After a brief mont, Long Xuan finished inscribing the last formation pattern. As he stood up, the cross-regional teleportation formation lit up with a blinding radiance.
“It’s finally complete?”
Long Xuan looked at the radiant teleportation formation, his face showing a look of surprise and delight.
He turned back to see that his five clones had successfully kept all the Gu Kings at bay. With no casualties among them, Long Xuan let out a long breath of relief.
“Everyone fall back! Enter the teleportation formation—I’ll cover the rear!”
At Long Xuan’s command, all clones instantly retreated and rushed toward the teleportation formation at full speed.
Just then, a thunderous dragon roar resounded from within the teleportation hall.
Under countless shocked gazes, Long Xuan unleashed a palm strike, summoning twenty golden dragons roaring fiercely as they surged through the narrow passage ahead.
The passage was extrely cramped. Faced with the incoming golden divine dragons, there was no room to dodge. At that mont, all the Gu Kings’ expressions changed drastically.
“This is bad!”
Crowded together, they had no ti to flee. All the Gu Kings could do was grit their teeth and activate their strongest defensive techniques to withstand the golden dragons’ ferocious assault.
“Roarrr!”
The deafening dragon roar echoed through the sky. Under the impact of the golden dragons, spiritual shields and armor shattered. Dozens of Gu Kings were blasted backward, crashing far outside the hall.
“Pffft!”
Many Gu Kings staggered to their feet, coughing blood with terror in their eyes.
Under that one move, all Gu Kings sustained varying degrees of injury. So, who lacked strong defenses, had already perished on the spot.
The terrifying lethality of this technique stunned everyone.
The City Lord, Jin Zidan, his face dark as iron, was in the late stage of the Gu King realm, yet he had been injured by a re early-stage Gu King junior—an utter humiliation.
If even the combined force of several dozen Gu Kings failed to capture this person, then today’s disgrace would be too great to bear.
Seeing that three clones had already entered the teleportation formation and the original body was about to escape, Jin Zidan grew furious. He charged forward at full speed, determined to intercept Long Xuan at all costs.
However, just as he stepped inside, a swarm of strange insects erged from the hard ground and sward onto his legs.
Despite his late-stage Gu King defense, the insects’ razor-sharp mouths tore through his skin like paper, easily burrowing into his legs.
The excruciating pain made him howl in agony, sweat pouring from his forehead.
“How can this be? These insects… they tore through a late-stage Gu King’s defense? What kind of Gu insect are these? Just how many trump cards does he still have?!”
In panic, Jin Zidan didn’t have ti to think. To prevent the bugs from reaching his upper body, he gritted his teeth and cut off his own legs, fleeing outside as fast as he could. The courage to intercept Long Xuan had completely vanished.
His severed legs were instantly devoured by the Gold-Eating Insects, not even bones were left. Had he reacted even a mont slower, he too would have vanished without a trace.
Long Xuan muttered regretfully, but seeing all clones had already passed through the teleportation formation, he recalled all the Gold-Eating Insects hidden underground, and dashed into the teleportation formation, vanishing from sight.
The scene fell into utter silence.
All the Gu Kings wore dark expressions, yet their eyes showed deep fear. No one dared to continue the pursuit.
anwhile, outside the city...
The Xuanwu Empire’s Gu cultivators all wore expressions of extre solemnity.
The fat Gu cultivator sensed the situation within the city. His face shifted several tis before he muttered with twitching lips:
“Terrifying… utterly terrifying. Dozens of Gu Kings fought just one person, yet so died, so were wounded, and in the end—he escaped completely unscathed.”
“There are seven Gu King corpses in the city. The rest are all injured. That strongest City Lord has even lost both legs. This war ahead… we needn’t worry much.”
“That young man single-handedly crippled half the Gu King forces inside the city. He’s truly defying the heavens.”
The fat Gu cultivator clicked his tongue in awe.
“Heaven must be helping us. Seven Gu Kings have fallen, and the rest are wounded. Their top-tier forces are no longer our match. In the upcoming siege, the advantage is ours.”
“If we still can’t win this battle... I might as well go bash my head into tofu and die.”
“Send word imdiately! Once the army arrives tomorrow, we launch the siege. This is the decisive battle. We must not give those Gu Kings ti to recover!”
The Crown Prince clenched his fists, full of confidence for the upcoming war.
At the sa ti…
As Long Xuan passed through the teleportation formation, he was imdiately struck by a crushing pressure on his physical body, almost as if his body would be torn apart.
The farther the teleportation distance, the greater the pressure on the body.
This was a cross-region teleportation formation, and the extre distance ant the pressure was imnse.
Only soone like Long Xuan, whose physical body was terrifyingly strong, could endure the teleportation without a Teleportation Talisman.
Any other Gu King, even at the peak of the Gu King realm, would have been crushed to death by the space pressure without a talisman.
Enduring the pain with gritted teeth, just as he reached his limit, Long Xuan finally saw a light up ahead. The next mont, his vision blurred, and he appeared in an unfamiliar place.
It was another teleportation hall, similar in structure to the one before. There were also Gu cultivators guarding this place.
But by the ti Long Xuan arrived, all the Gu cultivators—including an early-stage Gu King—had already been slain by his five clones.
Landing on the ground, Long Xuan didn’t pause. He waved his hand and casually struck the teleportation formation behind him, shattering it instantly.
This was to prevent the Gu Kings from Xuanwu City from using the sa formation to pursue him.
By destroying the formation in ti, no matter how skilled they were, the Gu Kings would have no ans of teleporting here to chase him down.
“Let’s go!”
After incinerating all the corpses with a burst of fla, Long Xuan rushed out of the teleportation hall. The clones followed close behind.
This teleportation hall was also located inside a large city, and seed to be protected by a sound-isolation barrier, so the earlier battle hadn’t alard anyone.
Walking out, Long Xuan looked at the bustling streets, closed his eyes and took a deep breath, sensing the surrounding spiritual energy.
His eyes lit up.
“As expected of the center of the world. The spiritual energy here is incredibly dense.”
“Cultivation here will progress by leaps and bounds—far faster than any other region. No wonder the number of strong cultivators here surpasses that of other areas.”
After scanning the city with his soul sense, Long Xuan began walking toward the city center.
He wasn’t in a rush to leave. Instead, he decided to explore this city first—compare the resources here to those in the Central Lands, and perhaps find a great opportunity hidden within.
The street bustled with activity, people coming and going. It was clear that the overall cultivation level of Gu Masters here was several tiers higher than that of the Central Lands.
Lining both sides of the street were densely packed shops, and the resources being sold were also clearly far more valuable than those in the Central Lands.
Long Xuan was dazzled by the sights but didn’t choose to waste ti in the smaller stores. Instead, he headed straight for the largest establishnt on the street in terms of land area.
Before long, he stopped in front of a store with a plaque reading “Myriad dicine Pavilion.”
Just from the na, it was obvious that this store specialized in selling spiritual herbs, and currently, it was packed with custors.
Generally, those who purchased spiritual herbs were pill refiners, so the shop was filled with many alchemists.
With a single glance, Long Xuan saw nurous custors clad in the robes of third-grade alchemists. He couldn’t help but silently sigh at the prosperity of the Central Region.
Back in the Far West, the only third-grade alchemist was Elder Long, and even he had achieved that rank with Long Xuan’s help. Yet here, at the very center of the world, third-grade alchemists were everywhere.
And this was just one city. Looking across the entire Central Region, how many third-grade alchemists would there be? Long Xuan clicked his tongue in astonishnt.
He paused briefly, then stepped into the store. The mont he entered, a variety of dicinal aromas assaulted his nose.
He took a light sniff and could already identify the types of herbs responsible for most of the scents. Then his gaze landed on the dazzling array of spiritual herbs within the display counters.
Just from a single glance, he saw nurous rare herbs he had yet to collect—many of which had long been extinct in the regions he’d traveled through. Yet here, in a place with denser spiritual energy, they had managed to survive and even flourish.
Many of the herbs were still alive, and could potentially be transplanted into the body of his Heaven-Devouring World Toad, where, with the help of dicinal Gu, they could be mass cultivated.
Even if he found nothing else in this city, just obtaining these herbs would make the trip more than worthwhile.
Long Xuan was faintly excited. Just as he was about to step forward, a charming shop assistant ca over with a smile. Noticing that he was at the Gu King level, she respectfully said:
“May I ask what kind of spiritual herbs you’re looking for, senior? Myriad dicine Pavilion is the largest herb shop under the Qian Clan Chamber of Comrce. I don’t an to boast, but we carry eighty percent of the spiritual herbs known to this world.”
“The herbs on display are not everything. If there’s sothing specific you need, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
Hearing this, Long Xuan was slightly surprised. He hadn’t expected to walk into another Qian Clan store. It seed that in this lifeti, he simply couldn’t avoid them—he ran into their shops wherever he went.
He couldn’t help but wonder just how vast the Qian Clan Chamber of Comrce’s reach was. Their stores seed to be everywhere.
“What is your pavilion’s treasured herb?” Long Xuan asked without hesitation.
Since he was already here, he naturally wanted to see the most valuable spiritual herb they had. As long as it piqued his interest, he didn’t mind spending heavily to obtain it.
The assistant’s eyes narrowed slightly, and her smile grew brighter. Anyone who asked such a question clearly had extraordinary wealth—this could be a big transaction.
She replied sweetly:
“If we’re talking about the treasure of Myriad dicine Pavilion, that would be Longevity Spring Tea.”
“It’s a heaven-grade spiritual herb. When its leaves are brewed into tea, they grant incredible life-extending properties and are highly sought after.”
“Due to overwhelming demand, its quantity is extrely limited. There’s not much left at the mont.”
Hearing that the pavilion’s treasure was actually a heaven-grade tea tree, Long Xuan’s heart skipped a beat, and a gleam of excitent flashed in his eyes.
He secretly sighed in relief. Thankfully, he hadn’t left the city. Wandering around here turned out to be the right decision after all. As expected of a city in the Central Region, resources were abundant—he might have just stumbled upon a great opportunity.
This Longevity Spring was a heaven-grade tea plant. If he used his tea-roasting technique to brew it, his Tea Gu was certain to advance in rank.
This could be the breakthrough opportunity for his Tea Gu. No matter the cost, he was going to get his hands on this Longevity Spring.
“May I ask, what’s the price of your Longevity Spring?” Though his heart surged with excitent, Long Xuan kept a calm expression and asked about the price.
The assistant giggled behind her hand and replied:
“Senior must be joking. This is a heaven-grade herb. Treasures of this level aren’t typically exchanged for spirit stones.”
“Longevity Spring is considered a non-sellable item in our store.”
“But today, senior is in luck. We’re hosting a Pill Exchange Assembly on the third floor of Myriad dicine Pavilion, inviting all nearby alchemists to attend. The event has just started—that’s why so many alchemists are gathered here today.”
“There are many rare herbs above fourth-grade being exhibited at the event, including nurous earth-grade and heaven-grade spiritual herbs. One of them is a large pouch of Longevity Spring.”
“The rules of the exchange are simple. The Qian Clan is showcasing rare herbs collected over the past fifty years.”
“Anyone who sees a herb they want can refine a pill of equal value to trade for it. That’s why it’s called the Pill Exchange Assembly.”
“This event is only held once every fifty years, and the rare herbs shown attract countless fourth-grade alchemists each ti.”
“If senior is a fourth-grade alchemist, you may enter the third floor unconditionally.”
“If not, you may still enter by offering a high-value pill to prove your worth. Not everyone can go upstairs—I hope you’ll understand.”
The assistant gave Long Xuan a careful once-over, seemingly trying to determine whether he was truly a fourth-grade alchemist.
“This is my Fourth-Grade Alchemist Certification Badge. May I enter now?”
Without hesitation, Long Xuan brought out his forged alchemist badge and smiled at the assistant.
Naturally, she never expected soone to forge an alchemist badge. She rely glanced at the emblem before smiling politely:
“So senior is a distinguished fourth-grade alchemist—I apologize for not recognizing you sooner.”
“All fourth-grade alchemists are granted unrestricted access to the third floor.”
“Please, this way. I will personally guide you.”
Her tone turned even more respectful, and she turned to lead the way toward the stairs.
Long Xuan smiled faintly, pinned the badge to his chest, and stepped forward—heading toward the third floor of the Myriad dicine Pavilion...
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