Insect Within the Stone

"I planned to sell each fossil for ten thousand Spirit Stones. Who's willing to come up first and try their luck?" Long Xuan shouted after sweeping his gaze over the crowd.

At that moment, no one could keep a straight face. They had just said that anyone who bought one was an idiot, yet now every last one of them had become an idiot.

It couldn't be helped. The price was simply too low.

The Stone King, originally priced at ten million, could now be exchanged for one-fiftieth of its parts with merely ten thousand Spirit Stones, all for a chance to strike it rich.

Although the current situation had basically confirmed that the gamble had failed, one feared not ten thousand possibilities, but that single chance. What if?

What if a Spirit Insect really was hiding inside one of the fossils and had gone undiscovered? Theoretically, that was entirely possible.

Most importantly, it was cheap. Even if they lost the gamble, the loss was completely bearable.

But if they won, then judging by the appearance of this stone, a Spirit Insect of any value might be cut out. Then they would truly strike it rich.

This was absolutely worth a gamble—a fortune to be made from a single investment.

Anyone who did not gamble was an idiot.

The gamblers all began breathing heavily, greed flashing in their eyes as though they wanted to devour someone alive.

Only now did they finally realize that Long Xuan had acquired this Stone King at no cost. That was why he dared to sell it cheaply without any heartache. No matter how many Spirit Stones he sold it for, it was pure profit. What a crafty little brat.

Long Xuan was quite satisfied with their expressions. Sure enough, everyone loved taking petty advantages.

As long as the price was low enough, someone would inevitably harbor lucky thoughts, and someone would inevitably take the bait. His plan had succeeded.

Qian Duoduo was dumbfounded. He had never imagined that stone gambling could be played this way.

Before this, everyone either ground the fossils directly into powder or took the whole thing away. Who had ever made a few cuts, then sold the leftover material cheaply? There had never been such a precedent.

Yet today, he had finally witnessed it. Stone gambling could actually be played this way.

It had to be said, this move was excellent. It took advantage of gamblers' desire to win big with little and their love of bargains; they really were willing to spend Spirit Stones on it.

Although the profits were not much, it was still better than losing everything. Besides, Long Xuan had not spent a single Spirit Stone today. Anything he sold was profit.

In the end, events unfolded exactly according to Long Xuan's script.

Dozens of fossils were snatched up in a frenzy. Everyone lost their minds, and in the blink of an eye, all the fossils were gone.

Only the smallest fossil, about the size of a fist, was left untouched.

That fossil was simply too small, nearly the same size as a Spirit Insect. The possibility of finding a Spirit Insect inside was infinitely close to zero, so no one wanted it. Ten thousand Spirit Stones was only a small sum compared to the Stone King's price, but for every poor Rogue Cultivator, it was already no trifling amount. It simply was not worth gambling ten thousand Spirit Stones on such a tiny stone. The price was far too high.

Moreover, Long Xuan was monkey-cunning. He had actually sold stones of every size at the same price. For the same amount, others bought large ones while you bought a small one. That naturally made people feel unbalanced, as though they were taking a huge loss. With that mindset, Long Xuan's little stone had even less chance of being sold.

So even when he begged people desperately, no one wanted it. They all waved their hands and left, cursing that he had gone mad dreaming of Spirit Stones. Who would trade ten thousand Spirit Stones for such a tiny stone? Anyone who did was an idiot.

Thus, the fossil containing a Supreme-grade Spirit Insect had no choice but to remain in Long Xuan's hands. He could not even give it away.

After returning home, Long Xuan held up the fist-sized fossil and stared at it excitedly, chuckling foolishly without end.

"After all my calculations, it still fell into my hands. I wonder whether this harvest will let me successfully create a Supreme-grade Gu Formula of my own."

Long Xuan gently stroked the stone, his eyes filled with anticipation.

After playing with it for a while, he finally began cutting the stone.

The fossil was not large, so it took very little time. Before long, he successfully dug out something that looked like an eye.

The eye awakened at that moment and slowly opened. A sinister aura seeped from it, making it look deeply inauspicious.

Even Natural Gu Insects that existed in energy form could be found in this world. What was strange about a Spirit Insect that looked like an eye? Long Xuan was not surprised in the slightest.

On the contrary, he was thrilled. If one asked what type of Gu Insect the Gu Cultivators of this world most loved to blood-bind with—

Natural Gu Insects ranked second. The undisputed first place belonged to Eye Gu, which was also the rarest category of Gu in the current world.

The vast majority of Internal Gu fed on a Gu Cultivator's spiritual power or vital energy and blood. Only Eye Gu, though also Internal Gu, fed on a Gu Cultivator's mental power, forming a system of its own.

Eye Gu fed on mental power and could cast all manner of unfathomable Illusion Techniques. Illusion Techniques were a means of harming others even harder to guard against than planting Gu. Gu Cultivators proficient in Illusion Techniques were often far stronger than ordinary Gu Cultivators.

Every type of Eye Gu was born with a powerful Illusion Technique. The most heaven-defying Illusion Techniques in this world could only be cast by Eye Gu—or rather, only Eye Gu could unleash their greatest power. That was why Eye Gu held such an exalted position in this world.

Now that an eye insect had appeared before him, how could Long Xuan not be excited?

Previously, Long Xuan had not dared to use excessively rare materials when creating his own Gu Recipes. Many materials could only be encountered by chance and never sought; some were not seen even once in a hundred years. With bad luck, one might never see them in an entire lifetime.

If the materials could not be found, what use was it no matter how amazing the Gu Recipe was?

Therefore, Long Xuan had always intended to create Gu Recipes based on the rare materials he had collected, rather than create a Gu Recipe first and then scour the world for its materials.

Now that he had a rare material, he could use it as the main ingredient to create an Eye Gu of his own.

As for which direction this Eye Gu should be developed in, Long Xuan had long since made up his mind.

He could not decide what kind of Illusion Technique each Eye Gu would carry, but he could still decide what basic abilities the Eye Gu would possess.

He did not care about anything else, but this Eye Gu had to possess one ability: the microscopic magnification ability he had always coveted...

He hurriedly took out paper and brush, rushed to the table and chair, and sat down. Brimming with enthusiasm, he began creating his second Gu Recipe.

This eye was very likely an insect species that had gone extinct long ago during the Primordial Era. But Long Xuan could not even recognize all the insect species that currently existed, so how could he possibly recognize a Spirit Insect that had already been extinct for so long?

But that would not hinder him. Through his research, Long Xuan had long discovered that this golden finger was based primarily on the host's knowledge, rather than the names of insect species in this world.

He could create a Gu Recipe using modern Chinese characters if he wanted. The various microorganisms in this world had yet to be named, so he could give them any names he pleased, and the golden finger would still recognize them perfectly.

Since he did not know what species of insect this was, he might as well name it casually. There was no need to consider whether it sounded good. He would call it the Eye in the Stone.

After all, the same thing often had different names in different places. What did it matter if this insect had a different name in his Household?

Long Xuan quickly wrote the three characters "Eye in the Stone" on the paper. As expected, the golden finger recognized it perfectly, and progress immediately appeared.

Long Xuan's brush moved as though possessed by a god. He recalled an old saying from the countryside: cow eyes see people as large, while goose eyes see people as small.

That was why geese liked pecking people and chasing after them.

Cows, however, saw people as large as cattle sheds. Thus, they toiled without complaint and did not know to resist even when whipped.

Since cow eyes possessed the ability to magnify what they saw, cow eyes were naturally the first thing Long Xuan thought of.

The principle of Gu was that swarms of insects devoured one another. He did not know whether it would work if he added a cow eye, something that was not an insect.

But with the error-correction tool, what harm was there in trying? It cost nothing at all, at most wasting a few seconds.

Long Xuan raised his brush and wrote down "cow eye." The progress on the Gu Recipe immediately rose by a small amount.

A smile appeared at the corner of Long Xuan's lips. He knew he had succeeded.