The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear Gu-Chapter 509: Crown Prince of the Xuanwu Empire

Before long, a sneaky figure suddenly slipped inside.

“Guo Tianren, the 2 billion spirit stones you requested—I’ve brought them.”

Liu De’s gaze swept across everyone in the main hall, pausing briefly on Guo Tianren before slowly shifting toward the cross-region teleportation formation. His brows quickly furrowed.

The formation looked complete, with all missing parts seemingly restored, but he was a formation master—how could he not notice the flaw? In his eyes, the formation was clearly not functional. The patchwork was crude and could only deceive the untrained eye.

“Brother Guo, what is the meaning of this? Do you truly believe you can fool the eyes of a formation master like myself?” Liu De said darkly as he looked toward Guo Tianren.

“Haha! I knew I couldn’t hide it from you. Since you’ve already seen through the fact that the teleportation formation is unusable, then surely you’ve guessed what I intend to do next? I apologize, but you will not be leaving here today.”

Guo Tianren smiled, no longer hiding his intentions. He clapped his hands, and a group of Gu cultivators immediately surrounded Liu De from all directions.

Liu De glanced around at the Gu cultivators encircling him, then looked back at the tightly shut doors behind him. His heart sank.

“I’ll add another 1 billion—3 billion in total. Let me go, how about that?” Liu De forced himself to stay calm and tested Guo Tianren’s reaction.

Guo Tianren smiled coldly. “Do you still not understand the situation? Killing you means I get the 3 billion anyway. You think 3 billion can buy your life now?”

With that, Guo Tianren gave a loud shout: “Do it.”

The group surged forward.

Over a dozen Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators, plus two Gu Kings—Liu De had no chance against them.

Worse still, they were inside the Teleportation Hall, which was heavily protected by a powerful defensive formation.

Now that the hall's protective formation had been activated, Liu De instantly felt his strength being suppressed. At best, he could only exert ten percent of his full power.

In such a condition, he had no power to resist. Within a few seconds, he was slain on the spot by the coordinated assault.

His body fell heavily to the ground, eyes wide open, dying with unresolved hatred.

Guo Tianren pulled the storage ring from Liu De’s finger and, after a quick inspection, his eyes lit up in joy.

“Damn! As expected of a formation master—filthy rich! I won’t have to scrimp anymore. If we want to get rich, killing and looting is the way to go. We need to do this more often!” Guo Tianren laughed excitedly.

“Stop grinning. Clean up the battlefield immediately. The other one is already on his way,” Zhang Wenshan said as he glanced toward the door, smiling.

“Hmph! Another one coming to die. Everyone, prepare yourselves. Once we finish off the last one, we’ll divide the loot.”

Guo Tianren pocketed the ring, incinerated the corpse on the ground, then activated the array mechanism to open the heavy stone doors—revealing a silhouette outside.

As the stone doors parted, Long Xuan peeked inside. Seeing no threatening presence, he calmly stepped in.

Before he could speak, Guo Tianren said first, “Liu De has already entered. Now it’s your turn. Did you bring the 2 billion spirit stones?”

Long Xuan immediately focused on the teleportation formation. With his own expertise in formations, he could instantly see that the formation was a mess, riddled with flaws like a child’s doodles.

Seeing the formation clearly hadn’t been repaired, Long Xuan frowned inwardly.

Because the heavy stone doors had blocked his clairvoyance ability, he hadn’t known what had just happened inside. But now, with Liu De missing and the teleportation formation still in shambles, it wasn’t hard to figure out.

BOOM!

At that moment, the stone door slammed shut behind him with a deafening rumble.

Long Xuan glanced behind him, smiling faintly. “So it seems Brother Guo doesn’t intend to let me pass.”

“If I’m not mistaken, Liu De has already died by your hands?”

Guo Tianren looked at him with slight surprise, then laughed. “I didn’t expect you to also see through the incomplete formation. You must be a formation master too. No wonder you approached me directly—you had already seen through the deception.”

“If the ambush won’t work, we’ll just use brute force!”

With a sharp glare, Guo Tianren lunged toward Long Xuan, followed closely by Zhang Wenshan and the others, who were now grinning wickedly.

Long Xuan gave a wry smile. It seemed there was no way out but to fight.

Faced with the coming battle, he dared not hold back. He unleashed his full strength for a swift resolution.

With a cold gleam in his eyes, Long Xuan summoned five clones—a total of six Gu Kings surged forward together.

Guo Tianren’s scalp tingled.

Six Gu Kings?! That level of force could wipe them all out in a heartbeat!

“Unbelievable! You actually have five external clones, and all have reached the Gu King stage. Envy doesn’t even begin to cover it.”

“If this were outside, we wouldn’t stand a chance against you.”

“But this is the Teleportation Hall, and your power is suppressed by the formation. Just accept your fate!” Guo Tianren roared.

“Foolish! A mere formation dares suppress me?!”

Long Xuan sneered. With his Eye of Heavenly Secret, he swiftly located the formation’s weak point, tossed a ball of Heavenly Fire, and instantly burned the formation core buried beneath the floor.

With the core destroyed, the great formation immediately collapsed, and the power suppression vanished.

Long Xuan felt his full strength return, smirked coldly, and activated the power of his Curse Seal Gu. His aura surged, his cultivation leaping into the mid Gu King stage. With a loud roar, he charged Guo Tianren.

Without the formation's suppression, he could’ve taken them down even without the Curse Seal Gu. But time was of the essence—he had to finish this fast.

Seeing this, Guo Tianren's face turned pale. “Crap!” he cursed inwardly and immediately fled, opening the stone doors with the formation controller.

He wasn’t about to die here. Six mid-stage Gu Kings vs. two early-stage Gu Kings? That was suicide!

Zhang Wenshan and the others also turned pale and bolted for the exit, terrified.

“Trying to flee after I’ve already activated my ultimate technique? Dream on! Stay right where you are!”

Long Xuan shouted and charged at Guo Tianren. The latter couldn’t outrun him. Within a breath, Long Xuan caught up.

“Die!”

His right palm lit up with a gray thunderlight, and with a crack of thunder, a bolt of gray lightning shot toward Guo Tianren’s back.

At such close range, Guo Tianren had no chance to dodge.

Sensing the incoming attack, his expression changed drastically, eyes filled with terror.

With no escape, he poured all his spiritual power into his back to brace for the hit.

But how could mere defensive power withstand the might of the Life-Transformative Thunder?

Under such overwhelming force, Guo Tianren’s defense was like paper. He didn’t even have time to scream before the thunder pierced his heart, dropping him to the floor in an instant.

The Life-Transformative Lightning pierced straight through his body, shattering the thick walls of the teleportation hall in an instant.

Under the might of this Transformative Lightning, Guo Tianren didn’t even have time for his soul to escape. His entire spirit was annihilated on the spot.

Tribulation Lightning is the natural nemesis of spiritual bodies—anyone struck by Life-Transformative Lightning would have both body and soul utterly destroyed, without even the chance for reincarnation.

Such a technique was excessively lethal. If this battle didn’t demand a swift conclusion, Long Xuan truly wouldn’t have resorted to it.

Almost simultaneously with Guo Tianren's death, five middle-stage Clone Avatars under Long Xuan’s control massacred all Gu cultivators, including Zhang Wensheng. Over ten corpses lay sprawled across the hall, blood soaking the floor.

Faced with a slaughter carried out by six mid-stage Gu Kings, the enemy didn't last even a single breath.

Long Xuan looked outside the hall, frowning deeply.

Outside, lights were already coming on in many homes. People were streaming out one after another—the commotion had clearly drawn their attention. This was bad news for him.

“Damn it! Even in death, Guo Tianren still left me with such a mess!”

“Block the entrance—don’t let anyone in! I’ll repair the cross-regional teleportation formation as fast as I can. Hold the line!”

Long Xuan roared. Not daring to delay, he rushed to the teleportation formation, slapped away the array’s decoy components, and retrieved the necessary materials from his storage ring to rapidly begin repairs.

Time was of the essence. He had to complete the repairs before the other Gu Kings broke through.

It now depended on how long the five mid-stage Gu King clones could hold the line.

Realizing the severity of the situation, the clones braced themselves—this was going to be a desperate fight. They could not afford to hold back.

The five swiftly took positions at the hall’s entrance. Under this life-or-death pressure, they activated all their trump cards.

Suddenly, the sky was filled with the projections of five Golden Crows, five Divine Dragons, and five Black Tortoises (Xuanwu).

Fifteen Manifestations of Power blanketed the sky. The five Golden Crows, radiating the brilliance of the sun, lit up the entire city. Though it was the middle of the night, Xuanwu City shone as if it were midday.

This unexpected phenomenon instantly alarmed the entire city. Countless Gu cultivators stepped out of their homes, gazing up at the celestial spectacle in awe.

“What is this? Such overwhelming pressure... and even a Black Tortoise shadow? Could this be connected to the Black Tortoise Empire?”

A Gu King leapt onto a rooftop and looked skyward, his expression grim.

“It looks like a manifestation technique. Releasing fifteen manifestations in one go? This cultivation method is anything but ordinary. The one wielding it must be unimaginably powerful.”

An elder appeared beside him, eyes gleaming with greed.

Such a powerful technique was bound to incite envy.

“Looks like powerful enemies have invaded. Judging by the manifestations, they must be from the Black Tortoise Empire. Follow me—let’s eliminate them together!”

On the streets, a burly man exploded with mid-stage Gu King aura, raising a massive spirit shield and charging toward the teleportation hall.

BOOM!

A thunderous crack of lightning burst forth from within the hall. A gray bolt of Life-Transformative Lightning surged toward the burly man.

Trusting his shield, he didn’t dodge—choosing instead to tank the hit.

But a mere spiritual weapon, no matter how high-grade, could never withstand the might of Heavenly Tribulation.

The lightning punched a massive hole through the shield like it was paper.

Piercing the shield, the Transformative Lightning struck the man directly in the heart. His eyes bulged as he crashed lifelessly to the ground—unable even to release his soul before it was utterly obliterated.

“This… This is the legendary Rank Eight Tribulation Lightning—Life-Transformative Lightning?! No wonder even the ‘Shield King’ Lu Chong couldn't survive a single strike! Who in the world could possibly wield such power?!”

The newly arrived Gu Kings collectively froze, eyes narrowing in shock.

But soon, one after another, their eyes lit up with greed.

This was Life-Transformative Lightning—one of the most destructive forces known. No defense could withstand it.

Anyone who could control it would become a supreme existence.

Their greed surged—this was a technique worth killing for.

And they had numbers on their side: dozens of Gu Kings, including several late-stage experts. Surely, they could take the teleportation hall by storm.

“They must be Xuanwu Empire spies. Everyone—charge in and take them down!”

With a shout, dozens of Gu Kings surged forward, eyes burning with desire, rushing the doorway where Long Xuan's clones awaited.

Each of them went all-out, unleashing full power in hopes of seizing the secret to controlling Life-Transformative Lightning.

The confined entryway, however, became their disadvantage. As long as the clones held the narrow path, the enemy couldn't use their numbers.

This bought Long Xuan precious time.

The city of Xuanwu erupted into a frenzy. Thunder roared, and fierce clashes echoed across the streets.

Masses of Gu cultivators flocked to the teleportation hall, eager to witness the chaos.

Meanwhile, outside the city, a contingent of Xuanwu Empire scouts watched from afar, eyes filled with disbelief.

Their main army was still half a day away. These were merely the vanguard, sent to scout and gather intel before the main siege.

They never expected to stumble upon such a battle.

The five massive Black Tortoise manifestations in the sky left them stunned.

“Those are our Black Tortoise Empire totems… Who is this person?! How could he use the sacred beast’s image?”

“Even our empire has no technique that allows five Black Tortoise manifestations at once!”

A young man wearing robes embroidered with the Black Tortoise sigil stared wide-eyed at the sky.

An elder beside him solemnly said:

“Your Highness, this man is not ordinary. The Black Tortoise, Golden Crow, and Divine Dragon form a trio, which can amplify each other’s power when used together.”

“With their combined amplification, his physical strength is monstrous—capable of slaughtering opponents of the same rank with ease.”

“You’ve seen it yourself. He’s holding off dozens of Gu Kings and even managed to kill three—including one mid-stage Gu King—in a short time.”

“Such combat strength is terrifying. And yet no one’s heard of him before, as if he appeared out of nowhere…”

A fat Gu cultivator with late-stage aura walked over and chuckled:

“Have you forgotten? In the Xuanyuan Empire, a prodigy once appeared who could kill a late-stage Gu King while only at early-stage.”

“Their battle style is nearly identical. It’s likely the same person.”

“If that’s true, then those inside the city are in serious trouble.”

“Those five clones are almost as strong as the main body. That’s equivalent to six late-stage Gu Kings—even the Jin Empire’s Gu Kings will struggle.”

“Even if he fails to repair the formation, he could carve through the city’s million-man army multiple times. These Gu Kings won’t be able to hold him.”

The fat cultivator’s eyes sparkled with delight.

“Heh! That means the Jin Empire’s dogs are in big trouble. If this guy can cripple their Gu King forces, our chances of retaking Xuanwu City skyrocket. Heaven truly favors us.”

The Crown Prince clenched his fists, watching the battle with gleaming eyes.

At that moment, another Gu King fell to the Life-Transformative Lightning. The Crown Prince’s fists tightened further.

“This man is a true God of War—fighting dozens of peers at once. Only a demon who cultivates Forbidden Gu could achieve this. I wonder… can our empire recruit him?”

The fat cultivator shook his head regretfully:

“Forget it. Intelligence reports say his surname is Long.”

“The Long Clan has produced a terrifying genius. If this man joins the Dragon Soaring Empire’s Central Region, no one will be able to stop him.”

“After Dragon Soaring Empire absorbed half the Phoenix Heaven Empire’s destiny, their influence has grown massively. No wonder a freak like this emerged.”

His gaze flickered as he stared intently at the ongoing battle in the city.