High-Grade Gu Worm

"Since almost everyone has arrived, as the host, I'll get things started."

After chatting with Long Xuan for a few moments, Di Xin saw that nearly everyone had entered the venue and walked toward a table at the very front.

She then laid out all the treasures she had kept at the bottom of her chest on the table and said to the people below, "I won't waste words explaining the rules of the treasure exchange. Everyone understands them. As the host, I'll begin."

As she spoke, Di Xin picked up three formation flags from the table and introduced them. "This is a Soundproof Formation array plate. As the name implies, it is an array plate capable of blocking sound."

"This secret chamber has been set up with this formation. No matter how loudly you speak in here, not a single sound will reach the outside. Everyone may rest assured. Now, who is interested in making a trade?"

At those words, quite a few people below relaxed considerably. No one wanted more people learning about their treasures, and the fact that such a formation had been laid within the secret chamber made them feel even safer.

A small wave of discussion arose below. However, it was ultimately an auxiliary formation whose only effect was soundproofing, with little use in actual combat, so not many people were interested.

Just as Long Xuan thought Di Xin's first treasure was about to go unsold, a female Rogue Cultivator stood up from the crowd and asked, "Can your Soundproof Formation block the sounds of battle?"

In the next moment, many people revealed strange expressions.

Once those words were spoken, who wouldn't know what that woman intended to use the Soundproof Formation for?

Good heavens, others set up soundproof formations to prevent the secrets of their conversations from leaking out, yet she planned to use one for murder and robbery. What creativity, what imagination.

There was naturally no need to bother blocking sound when killing someone—unless she intended to kill within the market, or near it, silently erase someone within the no-killing zone, and leave those maintaining the market's order utterly unaware.

Everyone's expressions changed slightly.

The corners of Long Xuan's lips curled into an inscrutable smile. He wondered which unfortunate fellow she intended to deal with. Before long, some brother was surely going to suffer a disastrous stroke of luck.

Di Xin's expression changed slightly as well. Before hosting the treasure exchange, she had done her best to keep out those who liked killing people for treasure. But how could anything in this world be perfectly prevented? There would always be fish that slipped through the net, and perhaps someone was doing it for the first time, making them even harder to guard against.

Yet the woman had not said what she intended to do with the Soundproof Formation. Di Xin could not drive her away based solely on her own suspicions, so she could only answer truthfully, "Of course it can!"

The female Rogue Cultivator immediately smiled, walked toward the table, and began secretly conversing with Di Xin through soul transmission.

In the end, the female Rogue Cultivator smilingly took away the three formation flags. No one knew what she had traded for them.

Di Xin then began introducing her second treasure. Her second treasure was her exclusive High-Grade Gu Insect, the Twin-Tailed Flying Scorpion.

Not only did this scorpion possess a pair of sharp pincers, it actually had two tails and two hooks. One could tell from its appearance alone that it was built for battle.

As one of the market's rare High-Grade Gu Insects, and an external Gu at that, its combat power was exceedingly terrifying. It was a highly sought-after commodity in the market.

The moment this treasure appeared, everyone below immediately perked up. Greedy looks filled their faces, their eyes burning with desire, forming a stark contrast to the lukewarm reception of the first treasure.

One had to know that Long Xuan's Cockroach Gu was merely a Low-Grade Gu Insect. In terms of popularity, it was nowhere near comparable to a High-Grade Gu Insect. It could be said that there were not many Rogue Cultivators in the entire market who possessed High-Grade Gu Insects.

Yet Long Xuan merely glanced at it before withdrawing his gaze, showing no interest in trading for it.

He had long made up his mind that every Gu Insect he used in the future would be self-created. He wanted to use his own exclusive Gu Insects to beat the whole world into submission. No matter how powerful the Gu Insects refined by others were, he would have little interest in them.

What he was thinking about now was something else. Old Long's medicinal garden would ultimately never be his own. He faced heavy restrictions on whatever spirit herbs he wanted to plant, could not act freely, and had to tread carefully at every turn.

Moreover, spirit bees needed flower nectar, while spirit chickens needed Spirit Insects. To keep them alive, he was destined to build a medicinal garden of his own. Otherwise, if Old Long left and he lost his job, the spirit bees could hardly be left to starve to death.

And if he wanted to build a medicinal garden, the first thing he needed to do was prevent others from stealing herbs. Otherwise, if he planted high-grade spirit herbs, it would be stranger if others did not come calling.

That required setting up a formation in the medicinal garden, and preferably one capable of stopping great Gu cultivators whose realms were far above his own.

But he could not afford array plates with strong defensive capabilities. As for array plates with weak defensive capabilities, buying them would be no better than not buying them at all.

Thinking of formations, Long Xuan suddenly had a flash of inspiration and came up with another ability for the Eye of Heavenly Secrets.

His Eye of Heavenly Secrets could see the microscopic world. Could he use it to inscribe formation patterns so tiny that they were utterly invisible to the naked eye?

For the same array plate, its limited volume and surface area restricted the number of formation patterns that could be inscribed. Yet with the help of the Eye of Heavenly Secrets, he could microscopically inscribe a hundredfold, or even a thousandfold, more formation patterns without changing the array plate's size.

If so, could the formation he set up become stronger by crushing others beneath the sheer number of formation patterns?

If it truly worked, he might be able to create an entirely new school of formations, establish his own branch, and become the founding ancestor of a school. Long Xuan's eyes lit up.

He had never encountered formations before and knew nothing at all about them. He did not know whether formation patterns could be infinitely reduced in size without changing their power.

Still, he felt it was necessary to give it a try. If he truly succeeded, he could use the materials for low-grade formations to create high-grade formations and would no longer need to worry about being unable to afford high-tier array plates.

Long Xuan's spirits rose. Seeing that the High-Grade Gu Insect, the Twin-Tailed Flying Scorpion, had already been traded away by a frenzied Gu cultivator, he immediately stepped forward.

Di Xin froze for a moment. She had not even introduced her third treasure yet.

Before she could ask anything, Long Xuan sent a soul transmission first. "I have no interest in trading for the items on your table. Would you be willing to sell books related to formations? I intend to study Formation Crafting and can offer a high price."

Formation masters were special professions that did not lose much to alchemists at all. Their inheritances were scarce, and it was exceedingly difficult to find a path into learning them.

At the Qian Clan Treasure Exchange Pavilion, one could find some cultivation techniques and spirit arts, but it was absolutely impossible to find Alchemy, Artifact Refinement, Talisman-Making, or Formation Crafting.

Such things were absolutely not to be lightly passed down. One should not dream of learning them easily just by spending Spirit Stones.

Therefore, Long Xuan could only try his luck here. He had already prepared himself for failure, since techniques were not lightly passed down—that was the way of this world.

Who would have thought that Di Xin merely smiled faintly and said, "With me, nothing is beyond trade. As long as your price is right, I can even trade you the Gu recipe for the Twin-Tailed Flying Scorpion."

As she spoke, she took a thick stack of books from her storage bag and placed them on the table, showing no sign of heartache whatsoever.

Long Xuan had never expected her to be so straightforward, and it caught him by surprise. What happened to techniques not being lightly passed down?

"How generous!"

Long Xuan was overjoyed and hurriedly picked up the books on the table to inspect them.

After looking over the cover of every book and casually flipping through several pages to confirm their authenticity, Long Xuan immediately decided to make the trade.

These books not only covered all kinds of foundational formation knowledge, but also contained quite a few powerful formation diagrams. The knowledge within was enough to turn him into a formation master.

The requirements for becoming a formation master were possessing both fire and earth attributes, as well as a powerful soul. These were precisely the conditions he possessed.

It had to be said that although having many attributes slowed one's cultivation speed, having many attributes also came with its own advantages.

Artifact refiners needed both fire and metal attributes, while talisman makers needed both water and wood attributes. All of them required powerful soul force or spiritual power. It seemed that he met the requirements for every special profession.

But after all, a person's energy was limited. Spreading himself too thin was not a good thing.

Long Xuan only intended to focus on Alchemy. He merely needed a basic understanding of the other special professions. More skills never weighed a person down, and it would save him from being caught flat-footed if he encountered offensive items from other special professions while knowing nothing about them.