The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear Gu

Chapter 97: (2): Loss of Self-Control

Long Ziyan forcefully shifted her gaze elsewhere and said, "You should have already guessed my situation. There's no other way to resolve it."

"This is just an clone; you don't need to feel any burden."

Long Xuan immediately understood her meaning—he would be a fool not to.

...

Three hours later, Long Xuan stared blankly at Long Ziyan, who was sitting by the bed combing her hair.

Don’t ask why there’s a bed here. Long Xuan is such a peculiar person that he carries a bed, table, chairs, pots, pans, and even seasonings with him wherever he goes.

His thoughts were complicated at this moment. Although this was just an clone of Long Ziyan, the clone's body was exactly the same as the original.

Moreover, the way Long Ziyan controlled the clone allowed her to multitask, meaning that whatever happened just now was fully experienced by her original body as well.

Women in this world are very conservative, and this kind of overstepping is considered a loss of virtue. In such a conservative society, she couldn't possibly marry another man. Her only choice was him.

With this in mind, Long Xuan felt a bit moved. The path of cultivation is long and lonely, and he would never want to live like some other immortal characters, remaining celibate for eternity. He definitely wanted to find a dual cultivation partner.

His requirements weren’t high—just a peerless beauty would suffice.

And indeed, Long Ziyan’s appearance was breathtaking, completely fitting his aesthetic tastes. She was definitely a good candidate for a dual cultivation partner.

Long Xuan made up his mind to strike while the iron was hot, boldly confessing his feelings. In this conservative world, women were thin-skinned, so he had to take the initiative; otherwise, who knows how long things might drag on.

At this moment, he had completely forgotten that he had once sworn never to "eat the grass near his nest."

"Ziyan, since things have already happened, and I do have feelings for you, why don't we just become dual cultivation partners?" Long Xuan boldly proposed to her back.

Long Ziyan turned around and gave him a calm glance, her expression unchanged, as cold as ever. She slowly stood up and walked toward the cave entrance.

Two faint words drifted back to him from the cave entrance.

"No way."

Long Xuan was stunned. Rejected so flatly? Did she just take advantage of him for nothing and leave without any sense of responsibility? What a heartless woman!

However, his thick skin didn't allow this rejection to affect his mood. He just assumed she was being too reserved. After all, they had only just met and needed more time to get to know each other. Once they became familiar, everything would be fine. She couldn't marry anyone else now, so who else would she marry if not him?

At this point, Long Xuan had no idea how difficult it would be to win over this woman—it was definitely a hell-level challenge.

He got up, put the bed back into his storage bag, and shamelessly followed her.

The two didn’t head into the unknown world ahead; time was limited, and they couldn’t afford to go deeper. After messing around for three hours, there wasn’t much time left. Dawn would break in just a few hours.

They returned to the edge of the magma sea, where Lei's group of Gu cultivators clearly weren’t guarding the other side anymore.

Time was running out, and they still needed to search the various tomb chambers for treasure. They didn’t have time to waste here.

Long Xuan cautiously used the Eye of Heaven to scan the opposite shore. Seeing no progress, he turned to Long Ziyan and said, "They’re not here. We can go across."

Long Ziyan nodded. Even if they were here, it wouldn’t matter. Now that her strength had returned to its peak, combined with Long Xuan's power, they could easily take on that group, even if it included a reincarnated Gu King.

Long Xuan wrapped his arm around Long Ziyan's slender waist and, using his treading Star step technique, easily jumped across to the other side.

Long Ziyan watched in amazement. Even now, she found this technique unbelievable. Using this method to fly had completely shattered her understanding, filling her with curiosity, though her shy nature kept her from asking more.

After landing on the other side, Long Ziyan took out a map from her storage bag, glanced at it, and then chose a path.

This time, Long Xuan didn’t act alone; he followed her wherever she went.

Soon, under Long Ziyan’s guidance, he arrived at a tomb chamber. The stone walls of this chamber were covered with murals, and Long Ziyan, holding a lamp, focused intently on them.

Long Xuan frowned slightly. It was clear that the treasures in this tomb chamber had long been taken. Besides the murals, there was nothing here.

At this point, Long Xuan finally understood Long Ziyan’s hobby. She was a history enthusiast, deeply interested in history, with theology being a part of that, so it had also become her passion.

She probably didn’t send an clone into the ancient tomb because she was after some treasure; she was here to explore history.

He couldn’t help but feel sorry for Long Lie. Betting on Long Ziyan was sheer madness.

As her fellow clan member, Long Lie didn’t even understand Long Ziyan’s character before placing his bet on her.

If Long Lie knew that Long Ziyan entered the tomb not for treasure but to study boring history, he’d probably be infuriated to death.

Had he known this, he never would have dared to make such a bet, as placing hope on her was a guaranteed loss.

With the help of the light from Long Ziyan's lamp, Long Xuan curiously scanned the surrounding murals.

These murals might not be useless; they could contain many hidden messages that might be key to finding treasure or help him avoid many dangers.

So he examined them carefully, not missing an inch.

The murals depicted the life of the Empress Yaoguang, from growing up with her mother in the cold palace, alone and helpless, to competing with her brothers for the throne.

After launching a palace coup, she became a generation-defining empress, suppressing rebellions with an iron fist, transforming the empire into a war machine, and rapidly expanding the territory of the Great Ying Empire.

At the height of her reign, the Yaoguang Empress's prestige reached its peak, and the Great Ying Empire became unprecedentedly powerful during her rule.

The final mural depicted a grand battle between two armies. One side was clearly the Great Ying Empire’s forces, their numbers unknown, with a massive sedan chair carried by eight people at the forefront. The person sitting in it, though their face was unclear, was undoubtedly the Yaoguang Empress.

Opposing them was another nation’s army, with a banner bearing the large character "Emperor." Strangely, ten suns appeared in the sky above this army.

The outcome of this battle, who won, and the losses on each side remained unknown.

"This mural depicts the final battle between the Great Ying Empire and the Ancient Samsara Kingdom. The Samsara Kingdom was a very ancient country founded by the Emperor Clan, known for having the longest-lasting national destiny in history."

"The Samsara Kingdom could refine a heaven-defying Gu worm called the Samsara Gu. The emperors of the Samsara Kingdom could use the power of the Samsara Gu to reincarnate endlessly with their memories intact."

"When a nation's emperor is an immortal, that nation is destined to become an eternal, never collapsing due to a tyrannical ruler."

"Many nations, in their quest for the secret of immortality, launched continuous wars against the Samsara Kingdom. The Ancient Samsara Kingdom was besieged from all sides, constantly at war, yet it stood firm for countless millennia."

"However, as the world's spiritual energy dwindled, the materials needed to refine the Samsara Gu eventually became extinct. The Samsara Gu, though still capable of reincarnation, could no longer retain memories."

"As a result, the emperors of the Samsara Kingdom became increasingly corrupt in their later years, indulging in lust and pleasure. Finally, the Great Ying Empire seized the opportunity to annihilate them in one fell swoop."

"The mural depicts the final battle between the two nations. In this battle, the Samsara Kingdom nearly exhausted its entire army, leading to its downfall."

"After destroying the Samsara Kingdom, the strongest nation of that time, there was practically no force left to stop the Great Ying Empire's expansion. Within a century, the Great Ying Empire had nearly unified the entire Gu World."

"The five great regions of the Gu World—east, west, south, north, and central—were all incorporated into the territory of the Great Ying Empire, making it the only unified dynasty in history."

Long Ziyan slowly walked over, and as she recounted this history, a rare look of excitement appeared in her eyes.

Long Xuan recalled his current location. Based on the memories of Fire clone studying the geography books, he should be in the Western Region.

The Western Region is divided into thirty-six lands, with the Central Land being the largest. His current position should be in the Western Land, specifically in the farthest western part of the Western Land.

This meant that he was in the farthest western position in this world, on the edge of the world. The farthest western place was also known as the Far West.

It was truly remote. If the Great Ying Empire had unified the five domains, the capital would surely be built in the strongest Central Region. The distance from the Central Region to the Far West is the distance from the world's center to its edge, which is incredibly far.

How could an imperial tomb be built in such a remote location? Could it be to prevent theft?

Moreover, the entire Western Land was controlled by Clan powers and had never been governed by any country. Could this place have once been ruled by the Great Ying Empire?

Long Xuan was puzzled, feeling completely lost, surrounded by mysteries.

"Could this place have been part of the Great Ying Empire?" Long Xuan asked in confusion.

Regarding historical matters, Long Ziyan was certainly knowledgeable. She patiently explained, "During the peak of the Great Ying Empire, every corner of this world was considered part of the Great Ying Empire's territory."

"However, this world was simply too vast for the military to conquer completely, so most areas were vassal states. You could understand this as nominal control with limited actual authority."

"The Far West was nominally part of the Great Ying Empire, but the Great Ying Empire's system, laws, customs, culture, and currency were never implemented here."

"This place was too barren, so it was used as a place of exile. Many criminals would be exiled to this region."

Upon hearing this, Long Xuan couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth. The place where he lived in his previous life was also called a place of exile in ancient times. To think that his birthplace was seen as a place of exile by others was undeniably embarrassing.

However, at this moment, a new doubt arose. How could the Empress's tomb be built in a place of exile? Could she have been exiled too? Did she exile herself?

How could that be possible? No matter how severe her crime, it was impossible unless the person who committed the crime wasn't her.

With this thought, Long Xuan suddenly shivered. He thought of a possibility—the only possibility he could think of.

Long Xuan suddenly recalled the massive flaw in the "Sun and Moon Heart Sutra": the Empress had not fully mastered the technique, and the clone she created posed a risk of rebellion, with the potential to kill the original at any moment.

Could it be that the one buried in this tomb wasn't the Empress herself but merely one of her clones? Did she bury a rebellious clone here and bury it alive?

His eyes widened, considering this possibility. The implications were enormous.

Based on the information he currently had, it was highly unlikely that the owner of this ancient tomb was Empress Yaoguang.

This information was very valuable to him. If this tomb wasn't the Empress's tomb, then the danger level of the sleeping hall would be significantly reduced.

However, there were also drawbacks. If this tomb wasn't the Empress's tomb, then the burial goods would likely be few, and their value would be very limited.

Of course, this was only relative. Even if the burial goods in this tomb couldn't compare to those in a real imperial tomb, they would still be astonishing enough for someone like him, a Gu cultivator in the Spirit Gathering stage, to be tempted.

"Senior Sister! Have you ever thought that the one buried in this tomb might just be the Empress's clone?" Long Xuan shared his speculation with Long Ziyan.

Long Ziyan didn't show any surprise, clearly having already had the same thought.

"I've researched a lot of historical records. The real Empress Yaoguang has already ascended; she is the only one in ten thousand years who successfully ascended to the Spirit Realm."

"Because Empress Yaoguang had no offspring, the vast Great Ying Empire quickly fell apart after her ascension, returning to its previous chaotic state, with countless small states emerging."

Long Ziyan displayed a look of regret.

The Spirit Realm? Where is the Spirit Realm? Long Xuan furrowed his brow, showing a puzzled expression. Despite his intense curiosity, he chose not to ask further.

Time was running out. He didn't have time to ask questions like a curious child. He had too many questions in his mind, and he planned to solve them after leaving this place.

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