Long Lie Refines Gu
Just as Long Xuan was about to hand over the second level of the "Purgatory True Demon Art" to his clone for cultivation, he suddenly sensed something and used the Starstep to run down the mountain.
The half-finished Five-Element Reversal Grand Formation was successfully set up by his clone after a year of work. He moved in here a few months ago, but there are just too many things in the Medicine Garden, so the move will take some time.
He had just noticed that someone had accidentally entered the outer Rubik's Cube Grand Formation, and not knowing who it was, he prepared to go and check it out immediately.
Not long after, Long Xuan dragged the dejected Long Lie away from the Rubik's Cube Grand Formation, put him on the ground, and looked at him helplessly.
At this moment, Long Lie was panting heavily, looking like he was still in shock, his eyes filled with terror.
"What kind of formation is that? One minute I'm in a lava environment, the next I'm in an iceberg environment, and then I'm in an ocean environment. I was so exhausted from swimming in the sea that I almost drowned!"
Long Lie gasped for breath, his mind on the verge of collapse.
He had almost been driven mad by that maze, where different worlds kept switching back and forth, and no matter which way he went, he would end up in a world he had been through before.
Each world seems to appear randomly in different locations, without any pattern. Even if he leaves a mark on each path, the path will be rearranged and pieced back together every once in a while, leaving him completely unable to find his way back.
He could only wander around aimlessly like a headless fly; he was almost driven mad by this bizarre formation.
This is not only mental torture, but also physical torture. Each world is so real, and each one is more cruel than the last, with extremely harsh environments that make survival extremely difficult.
One moment it was unbearably hot, the next it was unbearably cold. He could clearly feel that this was not just a simple Illusion Realm, and that he would really die if he jumped into the lava.
Trapped in this enormous maze, he won't even have time to starve to death; he'll soon be tortured to death by the harsh environment.
He had just been tortured to the point of near collapse and hadn't recovered yet.
"I just randomly cobbled together this formation and it startled you. Why didn't you let me know you were coming? What if I wasn't home and you wandered into the Binding Formation and couldn't get out? There would be no one to save you." Long Xuan gave him an annoyed look.
I'm also glad that I successfully deduced the second level of the "Purgatory True Demon Art" and came out of seclusion. Otherwise, Long Lie might have been trapped for a long time, and might have even been trapped to death.
"You just tinkered with this array?" Long Lie stared at him, utterly shocked. "Do you know how much land area so many worlds would require? This array covers an enormous area; the number of Formation Base it needs is unimaginable."
"Where did you get so many materials? Even if the entire Lineage gathered all its resources, it would be impossible to set up a formation covering such a vast area. You couldn't possibly have so many resources. How did you manage to do it?!"
Of course, Long Xuan wouldn't tell him that he could draw small Formation Inscription, and that one piece of material could be used as a hundred pieces of material, which was why he was able to set up such a large array with such a small cost.
This is groundbreaking technology, and it must never be discussed, not even with your closest relatives.
So he could only make up a story. "It's nothing, I just discovered an extremely cheap material, which I call Cement. When mixed with Spirit Stone powder, Cement can be used to create Formation Base with a very large area."
"The larger the Formation Base, the more array Formation Inscription can be inscribed on it; the more Formation Inscription there are, the larger the array's range will naturally be."
"So don't be fooled by the vast area my array covers; the actual cost is very low. The Cement Formation Base is extremely flimsy and utterly unacceptable—it's garbage technology, not worth mentioning."
Long Xuan was obviously lying to him. It was true that Cement from his previous life mixed with Spirit Stone powder could be used to make Formation Base, which was a sudden inspiration he had.
But he quickly abandoned the idea. Cement could not replace his Eye of Heavenly Secrets, because Cement was too brittle. Cement hardness didn't even rank in the top ten thousand in this world.
If Cement is used as the Formation Base, then the formation will be extremely fragile and can be broken by brute force.
Therefore, although Cement Technology can depict a vast number of Formation Inscription and achieve the same effect as the Rubik's Cube Grand Formation, the Formation Base is far too fragile. It is impossible to defend against the Gu King, and it may not even be able to defend against Gu cultivators in the Spiritual Sea Stage.
Using Cement to build Mountain-Protecting Formation is tantamount to suicide.
Therefore, Cement Technology is not a respectable technology in the world; it is considered unorthodox and has no value for development.
It's useless as building material for the Thatch Gu; the material is too low-grade. Gu cultivators would never use it if they were willing to use it. Gu cultivators use Spirit Wood as building material. The best Spirit Wood is far superior to Cement and much harder; even an ordinary person with an axe can't cut it.
But Cement isn't entirely useless.
The Five-Element Reversal Grand Formation was right next to the Long Family; everyone could see it and recognize its extraordinary nature. So, if anyone came to ask, he planned to use Cement as an excuse, making them think that the formation was only superficially impressive and was nothing more than a paper tiger, not worth paying too much attention to.
Long Xuan didn't want Long Lie to dwell on this topic any longer, so before he could ask any questions, he quickly changed the subject and asked, "What are you doing here? Just say what you want to say!"
Remembering his business, Long Lie suddenly sighed and said, "Don't mention it. I had bad luck. I tried to refine the Wine Gu thirty times, and I failed every time. So I came here this time to trade some more spicy wine with you. I'm really unwilling to give up now."
Upon hearing this, Long Xuan couldn't help but widen his eyes. He had failed thirty times in refining Wine Gu! Just how unlucky was he? Was the feng shui of his ancestral grave bad? Why was his face so dark?
"You failed all thirty attempts at Gu refining? Are you kidding me? Are you sure you didn't drink the wine yourself and then blame it on the Wine Worm?"
Long Xuan looked at him with suspicion, expressing deep doubt about him.
Upon hearing this, Long Lie was so angry that he puffed out his beard. "You brat! How dare you talk about me like that? Do you think I'm that kind of person? It's true that I like to drink, but I've never neglected my duties. How dare you look at me like that!"
Long Xuan's words broke his defenses; he swore he had only drunk three jars.
"Alright, alright! I misunderstood you. I'll give you twenty more sets of materials; collect everything on them for me."
Long Xuan threw a note at Long Lie.
After such a long period of research, he has figured out a transformation path for the Dragon Gu, and this transformation path is very regular.
Its horns resemble those of a deer, its head a camel's, its eyes a rabbit's, its neck a snake's, its belly a clam's, its scales a fish's, its claws an eagle's, its paws a tiger's, and its ears a cow's.
The first transformation of the Dragon Gu requires the second-tier beast king materials of these nine spirit beasts.
The second transformation of the Dragon Gu requires the third-tier beast king materials of these nine spirit beasts.
The Dragon Gu's third transformation requires the fourth-tier beast king materials of these nine spirit beasts.
And so on.
Each transformation of the Dragon Gu requires these nine materials.
The Beast Tide had just ended in the Hundred Thousand Mountains, and second-tier spirit beasts were not particularly rare. Long Lie, a Gu cultivator at the Spiritual Sea Stage, should have been able to collect these nine materials.
Long Xuan was too lazy to go out of his way to collect these materials. Since Long Lie had come to trade Spirit Wine, he simply handed over the task of collecting these materials to him.
Long Lie took the slip of paper, looked at the materials on it, and couldn't help but twitch his lips. They actually wanted nine kinds of beast king materials all at once. Those things weren't cheap.
To be honest, in his opinion, these nine kinds of beast king materials were more valuable, and he felt he had lost a little money in this transaction.
But considering that his overnight wealth was entirely due to Long Xuan's efforts, he decided not to dwell on it.
"Alright! Leave it all to me. I participated in the Beast Tide and know where all nine materials are. As long as I pay a certain price, collecting them all won't be difficult."
"However, you need to pay half the deposit first. My Wine Worm urgently needs the Spirit Wine, and I can't delay any longer," Long Lie said after putting away the note.
Long Xuan nodded, took out jars of wine from his Storage Bag and placed them on the ground. Little White drank this to increase his growth rate, so he always kept some in his Storage Bag.
Upon seeing the wine jars on the ground, Long Lie's eyes lit up. He sniffed the air, swallowed hard, and resisted the urge to drink three more jars. He then took a huge wine vat out of the Insect-Rearing Pouch and placed it on the ground.
Long Xuan looked into the jar and saw a small red snake curled up at the bottom. There was only a little wine left in the jar, and it would probably drink it all soon.
Once the Wine Worm has drunk all the wine in the jar, the wine supply stops, but before it turns into Wine Gu, then all its previous efforts have been in vain.
The method of refining Wine Gu is different from the conventional method of refining gu. Under normal circumstances, once other Supreme-grade Spirit Insect fail to be refined into gu, they are completely useless. At most, they can be refined three more times.
However, the process of refining Wine Gu Wine Gu is different; it involves a completely different system.
Because the Wine Worm can keep drinking, as long as there is still wine in the jar, you can keep refilling its cup until it becomes Gu Insect.
Therefore, as long as there is enough alcohol, the Wine Worm will eventually turn into a venomous insect.
This is also why Long Lie still came to find him even though he had failed to refine the Gu thirty times.
At this moment, the wine in the vat was completely empty. Long Lie dared not delay, so he hurriedly picked up a jar of wine, opened the lid, and poured all the wine into the vat.
After one jar of wine was emptied, a second jar, a third jar, and so on...
"May Buddha protect me! May Buddha protect me! I am willing to exchange one inch of my Long Ao's inward shrinkage for one use of the Gu!"
Long Lie clasped his hands together, looking devout, and bowed to the sky in prayer.
Long Xuan was stunned. Good heavens, this is too ruthless! To sacrifice Long Ao to the Long Ao, causing him to shrink inward by an inch—wouldn't he just disappear?
"Is this how you usually refine Gu?" Long Xuan turned to look at him, asking in bewilderment.
"Hehe! This is my own creation, the Friend-Sacrificing Method,' which never fails. As long as you sacrifice a friend, the success rate will definitely increase by several times. If one fails, just sacrifice a second one. Sacrifice all your friends, and you're bound to succeed at least once. Hehe." Long Lie revealed a sinister smile.
Long Xuan shuddered. Anyone who was Long Lie's friend was truly unlucky. He wondered what they would think if they knew that Long Lie used them as sacrifices every time he refined Gu.
He certainly didn't believe in the so-called "Friend-Sacrificing Method" that Long Lie mentioned; otherwise, he would have succeeded in refining the Wine Gu long ago, instead of failing thirty times with his face turning black.
The reason he was able to succeed in the past was probably because he had so many friends; surely he could succeed once by offering sacrifices to fifty friends.
He subconsciously used his cheat ability to check the wine jar. Well, no progress was shown. Long Lie's face was as dark as ever. This kind of metaphysics was completely unreliable.