The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear Gu-Chapter 506: Upgrading the Tribulation Gu

“It’s not an issue. The Dragon Soaring Empire is currently at war with the Great Jin Empire. As a peak-grade Gu King expert, your presence is critical in this war and cannot be withdrawn lightly.”

“However, from what I know, the number of puppets controlled by the God of Gambling may exceed ten million. Facing such an enormous puppet army, does the Dragon Soaring Empire even stand a chance?” Long Xuan asked, eyes filled with caution and curiosity.

“It’s not a major concern,” Long Kun replied with a cold laugh. “The God of Gambling’s presence has already disrupted the balance of this world. With that massive puppet army, he could crush any force in this world—Gu Emperor City included.”

“No faction would dare ignore such terrifying power. Under the directive of Gu Emperor City, many factions in the Central Region will join forces to strike against the God of Gambling. No matter how powerful he is, he won't be able to cause much of a stir.”

Hearing this, Long Xuan was inwardly shocked. He hadn’t expected that even factions in the Central Region would act against the God of Gambling. This made the outcome of the battle truly unpredictable.

With so many factions involved, the Western Central Lands would soon become a colossal meat grinder. Countless people would be swept into the war, and many powerful Gu Kings might perish without leaving even bones behind.

Long Xuan furrowed his brow deeply. The Central Lands were about to become incredibly dangerous—no longer a place to linger. If he didn’t wish to be dragged into the war, he had to leave immediately.

A decision formed in his heart—to head to the Central Region as soon as possible. He could not remain here.

“Where can I find a cross-regional teleportation formation leading to the Central Region?” Long Xuan asked immediately.

He only knew that there used to be one in Pheonix Heaven City, but it had already been destroyed. He had to find another.

“There aren’t many cross-regional teleportation formation connecting to the Central Region. Many have been destroyed in the war, or are too difficult to activate. Some are even located within the Great Jin Empire’s territory—far too dangerous to approach.”

“All usable formation are marked on this map. Choose one.”

With that, Long Kun tossed a map toward Long Xuan.

Long Xuan caught the flying map and quickly scanned through it.

The map was comprehensive—not only did it list all known cross-regional teleportation arrays, but even included minor teleportation formations.

Formation marked with an "X" were clearly unusable, a marking that was easy to understand.

However, when he found the nearest teleportation formation, Long Xuan frowned slightly.

Even the closest marked formation was far too distant for him—at least a four-month journey even at top speed.

The teleportation formation in Xuanyuan Imperial City was technically the closest—only a few days away—but had been destroyed along with the city.

Under these circumstances, it would still take four months to reach the Central Region.

“So be it! Using the teleportation formation is still faster than traveling on foot.”

...

Meanwhile, in the Central Region—Jinchuan.

Inside a lavish, golden palace, a man in a dragon robe put down a letter in his hand and murmured with emotion, “He fought across two minor realms and completely dominated... Is he even human?”

Beside the Dragon Emperor, a beautiful young woman glanced over the letter, brows knitting as she read: “A Gu King early-stage cultivator defeating a Gu King late-stage expert? And easily at that? What kind of joke is this?”

“I don’t believe it. Even I couldn’t fight two stages above my own. How could he possibly manage it?”

She shook her head, full of disbelief.

The Dragon Emperor gave her a meaningful glance and said earnestly, “Yuyao, you must understand: there’s always someone stronger. Just because you can’t do it, doesn’t mean others can’t.”

“This man possesses the Ten Absolute Physique, which inherently allows him to fight above his realm. If he also wields a Curse Seal Gu that can temporarily boost his cultivation by one full realm, then theoretically, fighting across two minor realms is not impossible.”

“If you had the same advantages, you could do it too.”

The Dragon Emperor then looked out the window, a light smile on his face. “Hehe... Ten Absolute Physique, huh? If Long Kun’s guess is right, then I know who he is.”

A trace of wisdom shone in the Dragon Emperor’s eyes as he smiled subtly.

“Who is it?” Long Yuyao asked reflexively.

“He’s the genius who created the Sou Gu, Earth Master Gu, Dragonblood Battle Gu, Cement, Longevity Gu, Little Strong Gu, and more.”

“Thanks to his inventions, the Long Clan developed rapidly. The prosperity of the Dragon Soaring Empire today is largely due to him.”

“You’ve met him before. That genius who crushed you in the alchemy competition and won the championship—Long Xuan. Long Xuan, Long Xuan... don’t you find the names too similar?”

The Dragon Emperor smiled faintly at her, clearly amused.

“Him?” Long Yuyao’s pupils shrank, an expression of utter shock on her face.

“If it’s him, then it’s no surprise he’s this strong. Back then, he used Marrow Cleansing realm power to slay a Spiritual Sea realm cultivator—he’s always been a monster. Fighting across one major realm was child’s play for him. Now to cross two minor realms? Not that hard. He’s probably still holding back.”

Long Yuyao inhaled deeply, clearly rattled.

“Hehe... It seems you still remember him. He vanished mysteriously after that battle where he killed a Spiritual Sea expert across realms. Who would've thought he'd reappear already as a Gu King? And in just a few years!”

The Dragon Emperor sighed. “Throughout history, those with the Ten Absolute Physique always had slow cultivation speed—considered waste material.”

“But despite that, he’s progressed at an astonishing pace. He truly deserves the title of heaven-blessed genius.”

“For someone like him, slaying a peak Gu King with a forbidden technique that crosses major realms would be entirely possible. He is a walking catastrophe capable of ending the life of any powerhouse.”

“Of course, that forbidden technique likely has serious side effects. He’ll probably need to reach the mid-stage of the Gu King realm to fight a peak-stage Gu King without risk.”

“When he reaches mid-stage Gu King, he’ll stand at the summit of this world. At that point, I plan to appoint him as War Order Elder. What do you think?”

The Dragon Emperor looked at Long Yuyao with a calm smile—it was no joke.

“What?! You want to make him War Order Elder? Are you serious? He’s still so young. The Long Clan has never had such a young War Order Elder!”

Long Yuyao was stunned, utterly incredulous.

The position of War Order Elder wasn’t a political title—it was an ancient rank within the Long Clan, usually held by the most revered elders, with top-five combat strength in the clan.

This position was responsible for overseeing all military matters of the clan—wielding enormous power.

She truly couldn’t imagine that the Dragon Emperor would entrust such an important position to someone so young. A War Order Elder this young—throughout the history of the Long Clan—was unheard of.

Long Xuan was about to become the youngest War Order Elder in the history of the Long Clan.

“All positions within the Long Clan have always been granted to the capable, regardless of age. If he can reach the mid-stage Gu King realm, and truly has the strength to sweep across all peak-stage Gu Kings in the clan, then what’s the issue with giving him the title of War Order Elder? Who would dare be unconvinced?”

“If they’re not convinced, let them challenge him on the arena. If anyone can defeat him, I’ll have nothing to say.”

A mischievous grin appeared at the corner of the Dragon Emperor’s lips.

He could already imagine how those peak-stage Gu Kings of the clan would react when they were crushed by a mere mid-stage Gu King junior.

To be defeated across two whole minor realms—such a humiliation would be unbearable for those old-timers. No matter how composed they were, their mental defenses would surely collapse.

Thinking of that scene, the Dragon Emperor burst into laughter and looked at Long Yuyao again. “Yuyao, you’re not that young anymore. It’s about time to find you a consort. What do you think of him?”

“Achoo!”

...

Far away, thousands of miles away, Long Xuan suddenly sneezed loudly. Rubbing his nose, he muttered,

“Who’s talking about me? Could it be that little girl Qin Mingyue?”

A smile gradually appeared on Long Xuan’s face. Coincidentally, Qin Mingyue happened to be near the cross-region teleportation formation. He wondered if he could convince her to go with him to the Central Region.

After a brief moment of daydreaming, Long Xuan focused his mind and continued studying the alchemy formula.

As usual, the Heaven-Devouring World Toad was in charge of travel. It was hopping toward the teleportation formation, while Long Xuan was slacking off inside the toad’s belly-space.

The teleportation formation was far too distant—it would take at least four months of travel. Naturally, he wouldn’t waste such precious time.

After some thought, he decided to use the time to upgrade his Tribulation Gu.

The Tribulation Gu was one of his strongest Gu insects—it must be upgraded first.

To advance the Tribulation Gu, it required a rare resource: Lightning Tribulation. At this stage, only the Eighth-ranked Life-Transformative Lightning could trigger its evolution.

Clearly, the Dragon Soaring Empire couldn’t procure the Life-Transformative Lightning for him. He would have to collect it himself.

As per his usual practice, he planned to invent a heaven-defying alchemy recipe to attract the legendary Life-Transformative Lightning.

Previously, within the Cangyue Imperial Tomb, he had acquired one of the Ten Divine Trees—the Tree of Reincarnation.

The potential of a pill was directly tied to the level of ingredients used. The higher the level of ingredients, the more likely it was to produce a heaven-defying elixir.

So naturally, he thought of using the Tree of Reincarnation as the main ingredient and creating a pill based on its concept.

Given its name, the Tree of Reincarnation surely had effects related to rebirth. Thus, Long Xuan found his research direction:

To create a heaven-defying elixir that allows its user to reincarnate once with all previous memories intact.

No one could resist the temptation of rebirth. Reincarnating with one’s prior life’s memories was the ultimate cheat, the strongest "golden finger" one could have.

He was confident that such a heaven-defying pill would drive people insane.

Especially those peak-stage Gu Kings whose lifespans were running out. If they discovered such a treasure that allowed reincarnation with memory retention, they would stop at nothing to obtain it.

Rebirth equated to an extension of life. Compared to lifespan-extending treasures, a second life with memory intact was even more tempting—undeniably so.

Once this pill emerged, it would surely cause a bloody storm in the Gu world, igniting fierce battles among Gu Kings vying for it.

Long Xuan had full confidence in its power.

“Let’s call this pill the Reincarnation Pill. With how heaven-defying it is, it will definitely draw down the Life-Transformative Lightning upon completion.”

“Come to think of it, I still owe Zhu Jiuge a heaven-defying pill capable of summoning the Life-Transformative Lightning…”

“I wonder if the Reincarnation Pill can help that poor girl escape her fate under the Doom Gu.”

After muttering to himself, Long Xuan resumed his intense work on the Reincarnation Pill recipe, and the space fell silent once more.

Three months later.

Long Xuan picked up his brush and wrote down three characters:

Long Xuan ◎ Authored

Then he put the brush down and held up the paper full of inscriptions, a smile of satisfaction tugging at his lips.

After three grueling months, he had finally succeeded in developing the recipe for this memory-retaining reincarnation pill—a heaven-defying creation.

This type of alchemical concept was likely unprecedented in the world. Its effects were extraordinary enough to summon the Life-Transformative Lightning.

Creating such a pill wasn’t easy. In the process, Long Xuan felt like he’d burned through countless brain cells. The mental strain nearly turned his hair white.

But hard work bore fruit. After countless sleepless nights, the Reincarnation Pill was finally perfected.

Taking a deep breath, Long Xuan’s eyes sparkled. His heart swelled with a sense of accomplishment.

Even he felt like a genius for managing to pull off such an outrageous invention.

Clutching the recipe lovingly, he admired it for quite some time before finally storing it carefully in a small box.

Now that the pill recipe was complete, the next task was to gather the ingredients.

He planned to collect the materials as fast as possible and start refining the pill immediately, so that the Life-Transformative Lightning would descend and trigger the Tribulation Gu’s upgrade.

The Tribulation Gu was his strongest external Gu. Once it evolved into a Mutated Gu, his combat strength would soar, giving him even greater confidence in his journey to the Central Region.

There was no time to waste. Long Xuan didn’t even rest—he left the space within the Heaven-Devouring World Toad, checked the map in his hand, and began heading toward the nearest city.

Two months later, atop a desolate mountain—

Long Xuan carefully placed one precious spirit herb after another into the alchemy cauldron, not daring to be the least bit careless.

The ingredients for this furnace of pills were unimaginably rare and costly.

Ever since perfecting the Reincarnation Pill recipe, he had spent two entire months scouring the nearby region to gather all the needed materials.

But even then, he only had enough for one attempt. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

If he failed this time, he might need another several months to collect a second set of materials—and that was time he couldn’t afford to waste.

This round of pill refinement had to succeed. Failure was not an option!

Clenching his jaw, Long Xuan stared unblinkingly at the pill cauldron, precisely adjusting the flame based on the furnace’s changes, not daring to shift his gaze for even a moment.