The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear Gu

Chapter 64: (2): Peak-grade Spiritual Insects

In this world, hunting spiritual beasts was akin to acquiring equipment in games—spiritual insects of various qualities would drop, attracting countless rogue cultivators and forming the hunter profession, where they made a living by hunting spiritual beasts.

Like in games where monsters drop equipment, the dropped spiritual insects were random. Whether one could obtain supreme spiritual insects depended entirely on luck.

Some people had bad luck, always getting low-grade spiritual insects, while others, blessed with fortune, could get peak-grade spiritual insects on their first hunt.

It was impossible to tell which spiritual beast had good insects inside, so hunters targeted high-grade spiritual beasts to increase their chances.

Since spiritual beasts had a different growth system from humans, their abilities were inherited through bloodlines, not learned.

The ancestors of spiritual beasts embedded their abilities in their bloodlines, passing them down through generations, allowing spiritual beasts to naturally possess various powerful abilities.

Of course, the next generation of spiritual beasts couldn’t inherit all the abilities of their ancestors; otherwise, there would be ancestral beasts everywhere.

For example, a powerful ancestral beast might have ten thousand abilities, but its descendants would inherit these abilities randomly. Bad luck could result in awakening a useless ability, placing them at the bottom of the food chain, while good luck could awaken a heaven-defying ability, making them a beast king.

As the bloodline of ancestral beasts thinned over generations, the number of awakened abilities decreased, and most spiritual beasts today had only one or a few abilities.

Those unawakened abilities were called latent abilities by humans, hidden within the bloodline, not lost.

If a spiritual beast was exceptionally gifted and experienced atavism, those latent abilities could awaken.

Interestingly, the parasites within spiritual beasts could carry these latent abilities.

Spiritual beasts, however, are not Gu cultivators and cannot use this kind of power at all.

Therefore, it's impossible to determine what kind of spirit insects a spiritual beast might have based on its abilities.

A garbage spiritual beast that can only blow bubbles might host spirit insects with the power to cause catastrophic floods. It's like opening a blind box—there's no pattern and no way to predict it.

Long Xuan is a complete exception; he can see the progress of spirit insects within spiritual beasts at a glance. He doesn't need to gamble like others. Entering the world of spiritual beasts for him is like using a navigation system.

This large-scale mission to hunt spiritual beasts, while dangerous, is also an opportunity for him. His clones don't have the ability to see the progress of spirit insects, so they cannot replace him. He needs to use his main body to find the best spirit insects like using navigation.

For someone like him, the Ten Thousand Great Mountains are full of treasures. It's not just possible, but certain, that he'll find peak-grade spirit insects there. His only concern is whether he has enough strength.

Therefore, he doesn't resent this compulsory mission. On the contrary, he's somewhat excited, as if a large number of peak-grade spirit insects are calling to him.

In fact, there's another type of parasite found in spiritual beasts. Spirit insects within a spiritual beast can be naturally born or come from the outside.

When a spiritual beast drinks water or passes through a certain bush, it might get spirit insects that jump onto it and hide in its fur, becoming parasites.

These are like fleas, lice, and ticks… parasites.

There are also many insects unique to this world that even an entomologist like Long Xuan has never seen.

However, parasites on the surface of a spiritual beast can easily be spotted by sharp-eyed Gu cultivators. If he teams up with other Gu cultivators, these surface parasites would not be easy for him to claim.

His target remains the naturally born spirit insects within spiritual beasts, which his teammates can't see. This gives him much more room to maneuver.

Long Xuan became very interested in this trip. After replying via the communication talisman, he immediately packed his things and headed to the agreed meeting place with Li Laodao.

Due to the circumstances, he asked Elder Long for a leave before departing, pausing his work at the herb garden.

Being absent from the herb garden for a month wouldn't be fatal. Elder Long agreed without much thought. He was aware of the potential beast tide and didn't ask much, continuing to research the Hundred flowers Pill recipe, which Long Xuan found exasperating.

It had been so long, and Long Xuan was tired of the Hundred flowers Pill. Yet Old Long still hadn't figured it out.

It's worth mentioning that for this beast tide clearing task, not all major clan Gu cultivators would go. A significant number would stay behind.

Big clans, unlike individual rogue cultivators, have large assets and need to keep some strength at home. Elder Long was among those who didn't need to participate.

Don't talk about fairness; this world is never fair. Fairness always belongs to the stronger side. Individual cultivators, being weak, have no choice but to be manipulated.

The meeting place was Qian's Inn in the market city. Long Xuan followed the communication talisman's directions and entered one of the private rooms in the inn.

Inside, he found quite a few people already present. Clearly, Li Laodao had invited more than just him. These people would be his teammates for this journey.

There were three men and two women in the room. Li Laodao, whom he was very familiar with, and a little medicine boy whose name he didn't know but often sold him junk—so he could be considered a semi-acquaintance.

Another was an old man whose face Long Xuan recognized after a moment's thought as the one who had sold him the honeycomb years ago. This old man mistakenly sold high-grade spirit bees as middle-grade ones.

Unexpectedly, after so many years, they met again and coincidentally became teammates. Truly, fate works in mysterious ways.

As for the other two women, since Long Xuan's clones frequently visited the market city and attended various trade fairs, he knew them too.

One was an old woman named Han Mei, and the other was a plain-looking middle-aged woman named Zhang Ling.

All five of them were at the peak of the Spirit Gathering, just one step away from the Marrow Cleansing stage. They were among the strongest individual cultivators in the market city.

Only Long Xuan was at the late Spirit Gathering stage, making him the weakest link.

"Li Laodao, why did you bring a late Spirit Gathering stage here? This is just dragging us down. I don't want to carry a burden," complained the old man with poor eyesight, still not recognizing Long Xuan.

Li Laodao immediately stepped in to smooth things over. "Old Ma, you've been away from the market city for so long, you don't know. This young friend here is Long Xuan. Despite his lower stage, his combat power is no less than ours."

"I can't reveal specifics, but he definitely has the strength of someone at the peak of the Spirit Gathering stage. Why would I invite him otherwise? Trust me, he won't drag us down. Even if his strength falters, his Little Strong Gu will keep him safe. He won't be a burden."

Hearing that Long Xuan, though at the late stage, had the strength of someone at the peak, Old Ma looked skeptical but gave Long Xuan another look. The more he looked, the more familiar Long Xuan seemed.

Finally, Old Ma recognized him as the young man who had bought the honeycomb years ago. He shouted, "So it was you! You crafty brat, you tricked me terribly. Give me back my high-grade spirit bee hive!"

Long Xuan looked puzzled and replied, "Who are you? I don't know you. What spirit bee hive? I have no idea what you're talking about…"

"Hahaha," Li Laodao laughed, patting him on the shoulder. "Old friend, it's been years, don't you remember the rules? No taking back mistakes. Forget it."

After saying that, Li Laodao no longer paid attention to him, walked up to Long Xuan and said, "Don't mind him. The market city has its rules. You were lucky to get a high-grade spirit bee hive at a low price."

"high-grade spirit honey fetches a high price. If your herb garden is full of flowers, selling honey would be a great source of income."

Li Laodao looked envious, considering whether he should trade for some high-grade honey himself. He wondered what kind of high-grade spirit bee it was that made Old Ma so upset.

Ignoring the glaring Old Ma, Long Xuan chatted with Li Laodao.

"Let's cut the small talk. I've never hunted in the Ten Thousand Great Mountains. What's the risk level?" Long Xuan asked seriously.

"Don't worry. This trip is 100% safe. No accidents. You can be totally at ease!" Li Laodao promised confidently.

"100% safe?" Long Xuan raised an eyebrow, feeling a sense of déjà vu. Li Laodao had said the same about the ancient tomb. But what happened then?

They were used as cannon fodder by the large clans, and many rogue cultivators died. He was lucky not to go.

"Are you sure? You said the same last time." Long Xuan couldn't help but question, showing his doubt.

Li Laodao, understanding the reference, blushed slightly and said awkwardly, "That was an accident. This time is different. I have a powerful backer leading us…"