The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear Gu-Chapter 424: Another Encounter with Zhu Jiuge

A month later, on the main island.

Long Xuan opened his bright eyes, clenched his fists tightly, and felt the power coursing through his body. A faint smile appeared at the corner of his lips.

"So this is the strength of the late-stage Spiritual Sea realm? It is indeed far beyond the mid-stage Spiritual Sea. Only true prodigies can fight above their level."

"Now that I've broken through to the late-stage Spiritual Sea, I have a much better chance of surviving the River God's Secret Realm."

Long Xuan stood up and finally stepped out of the spatial chamber.

Outside the cave, when Shui Lao saw Long Xuan emerge, he showed a faint smile and said, "Have you broken through to the late-stage Spiritual Sea? Not bad. You are one of the few geniuses capable of fighting above your level. The late-stage Spiritual Sea realm should be more than enough for the River God's Secret Realm."

Long Xuan examined Shui Lao’s cultivation and was surprised to find that he, too, had reached the late-stage Spiritual Sea realm. He couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement.

"You've reached the late-stage Spiritual Sea so quickly?" Long Xuan asked in astonishment.

Shui Lao nodded and replied with a smile, "Thanks to your pills, I must thank you for that."

"The quality of your pills is excellent. I should be able to break through to the peak-grade Spiritual Sea before the Tea Ceremony begins. By then, I’ll be fully capable of competing with Shui Wuqing." Shui Lao clenched his fist tightly.

"The Tea Ceremony is about to start, and the journey is long. We need to set out in advance. Since there's no better time than the present, why don't we leave today?" Shui Lao suggested with a smile.

"Alright! Let's leave today. I have nothing to pack, so we can go right away."

Long Xuan had stored all his belongings inside the stomach of the Heaven-Devouring World Toad, so there was indeed nothing for him to pack.

The two of them simply took down the lightning rods outside and left the Thunder Swamp.

A Month Later

Standing atop the high walls of Radiant Moon City, Long Xuan and Shui Lao looked down upon the ruins inside, their gazes filled with solemnity.

The Tea Ceremony and Wine Ceremony hosted by the He Clan were to be held in the Wine City of the Radiant Moon Empire.

To reach Wine City, they had to pass through the imperial capital—Radiant Moon City.

But when they arrived, ready to take a break, they were met with a horrific sight.

The imperial capital of the Radiant Moon Empire, home to millions, had been completely wiped out. Corpses littered the city, blood stained the streets, and not a single building remained intact.

An empire’s grand capital had been utterly annihilated by a mysterious force. How could they not be shaken?

Long Xuan's mind reeled in shock. "What in the world happened here?"

"The Phoenix Heaven Empire's imperial capital was destroyed after losing half of its national fortune. Now the same thing has happened to the Radiant Moon Empire..."

"Could national fortune—such an intangible and mysterious force—really be this terrifying?"

Shui Lao stared at the scene in disbelief and clicked his tongue. "Unbelievable... Radiant Moon Imperial City was incredibly powerful. Spiritual Sea realm Gu Masters were everywhere, and Gu Kings were as common as stray dogs."

"Yet such a mighty city was annihilated in an instant. It's simply unimaginable."

"What kind of force could have done this? With Radiant Moon Imperial City gone, the entire Radiant Moon Empire is bound to be thrown into chaos."

Shui Lao's expression turned grim.

"The bodies of the invaders have already been removed, so we can't determine who was responsible."

"But from the looks of it, the battle must have ended extremely quickly. The nearby cities didn’t even have time to send reinforcements before Radiant Moon City was wiped out."

"This isn't something we should concern ourselves with. Let's move on; the Tea Ceremony is more important."

With that, Long Xuan leaped off the city wall and continued toward Wine City.

This matter had nothing to do with him. He had no curiosity about investigating the perpetrator—he had no interest in inviting disaster upon himself.

Shui Lao furrowed his brows but ultimately followed, jumping down to catch up with Long Xuan.

A Few Days Later

After several days of travel, the two of them halted before the corpse of a monkey.

"A monkey from Ten Thousand Monkey Mountain? Why would one of these monkeys leave the mountain and appear in the heart of a human empire?"

Long Xuan frowned in confusion as he examined the monkey’s body.

He had once set his sights on the legendary Ten-Thousand-Year Monkey Wine from Ten Thousand Monkey Mountain, so he had done his research. He could recognize the species.

Shui Lao inspected the monkey’s wounds and said, "Judging from the injuries, it was violently killed by a human Gu King."

"This just keeps getting stranger... First, the destruction of Radiant Moon Imperial City. Now, a monkey from Ten Thousand Monkey Mountain appears here. Could the monkeys have destroyed Radiant Moon City?"

"Impossible. Even if every single monkey from Ten Thousand Monkey Mountain swarmed the city, they wouldn't have the strength to do this."

Long Xuan replied, "Regardless of who destroyed Radiant Moon City, it has nothing to do with us. Let's keep moving."

Without thinking much about it, he casually stored the monkey’s corpse in his storage ring. A third-rank spirit beast was valuable, and selling it could fetch a decent sum.

Though such money was insignificant compared to his current wealth, picking up a free corpse took only a second—why not?

However, just as he stored the corpse away, a loud "Hah!" rang out from behind him.

Long Xuan suddenly felt a powerful gust of wind rushing toward the back of his head. His expression changed, and he quickly dodged to the side.

Thanks to his expertise in body refinement, his reflexes were fast enough. The incoming staff narrowly grazed his shoulder, nearly striking him.

Turning around, Long Xuan got a good look at his attacker, and his expression turned peculiar.

A dazzling golden-furred little monkey appeared behind him. However, this monkey was wearing a full suit of Spirit Armor, something only humans would typically don, and wielded a staff-like Spiritual Artifact in its hands.

What was even more exaggerated was that each of its ten fingers wore a ring-type Spiritual Artifact.

And that wasn’t all—its waist was adorned with numerous jade pendant-type Spiritual Artifacts, five necklace-type Spiritual Artifacts hung around its neck, and it even had earrings, a nose ring, a hat, shoes, and rings on all ten toes…

Damn! It was covered in Spiritual Artifacts from head to toe, armed to the teeth, practically blinding to look at.

A spirit beast wearing so many human Spiritual Artifacts—who would believe such a thing? This was simply outrageous.

Any spirit beast with such an arsenal of artifacts was bound to be trouble.

Seeing the monkey’s red eyes glaring at him with hatred, Long Xuan finally realized what was happening. His expression shifted slightly as he awkwardly said, “If I told you that I wasn’t the one who killed that monkey just now, would you believe me?”

“Don’t get the wrong idea. I only took its corpse because I couldn’t bear to leave it exposed in the wilderness. I was planning to bury it and lay it to rest.”

However, his only response was another staff strike.

The golden monkey wasn’t interested in his explanations—it simply swung its staff straight at Long Xuan’s head.

“Hah!”

Long Xuan’s face darkened. What kind of rotten luck was this? Did he forget to check the almanac before leaving home? How did he end up in such a mess?

Seeing the incoming staff strike, he didn’t dare to be careless. Instinctively, he raised his Vajra Palm to block.

His palm instantly turned golden and clashed with the incoming iron staff.

“Clang!”

The collision of the golden palm and the iron staff produced a loud metallic clang, sparks flying from the impact. Long Xuan felt his palm go numb, his expression shifting slightly as he inwardly marveled at the sheer force behind the blow.

The golden monkey was also shaken by the impact, forced to stagger back three steps. It looked at Long Xuan in shock, momentarily wondering if he was actually a spirit beast in human skin. How could a human possess such strength?

Its expression grew serious. Realizing that its opponent was no ordinary person, the monkey no longer held back. It spun its staff a few times before charging at Long Xuan again.

“Hah!”

“You damn monkey! You’re truly stubborn! Do you really think I’m afraid of you?”

Seeing that the fight was inevitable, Long Xuan had no choice but to engage in battle.

Beside him, Shui Lao quickly stepped aside, watching with a schadenfreude-filled grin, making no move to help.

He had already noticed that this golden monkey was far from ordinary—its bloodline seemed extremely rare, and its combat prowess far exceeded that of normal spirit monkeys. With all those Spiritual Artifacts enhancing its power, it was practically unstoppable. This was the perfect opportunity to gauge Long Xuan’s true strength.

Long Xuan could see through the old fox’s thoughts. He cursed inwardly and immediately decided—not a single Gu would be used. If Shui Lao wanted to force him to reveal his trump cards, he wouldn’t let it happen.

It was just a monkey! He could take care of it barehanded.

Thus, man and monkey clashed fiercely, locked in a heated battle…

Meanwhile, in the distance, a group of Gu cultivators with Spiritual Sea auras approached rapidly. When they saw the intense battle between the man and the monkey, they immediately halted, choosing to watch from afar.

“That golden monkey… It possesses a divine beast bloodline! Its combat power is extraordinary—it’s the strongest among all third-grade monkeys and is set to become the next Monkey King.”

“Its strength already surpasses most of the human prodigies. Now that it’s fully armed with top-grade Spiritual Artifacts, no human prodigy should be able to defeat it.”

“Who on earth would be foolish enough to provoke it? With all those artifacts enhancing its power, no Gu cultivator of the same rank could possibly stand against it.”

The crowd murmured among themselves, their gazes filled with fear and caution toward the golden monkey.

However, among them, a young girl’s expression grew serious.

“Haven’t you all noticed? That man… He isn’t using any Gu techniques or Spiritual Weapons. He’s relying purely on his physical strength to fight the golden monkey on equal footing.”

“His body techniques are overwhelmingly powerful. I’ve never seen anything like them. From what I can tell, his raw physical strength is far greater than the golden monkey’s—this is simply absurd.”

“Spirit beasts are naturally ten times stronger than humans. I’ve never heard of a Gu cultivator whose strength surpasses that of a spirit beast, let alone one with a divine beast bloodline.”

Her gaze remained fixed on Long Xuan, filled with intense curiosity.

The moment she spoke, the crowd fell into a stunned silence.

All eyes turned toward Long Xuan, observing carefully.

Soon, everyone’s expressions turned serious, followed by a collective gasp.

“Who is this man? The golden monkey possesses the boundless strength of a divine beast, yet he dares to fight it head-on—and even has the upper hand?”

“Hiss! This level of physical strength is terrifying. How did he cultivate his body to this extent? What kind of body-refinement technique is he using? I’ve never even heard of a human surpassing a spirit beast in raw power. This is practically a humanoid spirit beast!”

“Just who is he? With such an unbelievable level of combat strength, there’s no way he’s just some unknown nobody.” 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

“Tsk tsk! He’s not even using any Gu techniques, yet he’s overpowering the golden monkey. This man… is definitely not someone to be underestimated!”

As the crowd continued their discussion, their gazes toward Long Xuan shifted. No longer filled with mockery, they now held a deep sense of caution—and even reverence.