The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear Gu-Chapter 501: Current Situation of the Xuanyuan Empire

Half a year later, melodious zither music flowed across the island. In a cool pavilion, Di Xin gently sipped a steaming cup of coffee and heavily placed a Go piece on the board.

“Tsk tsk! After your half-year of guidance, this piece belonging to Qin Mingyue has grown dazzlingly bright.”

“What’s the name of this zither tune? It’s quite beautiful.”

Di Xin smiled as she looked at Long Xuan, seated opposite him.

Long Xuan, as he placed another piece on the board, smiled faintly and said:

“This composition is called ‘High Mountains and Flowing Water’. Quite evocative, isn’t it? In this world, there are likely very few pieces that can surpass its artistic conception.”

Long Xuan’s smile deepened. He had long planned to nurture Qin Mingyue, hoping she would reach a far greater future, and through the connection of her as a “Go piece of fate,” he could share in even greater fortune.

Over the past six months, he had taught her every piece of zither music he remembered from his past life—without holding anything back.

He never intended to tread the Path of Sound, so keeping the sheet music in his memory would serve no purpose. Thus, he poured all his efforts into cultivating this first disciple.

The result: Qin Mingyue’s brilliance as a “fate piece” increased tenfold—far beyond his expectations.

This indicated that after learning these compositions that didn't belong to this world, her future accomplishments would far surpass her original trajectory—by more than tenfold.

Long Xuan even suspected that once the three of them left this place, Qin Mingyue would encounter an unimaginable great destiny due to these compositions. Her future achievements would not be something even a peak-grade Gu King could restrain. Otherwise, this piece would not have undergone such exaggerated transformation.

“High Mountains and Flowing Water? A good name. I truly heard the majesty of mountains and the flowing of water within the melody.”

A subtle smile appeared on Di Xin’s face.

“Over these six months, I've heard countless zither pieces—none of which I’ve ever heard before. Are all these classics truly your original creations?”

Long Xuan shamelessly replied,

“What else? Have you ever heard them elsewhere?”

Di Xin curled her lips, chuckling:

“You really are someone who can casually invent anything across every field. I wonder what exactly your mind is made of.”

“Regardless of whether they are your creations or not, these pieces will allow Qin Mingyue to soar to the heavens.”

“Don’t underestimate the impact of original compositions on a Gu Cultivator who follows the path of zither. Just like Book Gu, which demands original content when refined, many zither-type Gu require original pieces to evolve.”

“Since none of these pieces exist outside, with them, she’ll be able to refine numerous heaven-defying Gu. To her, you are practically a creator and savior.”

“Heh! In any case, you’re quite lucky, being able to dual cultivate with such a gifted woman.”

Di Xin chuckled and teasingly said:

“She likely chose you only because she believed she was trapped here forever, with no other choice.”

“If she knew there was a way out at any time, she would never have chosen to dual cultivate with you.”

“If she finds out you had a way out all along, she might explode in fury—maybe even rip out your heart.”

Long Xuan paused, his expression slightly unnatural:

“That’s not my fault, is it? She never asked.”

“So you do have a way out,” Di Xin said meaningfully.

Long Xuan blinked.

“Are you trying to trick me?”

“Since you guessed already, there’s no point hiding it anymore.”

“I do have a way out—but only one chance. Leaving early, alone, is not an option.”

“This place is very safe for me—perfect for closed-door cultivation. Only after I break through to the Gu King realm will I consider leaving. You’ll have to wait,” Long Xuan explained truthfully.

Di Xin nodded seriously. The joking tone vanished.

“That’s exactly what I was thinking. I plan to break through to Gu King here before leaving. By then, I’ll have the power to protect myself and won’t fear the ones hunting us.”

“You’ve been dual cultivating with Qin Mingyue for half a year now. Your spiritual power should be ready.”

“Why not close up together today and break through?” Di Xin suggested with a smile.

Long Xuan agreed and added:

“Let’s do it together. Qin Mingyue has also reached the bottleneck of the Gu King realm. We may as well all close up together.”

That day, the zither music on the island finally ceased. The deserted island returned to its dead silence.

Three Months Later

In the master bedroom, Long Xuan suddenly opened his eyes. A brilliant light flashed within them. Across from him, the beautiful woman also opened her eyes, and the two smiled at each other.

This breakthrough to Gu King was surprisingly smooth.

With his Ten Absolute Physique, his Spiritual Sea was solid as a rock, and the breakthrough was meant to be extremely difficult—made even harder by the utter lack of spiritual energy in this desolate world. Long Xuan had expected to need at least three Heavenly Spirit Pills, but succeeded with just one.

Much of that success was thanks to Qin Mingyue. He hadn’t expected dual cultivation with a woman possessing the Heavenly Fragrance Physique would aid in breaking through.

Since they dual cultivated and advanced together, Qin Mingyue also broke through at the same moment.

Breaking the silence, Long Xuan laughed:

“So this is the power of a Gu King? Truly formidable. I could beat ten of my former selves now.”

Qin Mingyue smiled:

“The gap between the Spiritual Sea stage and Gu King is like a chasm. Even the most talented Spiritual Sea Gu cultivator can’t leapfrog to defeat a Gu King.”

“Now that you've become a Gu King, few in this world can threaten you.”

Her smile faded, replaced with melancholy.

What did it matter how strong they became if they were trapped here forever?

“What do you plan to do next?” she asked quietly.

Even if they reached the pinnacle of Gu King, so what? What came after?

She momentarily lost direction, her gaze turning distant and confused.

Long Xuan replied honestly:

“Next, I need to collect materials to upgrade all my Gu. After just breaking through, I have to raise all my Gu to the next level fast—otherwise, I’ll be at a disadvantage against other Gu Kings.”

Thinking about all the high-grade materials he needed, Long Xuan felt a headache coming.

He had far too many Gu, and each was more overpowered than the last. Upgrading them was no simple task.

Still, some were relatively worry-free.

Like Book Gu—thanks to Journey to the West becoming wildly popular across the world, and its embedded Heaven-rank cultivation technique, the book had become almost ubiquitous among Gu cultivators. With so many readers providing spiritual nourishment, the Book Gu had already grown immensely powerful. If Long Xuan hadn’t been deliberately suppressing its growth, it would’ve soared to some unknown level by now.

The moment Long Xuan broke through, the Book Gu broke its seal and evolved effortlessly.

Then there was the Curse Seal Gu, which was even more convenient.

Many Gu in this world feed on spiritual power, evolving in sync with their host. That means their realm always aligns with the Gu cultivator's own, sparing the user from needing special materials to upgrade.

Gu like the Innate Spirit Gu, Face-Changing Gu, and Curse Seal Gu all fall into this category.

Because of these simple upgrade conditions, such Gu are incredibly popular in the Gu world—everyone wants one.

When Long Xuan broke through, the Curse Seal Gu also evolved into a powerful variant Gu simultaneously.

As for the Heaven-Devouring World Toad, it posed no trouble either—it devours all sorts of treasure, and if there’s one thing Long Xuan didn’t lack, it was treasure.

He had collected countless Divine Trees with unique attributes, more than he could even count.

If he hadn’t been restraining the Toad’s growth, who knows how high its realm would be by now.

So naturally, it also evolved the moment he broke through—without needing any effort on his part.

Even the Gu that required heaven-defying spirit herbs to evolve had upgraded on their own.

Long Xuan counted on his fingers and suddenly realized—he had far more usable variant Gu than expected.

Most people, after becoming Gu Kings, are weaklings at first because their Gu can’t keep up.

But not him—his Gu had all evolved simultaneously, and he was now fully capable of going toe-to-toe with any other Gu King.

“Whoever dares to take advantage of him just because he has just broken through to the Gu King stage and has no Gu insects to use… would only be kicking a steel plate.”

Qin Mingyue said gloomily after hearing Long Xuan's plan:

“Are you now planning to upgrade your Gu insects as fast as possible? But you should understand — this place is completely isolated from the outside world. The three of us are the only ones here. The materials needed to upgrade Gu insects are simply impossible to gather here.”

Long Xuan responded calmly:

“No problem! I have a Realm-Breaking Gu. We can leave anytime.”

“No time to waste. Let’s leave now. I’ll go find Di Xin. She succeeded in breaking through to the Gu King stage before us.”

As he spoke, Long Xuan jumped off the bed and ran out the door like he was escaping, completely ignoring the increasingly dark expression on Qin Mingyue’s face.

“You have a Realm-Breaking Gu? You’ve really kept me in the dark!”

Staring at his departing figure, Qin Mingyue clenched her silver teeth, looking like she wanted to eat someone alive.

How could she not be angry? If she hadn’t thought they’d be trapped here forever, she would never have agreed to dual cultivate with a stranger.

She had already resigned herself to living out her days here — even bearing children and experiencing the full cycle of a woman's life — when this scoundrel told her they could actually leave.

Qin Mingyue was absolutely furious.

She strongly suspected now that she’d been set up. This dog of a man must have intentionally kept quiet about their chance to escape, just to deceive her into dual cultivation. Qin Mingyue blushed deeply from both rage and shame.

Three Days Later

Staring at the shattered ruins of the Xuanyuan Imperial Capital, Long Xuan sighed deeply.

“It’s only been half a year… I never imagined that in just half a year, this once-mighty capital would be reduced to such ruin.”

Six months ago, the Grand Talent Tournament that shocked the entire Western Region was held in this very city. At that time, Xuanyuan City was filled with experts and enjoyed unparalleled prosperity.

But in just six months, the mighty capital had become a wasteland. No one could have anticipated this.

Long Xuan had already learned the cause of this destruction in the past three days.

Ultimately, it was all because of him.

He had registered under a false name, which triggered a devastating curse that wiped out the entire royal bloodline of the Xuanyuan Imperial Clan.

On the surface of the Cangyue Imperial Tomb, all Gu cultivators of the Xuanyuan royal line, including Xuanyuan Zhi, died suddenly under the curse's wrath.

The Imperial Guards — those not of the royal surname — were not affected by the curse. However, with all royal family members dead, the guards were leaderless and soon withdrew from the tomb entrance.

With no one guarding the exit, a few surviving Gu cultivators in the tomb managed to escape. Upon returning to their clans, they immediately exposed the wicked deeds of the Xuanyuan royals.

At this point, no royal bloodline members were left alive. With no one to silence the voices, the crimes of the royal clan spread unchecked. However, since the perpetrators were all dead, the incident didn’t cause further turmoil.

Yet the eradication of the Xuanyuan royal family had enormous consequences.

First, no nation can go a day without a ruler. With no heirs to inherit the throne, every major surname began scheming to seize power.

The nation descended into chaos. Clans fought for territory and launched wars for dominance. The empire was engulfed in civil strife.

Countless families perished in the conflict, and countless powerhouses fell.

The Xuanyuan Empire plunged into complete disorder. People died in droves each day.

But the chain reaction didn’t stop there.

The God of Gambling, who had left during the Alchemy Tournament, led a Puppet Army to destroy the Phoenix Heaven Empire. On the conquered land, he established the powerful Great Jin Empire.

After stabilizing its territory, the Great Jin Empire saw the chaos in the Xuanyuan Empire as a golden opportunity — and declared war.

With no emperor and fragmented forces, the Xuanyuan Empire was no match for the unified and powerful puppet forces of Great Jin.

From the moment the war began, the Xuanyuan Empire suffered defeat after defeat. The Puppet Army, like an unstoppable tide, swept across the empire.

Within mere months, the Great Jin Empire had occupied half the Xuanyuan Empire's territory.

In the conquered lands, Gu factions either submitted or were exterminated.

Facing the overwhelming power of the Puppet Army, most of the local forces were terrified. Many chose to surrender before the army even arrived. Some clans even acted as internal agents, betraying their own for survival.

The collapse of the Xuanyuan Empire became a matter of time.

But then, an unexpected event occurred.

After destroying two super-empires in succession, the ambition of the Great Jin Empire was exposed. All central regions of the Gu World began to fear its rise.

Having witnessed the vast numbers of the Puppet Army and knowing they couldn’t resist alone, the central empires united to launch a joint crusade against the Great Jin Empire.

War erupted across all of Central Lands. Chaos spread.

The Great Jin Empire no longer hid its strength and released hundreds of times more puppets, easily withstanding the joint assault.

Its terrifying strength shocked the world. The scale of the puppet legions shook the entire Gu realm.

The Gu World was now in utter chaos. All factions turned their eyes to the ongoing war.

These consecutive wars had completely overwhelmed Xuanyuan Imperial Capital, reducing it to utter ruin.