The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear Gu

Chapter 48: The Drunken Wine Insect

"Could something have gone wrong?" Long Xuan was extremely anxious and could no longer focus on studying the forbidden technique. He pushed the lid of the jar slightly open and peeked inside.

To his shock, he saw a small white snake belly-up, eyes closed, floating motionless on the surface of the liquor as if it were dead.

If not for the progress indicator, he would have thought the snake was truly dead.

Long Xuan's expression became animated as an unbelievable thought crossed his mind: Could this wine insect have passed out drunk? He wondered incredulously.

Innovation is always unpredictable. No one had ever used distilled liquor to refine a wine Gu before, and he recklessly decided to throw the wine insect into distilled liquor, not knowing what changes might occur.

In this world, spiritual liquor is made from various heavenly natural treasures, resulting in extremely potent drinks.

But he went further, distilling the spiritual liquor several times, making it extraordinarily strong—likely strong enough to kill someone. Even a wine insect, known for its high tolerance, might not withstand it and would simply pass out drunk.

Long Xuan blinked, utterly bewildered.

Could it be? Had this wine insect really gotten drunk?

How was this possible? This was a wine insect, famous in this world for its immense drinking capacity, said to never be fazed even after three large jars.

And now it was passed out drunk? What happened to its legendary tolerance? What kind of wine insect was this? How shameful!

Long Xuan was completely at a loss. He had never heard of a wine insect getting drunk. The fact that a wine insect could actually pass out from drinking was a once-in-a-lifetime oddity, something unheard of, opening his eyes to a new phenomenon.

What should he do now? Should he fish it out? He dared not act recklessly, fearing that he might ruin everything.

But if he left it, and it died from the alcohol, he'd be in big trouble! This jar of liquor had cost him an unimaginable amount of resources, far exceeding the cost of the Eye of Heavenly secret! The most crucial thing was that he only had one peak-grade wine insect.

Long Xuan hesitated, almost worrying himself sick.

In the end, he dared not make any unnecessary moves.

Since he didn't understand what was happening, he decided to just leave it be. Long Xuan resigned himself to fate, thinking, "Whatever happens, happens. If it dies, so be it—it's just one peak-grade spiritual insect, I can afford the loss."

With this pragmatic thought, he felt a bit more at ease. He sealed the lid tightly and returned to his chair to continue researching the forbidden technique.

Time flew by, and another hundred days passed. By this time, Long Xuan had developed 80% of the forbidden technique, just a step away from completion.

Rubbing his sore neck, he couldn't resist taking a break. He stood up slowly and walked to the wine jar, carefully pushing the lid open a crack, peeking inside nervously.

To his dismay, the little white snake was still floating belly-up, eyes closed, as if dead.

Long Xuan sighed softly.

It was still there, soaked and thoroughly marinated.

Still not waking up.

Anyone who didn't know better might think this was a jar of snake wine.

However, he noticed that the liquid level in the jar had noticeably decreased, giving him a sliver of hope.

The decreasing liquid meant it was still drinking, and drinking meant it was alive.

But it would drink, pass out drunk, wake up a bit, drink a few sips, and pass out again. This cycle seemed to be unending.

Long Xuan was beginning to wonder if it might actually drink itself to death, becoming the first wine insect in history to die from drinking.

After some contemplation, Long Xuan resealed the jar, leaving the wine insect to its fate.

Using the distillation method from his previous life to refine a Gu was an unexplored path, full of uncertainties. Whether it would succeed or not, he didn't know. All he could do now was wait; its fate was up to it.

Long Xuan sighed, returned to his seat, picked up his pen, and eagerly resumed his research on the forbidden technique.

He once again lost track of time, sitting there for what could be an entire day.

Sometimes, he even forgot to sleep, pulling all-nighters. Besides drinking water and eating, he spent nearly all his time on his research. This was the daily life of a dedicated researcher.

Thanks to his tireless effort, the progress was gratifying.

After working tirelessly day and night for a hundred days, he finally succeeded in developing a forbidden technique that exchanged life force for immense power.

Life force is the most crucial element of a person and the most mysterious form of energy. Most ordinary people have less than a hundred years of life force; depleting it means reaching the end of life.

The price for such powerful offensive capabilities was indeed terrifying.

However, precisely because the power of this forbidden technique was so immense, it could also affect the user, potentially causing severe injury.

He calculated that even with the resilience granted by his Little strong Gu, simply detonating a hundred years of life force could still injure him, even if he ran far away in advance.

But this very danger was why it was called a forbidden technique; otherwise, why call it forbidden?

The danger of the forbidden technique was one aspect; the other was the immense cost of using it. It consumed life force, a non-renewable resource, unlike spiritual power which could regenerate. Once life force was used, it was permanently lost.

Only Long Xuan could afford to use a forbidden technique that consumed life force. Anyone else attempting it might not have many years left even if they weren't killed by the technique itself.

Even Long Xuan dared not use it lightly. His life force was precious and couldn't be squandered. He wouldn't even be willing to use a year's worth of life force for a test.

This technique was destined to be a rarely used trump card, reserved for life-and-death situations.

While he wouldn't use this forbidden technique lightly in the real world, it was a different story in the Origin Realm.

The Origin Realm had a 100% reality simulation; the forbidden technique's destructive power in the real world could be perfectly replicated there, including environmental damage.

And since everything in the Origin Realm was illusory, using the forbidden technique there wouldn't consume real life force.

Thus, he could indulge in testing the forbidden technique's power in the Origin Realm, satisfying his curiosity.

At this moment, Long Xuan entered the Origin Realm again, conjuring a white energy ball in his hands, which he then spun, compressed, and detonated, creating deafening explosions and blasting huge craters into the ground.

Some craters were as large as football fields, showcasing terrifying destructive power.

This was the horror of using life force for power, far surpassing the destruction caused by spiritual power.

Long Xuan laughed maniacally in the illusionary realm, like a mad bomber, destroying everything around him.

Since he was at home and closest to Elder Long's residence, the Origin Realm was limited by distance, so he could only replicate Elder Long's house, blowing it to bits.

He continued until his life force was depleted, his hair turning white. Only then did he reluctantly leave the illusionary realm.

Looking at the forbidden technique book he had created on the table, he felt immense satisfaction, still riding the wave of excitement.

After closing the not-so-thick book, he wrote "Spirit Bomb" on the cover.

This was the name he gave to the forbidden technique.

Lastly, he added "?Written by Long Xuan," in the lower right corner of the cover, before stopping his pen, a proud smile on his face.

How much could this forbidden technique book be worth?

Curiosity sparked within Long Xuan; he wanted to test its value at an auction house.

But reason told him not to. Forbidden techniques must not be casually shared. The fewer who knew, the stronger the technique remained.

The more people knew, the more likely he would encounter enemies who could counter the technique. The unknown was always the most terrifying.

After calming down, he carefully stored the "Spirit Bomb" book away.

Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he hurriedly walked outside.

He had finally remembered the wine insect still soaking in the jar and decided to check on it immediately.

Despite being prepared for failure, hope still lingered in his heart. What if it succeeded? No one wants to give up until the last moment.

After all, it was a peak-grade Gu insect. Just the thought of possibly owning one excited Long Xuan, filling him with high hopes.