Gu Formation

After having Binuoxiu and her sister tidy up the living room, Cao Xiaochun suddenly noticed that the two sisters were quite interested in what was playing on TV.

Glancing casually at the melodramatic soap opera on screen, Cao Xiaochun wondered whether they possessed even a trace of intelligence.

Thinking of the words "can be upgraded" on the sisters' status panels, he formed a guess. He released Xiao Qiang again and pointed at the television, only to find that this toad was watching it with great interest too. That genuinely surprised him.

If they kept evolving, what would they become in the future?

Ignoring the two women and one beast in the living room, Cao Xiaochun took a shower, returned to his room, and slowly examined the system panel.

Other than the monthly limited purchase changing from Slave Gu to Moonlight Gu, nothing else in the system seemed to have changed. Still, one consolation was that his soul balance had risen to 8,520.

That was the amount he had managed to save after working hard for an entire month. It included souls from monsters, as well as living beings caught in undeserved disasters who had not provided him with experience points.

But when he looked at the Gu insects on the system homepage that cost billions upon billions of souls, Cao Xiaochun could only sigh. Souls really were hard to earn!

More than a billion—if he killed dozens of pigs every day without resting, he probably still would not finish within a year.

Since he had obtained his first talent skill, although two true words still sealed it, Cao Xiaochun wanted to complete them. Of the first six characters, only the Heart Character Formula remained unusable to him.

After all, it required the support of a formation. And when he thought of the formations related to Gu insects, Cao Xiaochun got a headache.

Such formations required formation diagrams to seal the Gu insects within them, while the materials needed for those diagrams were extremely difficult to find in this world. Perhaps it was simply because his current level had not yet exposed him to them; some things, he had never even heard of in this world.

Therefore, given his current situation, if he wanted a Gu formation, he could only rely on the system. From the moment Cao Xiaochun made up his mind, he understood that this damned system was definitely going to fleece him hard this time!

He opened the system's search function. With a thought, the words "formation diagram" appeared in the search bar. In an instant, a dense list of formation diagrams appeared before him.

"Nine Hells World-Destroying Gu Formation, price: 7 billion souls."

"Inchlight Rewind Gu Formation, price: 7.8 billion souls."

"Nine Revolutions Heaven-Refining Gu Formation, price: 8.2 billion souls."

"Selfless Annihilation Gu Formation, price: 9.2 billion souls."

Cao Xiaochun merely sneered disdainfully at that and directly ignored the system's recommended list. He continued adding filters, and only after more than ten minutes did he finally find Gu formations suitable for his current level.

After carefully selecting from more than ten Gu formations and checking their functions and prices one by one, Cao Xiaochun paid 7,200 souls in exchange for two formation diagrams.

"Four Pests Five Plagues Gu Formation, price: 3,000 souls."

[Bronze-grade Formation]

Take a mother fly Gu, mother cockroach Gu, mother mosquito Gu, and mother rat Gu. Add scorpion, spider, snake, toad, and centipede Gu, then refine them into the formation to condense it.

The Four Pests Five Plagues Gu has a maximum range of 520 meters. It contains phantoms of the Five Poisons, plagues, poisonous rats, and venomous insects. The baleful wind within possesses poison and blood-draining effects. Unless they possess special defensive measures, creatures below Silver grade will surely die upon entering the formation. It can also contaminate the land, with the poison lingering in the soil for ten years!

Looking at the description, the Four Pests Five Plagues Formation was unquestionably an evil formation, the kind that would offend the heavens the moment it was unleashed. But Cao Xiaochun did not care.

After all, this was the best way for him to grow stronger. As for whether it offended the heavens, that depended on whether whatever stood in his way was worth using this trump card against!

"Profound Yin Thirteen Swords Gu Formation, price: 4,200 souls."

[Bronze-grade Formation]

Take one hundred Black Iron-grade Profound Yin Gu, one hundred Sword Gu, and one thousand Grass Gu, and condense them into a formation diagram.

The Profound Yin Thirteen Swords Formation has a maximum range of 800 meters. When activated, the phantom of Profound Yin Mountain manifests, containing ten thousand swords. Every Profound Yin Sword carries condensed evil obsession. They can slash the flesh, but their damage to the soul is doubled!

Those below Silver grade who enter the formation without powerful defensive measures will have both body and soul destroyed within ten breaths, their souls turning into nourishment for Profound Yin Mountain.

If the Four Pests Five Plagues Gu Formation was an evil formation, then the Profound Yin Thirteen Swords Gu Formation was a formation of pure slaughter. Aside from Binuoxiu and her sister, it was Cao Xiaochun's strongest trump card at present!

He took the two black disks that condensed out of thin air. Though their shapes were very similar, the runes within them were worlds apart.

After examining them carefully for a while, Cao Xiaochun placed them in the White Jade Gourd. Then he browsed the system shop again and found that his remaining balance was not enough to buy anything worthwhile. So he got up, turned on his computer, and prepared to purchase the materials needed to refine the Gu insects.

Since no ordinary store would sell things like the Four Pests, Cao Xiaochun even paid a premium to hire a black-market buyer to collect them for him. Tempted by a price more than three times higher than normal, the other party guaranteed delivery within a day!

After settling the issue of the Four Pests, Cao Xiaochun reordered the Five Poisons. Because he was buying in bulk and was a returning customer, the shop gave him a very favorable price.

It took Cao Xiaochun nearly five hours to purchase all the materials. When he carefully calculated his expenses, he found that he had spent over 32 million in total. Collecting the Four Pests alone had cost him nearly 10 million, and that did not even include shipping fees or the extra twenty percent he had paid in labor costs!

The figure made Cao Xiaochun's heart ache for no reason. If he had not obtained quite a few valuable things in Dragon Nest earlier, this single expense would have cost him a tenth of his savings!

And this was only a Bronze-grade formation. As for what came later, Cao Xiaochun did not even dare imagine it.

Looks like I need to pay more attention to money and resources in the future. Otherwise, I definitely won't be able to keep cultivating.

Checking the time, Cao Xiaochun stretched, walked out of his room, and ignored the spirited sisters and Xiao Qiang sitting on the sofa. He opened the refrigerator, cooked himself a bowl of noodles, then went to sleep after eating and drinking his fill.

Over the next half day, more than a dozen cars drove into the residential complex. More than ten delivery workers carried the goods inside Cao Xiaochun's residence. Every time the place was stacked full, service staff came within half an hour to clear out the empty boxes. The cycle repeated more than ten times.

Although many people were shocked by the sight, their professional ethics kept them from saying anything carelessly.

Since Cao Xiaochun was too busy to direct the delivery of the goods, the young woman across the hall happily accepted the job for the price of one month's rent, carrying it out with exceptional diligence.

Once all the goods had been delivered, Cao Xiaochun locked the door and did not step outside for two full days.

Three days later, on a roadside in the outskirts of H City, Li Hanyi stood quietly waiting in a white field combat uniform and black-rimmed glasses.

She had not been idle these past three days either. Since it was her first time dealing with a strange dungeon, she had read a great deal of material. This time, she planned to work together with Cao Xiaochun rather than simply be led through the entire process by someone else.

"Sorry, I'm late." A taxi pulled over, and Cao Xiaochun stepped out of it.

"What, haven't been sleeping well these past few days?"

Cao Xiaochun looked somewhat haggard, the dark circles beneath his eyes noticeably deeper. Seeing this, Li Hanyi asked casually.

"A little, but it's nothing serious. When are we going in?"

The formation required an enormous number of Gu insects. Even with the White Jade Gourd's assistance, he had barely slept these past few days, spending almost all his time refining Gu. By the time he came to meet her, he had only slept four hours.

"Wait a bit. But strange dungeons take far longer than normal ones. If you really can't hold on, we can rest for a night after we go in."

Hearing Cao Xiaochun's words, Li Hanyi thought for a moment before continuing.

"Don't worry. I know my limits."

The two walked nearly eight hundred meters down the roadside. Li Hanyi looked around, and only after making sure no one was nearby did she take out a key made of stone.