Dragon Dan
"You really agree to let me learn the unique Gu Recipe of the Western Land Long Family? You're not lying to me?" Long Xuan asked again in disbelief.
"Hehe! We're all family. Family members should learn from each other. Do we really need to discuss it?"
"If you want to refine the Blade Gu, just tell me. Once we arrive in the Western Land, I'll immediately take you to select the main materials for refining the Blade Gu."
"The main ingredient for refining the Blade Gu is a unique Spirit Insect of my clan, which cannot be found anywhere else. But as for the other ingredients, you'll have to collect them yourself," Long Qian said with a smile, his expression serious.
"Of course, thank you very much. I Long Xuan, will remember this kindness." Long Xuan was overjoyed.
Regardless of the Western Land Long Family's motives for wanting him to refine the Blade Gu, since they didn't make any demands, he might as well take the opportunity.
At this moment, the battle between Long Ziyan and the Blade Gu was still ongoing. The two were evenly matched in swordsmanship, neither able to gain the upper hand, and they were locked in a stalemate. It seemed that it would be impossible to determine a winner in the short term.
Long Ziyan sighed helplessly. If she hadn't lacked a complete sword cultivation lineage and hadn't had another sword cultivator to spar with and improve her skills, making it difficult for her Swordsmanship to progress, why would she have had to fight a Gu Insect for so long?
In her view, it was extremely shameful for a human being to fight a Gu Insect for so long.
She suddenly looked at Long Ruoxue, who was watching the show from behind the Blade Gu, and said, "I haven't released my External Gu yet. Although I can't do anything to this Blade Gu in a short time, I can bypass Blade Gu and attack you."
"If you can't defend against my Sword Qi, then you can admit defeat now!"
Long Ruoxue's expression changed as she put away her amused look. She then realized that Long Ziyan hadn't released a single External Gu.
She had already released all her External Gu, including the Earthworker, but they were all instantly killed by her Sword Qi.
Although the Blade Gu is currently evenly matched with her, once she releases her External Gu, whether she uses Gu Insect to hold off the Blade Gu and attacks her herself, or sends supreme-grade Gu worm to attack her, she will undoubtedly be defeated.
She sighed and said, "Fine! I concede. It is my Western Land Long Family that has defeated your Far West Long Family twice in a row."
"However, I am not the strongest genius of the Western Land Long Family, and that Long Biao is by no means a genius in my clan either."
"Currently, the strongest genius of the Western Land Long Family is Long Dan. Although you are very strong, you may not be a match for Long Dan."
Long Ruoxue put away the Blade Gu and sighed inwardly. She had originally wanted to take advantage of everyone's rest to challenge Long Ziyan, to win back some face for the Western Land Long Family.
Unexpectedly, his attempt to steal a chicken backfired, and he not only failed to win but also lost another round.
The fact that the main family's genius had lost two matches to the branch family's genius was undeniably humiliating, making her blush with shame.
She couldn't understand how so many extraordinary talents could emerge from a branch family that cultivated in such a barren land.
She finally understood the deeper meaning behind her Lineage's decision to seek outside help from the Far West Long Family. Her Lineage's move was brilliant; once they brought these geniuses back, the Bai Clan would be in for a world of hurt and would probably be beaten to a pulp.
"Alright! Now that the warm-up is over, come and eat the grilled fish! It's ready!" Long Qian called out to the two of them.
The two immediately came over, sat around the campfire, and ate the grilled fish that Long Xuan had prepared.
He always carried seasonings with him, even the chili peppers, so his grilled fish was absolutely delicious. However, both women were the proud and aloof type, and Long Xuan ultimately didn't hear any praise from them.
Not long after, the others returned with their prey. These men were quite talkative; they picked up the grilled fish from the grill and ate it with great relish, loudly praising his grilling skills.
After everyone finished the grilled fish and meat, they all let out a satisfied burp, then climbed back into the boat, raised the Dragon Boat, and continued flying eastward.
High-level Gu cultivators don't need three meals a day at all. After eating a full meal, they can last for a long time. Moreover, everyone has dry food in their Storage Bag, so the Dragon Boat doesn't need to land from time to time, which can save a lot of unnecessary time.
Another month passed quickly, and the Dragon Boat finally arrived in the Western Land, stepping into the territory of the Western Land Long Family.
The total time taken was exactly three months. But don't think that three months is a short time. You should know that they were riding on a top-grade third-tier Supreme-grade Spirit Artifact, which, under the control of a Gu cultivator at the Spirit Sea Peak, was enough to give them a speed comparable to Gu King.
In other words, they were traveling at the speed of the Gu King Gu King. Even at full speed, it took them three months to travel from the Far Western Lands to the Western Land region.
If it were the speed of most people, this journey would take an eternity.
Even at the speed of the Gu King, it would take Long Qian six months to travel between the two places. In other words, a round trip would take half a year, which shows just how far apart the two places are.
Under the Eye of Heavenly Secrets, a huge black city could be seen standing in the center of a plain. Since the Dragon Boat was flying in this direction, this city must be the main base of the Western Land Long Family.
This black city was built with some kind of stone, covered with tiny Formation Inscription. This stone must be harder than Cement. If the Cement formula is not improved, Cement will really have a hard time being widely used in this world.
Long Xuan asked curiously, "Is this city the home of the Western Land Long Family?"
Long Qian quickly shook his head and laughed, "How could that be? This fortified city is jointly controlled by the Western Land Ten Clans, and the city lord is chosen through fair competition among the various tribes."
"This city is called Blackstone City, named after the black stone it was built from, which even the Gu King would find difficult to break."
"Don't think that the stone that can withstand the Gu King's hardness is a rare material. In a very distant era, the Gu King was just a low-level Gu cultivator, and the black stone was just trash material."
"There just happened to be a blackstone mine nearby, which is why Blackstone City was able to stand."
"This Blackstone City has withstood countless attacks from Beast Tide. It is precisely because Blackstone City is easy to defend and difficult to attack that it is so hard to break through. In addition, there is a Spirit Vein beneath Blackstone City, which makes the spiritual energy concentration in this place extremely high. That's why all races are frantically crowding into this city."
"This city is far too safe. Lineage are fighting tooth and nail to get a piece of land here, willing to pay any price."
"That's why we have the magnificent sight of the ten strongest clans of the Western Land gathering in one city. This has also led to the city being teeming with experts, with Spiritual Sea Stage Gu cultivators everywhere and Gu King as common as dogs. Most of the strong people in the Western Land have concentrated in this city. You can imagine how high the land prices in the city have risen now."
"Even if my Long Family is rolling in wealth, we can only buy a small area, which is far from enough to accommodate all our clansmen."
"Therefore, the current structure of the Western Land Long Family is that the main family resides in Blackstone City, while the branch families are scattered throughout various parts of the Western Land, managing the Western Land Long Family's businesses in those locations."
"Those who split off from the main branch are members of the Long Family whose bloodline is not pure. They do not hold a high position within the Lineage, but their numbers are extremely large..."
Long Qian explained the general situation of the Western Land Long Family to Long Xuan, and he was also saying this to the others.
Amidst the conversation, the Dragon Boat slowly descended, landing some distance outside the city gate.
Obviously, flying is prohibited inside the city; otherwise, the Dragon Boat would have sailed directly into the city instead of landing outside and having to travel a considerable distance.
Long Qian walked at the front, handed over a few Mid-Grade Spirit Stone to the two Spiritual Sea Stage guards at the city gate, and then led the group into the city.
After entering the city, Long Xuan and his group of geniuses, who came from barren lands, enjoyed the local customs and culture of this unfamiliar region with great interest, showing a keen interest in everything around them.
What struck Long Xuan most was the difference in prices. The two places were separated by the Hundred Thousand Mountains and the ocean, making them completely different worlds. How could prices be the same?
The biggest price difference is in Spirit Insect resources. The various tribes in the Western Land seem to be extremely skilled at cultivating Spirit Insect, leading to fierce competition in the Spirit Insect trade. As a result, Spirit Insect resources are extremely cheap in this region, three to five times cheaper than in the Far Western Lands, practically dirt cheap.
Upon seeing this, Long Xuan's pupils quickly contracted. What did the cheap materials for Spirit Insect mean? It meant that the cost of refining Gu was very low for the people in this region, and it was also very easy to refine high-quality Gu Insect.
This also means that the combat power of the Western Land Gu cultivators will inevitably far surpass that of the Far West Gu cultivators.
At this moment, he finally understood why the Long Family was so excited about setting up teleportation portals between the two regions. If the Far West Long Family packaged up the Spirit Insect of the Western Land and sold them in the Far Western Lands, wouldn't they make a fortune?
Buying low and selling high in two places to make a profit is incredibly lucrative.
Long Qian had also thought of this matter and was eager to place the Spatial House in the Lineage immediately so that the two places could establish a connection as soon as possible, so he traveled very quickly.
However, the more anxious he is, the more likely he is to be bogged down by unexpected events.
The group had already entered the market town under the jurisdiction of the Long Family and were admiring the dazzling array of treasures on the street when an unexpected incident occurred ahead. Two groups suddenly clashed and broke out into a melee, creating chaos and blocking the group's path.
The two sides in the melee were dressed in black and white, both being Gu cultivators in the Marrow Cleansing Stage. The black side had only a dozen or so people, while the white side had more than thirty.
Long Xuan clicked his tongue in amazement. Good heavens, he had only just arrived and he could already see more than forty Gu cultivators in the Marrow Cleansing Marrow Cleansing Stage fighting each other. As expected of a great region, Marrow Cleansing Stage experts were really plentiful.
Back when he was still focused on developing his business in the Far Western Market, there were only a handful of Gu cultivators at the Marrow Cleansing Stage in the market, right?
Even after joining the Lineage, the number of Gu cultivators in the Marrow Cleansing Stage was not large. These forty-odd Gu cultivators in the Marrow Cleansing Stage were equivalent to almost half of the number of Gu cultivators in the Marrow Cleansing Stage of the previous Far West Long Family.
Although the number of Gu cultivators dressed in black was small, the leader was exceptionally fierce in combat, capable of taking on more than ten people single-handedly, and incredibly, he even managed to gain the upper hand. Long Xuan was astonished and immediately took a few more glances at this person.
Keep in mind that his opponents were all Gu cultivators in the Marrow Cleansing Stage, including some peak Marrow Cleansing Stage experts of equal rank to him, yet he still managed to overpower them, demonstrating his exceptional combat prowess.
This person is absolutely a prodigy, far superior to someone like Long Biao, who is considered a mediocre talent.
It was precisely because of his presence that, despite the vast disparity in numbers between the two sides, the Black side still held its own.