The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear Gu-Chapter 508: Guo Tianren

Half a month later, Xuanwu Empire, Xuanwu City.

Xuanwu City, the imperial capital of one of the Ten Great Central Empires—Xuanwu Empire—was a super-city filled with powerful clans, numerous Gu Kings, and abundant in wealth. It was also one of the rare cities equipped with cross-region teleportation formation.

Long Xuan rolled up his map and gazed at the towering city walls before him, his brow slightly furrowed.

He noticed that the flag atop the city was no longer that of the Xuanwu Empire, but had somehow been replaced with the banner of the Great Jin Empire.

The Great Jin Empire’s flag bore a single, gold-colored character: "金" (Jin), fluttering prominently in the wind.

Looking at the battle-scarred walls, Long Xuan immediately understood—clearly, a major war had just recently concluded.

It appeared that the time he spent refining the Reincarnation Pill had delayed him too much. As the saying goes, "delay invites change." In his absence, the imperial capital of Xuanwu Empire had unfortunately fallen.

Even the powerful imperial capital of Xuanwu couldn’t resist the onslaught of a Puppet Army. This revelation shocked Long Xuan.

He wasn’t sure whether the royal family of Xuanwu Empire had been completely wiped out or had simply fled the city.

During his period of seclusion, he had been cut off from all news, entirely unaware of what had happened to the outside world.

The sudden change in Xuanwu City had caught him completely off guard.

Taking a deep breath, Long Xuan stepped toward the city gate.

Even though the city was now occupied by the Great Jin Empire, he still intended to use the city’s cross-region teleportation formation to travel to the Central Region.

Cross-region teleportation formations were extremely rare. If he chose to forgo this one, he might have to wait several more months before finding another.

And if a similar situation arose again, it would only cause further delays.

He had already wasted too much time—he couldn’t afford to waste any more. Sensing that there was no Peak Gu King-level aura within the city, he decided to take the risk and sneak in.

With his current combat power, unless he faced a Peak Gu King, he could essentially ignore all other Gu Kings.

With strong strength as a backing, he, the Survival King, became bolder than ever.

Upon entering the city, Long Xuan immediately sensed a tense atmosphere.

People hurried through the streets, rushing into shops and nearly emptying their inventories. The entire city was on edge, as though something catastrophic was about to happen.

Overhearing the conversations of pedestrians, Long Xuan finally understood the situation—and could only let out a bitter smile.

Talk about bad luck.

After the fall of Xuanwu’s imperial capital, the royal family’s prestige had suffered. The Emperor was furious and, after leading the royals out of the city, quickly gathered a large force in surrounding cities. Their goal: to recapture Xuanwu City.

The Xuanwu royal army was expected to arrive the next day, which meant a large-scale siege battle was imminent. Who knew how many would die in the conflict?

With war about to erupt, whether the teleportation Formation in the city would still be operational was uncertain.

Long Xuan inwardly cursed his misfortune and sprinted toward the teleportation hall, praying it wasn’t too late.

Soon, he arrived at the city center and reached the Teleportation Hall, only to discover it was already swarmed with people.

The crowd was pushing and yelling, but no one was being allowed inside. Clearly, many people wanted to escape the brewing war through the teleportation Formation.

Given that everyone was stuck outside and the shouting never ceased, it was clear: the teleportation formation had already been shut down.

Long Xuan’s face darkened—so the worst had come true.

This scene reminded him of the past, when the Island Lord of Big Lonely Island, Leng Qianqiu, had faked a teleportation formation malfunction to trap all outsiders in the city during a war with the Black Dragon Pirate Crew.

Though underhanded, the tactic was undeniably effective. It had even helped Leng Qianqiu win the war.

It now seemed that the Great Jin Empire intended to use the same strategy—to trap all foreign Gu cultivators in the city and force them to participate in the upcoming battle to boost their odds of victory.

Long Xuan's eyes narrowed as he sank into thought. Just then, an old man walked out from the teleportation hall and raised his hand to silence the crowd.

“Everyone, please calm down. My name is Guo Tianren, guardian of the teleportation hall,”

he said.

“We apologize, but the army of the Xuanwu royal family is expected to arrive tomorrow.”

“To prevent reinforcement forces from teleporting into the city and escalating the difficulty of defending it—”

“The Xuanwu royal family has already sent Gu Kings to destroy all teleportation formation within the city. It will be at least three months before they can be repaired.”

Upon hearing this, Long Xuan’s mouth twitched. He had the sudden urge to cough up blood.

This really was déjà vu.

Back then, Leng Qianqiu had pretended to destroy teleportation formation—this time, the Great Jin Empire had actually done it.

Everyone realized the same and began angrily shouting:

“You think we’re fools? Xuanwu City is a super-city. There should be dozens of teleportation formation. You want us to believe they’re all destroyed?”

“Yeah! You say they’re broken and expect us to believe it? Let us in to verify it ourselves!”

“What a coincidence—every single teleportation formation is broken. You think we’ll believe that? This war is between your two countries. Don’t drag us into it!”

As the crowd’s fury boiled over and violence was about to erupt, Guo Tianren smirked as though he had anticipated it all.

“You don’t believe me? Fine. Anyone who wants to inspect the teleportation formation may enter.”

“The gate is free to access. Go ahead and check for yourselves.”

He stepped aside and gestured for them to enter.

The crowd froze for a moment, surprised at the sudden permission. But within seconds, everyone surged into the teleportation hall.

Long Xuan, relying on his superior physique, easily pushed his way in.

Before his eyes were over fifty teleportation formation—small ones for cross-national travel, medium ones for neighboring regions, and a single large formation capable of cross-region teleportation to the Central Region.

As for the legendary cross-region teleportation formation, there were none here.

By rough estimation, there were indeed more than 50 formation. Long Xuan inwardly clicked his tongue—this confirmed the immense wealth of Xuanwu Empire.

Teleportation formation were expensive—most major clans couldn’t even afford one. Yet Xuanwu City had over 50.

However, not a single one remained intact.

All had been violently destroyed, including the extremely rare cross-domain teleportation array.

Long Xuan’s mouth twitched again.

“The Great Jin Empire is truly ruthless,”

he muttered inwardly.

“They didn’t even pretend. They really destroyed them all.”

Leng Qianqiu had faked the destruction, but the Great Jin Empire truly committed to it.

Such massive destruction of assets worth fortunes—they had real resolve. Or perhaps… they didn’t value what wasn’t theirs to begin with.

Although there was no evidence, Long Xuan firmly believed the destruction had been carried out by the Great Jin Empire themselves.

Sweeping his gaze across all the teleportation formation, he eventually focused on the largest one in the center—and his lips curled.

As a rare formation master proficient in teleportation formations, he quickly discerned that although the formation appeared heavily damaged, the damage was only superficial. It could be repaired in a short time.

“So even the Great Jin Empire couldn’t bear to destroy a cross-region teleportation formation completely. I overestimated their boldness.”

Satisfied with the inspection, Long Xuan pretended to be disappointed and sighed along with the others.

Guo Tianren then addressed the crowd:

“You’ve all seen it now. Every teleportation formation is destroyed—we didn’t lie.”

“We’d love to repair them quickly too, but unfortunately, we don’t have any skilled formation masters here.”

“If anyone among you is a formation master, please raise your hand. If you can assist us in repairing the teleportation formation, the Great Jin Empire will reward you handsomely.”

Long Xuan sneered inwardly.

“Anyone who raises their hand now likely won’t live to see tomorrow.”

Time passed. No one moved.

Seeing this, Guo Tianren nodded and said:

“You've seen the damage for yourselves. Nothing more can be done.”

“With war approaching and to prevent Xuanwu forces from launching surprise attacks or leaking intel, the city will be locked down indefinitely. No one may enter or leave.”

“We hope for your understanding.”

Having said his piece, he ignored the rising shouts and curses, turned, and left with the Great Jin Empire’s Gu cultivators.

Long Xuan, deep in thought, quietly sent a Clone to tail Guo Tianren—then silently exited with the crowd.

...

Half an hour later, on a deserted street, Guo Tianren suddenly turned his head and shouted sternly,

"Stop following me. I saw you. Come out!"

From the shadows, Long Xuan’s expression changed slightly. However, he was confident in his concealment skills and suspected Guo Tianren was bluffing, so he didn’t immediately show himself.

Moments later, an elderly man stepped out from a hidden corner, smiling as he looked at Guo Tianren and said,

"Impressive eyes. Even my perfect concealment technique was seen through by you."

"Since you've discovered me, I’ll get straight to the point."

"My name is Liu De, a well-known formation master. You must’ve heard of me. That large damaged teleportation formation—there's something fishy about it. You might be able to fool others, but not me."

Liu De stared directly into Guo Tianren’s eyes with absolute confidence.

Guo Tianren, hearing this, showed no sign of panic at being exposed. Instead, he clapped and laughed:

"Impressive. I knew this little trick couldn’t fool everyone in the city, but the City Lord insisted on leaving a way out—he didn’t want to destroy the final teleportation formation entirely."

"I'm not surprised that someone saw through the issue with the formation."

"Since you didn’t expose us publicly and came to me in private, you must want to make a secret deal, right?" Guo Tianren asked with a smile.

Liu De smiled, "Hehe! Xuanwu City has twenty-eight Gu Kings from the Great Jin Empire, enough to force us to be cannon fodder. Even if I exposed the truth, what would change?"

"Would they let me leave just because I pointed it out? Once things fall apart, I’ll be the first to get punished. That’s how the one who stands out always gets hit first."

"I’ll give you 1 billion spirit stones. Let me pass through secretly. How about that?" Liu De smiled as he directly offered the deal.

"A powerful formation master's life is only worth 1 billion?" Guo Tianren raised an eyebrow. "I know you fourth-grade formation masters are all filthy rich."

"I want 2 billion. Only with 2 billion spirit stones will I take the risk of letting you escape. No negotiations." Guo Tianren replied like a lion opening its mouth wide, eyes gleaming with greed.

Liu De clenched his teeth and remained silent for a long time before finally saying,

"Fine! I’ll give you 2 billion!"

"Tonight, when it’s quiet, I’ll come to the teleportation hall. That should give you enough time to repair the formation. I’ll deliver the 2 billion on the spot."

Guo Tianren nodded with a smile,

"Deal. I’ll be waiting for you tonight at the teleportation hall."

"Remember, you must not tell anyone about this. Also, don’t bring anyone with you." Guo Tianren warned with a sharp stare.

Liu De sighed in relief and smiled,

"I understand the rules. The more people who know, the more unpredictable it becomes. That won’t benefit me."

"Now that we’re being honest, could you answer a question for me?"

"Why are you destroying all the teleportation formation? These formation could continuously bring reinforcements. They’re key to holding the city. What good does it do to destroy them all?"

Guo Tianren shook his head with a bitter smile,

"What reinforcements? The Great Jin Empire is at war with multiple nations. Too many battlefields, too few men. They can barely spare anyone."

"We’re lucky they aren’t asking us for reinforcements."

"Even if we kept the teleportation formation, they could only bring in a handful of troops—not nearly enough for the coming battle. Worse, powerful enemies could sneak in using those formation."

"So, rather than risk that, we’d rather destroy all the formation—burn our bridges. Once the defenders know there’s no retreat, they’ll fight to the death. Our battle power could double."

"And there’s another reason for destroying the formation. Even if I don’t say it, I know you understand. No need for me to waste my breath."

Guo Tianren smiled faintly and said no more.

Liu De suddenly understood and praised him,

"Destroying the arrays to boost morale—truly a brilliant move."

"Then I won’t waste more time. I’ll go prepare the spirit stones. See you tonight."

After those words, Liu De turned and left.

Watching him disappear into the night, Guo Tianren smirked slightly, seemingly deep in thought. Just as he was about to leave too, someone suddenly leapt out from the shadows, startling him.

"I heard your entire conversation just now. 2 billion spirit stones—count me in," said Long Xuan, revealing himself and getting straight to the point.

At the same time, he released his Gu King aura, making Guo Tianren afraid to act rashly.

Seeing this stranger appear from nowhere, Guo Tianren’s expression turned serious.

This person had been hiding so close, and he hadn’t noticed at all. That was enough to show this man was no ordinary character. Faced with such a mysterious figure, Guo Tianren became wary.

"Since you’ve already heard our talk, I guess I have no choice."

"Letting one go is letting go. Two doesn’t make a difference."

"Fine, I’ll count you in. Bring 2 billion spirit stones tonight. Remember—no companions, and don’t breathe a word of this to anyone."

Finishing his sentence, Guo Tianren stopped speaking and turned to leave.

Night fell. Under the weight of anxiety, the night quickly arrived.

It was now deep into the night. Most people were fast asleep.

Inside the teleportation hall, all the guards had gathered.

This place was critical; of course, it wasn’t guarded by only one person.

The rare interdomain teleportation formation hadn’t been damaged, and even the broken ones still held priceless materials. How could there not be powerful experts stationed here?

"You really plan to let them through? The City Lord gave strict orders—no one is to be let go. This could be too risky," said Zhang Wenshan with concern.

He was the second Gu King guarding the teleportation hall, a Gu King - Early Phase just like Guo Tianren.

The two watched over each other. The rest were all Spiritual Sea-stage Gu cultivators—over ten of them. Not a single lower-realm cultivator was among them.

Guo Tianren sneered,

"Relax. If I really wanted to take this risk, I’d find a way to get you out of here. I wouldn’t let you know. I certainly wouldn’t try to buy your silence with ten billion."

"The City Lord is ruthless. I wouldn’t dare cross him."

"Besides, even if the teleportation formation weren’t completely destroyed, I wouldn’t repair them. Even if I wanted to help them escape, I couldn’t."

"The formations in the teleportation hall are extremely powerful. If they dare come, we’ll activate them and kill them on the spot."

"If the City Lord asks, we’ll just say someone tried to break through. There’s no risk in this plan." Guo Tianren sneered coldly.

Zhang Wenshan was stunned, his mouth twitching as he stared wide-eyed,

"You never planned to let them go from the start?"

"I thought you were risking it for the 2 billion… You really resisted the temptation?"

Guo Tianren grinned with a sinister look and snorted,

"Fool. Killing them means everything they have is mine."

"Only children make choices. I want everything they carry."

Guo Tianren clenched his fists, his eyes brimming with utter greed.