Chapter 195: Mining
With the success of the Gu recipe research, the next task naturally was to collect the materials required for the Gu recipe.
He had taken an uncountable number of spirit insect materials from the Western Land Long Clan, which were currently stored as fossils, frozen by the Divine Ice Flame. He didn’t have to worry about spirit insect resources for a long time.
However, even so, he could only collect most of the materials needed for the Gu recipe; the rest would still require him to spend time gathering.
Long Xuan pondered for a moment. He had spent all his contributions purchasing the last peak-grade dragon boat. Now, he could only go to the Western Land Long Clan to demand the promised two hundred million contribution points.
Now that Blackstone City was no longer sealed, it was time to claim those two hundred million contribution points.
Collecting the remaining materials would be more than enough with two hundred million contribution points; in fact, he wouldn’t even need a hundred million.
Just as Long Xuan was thinking this, Suo Gu suddenly approached, holding a letter in its mouth. He took the letter, opened it, and found it was from Long Qian.
[Note: Spirit Metal will be referred as Geng Metal from now]
After reading the content, his eyes lit up. It turned out that not only was Long Qian coming to deliver the contribution token, but he was also fulfilling his promise regarding Geng Metal.
Before heading to the Western Land Long Clan for the competition, Long Qian had promised that as long as he won the match, he would be allowed to mine Geng Metal from the Geng Metal mine.However, the Blackstone City incident delayed this matter for several years.
Now that Blackstone City was unsealed, all the clans resumed normal operations. Naturally, the promised reward of Geng Metal to the geniuses of the Far Western Long Clan should be fulfilled as well.
Long Xuan quickly packed up his things and rushed down the mountain in a hurry.
Geng Metal’s value was unimaginable. Just think of how the Bai Clan had sacrificed the entire future of their caln’s geniuses just to obtain all of the Geng Metal veins, and you could understand how valuable Geng Metal was.
Even the Gu Kings were tempted by Geng Metal, which was worth cities of gold. Outside, no matter how many spirit stones you had, it wouldn’t be enough to buy it.
As for the more precious Geng Metal Essence, that was even more invaluable. A fist-sized piece of Geng Metal Essence would be enough for many Gu Kings to fight to the death over, willing to pay any price to get it.
Geng Metal Essence was considered the hardest metal in the Gu world. If a Gu King’s sword had even a little Geng Metal Essence added to it, its sharpness would be enough to cut through a fourth-grade peak-grade spirit sword. One could imagine its value.
If Geng Metal Essence had such allure even to Gu Kings, there was no way Long Xuan would miss the opportunity to mine it himself.
It was the hardest metal in the Gu world. If his Earth Master Gu wore an insect armor made from Geng Metal Essence, it would be truly invincible.
Just as Long Xuan stepped out of the formation, Long Qian threw a black token engraved with dragon patterns toward him.
“This is your two hundred million contribution points. Take it.”
“Now, if you’re lacking any treasures, feel free to go to the Treasure Pavilion of the Western Lands Long Clan to exchange them.”
“Thanks to you, the Western Land Long Clan made a huge fortune this time. The treasure pile is so vast that the entire Treasure Pavilion can’t hold it all.” �
“All sorts of treasures are available inside, basically anything that can be produced in the Western Land. You can exchange them in the Treasure Pavilion.”
“Take advantage of the overflowing warehouse and exchange quickly, or else all the treasures will be taken by others.”
After throwing the contribution token to Long Xuan, Long Qian reminded him.
Long Xuan took the contribution token and carefully put it into his storage bag, smiling, “I am indeed missing a few treasures at the moment, and they are quite expensive. They can’t be bought with spirit stones outside.”
“But I’ll let my clone handle the treasure exchange. For now, why don’t you take me to the Geng Metal vein for mining?” Long Xuan said impatiently.
Faced with the hardest metal in the Gu world, he was naturally anxious and wished he could go right away and dig up all the Geng Metal Essence. The longer he delayed, the more of it would be taken by others. All that Geng Metal Essence should be his.
Long Qian laughed, “You’re really eager. Very well, come with me then.”
“Besides you, Long Panpan and Long Qilin have also chosen to mine personally.”
“Only Long Ziyan claimed she wanted to comprehend some sword intent and didn’t want to be distracted. She asked me to send her the Geng Metal directly.”
“What a pity, comprehending sword intent isn’t that easy. Instead of wasting time trying to comprehend sword intent, it would be better to go mining. Resources for cultivation and growth are always the top priority for a Gu cultivator. This little girl is missing the forest for the trees.”
Long Qian showed a look of regret.
“What? She’s still inside comprehending sword intent? That’s simply indulgence in trifles to the detriment of essentials! Ridiculous!”
Hearing that Long Ziyan was still inside the Immortal-Slaying Formation, Long Xuan immediately got angry.
He somewhat regretted creating that Immortal-Slaying Formation. Ever since he set it up, Long Ziyan had become addicted, spending every day immersed in it, determined to comprehend all the sword intents inside before she would stop.
Now it was worse, Long Ziyan no longer had any time to spend with him. How long had he been alone in an empty room? How could Long Xuan not regret this in his heart?
It was his fault for being too greedy, putting hundreds of sword intents inside. Now, Long Ziyan was addicted to it.
“Alright, let’s go. Long Qilin and Long Panpan have been waiting for a long time.”
Long Qian smiled, taking out a small Suo Gu house from his insect bag and placing it on the ground. Then he continued, “Thanks to you, your invention of the Longevity Gu made Long Wanli, that old fox, extort us fiercely.”
“Now we can directly use the Suo Gu house to teleport to the Geng vein.”
"Originally, it would have taken us several months to reach that Geng Metal vein, but now we can get there in an instant. This truly is a great invention of this world. You're quite the genius, kid."
"I really wonder how your mind works to come up with such a perverse Gu insect."
"Wasn't that twisted Gu insect, the one Earth Masters use, also invented by you?"
"Tsk tsk, carrying the mountain-protecting formation into battle—it’s truly a terrifying idea. Which opponent wouldn't be dumbfounded after seeing that? The result of that battle has already spread across the Western Land, and now that Earth Master's Gu insect has become famous."
Long Xuan chuckled but didn't say a word. He didn't know how Long Qian guessed that all those Gu insects were his inventions.
But he didn't intend to admit it himself. What if Long Qian was just trying to trick him?
To avoid the topic, Long Xuan directly dived into the Sou Gu small house and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
At this moment, Long Qian found himself in a dilemma. He suddenly realized a problem. If he went in as well, what would happen to this Sou Gu hut? Wouldn’t it be lost for good?
A trans-regional teleportation Sou Gu hut was extremely expensive.
He wished he could slap himself for making such a low-level mistake—it was truly foolish.
Forget it, he decided to leave it here for a while. Anyway, those geniuses will come back after mining, so it will still be useful.
Long Qian glanced around, then dug out a cave on a nearby cliff and placed the Sou Gu hut inside, sealing the entrance with stones before entering the hut to leave.
He didn't know at the time that he would leave this Sou Gu Hut permanently in this hidden cave, turning it into one of his emergency escape routes, never retrieving it again.
Later, this Sou Gu Hut indeed saved his life more than once. Once, a powerful enemy even used divine means to track him directly.
However, because the enemy underestimated the Rubik's Cube formation next to it and accidentally stepped inside, he never came out again.
Long Qian narrowly escaped death.
After that, he became more cunning. Every time he fled, he would escape here and pretend to be hiding in that formation, tricking one strong enemy after another into it, killing countless renowned experts.
Of course, that’s all in the future…
When he emerged from the other side of the Sou Gu Hut, quite a bit of time had been wasted. The geniuses there were already impatient from waiting.
Long Dan, Long Ruoxue, Long Xuan, Long Qilin, and Long Panpan were all looking at him with discontented eyes.
"Sorry, I had a bit of a stomach issue, so I was delayed for a while. I hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long?"
Long Qian apologized, but there wasn't the slightest hint of regret on his face.
"What do you think?" The group rolled their eyes in unison.
"Hehe, I was impolite this time. I'll treat everyone to a meal later. For now, let's go mining."
"Just so we're clear, the clan has only given you one month to mine. Whatever you dig up during that time is yours."
"Even if you dig up a heap of Geng Metal essence, that’s your own skill, and the clan won't ask for it."
"But if you're unlucky and don't dig up anything, you can only blame your bad luck."
"Now, let's go in."
Long Qian quickly walked towards the Geng Metal vein, and the five geniuses behind him, all looking excited, hurried to follow.
In fact, the Sou Gu Hut was located right at the edge of the Geng Metal vein; they were already within its boundaries.
However, without Long Qian's authorization, they couldn’t roam freely and had to wait patiently.
By now, this Geng Metal vein had been mined with countless tunnels, with numerous Gu cultivators constantly going in and out, busily working.
That’s right; those mining this time were no longer ordinary people but all Gu cultivators.
Geng Metal was simply too hard for ordinary people to mine. Only physically strong Gu cultivators could extract it.
Fortunately, the Long Clan of the Western Land had been operating in the Western Land for many years, with numerous clan members. Don’t think the Long Clan only had that handful of people in Blackstone City.
The Long Clan of the Western Land had branches in many major cities, so mobilizing a large number of branch Gu cultivators to mine was not difficult. All the branch Gu cultivators competed for the opportunity to mine this Geng Metal vein.
Of course, many branch Gu cultivators came with the intent to embezzle Geng Metal. This was unavoidable.
Long Xuan had only been here for a short while when he saw more than one branch Gu cultivator being caught for hiding Geng Metal and then taken away. It was unclear what punishment awaited them.
Greed is human nature. Wealth stirs the heart. The profits of Geng Metal are too tempting. How many poor Gu cultivators could resist it?
"You've already taken enough, so don't even think about anything else. The law is unforgiving, and I won't be lenient. Even if we’re well-acquainted, don’t expect me to let you off the hook."
Long Qian warned sternly, sweeping a serious gaze over the few geniuses after seeing several people caught hiding Geng Metal.
The geniuses quickly nodded, not daring to entertain any other thoughts.
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