The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear Gu-Chapter 491: Pursuit

The Fire Clone, disguised as a crocodile, swam across the dark river. It effortlessly climbed up beneath a tree and glanced up at the fruits glowing with blue light. Then it turned back and looked at the crocodiles in the river. Gritting its teeth, it quickly climbed up the tree.

Up until this moment, the crocodiles in the dark river had shown no reaction.

After easily picking all the fruits from the tree, the Flame Clone jumped down and swam back to the other side of the river without any danger, then swiftly crawled in Long Xuan's direction.

It only picked the fruits from the tree and did not attempt to uproot the entire Heavenly Spirit Tree.

The Heavenly Spirit Tree is not unique in the world; as long as the seed core remains, Long Xuan can cultivate a new tree again.

Uprooting the entire Heavenly Spirit Tree would create too much commotion. Long Xuan feared that doing so would alert the crocodiles in the river, potentially causing complications, so he didn’t take the risk.

“We got it! Let’s go!”

Seeing the Flame Clone had returned safely, Long Xuan was overjoyed. After calling out to Di Xin, he carefully made his way toward the distance.

Long Xuan had a clear objective. After leaving the current area, he headed directly toward another location marked with an “∞” progress sign.

Di Xin followed closely behind without offering any opinions on the path ahead.

As they traveled through a passageway within the tomb, Long Xuan furrowed his brow slightly. He realized that once he had entered this area, his Earth Escape ability had stopped working—likely due to interference from formation arrays.

In this world, there are far too many insects capable of burrowing underground. To defend against such threats, most protective formations possess soil-stabilizing abilities to prevent certain Gu insect from infiltrating through the earth.

Therefore, encountering a situation where Earth Escape doesn’t work is not a coincidence—it is expected.

In the perilous journey ahead, Long Xuan had originally intended to tunnel directly to the coffin chamber using his Earth Escape technique, but now it was clearly impossible.

“You didn’t break the formation here?” Long Xuan looked at Di Xin and asked.

“I just got here. What do you think?” Di Xin shot him a look.

“If I really had the ability to break all the formations in this tomb, then the Tomb-Suppressing Treasure inside would already be in my hands.”

“I only broke the barrier protecting this grand tomb. As for the smaller formations within, I haven’t touched them, nor do I have the means to.”

“In fact, these formations are completely unfamiliar to me. I have no idea what dangers they may trigger.”

Di Xin stared seriously down the tomb passage with a grave expression and said, “What I’m certain of is that there are deadly dangers ahead in this corridor.”

“As for what those dangers might be, I don’t know. We must proceed with caution.”

Long Xuan looked at her in surprise. He hadn’t expected there to be formations in this world that could stump even Di Xin. It seemed these arrays were truly beyond her expertise.

Without saying much, Long Xuan instinctively took out a puppet from his storage ring. After attaching a wisp of his Split Soul to it, he controlled the puppet to cautiously proceed deeper into the tomb passage.

He had an abundance of puppets on hand, so he wasn’t short on path-testing stones.

However, the puppet had only walked a few steps when, all of a sudden, it appeared to be sliced by something invisible and was cleanly cut into four pieces, crashing heavily to the ground.

The break points on the puppet were clean and smooth. The hard alloy shell had been sliced like tofu. Long Xuan had no idea what kind of attack could be sharp enough to achieve this. From beginning to end, he hadn’t seen what had attacked the puppet.

A look of shock crossed his face. It was important to know that the puppet was made with an alloy shell, even harder than Geng Metal.

In this world, very few things could break through such defense.

Yet now, the alloy shell had been effortlessly destroyed by some invisible force. Long Xuan found it hard to believe his eyes.

Swallowing nervously, he felt a surge of fear in his heart. If even his alloy puppet could be shredded like that, what would happen to a person walking in?

Thankfully, he hadn’t rushed in recklessly. If this mysterious attack could kill even a Gu King, a Spiritual Sea Stage Gu Cultivator like him would undoubtedly die upon entry.

Di Xin solemnly waved her hand. The puppet, which had been sliced into four pieces, flew back as if manipulated by some force.

She received the puppet and gently ran her fingers across the neat cuts, her expression growing increasingly serious.

“These are the result of spatial rifts—attacks caused by tears in space. This corridor is filled with countless invisible spatial rifts.”

“Some of these rifts can even move. Otherwise, the puppet wouldn't have been sliced in half so precisely.”

“No matter how tough the material, it will be effortlessly severed by a spatial rift. No Gu Cultivator’s defenses can withstand such an attack.”

“As expected of the Cangyue Imperial Tomb—they’re using spatial power to guard the tomb.”

“With this many shifting spatial rifts in the corridor, it’ll be incredibly difficult for us to pass through.”

“Let me tell you plainly—there is no known method in this world to see hidden spatial rifts. Otherwise, the Cangyue Imperial Tomb wouldn’t be protected this way.”

Hearing her explanation, Long Xuan suddenly understood. Since the attacks came from spatial rifts, the puppet’s destruction made perfect sense.

No matter how strong the alloy, it couldn’t possibly withstand the sharpness of space itself.

Still, though this passage was treacherous, Long Xuan couldn't help but twitch when he saw Di Xin casually store the puppet into her own storage ring.

He suspected Di Xin had noticed the unusual composition of the puppet. Alloy technology was far ahead of its time. Using alloy to create array bases would certainly enhance formation effectiveness, so it wasn’t surprising for a genius formation master like Di Xin to show interest.

Long Xuan took a deep breath, turned his head, and activated his Golden Finger ability. As expected, he could now see the progress markers within the tomb passage.

Some markers were even mobile—these were clearly the moving spatial rifts Di Xin had mentioned.

Realizing that his Golden Finger could detect hidden spatial rifts, Long Xuan was overjoyed. He inwardly chuckled: Di Xin had just said no method could detect hidden spatial rifts, yet he saw them effortlessly. Wasn’t that a bit of a slap in the face?

Smiling, Long Xuan took out another puppet, attached a wisp of Split Soul to it, and sent it forward to scout the path.

Caution had long been his habit. Even though he now had a method to deal with the danger here, who could guarantee there weren’t other invisible threats?

Better safe than sorry. With this mindset, Long Xuan chose not to immediately enter the tomb passage and instead sent out another puppet to test the way.

Seeing Long Xuan’s actions, Di Xin slightly furrowed her brows, but ultimately said nothing.

However, when she saw the puppet dart left and right, entering deep into the tomb passage unscathed, her eyes widened in shock—she could no longer stay calm.

"How is that possible? You saw the spatial rift, didn’t you? You can actually see the spatial rifts here—how did you manage to do that?" Di Xin exclaimed in astonishment.

"Let’s go!" Long Xuan gave no further explanation. Seeing that the puppet had walked ahead for quite some time without sustaining any damage, he confidently followed it forward.

Di Xin stared blankly at his back, unable to think too much. She quickly caught up.

Not long after the two left, a group of people hurriedly arrived—these were the Gu cultivators from various major clans who had descended into the tomb together.

Compared to the Gu cultivators from the Xuanyuan royal family, those from the various clans were overall much stronger. As a result, under the assault of the distorted forces, it was mainly the royal cultivators who perished, while casualties among the clan cultivators were significantly lower.

Thus, a good number of Gu cultivators had made it into the tomb, and powerful Gu Kings were plentiful among them.

This group happened to follow the same path Di Xin had taken. Most of the dangers along the way had already been resolved by her, so the group encountered little peril and preserved their strength.

Clearly not reckless, this group didn’t charge directly into the tomb passage. Following Long Xuan’s example, they also sent a puppet ahead to scout.

But when the puppet was suddenly sliced into four parts by a mysterious force, everyone was startled and became thoughtful.

An experienced elder, his expression grave, was the first to speak:

"If I’m not mistaken, this tomb passage contains invisible spatial rifts."

"That’s troublesome. In the Gu World, there’s no Eye Gu that can detect hidden spatial rifts."

"This path is impassable. There’s no way through."

Hearing this, the head of the Lan Clan furrowed his brow. A vertical eye suddenly opened on his forehead as he carefully scanned the tomb passage for a long time. Seeing no spatial rifts, he finally gave up.

"If this path is truly impassable, then how did the ones ahead of us make it through?" he asked with a puzzled expression.

Since they were following the path taken by Di Xin, they naturally passed by the Heavenly Spirit Tree and saw that all the Spirit Fruits had been picked. It was easy to deduce someone had gone ahead.

Everyone fell silent, just as curious about how the person in front had made it through. No one could figure it out.

After a pause, someone in the group suddenly suggested: "If this path is blocked, should we try taking another route instead?"

The Lan Clan Patriarch gave the speaker a glance, then turned his gaze back to the tomb passage and said in a deep voice:

"That person was clearly injured after using that move—seriously injured. Such a terrifying technique is surely not something he can use a second time."

"Now that he no longer poses a threat, this is the best chance to kill him. We must not give him time to recover."

"I don’t care where you all go, but since he took this path, I will take this path too. I’m determined to take his life."

Lan Yan narrowed his eyes, a cold murderous gleam flashing within them.

“An innocent man gets into trouble because of his wealth”—that forbidden technique, capable of wounding a Gu King with mere Spiritual Sea cultivation, was simply heaven-defying. Its destructive power was enough to obliterate heaven and earth. Faced with such a power, he couldn’t help but desire it, no matter the cost.

If he could master that move, what would he have to fear? Even someone like Xuanyuan Zhi from outside could be annihilated with ease. At that point, he would become the strongest in the Western Region, perhaps even one of the top ten powerhouses in the entire Gu World.

The allure of such a forbidden technique was simply irresistible.

At this moment, many Gu Kings began having the same thoughts. Greed took root in their hearts.

With such overwhelmingly destructive power, who wouldn’t be tempted? This technique was hailed by all as the supreme offensive art under heaven.

“Hmph! Since he could pass through so easily, this path won’t stop us either. Even if it takes countless lives to explore the route, I will uncover the correct path.”

Lan Yan suddenly cast a sinister look at the people behind him, causing them to shudder and instinctively step back. At that moment, all the Gu cultivators at the Spiritual Sea stage sensed something ominous and turned pale.

Soon after, screams echoed from the crowd, chaos erupted.

Those few Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators who had narrowly survived the Distorted Jade were now used as expendable scouts by the Gu Kings.

Meanwhile, Long Xuan still had no idea he had become the target of an entire group of Gu Kings...

"Blacksteel Gold! There’s actually Blacksteel Gold here!"

Long Xuan caressed the shimmering black metal on the stone wall, elated.

Blacksteel Gold was a rare, long-extinct metal in the Gu World. Its properties were extraordinary, known for their powerful regenerative capabilities.

A small scratch on a piece of Blacksteel Gold would heal rapidly.

If just a trace of Blacksteel Gold were added to a spiritual artifact, the item would gain remarkable self-healing abilities.

Such a miraculous metal was heaven-defying—far more valuable than even Geng Metal.

It was precisely because of its incredible properties that humanity overmined it, and eventually, it vanished into the annals of history.

Long Xuan was ecstatic. He had never imagined that within the Cangyue Imperial Tomb, he would find a Blacksteel Gold vein.

Although his spiritual sense revealed the vein wasn’t large, even a small amount of Blacksteel Gold was enough to make a fortune—at the very least, he now had premium material to upgrade his Sou Gu Hut.

Di Xin also gently touched the Blacksteel Gold in the wall, surprise in her eyes. She smiled and said:

"Who would’ve thought there’d be a hidden Blacksteel Gold vein here?"

"If we incorporate Blacksteel Gold into the formation foundation, the array will gain incredible self-repair capabilities. It could last tens of thousands of years without deterioration, eternally preserved."

"Now I finally understand why the guardian formation of the Cangyue Imperial Tomb has remained intact for so long—it’s because Emperor Cangyue had a vast supply of Blacksteel Gold."

"However, Blacksteel Gold is extremely difficult to mine. Extracting even a small quantity will take considerable time."

"By the time we’ve barely mined a few pieces, those people behind us might already catch up," she said with a slightly disappointed look.

Long Xuan frowned slightly. Giving up such a priceless Blacksteel Gold vein? Of course he was unwilling.

At last, he patted the Insect Bag at his waist and released the Heaven-Devouring World Toad.

Right now, his only option was to let the Heaven-Devouring World Toad consume the entire mineral vein.

Once it was in the toad’s belly, he could mine it at his leisure. He’d gain an additional floating island—and all the time he needed to extract it.

But whether the Heaven-Devouring World Toad could actually consume the entire mineral vein, he wasn’t sure. He could only take a gamble.

It was the only plan he had. If the toad failed, he’d be forced to abandon this treasure trove.