Far Western Market

Long Xuan slowly lowered the Scripture of Longevity, his expression somewhat dazed. Wasn't the purpose of cultivation longevity? If the Scripture of Longevity could truly grant him a lifespan of tens of millions of years, then he was practically immortal. He would have already achieved the ultimate goal of cultivation and could simply lie flat.

Of course, that was merely a casual thought. Even an ordinary person without martial strength might not live long, even if they possessed immortality.

This was, after all, a world where martial strength reigned supreme. His most urgent task was to refine his first Gu.

As an entomologist in his previous life, he had an instinctively sharp nose for the fusion of Gu insects.

In his view, combining the genes of two powerful creatures was not necessarily the best choice. For instance, ligers, born from the union of the strongest land predators—tigers and lions—had mediocre overall abilities, weak immunity, and found it extremely difficult to survive.

Ants, meanwhile, were weak, yet fusing their genes with those of certain creatures could instead produce terrifying effects.

Precisely because it was his field of expertise, and because conducting all kinds of forbidden experiments cost him nothing, creating his own Gu Recipe was not particularly difficult for him.

But considering that beginners were short on funds in the early stages, refining some heaven-defying Gu insect right from the outset was nothing but a pipe dream.

Thus, the first Gu Recipe he created was exceedingly cheap. Yet low cost did not mean that a Gu insect refined from cheap materials would necessarily be weak.

His philosophy was that a fusion of the strong did not necessarily produce something stronger. Using the genes of certain weak insects could yield extraordinarily terrifying results.

In his previous life, centipedes, venomous snakes, scorpions, spiders, and toads were not insects. Yet Gu Masters of Miao territory classified these five types of creatures as insects and used them to refine Gu.

The same was true in this world. Not only were these five types of creatures classified as insects here, they were also the five strongest insect species, collectively known as the Five Poisons.

The Five Poisons were the strongest among insects, so the vast majority of Gu cultivators used them to refine Gu.

Long Xuan had never heard of anyone using flies or caterpillars to refine Gu.

It was not because flies and caterpillars were not insects. It was entirely because those two kinds of insects were simply too weak.

And the reason Long Xuan's Gu Recipe was so cheap was entirely because it used those obscure insect species.

Take cockroaches, for example. Their combat strength was weak, but people in this world probably did not know that cockroaches were indestructible little powerhouses.

Those little powerhouses could withstand pressure hundreds of times their own weight without the slightest injury, survive for months without food or water, live even with their internal organs damaged, regenerate severed limbs, and stubbornly cling to life for nine days even after their heads were cut off.

In his previous life, an atomic bomb had exploded in a place where people lived rather comfortably. Every living thing had died, yet only the little powerhouses had survived. It was simply absurd.

The little powerhouses were not strong in battle, but this world had Internal Gu. By parasitizing a Gu insect inside one's body and feeding it with vital energy and spiritual power, the Gu insect would in turn grant its host miraculous strength, forming a symbiotic relationship where both benefited and complemented one another.

Could humans then obtain the little powerhouse's undying power through this method?

One had to know that this was a world with spiritual power. All Spirit Insects possessed spiritual power, and the Spirit Insect cockroaches of this world were far more terrifying than the cockroaches of his previous life. Every attribute was greatly enhanced, and once refined into Gu, those attributes would rise even further.

In this wondrous world, immortality might not be mere fantasy.

Thus, Long Xuan's first research project after arriving in this world was to discover how humans could obtain undying bodies.

Considering that the abilities born from different Spirit Insects devouring one another were uncontrollable and unpredictable,

Long Xuan deliberately wrote down only different species of cockroaches in his self-created Gu Recipe, allowing the undying genes of each species to fuse perfectly.

He did not think such a Gu Recipe had much possibility of producing any other abilities.

Everything was ready but the east wind. After a year of accumulation, he had gathered quite a few spirit herbs. As long as he sold them, he could scrape together enough money to refine his first Gu.

Long Xuan rose excitedly. He first entered the herb garden, pulled up every spirit herb marked with 100%, placed them into his storage bag, replanted the seeds, and then rushed out the door.

He intended to take the spirit herbs to the nearby Far Western Market and sell them. Today, he would try refining Gu. He could hardly wait any longer.

It was worth mentioning that killing people and robbing treasures were forbidden within Far Western Market and its surrounding area. This was a rule that any prosperous market had to possess; otherwise, no one would dare reveal their treasures within it.

Therefore, as long as the goods involved in his transactions were not too astonishing, Long Xuan basically did not need to worry about murder and robbery. This novice protection village was enough to let him develop peacefully for a while.

Great Stone Village was very close to the market. Long Xuan arrived after walking briskly for half an hour.

Though the market was close to the village, this was still his first time coming here. The moment he entered, the bustling sight before him stunned him.

Rogue Cultivators sat everywhere on the ground with stalls spread before them. Spirit pills, Spirit Insects, spirit herbs, cultivation methods, spiritual artifacts, ores, beast materials—every sort of treasure filled the eye in dazzling abundance.

Stall owners argued with others until their faces were red and their necks thick. The air was full of haggling and shouting, and the crowd roared like a boiling cauldron.

In a region made entirely of Gu cultivators, Gu insects were naturally always the most traded goods. After entering this place, Long Xuan saw all manner of Gu insects, truly opening his eyes.

Quite a few Rogue Cultivators possessed Gu Recipes, but they never sold the recipes. They only refined the Gu insects and placed them on their stalls, making a steady trickle of profit over time.

It was not merely because all Gu cultivators cherished their worn brooms as treasures. Once a Gu Recipe spread, others could research ways to counter it, and if too many people refined it, competition would arise as well.

With Long Xuan's current wealth, buying an ordinary Gu insect would not have been a problem. But after thinking for a moment, he quickly abandoned the idea.

It was best not to buy secondhand Gu insects. It was easy for others to tamper with them. Only Gu insects refined by oneself were the most compatible and loyal.

The more owners a Gu insect had passed through, the more complicated its thoughts became, making it prone to backlash against its owner.

So, for the sake of his own little life, he should still create his own Gu Recipe and refine Gu himself.

Long Xuan first found a trading house and sold all his spirit herbs, earning a total of three hundred and seven Low-Grade Spirit Stones. But after purchasing the materials listed in his Gu Recipe and ten Gu jars for refining Gu, he spent nearly all of it in an instant.

Long Xuan had not expected the selling price of first-grade spirit herbs to be so low. A storage bag full of spirit herbs had sold for only three hundred and seven Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

After asking around, he learned that low-grade spirit herbs had no environmental restrictions and could be cultivated on a massive scale. Hire a group of mortals, and one could grow as many as one wished.

Therefore, first-grade spirit herbs had long since become as common as cabbages and were not worth much at all.

Perhaps even if he secretly pulled every spirit herb from the garden and ran away, Old Long would not feel much heartache.

After recognizing this reality, Long Xuan could only carry his remaining ten Spirit Stones and wander through the bustling market. He wondered what ten Spirit Stones could buy.

Rogue Cultivators were poor, so their stalls basically held nothing especially valuable. But Rogue Cultivators loved venturing deep into mountains and forests, and the things they picked up came in every imaginable variety. It was absolutely impossible to say there were no good items at all.

Rogue Cultivators also had one greatest characteristic: they had read little and seen little. They failed to recognize far too many treasures, and Rogue Cultivators often mistook valuable treasures for worthless things and sold them cheaply. This gave others chances to pick up bargains.

This drew Gu cultivators from great clans, who loved picking up bargains, like ducks to water. They came here every day to try their luck, turning this place into a paradise for treasure hunting. Some became rich overnight here, while others were cheated until not a single coin remained.

At that moment, Long Xuan discovered yet another use for his golden finger.

He could see the progress of every treasure on every stall.

Do not underestimate this ability. It could determine many things.

For example, if some item displayed no progress, then it was most likely fake—such as cultivation methods full of incoherent nonsense, or incomplete recipes laid out to wait for suckers hunting bargains.

There was also Darksteel whose progress was infinitely close to 100%. Long Xuan strongly suspected that once Darksteel reached 100% progress, it would transform into Darksteel Essence, at which point its value would increase by more than a hundredfold.

Unfortunately, he could not afford even ordinary Darksteel right now and could only give up helplessly.

The same applied to Spirit Stones. Once the progress of a high-grade Spirit Stone neared 100%, it was highly possible that it was about to transform from a high-grade Spirit Stone into a supreme-grade Spirit Stone.

Supreme-grade Spirit Stones were priceless treasures rarely seen even once in a hundred years. Their value was impossible to estimate.

As for living creatures, there was even less need to mention them. Some Spirit Insects, for example, showed 15.0% progress, while others showed 25.6800%, with a string of digits after the decimal point.

This was easy to understand. The longer a Spirit Insect's maturation period, the more decimal places were needed to improve precision.

If he saw a Spirit Insect with an exceptionally large number of decimal places, he had to pay attention.

That Spirit Insect's lifespan was certainly very long, and the longer a Spirit Insect lived, the less ordinary it was. One could say that the lifespan and strength of Spirit Insects and Gu insects were completely positively correlated.

In that case, there were simply too many opportunities to pick up bargains. Though Long Xuan was a complete novice who recognized no treasures at all, when it came to picking up bargains, no one here could truly compare to him.

Bees collect both nectar and pollen, but the yellow clumps on their legs are pollen. Baidu said so. Better to clear that minefield in advance—there were too many flamers.