The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear Gu

Chapter 16: Forbidden Technique

Long Xuan took a deep breath, retrieved all the materials, and placed them one by one into a large cauldron.

The number of spirit insects was simply too large; the original Gu container could no longer hold them all, so he had to use a large cauldron.

After putting all the spirit insects into the cauldron and covering it with a lid, he began to observe the progress.

If he didn't see any progress, it meant the Gu could not be formed. Long Xuan would then take out all the spirit insects and change the sequence before putting them back in.

This step was repeated thirty-seven times before the cauldron finally showed progress: [0%].

At the same time, all the spirit insects in the cauldron suddenly became quiet.

The eye emitting evil energy was very eerie. Any spirit insect that was stared at by it would become motionless, with a blank and lifeless gaze.

It was as if they were trapped in an illusion, with their souls pulled into an illusionary realm, while their bodies outside were slowly devoured by this evil insect.

Seeing the progress, Long Xuan let out a long sigh of relief. Thankfully, it didn’t take too long.

The success rate of forming a Gu varies with each method. Some can succeed in two attempts, while others may take ten thousand tries and still fail.

He was really worried that this was a Gu with an extremely low success rate, as it would be difficult to handle so many spirit insects.

Now it was just a matter of being patient. Long Xuan was very curious about how powerful the illusion carried by this expensive eye Gu would be. The anticipation was both nerve-wracking and exciting.

Waiting always felt long. Long Xuan frequently checked the progress of the cauldron, anxious and impatient.

Perhaps the lower the quality of the Gu, the faster it forms, and the higher the quality, the slower it forms.

This Gu made him wait for a full eighty-one days, each day feeling like a year.

Because of the progress indicator, he was already waiting nearby on the day the Gu was formed. When the progress reached 100%, his spirits were lifted. He immediately lifted the cauldron lid, only to see a sinister eye Gu lying in the center, staring at him with a very eerie gaze.

Long Xuan couldn’t wait and immediately performed a blood pact with it.

Although he had never tried a blood pact, he knew the process well. An eye Gu, a type of inner Gu, would parasitize the eye if small, or the center of the forehead if larger.

The Long family had a unique Gu technique called the Evil Dragon Emperor’s Eye, which Elder Long had personally refined, so he had some knowledge of using eye Gu.

This eye Gu was slightly larger, so Long Xuan placed it on his forehead.

The eye Gu lay on his brow for a moment, then instinctively broke through the skin and burrowed into the center of his forehead.

Once it entered his forehead, the skin quickly healed without a trace. From a distance, no one could see the wound or the hidden evil eye, making it very discreet.

At the same time, Long Xuan felt a sharp pain in his forehead, followed by his mental power being rapidly drawn into it, being consumed by the eye Gu.

After it had its fill, the eye Gu granted its ability to Long Xuan, establishing a symbiotic relationship where both shared their fate.

Not everyone is qualified to refine an eye Gu; it requires high mental power. Those lacking sufficient mental power would perish from being drained dry at this stage.

Although Long Xuan didn’t know how strong his mental power was, having lived two lives gave him confidence in his mental strength.

He completed the symbiosis with the eye Gu without any discomfort and could sustain the spiritual power the eye Gu required.

He also understood the illusion carried by the eye Gu.

This illusion was called Origin Realm, which perfectly replicated the real world into an illusionary realm.

Everything in the illusion was identical to reality, making it impossible for someone to discern differences to break the illusion.

The absolute realism of the illusion made it very difficult for those trapped in it to discover its flaws, making them unaware they were in an illusion.

This was the strength of the illusion.

Excited, Long Xuan couldn’t wait to test the basic abilities of the eye Gu.

With a thought, an eye opened on his forehead, exuding a sinister aura.

He closed his eyes and tried to see the new world with this eye.

As he infused his mental power, the world before him began to magnify, demonstrating a microscope-like ability.

Long Xuan was ecstatic; he had successfully created a way to magnify small objects.

He held his breath, calmed his racing heart, and began testing the limits of the eye Gu.

He increased the infusion of mental spiritual power, and his vision further magnified, soon reaching the microscopic level.

At this point, he could already see micron-level organisms, capable of seeking out water bear across the world. Yet, he wasn't satisfied. He magnified his vision further, diving deeper until he could see bacteria and viruses floating in the air, reaching the nanoscale level.

But even this wasn't enough. He furiously injected more mental power, his vision magnifying a hundredfold, a thousandfold...

As his vision expanded, everything he saw began moving rapidly from the center outward, making him somewhat dizzy.

Who knows how many times it had magnified, but now he could see molecules, and with further magnification, he saw atoms and even atomic nuclei...

Long Xuan's heart pounded uncontrollably. His initial intent for creating this ability was to prevent others from using Gu against him and to catch water bear.

However, he hadn't anticipated the eye Gu's tremendous power, allowing him to magnify his vision to the atomic level, and perhaps even beyond.

When a spirit insect transforms into a Gu insect, its growth rate resets to zero. This eye Gu was currently at 0% growth, still in its infancy. If it was already this powerful now, what would it achieve when fully mature?

Long Xuan dared not imagine further.

The magnification limits of this eye Gu far exceeded his expectations. Once fully grown, it could explore worlds even smaller than those known in his previous life. He couldn't wait to discover what these micro-worlds held.

Long Xuan began contemplating how to utilize this ability effectively, rather than just magnifying objects without purpose.

Recently, he had learned that Gu insects' abilities could be deeply developed. Although each Gu insect only has one ability, Gu practitioners could leverage their creativity to complicate and diversify the abilities.

Magnifying objects seems like a single ability with no apparent destructive power. However, Long Xuan prided himself on his ingenuity. He aimed to develop several abilities based on this single one, turning even auxiliary capabilities into forbidden techniques.

What can magnifying objects achieve? Long Xuan's mind raced with ideas.

First, he maximized the eye Gu's power and scanned the room, eventually discovering that extreme magnification offered a slight x-ray effect, though only for thin, low-density objects.

Accurately determining what's inside a fossil might not be possible, and it could only penetrate a thin layer of ground, not very deep.

Even so, Long Xuan was already quite content. What good would deep ground penetration be without night vision? He still wouldn't be able to see what's underground.

Soon, he thought about magnifying others' spirit pills, spirit insect feed, poisons, and other resources to micro-analyze and decipher their compositions.

Next, he considered that this ability might be useful for microscopic body movements.

The so-called microscopic body movements involve evading an opponent's attacks with minimal effort, highly practical in combat and conserving a lot of energy.

Isn't that practical in battle?

However, it still wasn't enough. These ideas weren't terrifyingly powerful. He wanted to develop forbidden techniques, techniques not weaker than light condensation...