The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear Gu

The next day, Long Xuan got up early and walked towards the Long family estate with Long Ziyan. The Long estate was festively decorated, with the sounds of children's laughter echoing everywhere, making the atmosphere extremely lively.

As they walked down the street, a row of exquisite little houses lined the sides of the road. Each small house was incredibly well-crafted and creative, one more so than the next.

The most beautiful little houses were surrounded by crowds of people, pointing and discussing them, their conversations filled with laughter. From time to time, someone would throw a wooden plaque into the box beside a house.

These were the voting boxes. At the end of the day, the house with the most votes in its box would be the final winner, receiving a large contribution reward. The higher the ranking, the greater the reward.

In the family, the higher one's status, the more votes they held. Both Long Xuan and Long Ziyan had a hundred votes each. These votes could be cast for anyone, but they were not allowed to vote for themselves.

Looking around, Long Xuan noticed that there were too many small houses. Many wide streets were filled with exhibition spots. Considering that everyone in the clan now had a Sou Gu, one could imagine how many small houses there were.

Just viewing all the small houses would probably take half a day.

Long Xuan, with his keen eyes, quickly spotted Long Ziyan’s Dragon Silkworm House and immediately ran over. In front of her, he threw all of his votes into the box beside her house.

A large crowd had gathered around the Dragon Silkworm House, and it had received the most votes. Wooden plaques were thrown into the box in droves, yet the box seemed like a bottomless pit, swallowing all the plaques.

Long Xuan couldn’t help but reflect that while this voting method appeared fair, it seemed somewhat unfair.

The practicality of Long Ziyan’s Dragon Silkworm House was probably the best, but the practicality of the houses was evaluated by the family's upper echelon. Ordinary clansmen didn’t have the expertise to judge that.

So, this voting process was based solely on aesthetics. To be honest, Long Ziyan’s Dragon Silkworm House wasn’t the most beautiful, but she was the most beautiful, so votes rained into her voting box.

Even though all the houses were presented anonymously, with no one knowing who owned which house, there was only one person in the entire clan who possessed second-grade dragon silkworm silk. As long as one wasn’t blind, they would know whose house this was.

Given this, it was clear who would be the final winner of this house exhibition—Long Ziyan was already poised for victory.

Seeing Long Xuan throw all his votes into her box, a slight smile appeared on Long Ziyan’s lips. She walked over and said, "What kind of house did you use to pry open my ice house? Why don't you let me admire your masterpiece?"

Long Xuan laughed dryly and said, “I didn’t enter my house in the competition. I’ll take you to see it at my place another day.”

His Ice and Fire House was built entirely with branches of high-grade spiritual trees. Not only was it incredibly beautiful, but its practicality also far surpassed Long Ziyan’s.

To be frank, his Ice and Fire House could easily win a double crown.

However, his Ice and Fire House was of such high grade that if he revealed it, it would cause a sensation—too much attention, and it might bring some risks.

Besides, he wasn’t interested in the contribution rewards. If he ever needed contributions, he could easily produce a low-grade Gu recipe and earn a quick reward, so he had no reason to participate in this competition.

“That’s a pity! It looks like I won’t be able to cast my hundred votes for you,” Long Ziyan smiled lightly and walked deeper into the street to admire the other houses.

Long Xuan quickly followed behind.

It had to be said, this newly created festival was incredibly lively, far more so than any traditional Long clan festival.

All the clansmen, young and old, had come out to admire the various small houses, filling every street with people, laughter, and joy.

Long Xuan and Long Ziyan spent the entire day strolling through the streets, eating various snacks, and buying all sorts of exquisite little gifts. Finally, they reached the last event of the Sou Gu Day. By this time, it was already dark.

This newly established holiday, Sou Gu Day, was also known as Valentine’s Day, and most people preferred to call it that.

This was because all the small houses of the Sou Gu were interconnected, allowing a Sou Gu to visit another’s house.

So, on this day, the men of the Long clan would write a love letter and give it to their Sou Gu, asking it to deliver the letter to the woman they admired.

Some had already chosen their targets, while others used this method to leave their fate to chance, letting the heavens decide their romantic destiny.

The women of the Long clan would anxiously wait by their small houses, eagerly anticipating the arrival of letters. Those who received many letters would naturally be envied, while those who received none would be teased, fostering a spirit of competition.

Due to this activity, many members of the Long clan found their match on this day, significantly boosting the birth rate.

This was undoubtedly a good thing for the clan.

The Long clan’s upper echelon were very satisfied with this tradition, so they added a new rule this year: all single male Gu Masters in the clan were required to participate in this event, with no exceptions.

It was essentially a mandatory matchmaking event, forcing many cultivation fanatics who usually ignored romance to participate, much to their embarrassment.

By this time, many had already handed their letters to their Sou Gu, and in the void realm, countless Sou Gu were bustling about, delivering letters back and forth.

The outside was bustling, and the void realm was equally lively. Many, fearing the embarrassment of failing to find a match, sent out numerous letters, almost overworking their Sou Gu.

As the clan’s number one beauty, Long Ziyan’s small house was unusually quiet, with not a single letter in sight.

It wasn’t that she lacked admirers, but her house was too advanced, and there were hardly any Sou Gu that could enter it.

This served as a sort of filter for social status; those who succeeded in finding a match were generally well-matched in terms of wealth and background, avoiding the cliché of a rich lady falling for a poor boy.

This was a mandatory event, so Long Xuan had no choice but to participate. Near the end of the event, he wrote a short love poem on his letter and gave it to the Sou Gu in his Gu pouch, then found an excuse to leave.

Staying would only be awkward—what better time to leave than now?

Not long after he left, Long Ziyan’s Gu pouch stirred. She reached in and soon pulled out a note. On it was written:

"Having seen the vast ocean, no other waters can compare;

Apart from the clouds of Mount Wu, no other clouds are worth mentioning.

Passing through the clusters of flowers, I am too lazy to look back;

Half because of my devotion to the Dao, and half because of you."

...

The lively Valentine’s Day finally came to an end. As expected, Long Ziyan took the double crown, crushing the competition.

Meanwhile, Long Qilin once again gloriously secured second place. Although the rewards for being second were still substantial, his face showed no trace of joy. It is said that he also failed to find a partner, though the details remain unknown.

After one night, the Long family did not quiet down on the next day, as their traditional festival, the Eye Washing Day, was fast approaching.

Although there were still three days until Eye Washing Day, preparations for the venue needed to be made in advance, and many things required early arrangements.

Eye Washing Day is just as lively, no less so than Gu Day, because the Gu battles on Eye Washing Day are incredibly spectacular.

In this entertainment-deprived world, many people attend such events to watch others engage in Gu battles, cheering and shouting on the sidelines, with crowds gathering in overwhelming numbers.

Coordinating such a large number of people is no small task, so the family elders, having hardly rested half a day, were busy once again.

The last Gu battle tournament turned into a showcase for Earth Masters, a good Gu battle tournament turned into a showdown between Earth Masters.

The power of these beings is simply too enormous, with just a slight movement, they could wreak havoc on the Gu pits.

As a result, the last Gu battle tournament was a complete mess, and it took several days to finally finish the tournament.

This time, the family learned their lesson and decided to improve the Gu pits. However, how to improve the pits has caused many of the elders to worry themselves sick.

The Earth Masters this time are different from the last; this time, each Earth Master can carry formations made of cement into battle, capable of unleashing powerful elemental attacks, bombarding and destroying the venue far more than a year ago, further ruining the Gu pits.

In the end, it was the newly discovered cement that solved their urgent problem.

Cement engraved with reinforcement formations might not be able to withstand Gu Kings, but it’s sufficient as a battleground for Gu insects.

Even though cement with formations may not be 100% resistant to the impact of Earth Masters, it’s affordable, so even if it’s destroyed, it’s not distressing.

Thus, another grand project began. The festive atmosphere in the Long family was thick, having just celebrated one day, and now, unexpectedly, they were about to celebrate another festival.

And so, three days quickly passed, with shadows of people constantly moving across various mountain peaks, occasionally someone would dart out from a peak, heading towards the family gathering.

Long Xuan was very interested in the family’s Sacred Tree, the Divine Dragon Wood, and naturally wanted to participate in this Gu battle tournament.

However, he didn’t intend to take the top spot, so he just sent his Fire Clone to go through the motions, aiming for a spot in the top twenty.

As for his real body, he disguised himself as the clone and watched from the sidelines.

As for the Gu insects for the Fire Clone to battle with, of course, he wouldn’t lend his best Gu insects, just the second squad would suffice. If they lost, it would be his own fault for lacking skill.

The Gu battle tournament was held in an open area on the edge of the family territory, with two Gu battle arenas. One arena was for Spirit Gathering stage Gu cultivators, and the other was for Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators. Beyond that, there were no more, as Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators did not participate in Gu battles.

Only those in the top twenty of the Marrow Cleansing stage could qualify for Eye Washing Day, excluding those from the Spirit Gathering stage.

Although over ninety percent of the family’s Gu cultivators were in the Spirit Gathering stage, most people still went to watch the Marrow Cleansing stage Gu battles. The higher the level of the Gu insects, the more exciting the battle, and the Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators had more Gu insects, making the chaotic battle scenes more entertaining.

Thus, even though there were two Gu battle arenas, one was packed with people, while the other was almost deserted.

Except for those participating in the Spirit Gathering stage battles, there were barely any spectators.

However, this situation would improve on the second day, as there were fewer participants in the Marrow Cleansing stage, so their battles would finish in one day.

The Spirit Gathering stage, with more participants, would have battles spanning several days.

Once the high-level matches concluded, the audience would naturally flow back to the lower-level matches.

Long Xuan headed directly to the Gu battle arena for the Marrow Cleansing stage. Upon arrival, he didn’t choose the closest spot to watch but jumped onto a tree some distance away from the arena, using his Heavenly Eye to observe from afar.

The first thing he noticed was the ten large pits made of cement in the center of the crowd. Some were round, some square, and some had twelve sides…

There were all kinds of shapes, but their sizes were generally similar.

The pits were covered with densely packed formations, most of which were reinforcement formations, designed to make the cement more sturdy.

Long Xuan knew that these were the legendary Gu pits.

People used platforms for their battles, with platforms being raised.

Gu insects used pits for their battles, with pits being sunken.

Once out of bounds, it would be deemed a loss; the rules were similar overall.

Gu pits were a unique cultural in this world, which Long Xuan found fascinating and watched with great interest.

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