Chapter 17 - Elder Long

Long Xuan's imagination continued to expand…

Soon, he looked out the window again, zooming in on the distance. When the landscape painting outside was magnified, he also possessed clairvoyance in disguise.

In fact, his Gu recipe had many eagle eyes, so even without this ability, his normal vision could already see very far, which was considered a small form of clairvoyance.

Once clairvoyance was combined with the magnifying eye, achieving a terrifying effect like seeing thousands of miles away wasn't surprising. However, to see such a long distance, he might need to further develop the growth of the Pupil Gu or transform it.

The so-called transformation was akin to the advancement of Gu cultivators.

As Gu cultivators advanced, Gu insects needed to keep up with their pace to avoid being discarded, thus they naturally had to undergo transformations.

However, the transformation of Gu insects and the advancement of Gu cultivators were entirely different systems, so it wasn't referred to as advancement but as transformation.

The transformation of Gu insects depended entirely on their diet. Each Gu insect had different conditions that needed to be met for transformation. Gu insects didn't know what they needed to eat to undergo transformation, so Gu cultivators had to study and explore this for them.

Moreover, there was more than one thing that could meet the conditions for transforming Gu insects. Each Gu insect had countless transformation paths. Some paths were strong, while others were weak. Choosing which transformation path to take was also a matter that Gu cultivators needed to carefully consider.

In short, the transformation of Gu insects depended on their diet. Eating the wrong food meant a Gu insect wouldn't be able to complete its transformation even after waiting for 10,000 years. Eating the right thing, however, could quickly complete a transformation, even allowing for multiple transformations in a short period of time. This sped up their advancement far beyond that of Gu cultivators.

It was precisely because of this characteristic that Gu cultivators could cultivate Gu insects that matched their own realm in a very short time, even if their own realm was very high.

If a Gu cultivator was in the Gathering Spirit Stage, the Washing Marrow Stage, the Sea of Spirits Stage, or the Out-of-Body Stage...

Then the transformation of Gu insects corresponded to ordinary Gu, spiritual Gu, strange Gu, and strange Gu...

At present, Long Xuan hadn't yet discovered the transformation method of the Eye of Heaven, but he was still far from the Washing Marrow Stage, so there was no hurry for this matter.

Don't think about directly cultivating a strange Gu at the Gathering Spirit Stage level. It could be done, but once there was a huge disparity in strength between master and servant, the consequences were dire. Either the servant would become the master, or the Gu would bite back.

Therefore, Long Xuan didn't start studying the transformation route of the Eye of Heaven. His current priority was to continue developing the abilities of the Eye of Heaven.

Initially, Long Xuan hadn't taken the far-sighted ability seriously. What was farsightedness good for? It couldn't harm enemies, but when he observed the ground closely, he became completely restless.

Although he didn't have true perspective ability, he suddenly realized that clairvoyance could complement his golden finger.

You see, his golden finger could bypass obstacles, such as the spiritual insects wrapped in fossils.

His eyes couldn't see the spiritual insect clearly, and his vision was completely blocked by the thick stone skin, but he could see the progress deep within the fossil.

Because his golden finger had this characteristic, he could see deep underground progress with the blessing of clairvoyance.

Although he didn't know what the progress indicated, this discovery made his breathing quicken and he couldn't sit still.

What did this ability mean?

It meant he could discover underground veins of spiritual stones, metal veins, fossil veins... and even ancient tombs.

This was simply immeasurable wealth and countless opportunities.

"I'm rich! I'm absolutely rich!"

Long Xuan excitedly paced around the room, unable to help but burst into laughter.

"Calm down, calm down, don't get carried away."

Long Xuan gradually calmed his excitement and continued to develop the Eye of Heaven's abilities.

All the abilities he had conceived so far were auxiliary. If he wanted offensive capabilities, it was better to use forbidden moves.

Long Xuan's mind raced for a while before he thought of something again. Since the Eye of Heaven's ability was to observe the microscopic world and even see molecules and atoms...

Could the arrangement of atoms and molecules be altered by soul power to create things?

Could matter be transformed into another substance by using soul power to extract or add electrons outside the nucleus of an atom and change the number of protons in the nucleus?

Long Xuan took a deep breath, completely stunned. Clearly, he was shocked by his audacious idea.

If soul power was strong enough to control the microscopic world, could he become a creator? His mind was on the verge of exploding.

He didn't know, and he didn't know if his idea was feasible.

He just felt that this idea was too incredible, so incredible that it was unimaginable.

This wasn't just the power to create anything; if this power were used on an enemy, it could directly destroy their DNA or even transform the entire person into something else. Long Xuan felt a chill down his spine just thinking about it.

Unfortunately, his soul power wasn't sufficient, and he couldn't experiment with controlling the microscopic world.

Even if his idea was indeed feasible, he couldn't achieve it in the short term. If he really wanted to develop this kind of power, his soul power would need to be incredibly strong. As far as he knew, even becoming a Gu King might not grant him such formidable soul power.

Furthermore, even if this idea were realized, he could only create ordinary things.

Spiritual medicines, spiritual pills, spiritual stones... Most treasures contained spiritual power. The non-material elements within the natural treasures of this world exceeded spiritual power. How could he create them by controlling the microscopic world?

So even if he truly developed this ability, he would likely still need to find most of his cultivation resources himself, as they were certainly not things that could be created by controlling atoms.

Not to mention living beings; spiritual insects, Gu insects, and spiritual beasts were definitely not something he could create. How could souls, mental power, and lifespan be transformed by controlling atoms?

Thinking of these limitations, he gradually calmed down. This trick might allow him to turn stones into gold, but he couldn't even dream of becoming a creator.

Since he couldn't study this ability in the short term, Long Xuan didn't dwell on it.

As the inventor of a new Gu species appearing in this world for the first time, he had the privilege of naming it.

After some thought, Long Xuan named it the Eye of Heaven, thinking the name wasn't bad.

After naming the Pupil Gu, he shifted his gaze and used the Eye of Heaven's ability to see thousands of miles away to peer into Elder Long's residence...

In a modest thatched house, a robust old man sat cross-legged on a mat; in front of him floated an alchemy furnace controlled by soul power.

Beneath the alchemy furnace burned a ball of purple flame, emitting scorching heat.

He manipulated the purple fire to burn under the alchemy furnace, sometimes vigorously and sometimes gently. After a while, all the materials within the alchemy furnace were reduced to ashes.

"Damn it! I failed again!"

"Just three materials are missing! Just three materials are missing! Just the finishing touch, why can't I make it?"

"It's been ten years! Just these three materials have been grinding me for ten years, damn it!"

"The Hundred Flowers Pill is the most effective elixir for advancing through the Gathering Spirit Stage, there's no equal. Once I complete the remaining recipe for the Hundred Flowers Pill, the strength of the Long family will reach another level. But why can't I make it!"

"Is this failure due to incorrect materials or a problem with success rate?" The old man roared like thunder, his emotions running high.

At that moment, on a nearby table, lay an ancient pill recipe exuding an ancient aura, appearing to have been there for many years.

However, this ancient recipe was a fragment, missing a corner. Ironically, the missing corner was the critical ingredient among the three main ingredients, the most valuable one and indispensable.

This ancient recipe had been inadvertently uncovered by Long Xuan, who was observing from afar. It was truly careless to leave a pill recipe lying around.

Yet the old man remained oblivious. He had been clandestinely taught alchemy and its recipes by someone, yet he continued to rage.

Long Xuan observed him with a knowing look, muttering to himself, "No wonder old man Long has been holed up in that dilapidated thatched house, never coming out. It turns out he's been in seclusion trying to reconstruct the missing recipes."

Most people might spend their entire lives trying to complete these three missing ingredients.

While the number three might seem small, the types of spiritual medicines in this world were countless. Even with just three, the combinations were numerous.

Others needed to continually make pills to complete these missing recipes. Not only was it time-consuming and laborious, but they might also struggle to determine whether alchemy failures stemmed from incorrect materials or improper operations.

Alchemy in any world had an incredibly high failure rate.

The greatest challenge was the cost of experimenting with recipes. Each failed experiment meant wasting a furnace full of materials.

One or two furnaces weren't a big deal, but continuous failures would deplete even the wealthiest household of their gold and silver.

Completing a fragmentary recipe was a bottomless pit. Even with a mountain of gold and silver at home,