The deeper one went, the more splendid and prosperous it became.
There were fewer and fewer small stalls, and more and more large tents.
Red, blue, yellow, and green tents of every kind filled the area. Some were square, others shaped like round barrels. Some had two gateposts standing at their rolled-up entrances, while others hung bright red lanterns. Some were brilliantly lit inside, while others were dim and dark.
Fang Yuan looked as he walked, finally stopping before a gray tent.
"This is the place." He raised his eyes and sized it up. Two pillars stood at the entrance, engraved with a couplet in sunken relief.
On the left: With a little courage, gain fortune in spring, summer, autumn, and winter.
On the right: Show your skills to the fullest, reap wealth from the east, south, west, and north.
Above them was a horizontal plaque: Time to Turn Luck.
That was right. This was a gambling den.
The gambling den covered an acre, already making it a large tent.
Fang Yuan walked inside. Three rows of counters lined the tent walls. Chunks of amber and fossils sat atop them. The smallest were only palm-sized, while the largest were as big as washbasins. Some were even larger, tall as a person. Naturally, they could not fit on the counters and were simply set upright on the ground.
Unlike the bustle of other tent shops, this place was quietly silent.
Groups of two or three Gu Masters stood before the counters. Some carefully examined the stones on display; some picked up fossils and gently rubbed them in their palms, feeling their texture; some discussed matters softly with companions; others bargained over prices with the shop assistants.
Yet whatever they said, they kept their voices low, doing their utmost not to disturb the others.
This was a stone-gambling hall.
In this world of Gu, there were all manner of strange and countless Gu insects. Every Gu had its own specific food. Without food, a Gu insect could only endure for a while before dying.
Yet nature was both cruel and merciful toward life.
When deprived of food, Gu insects still had a slim chance of survival. They could fall into slumber and seal themselves away.
For instance, if a Moonlight Gu had no Moon Orchid petals, it might seal itself. It would contract its power as much as possible, much like hibernation, and sink into the deepest sleep. At that time, not only would the blue glow fade from its body, but its transparent crystal form would also degenerate into a gray stone, enveloped in a stony shell. As the years passed, that shell would grow thicker and heavier until it became a stubborn rock.
Take the Wine Worm Gu as another example. If it sealed itself away, it would form a white silken cocoon. It would curl its body up and sleep within that cocoon.
Of course, such sealed slumber did not occur in every Gu insect. The chances were very small. Under normal circumstances, Gu insects did not sleep—they starved to death. Only a rare few, under certain conditions, would seal themselves away.
Some Gu Masters accidentally obtained these rocks or insect cocoons containing sealed Gu insects, then awakened the sleeping Gu within. Some made a small fortune overnight. Others soared to success, and the course of their lives took a turn. Such things happened again and again in the Gu Master World, with rumors both true and false often stirring the imagination.
The stubborn rocks in this stone-gambling hall came from such sources. Of course, these stones merely looked suspicious. Only by cutting them open could one determine whether they truly hid Gu insects within.
"In a small stone-gambling hall like this, eight or nine out of every ten stones are solid, with no Gu insects inside. Even among stones that contain Gu insects, they may not hold living insects—nine times out of ten, they contain Death Gu. But once someone gambles on a living Gu, they can usually make a huge profit. If the Gu is exceptionally rare, they will either soar to success from that day onward, or be murdered and robbed."
Fang Yuan understood all the tricks of this trade perfectly.
In his previous life, he had joined a caravan and worked as an assistant in a stone-gambling hall. Later, for a time, he had even run one himself. It had been larger than this place, a medium-sized stone-gambling hall. He had fleeced quite a few gamblers, but he had also misjudged stones, allowing others to gamble out precious Gu insects several times.
Fang Yuan stood at the entrance for a while, sweeping his gaze around before slowly walking to the counter on the left.
Shop assistants stood behind the counter every few meters, both men and women. Each wore a green belt around the waist. They were no ordinary people—all were Rank 1 Gu Masters. Most were at the initial stage, though a few were at the middle stage.
When Fang Yuan approached the counter, the female Gu Master closest to him came over. A smile appeared on her face as she softly said, "What kind of Gu insect does this young master need? Every stone at this counter costs ten Primeval Stones. If this is your first try and you merely wish to gamble a little for amusement, you may wish to visit the counter on the right. The stones there cost only five Primeval Stones. If you seek excitement, you may go to the high-end counter straight ahead, where each stubborn rock costs twenty Primeval Stones."
She was an experienced female Gu Master who had worked in the stone-gambling hall for quite some time.
After seeing Fang Yuan enter, she had inferred from his appearance, age, height, and other details that he was an academy student.
All those who came to gamble on stones were Gu Masters; no mortals would come here. Yet academy students could only be considered reserve Gu Masters. Having only just embarked on cultivation, they were usually strapped for money from feeding their Gu insects. Where would they get spare funds to gamble on stones?
Students like these often came merely to take a look, broaden their horizons, and satisfy their curiosity. The vast majority only looked and bought nothing. A rare few from better-off families might buy one to try their luck, but they generally purchased only the cheapest fossils.
Thus, the female Gu Master had no expectations regarding how many stones Fang Yuan could buy.
"I'll look around first." Fang Yuan nodded expressionlessly, then lowered his head to inspect the stones.
In his memories, it should have been this counter in this very stone-gambling hall.
But five hundred years was truly too long. Many things had become exceedingly blurred, especially with five hundred years of memories being such a vast reserve. To be honest, Fang Yuan did not remember it very clearly.
He only vaguely recalled that in this very year, on the first night after the caravan arrived, a lucky man had spent ten Primeval Stones on a fossil whose stone skin shimmered with a purple-gold luster.
After cutting it open on the spot, he obtained a Warty Earth Toad. That Toad Gu was later purchased by someone else, earning him quite a few Primeval Stones.
After watching for a while, Fang Yuan's brows faintly furrowed.
There were over twenty fossils on this counter whose surfaces shone with purple-gold radiance. Which one contained the Warty Earth Toad?
Every stone here cost ten Primeval Stones. Fang Yuan currently had ninety-eight Primeval Stones on him, which meant he could buy at most nine.
But in truth, it could not be calculated that way.
Every risk and every gamble had to account for its consequences.
Fang Yuan was no longer some rash young fool, nor was he a gambler who thought himself extraordinary. Those who believed fate favored them usually fell beneath fate's cruel tricks.
"I am alone, without relatives or friends to support me. I must leave behind some Primeval Stones to sustain my life and buy food to feed my Gu insects." He calculated briefly. After securing the basics, he could buy at most seven fossils.
"This stone is dotted with purple-gold like stars, but it is flat as a pancake. It cannot contain a Warty Earth Toad."
"This one gleams with dazzling purple-gold, but it is only fist-sized. If it truly held a Warty Earth Toad, it should be at least thirty percent larger."
"This purple-gold fossil is indeed large, but its surface is far too smooth. The stone skins of Warty Earth Toads are all pitted and uneven. Clearly not this one..."
Fang Yuan kept sizing them up, observing, eliminating, and selecting.
After Gu insects sealed themselves into slumber, the fossils they formed became a seamless whole, naturally blocking the vast majority of detection methods in the world. Of the few remaining methods, almost all were forceful and overbearing; once used, they would directly kill the Gu insect barely clinging to life within.
Therefore, when Gu Masters selected stones, they could only rely on guesses, experience, luck, and occasional flashes of inspiration.
Otherwise, this place would not be called a gambling den.
Of course, the vast world was full of wonders, and it was not impossible that a very few gentle detection methods existed that could let Gu Masters know in advance whether a stone contained a Gu insect.
Fang Yuan had heard some rumors in his previous life, but later verification proved them all to be false.
Fang Yuan had privately speculated that if such methods truly existed, they must be secret inheritances held only by a tiny number of mysterious people. They would have no impact on the general situation of the gambling industry.
Things were somewhat better around Qing Mao Mountain. The farther east one went, the more prevalent gambling dens became. In the White Head Mountain region, every village had a gambling den. Some large villages even had large gambling halls standing side by side. Among the three villages famed far and wide for stone gambling—Panshi Village, Ancient Tomb Village, and Azure Whale Village—there were even enormous stone-gambling halls.
Each of those three enormous stone-gambling halls had a history of more than a thousand years. Their business still flourished, and gamblers came in an endless stream. Never had there been an incident of anyone sweeping the place clean.
The tent where Fang Yuan now stood could only barely be considered a small gambling den.
But if any other fifteen-year-old boy came here, these fossils would surely dazzle his eyes into confusion. Even if he selected a fossil, he would merely be blindly pointing at random.
Fang Yuan, however, was different.
First, he already knew part of the answer in advance, so his range of choices had abruptly narrowed to fewer than thirty stones.
Of course, selecting the one unique stone from over twenty fossils was still exceedingly difficult.
Yet Fang Yuan had five hundred years of experience as his foundation. Relying on that immense reserve, after observing for a while, he selected the six purple-gold fossils that best fit the criteria.
He was eighty percent certain—the Warty Earth Toad was sleeping within one of those purple-gold fossils!
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