bet was very high.

Because this was a provocation; if you didn't accept the bet, it would make people think you were afraid of him. This concerned the issue of face, and it was a clan's face issue. If you dared to shrink back at this time, wouldn't you be ridiculed by everyone present and called a coward?

If it were Long Xuan, with his thick skin, he could definitely endure it, but if it were someone else, that might not be the case.

If the Spirit Sea stage Gu cultivators leading the other families also couldn't bear the loneliness and wanted to join the bet, wouldn't Long Lie make a killing this time?

No, Long Xuan suddenly felt a shock in his heart. Since the Long clan could mix in a Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivator, why couldn't the other families? What if other families had also thought of the same thing?

This bet was risky.

He hurriedly covered his brow with his hand and looked toward the other families' camps...

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 92 =====