Because he had such a long lifespan, Long Xuan was not afraid of wasting time. As a Grind Emperor, grinding himself to the bone was his greatest pleasure. He did not mind investing a great deal of time into a broken map.
For the next period of time, he devoted all his time to restoring the incomplete map. He had no idea how many sheets of blank paper he used. At last, after three months, he finally completed the map and successfully deduced the treasure's location from its clues.
Long Xuan held the restored treasure map in wild delight, pacing excitedly around the room. No one could understand the joy of a Grind Emperor finally succeeding after pouring in countless hours.
He kissed the map, then rolled it up and placed it in his storage pouch. After that, he began packing his luggage, preparing to travel far in search of treasure.
Up to now, Long Xuan had never gone on a long journey. He had not even visited places nearby.
On one hand, his strength had been far too weak, and traveling too far was unsafe.
On the other hand, he had to take care of Old Long's medicinal garden, making it inconvenient for him to leave for too long.
But now, he no longer had to worry about that. He had a full five Externalized Clones. He could simply send one to tend the medicinal garden.
After leaving Wood Clone behind, Long Xuan first went to the market to purchase supplies for the wilderness. He also stocked up on a large amount of food before heading north.
Come to think of it, this world actually had no Grain-Repelling Pills. To prepare enough food, he had no choice but to bring an extra storage pouch specifically for food, which was extremely inconvenient.
He had already made up his mind. Once he had the time, he absolutely had to grind out the Grain-Repelling Pill Formula. Grain-Repelling Pills were simply too important for wilderness exploration; he could not go without them.
Half a month later, Long Xuan arrived at a perilous mountain range a hundred zhang high, stretching on without end, with several peaks soaring into the clouds.
From afar, it looked like a colossal beast crouching here, majestic and imposing.
This place was deserted. The mountains held no grass or trees, no birds or beasts—only dead silence.
Yet Long Xuan did not dare underestimate it. The more peculiar the terrain and the rarer human footprints were, the more likely it was to hide treasure.
Ownerless treasures always appeared in places seldom visited by humans. Otherwise, they would have long since been taken away in crowded places. How could they possibly be left for him?
Long Xuan took out the map and looked it over. He discovered that the treasure site should be somewhere near this mountain range, and a grin spread across his face.
He put away the map and began a carpet search of the area.
Though this place covered a vast area, Long Xuan's eyes could see the progress deep underground.
As long as there was treasure here, no matter how deeply it was buried, it could not hide from his eyes.
Before long, Long Xuan stopped at a cave entrance buried beneath a pile of rocks.
This cave was extremely well concealed. Once its entrance had been blocked by rubble, it blended into the mountain wall. Even if an ordinary person passed by, they would never discover there was a cave here.
Long Xuan immediately ordered the four clones to move the rubble blocking the entrance while he rested nearby.
Many hands made light work. Before long, they had cleared a gap in the entrance.
The opening only needed to be large enough for one person to enter and leave. There was no need to clear it all away.
Long Xuan immediately ordered them to stop digging. Then he sent Flame Clone squeezing into the entrance to scout the way ahead, checking whether there was danger deeper in the cave. Only after confirming it was safe would the main body enter.
Although an Externalized Clone could be accidentally killed, Long Xuan could simply condense another one after losing a clone.
The only drawback was that a newly condensed Externalized Clone had to cultivate from scratch, and only one Externalized Clone of the same attribute could exist at a time.
At this stage, Long Xuan's spiritual power was thin, so an Externalized Clone could be restored quickly. Even if he lost one, he would not feel heartbroken, which was why he dared use them so freely to scout.
But once his cultivation realm rose in the future, he absolutely could not afford to lose an Externalized Clone so casually. Otherwise, the loss would hurt him badly.
Anyone who condensed an Externalized Clone had to pay an enormous price, and none could afford to lose one lightly. Long Xuan was already among those who paid the smallest price.
After Flame Clone had entered and encountered no danger for half a day, Long Xuan played it safe and sent the remaining clones in one after another, while he himself walked at the very back.
Suddenly feeling that this was not secure enough, he called back Water Clone, who had been walking last, and ordered him to bring up the rear instead. Long Xuan moved to the very center of the group.
After thinking it over, he still felt that the middle was the safest position.
The cave was deep. Long Xuan and each of his clones held torches as they advanced cautiously.
Before long, they came upon three seniors who had already turned into white bones. Nine bulging storage pouches lay on the ground.
Fearing poison or mechanisms, Long Xuan had Metal Clone pick up the storage pouches and inspect what was inside.
Long Xuan still held some anticipation for opening blind boxes.
Other than some ordinary odds and ends and a conspicuous diary, the nine storage pouches were filled entirely with fossils—fossils of all sizes and strange shapes packed to the brim.
But in Long Xuan's eyes, ninety percent of the fossils displayed no progress at all. They were undoubtedly dead insects.
The remaining tenth displayed progress of varying lengths. The longest had four digits after the decimal point, meaning it was a High-grade Spirit Insect that matured once every thousand years. There were quite a few of them too, enough for him to make a small fortune.
The moment he saw this pile of fossils, Long Xuan realized that this cave was a Fossil Ore Vein.
Even before entering this place, he had already discovered densely packed numbers in the heart of the mountain.
But he did not possess true clairvoyance. He could only see progress, not what those progress bars represented.
Now, he could basically confirm that the densely packed progress displays all belonged to insects.
The location marked on this treasure map was actually a rare Fossil Ore Vein.
Looking again at the three scarred white skeletons, Long Xuan used his half-baked criminal investigation experience to deduce that they had died after infighting and mutual slaughter.
After flipping through the diary in that storage pouch, he roughly inferred what had happened here.
Long ago, four Rogue Cultivators accidentally entered this desolate land untouched by human traces. While searching for a cave to rest in, they unexpectedly discovered a priceless Fossil Ore Vein here.
The four were instantly overjoyed. After preparing food and a great number of storage pouches, they began digging up the fossils here.
But excavating a vein consumed enormous manpower and resources. It required mobilizing thousands upon thousands of miners.
Even if the four of them dug desperately until they grew old, how much could they possibly excavate?
They quickly discovered that mining was physical labor, terribly wasteful of time. They could not cultivate while mining either. If it delayed too much of their cultivation, then no amount of money earned would be worth the loss.
The best choice was to have mortals perform this kind of grueling labor. A Gu cultivator's time was precious and absolutely could not be wasted here.
The rules of this world were that mortals formed the backbone of production. All dirty and exhausting work was handed over to mortals, while Gu cultivators only needed to focus on cultivation.
But every mortal village was controlled by great clans. How could four Rogue Cultivators like them possibly have the ability to mobilize mortals?
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