The chaotic melee between both sides instantly became one-sided. Long Xuan's five Externalized Clones possessed terrifying explosive power. After suffering bitterly, the three men no longer dared to meet their attacks head-on and could only fight while dodging.
But they were already at a disadvantage in numbers. They might evade one person's attack, but could they evade two?
It was not as though they lacked External Gu to assist them. Each of them had refined a Snake Gu and had already released them all.
But Long Xuan possessed the Cockroach Gu's undying ability. Other than his cheat, every ability he had was copied by his Externalized Clones.
That included the Eye of Heavenly Secrets' ability. However, the eyes on his clones' foreheads were merely manifested illusions, and their amplification ability fell far short of the original body's.
Relying on their undying ability, the five clones endured the Snake Gus' bites and attacked their opponents without regard for their lives, fighting injury for injury.
As long as the Gu cultivators were killed, the Gu Insects bound to them by blood contract would naturally die on the spot. Thus, the five clones completely ignored the Snake Gus' attacks, mounting an all-out offensive without any defense whatsoever.
This fighting style made the three men miserable. Flame Jade, Metal Jade, Wood Jade, Water Jade, and Earth Jade rained down upon them like mad.
Most of the attacks were dodged, blasting one round pit after another into the ground.
Yet quite a few still struck them, inflicting serious injuries.
Long Xuan intended to end this quickly. Although there was a Soundproof Formation here, he still worried that too much commotion would draw the market's guardians over.
Although he was the victim, the current scene was him savagely beating the three men. If they bit back and claimed that he was the one robbing travelers, then with one side uninjured and the other covered in wounds, he would not be able to clear his name even if he had a hundred mouths.
After all this time, his Origin Realm was finally ready. Without the slightest hesitation, he activated it.
The consciousnesses of the three men were immediately drawn into an Illusion Realm.
One had to know that only their consciousnesses entered the Illusion Realm, not their bodies.
Once their consciousnesses entered the Illusion Realm, the bodies left outside could only stand motionless and be torn apart by attacks from the outside.
When the three men were instantly blasted into pulp by the various jades, Long Xuan swiftly gathered their storage bags and fled the scene.
Speaking of which, the three men were truly unlucky. It was their first time killing for treasure, and they had been cautious upon cautious upon cautious, choosing someone they believed to be the weakest. They had even planned for the enemy to be stronger than expected and made every sort of preparation, arranging both Rock Gu and a Soundproof Formation.
Yet even with such caution, their boat had still capsized in the gutter.
Not long after Long Xuan left, a group of people appeared there. The seven leading them were all at the peak of the Marrow Cleansing Stage.
As expected, they were the market's guardians.
The Far Western Lands had seven great Gu cultivator families: the Long Family, Feng Family, Mu Family, Miao Family, Lei Family, Shi Family, and Gu Family.
Each of the seven great Gu cultivator families sent one expert to guard the Far Western Market.
The seven experts currently stationed at the market were Long Lie, Miao Zhuang, Mu Tie, Feng Lan, Lei Li, Shi Jian, and Gu Dalong, who was known as Alchemist Gu.
The seven great Gu cultivator families all possessed extensive holdings in this market. It was one of the economic lifelines of every major family, so the seven Gu cultivators sent to guard it were all quite powerful.
Long Lie inspected the round pits left in the ground one after another, revealing a grave expression. He said solemnly, "What domineering Mutated Spiritual Power. These five kinds of Mutated Spiritual Power are exceptionally strong. In the Far Western Lands, there are scarcely any that can rival them."
"Mm." Miao Zhuang, standing nearby, pondered for a moment before saying, "I have never heard of these five kinds of Mutated Spiritual Power. This is my first time seeing them, yet each is extremely overbearing and possesses extraordinary destructive force. It seems the five culprits are Gu cultivators from elsewhere."
Mu Tie stepped forward, pinched some soil from one of the pits, and said, "I have never seen the spiritual arts they used. Which family are they from? Feng Lan, you have seen much and know much. Can you identify the origin of these spiritual arts?"
He turned to look at the curvaceous middle-aged woman beside him.
"It is my first time seeing them as well. They may be newly created spiritual arts, or perhaps the five culprits came from a very distant place. It is only natural that I cannot identify their origins."
"However, no matter who they are, they dared to kill for treasure here and even killed three people in succession. They have broken this place's rules. They must be captured, bound in the market, and beheaded before the public as a warning to others." Feng Lan frowned and spoke sternly.
Lei Li had a fiery temper. Angrily, he said, "Exactly. They dared to commit crimes in territory under our charge. They clearly do not take us seriously. We must investigate this thoroughly. Since they could commit a crime once, they can commit one a second time. We absolutely cannot let this slide, or the market's prestige will surely be damaged. Some people may even grow bolder."
"I see that this is the road leading to Great Stone Village. Those five people may very well be hiding there. We might as well go search it. Perhaps we can capture them immediately."
Gu Dalong smiled. "Hehe! There is no need to search there. Long Ao is cultivating in seclusion in that place. If they dare run wild there, they will be courting death."
"If they truly went there, we would not need to act at all. They would play themselves to death."
Shi Jian laughed loudly. "That is true. Ten years ago, you gave him an Ancient Remnant Formula and tricked him into coming here to repair it. He has remained in seclusion for ten years now. You really led that old fellow into a pit. How could repairing a remnant formula be so easy? Those three materials alone might trap him here for the rest of his life."
Gu Dalong said unhappily, "What do you mean, I led him into a pit? The remnant formula I gave him was genuine, without the slightest falsehood. It is his own comprehension that is lacking, leaving him unable to complete it and wasting ten years here. How can he blame me?"
"I never forced him to repair it. He could give up whenever he wished. He is simply too stubborn. How can he lay the blame at my door?"
After Long Xuan returned home, he casually inspected the storage bags of the three Rogue Cultivators. Finding nothing of value, he immediately revealed a disappointed expression and tossed the storage bags aside.
Rogue Cultivators were poor to begin with, and they had to spend most of their wealth on Gu Insects. The Gu Insects would instantly die with their hosts, and once the Gu Insects died, Long Xuan had even less to gain.
After this one battle, Long Xuan understood that obtaining resources through killing for treasure was not a viable path. The gains and risks might not be proportional.
After taking such an enormous risk, he might end up with nothing but a heap of junk. He must never assume that he could succeed forever. No one was invincible. After killing for treasure countless times, one would eventually fail once, and the price of that single failure would be one's life.
That female Rogue Cultivator had acted so steadily and prepared for every possibility, yet had she not still died miserably in the end?
Thus, farming was the true path. Cultivation was not all about fighting and killing.
After drawing his conclusions, Long Xuan took out the greatest gain from his trip to the Treasure Exchange Fair—the Treasure Map Fragment.
Following the plan he had prepared long ago, he placed the Treasure Map Fragment atop a blank sheet of paper of roughly the same size, then began scribbling blindly over the missing parts of the treasure map.
The Treasure Map Fragment's progress had originally been 90.98%. After Long Xuan's careless scribbling, the progress instantly vanished.
Rather than being alarmed, Long Xuan was delighted. He understood that his idea was feasible.
He was not afraid of the progress disappearing. What he feared was that it would not change at all. As long as the progress changed, whether it increased or disappeared, it meant that his method of using blank paper to fill in the incomplete map would work. So long as he persevered, one day he would successfully complete the remnant map.
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