Long Xuan's Decision

One of the Rogue Cultivators immediately suggested that they might as well sell the vein outright and make a quick fortune.

They could not finish mining this Fossil Ore Vein in a hundred lifetimes. It had never truly belonged to them in the first place; rather than waste their cultivation time here, they might as well sell it directly.

But his suggestion was immediately opposed by the other Rogue Cultivators.

Rogue Cultivators had been poor for too long. This was a mountain of gold they could never spend in full—how could they bear to sell it off?

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If the total value of this Fossil Ore Vein was one hundred billion Spirit Stones, they would be lucky to sell it for one billion, because no faction could produce that many Spirit Stones in one go.

In the long run, that would be a loss beyond measure.

But the Rogue Cultivator who proposed selling the vein was not wrong either. No matter how many fossils lay here, what use were they if they could not dig them out?

As long as they made a quick fortune, they could rapidly grow stronger. Once their strength increased, what wealth could they not obtain?

Clinging to wealth they could not use made them nothing but miserly hoarders. It was not a rational choice.

Their opinions diverged sharply, and they soon began arguing. Before long, tempers flared, and the two sides descended into a chaotic brawl.

In the end, only one of the four survived their internal conflict, staggering out with his body covered in grievous wounds.

Perhaps some accident had occurred, or perhaps he ultimately succumbed to his injuries. He left behind only a map recording this place before breathing his last.

As for why such a large portion of the map had been burned away, perhaps the person who acquired it had been pursued by someone seeking to murder him for treasure. Before dying, he had not wanted the treasure map to fall into his enemy's hands, so he had simply tried to burn it.

But the flames spread slowly, and only one-tenth of it had burned before his enemy extinguished the fire.

Later, this partially burned map changed hands several times before somehow ending up with the little medicine boy.

At this point, Long Xuan found himself entertaining the same thought as those Rogue Cultivators. Should he keep this mountain of gold for himself, or grit his teeth and sell it for a quick fortune? He fell into hesitation.

But he did not hesitate for long. He had come here to search for treasure because he lacked the Spirit Stones to buy materials for the Divine Ice Flame. He urgently needed an enormous sum of Spirit Stones.

Moreover, he could not mine the vein alone. If he could not make use of this vein himself, what was the point of keeping it? He did not have the means to mobilize mortals as laborers.

Since all he could do was stare helplessly at the vein, there was truly nothing left for him to agonize over.

He would first sell the vein to those great clans and let them mine it. Once they put the excavated fossils up for sale, he could go over and pick them up at cabbage prices.

That would be the same as having the great clans mine for him while he freeloaded off their labor.

Not only would the great clans have to pay him an enormous amount of Spirit Stones to purchase the vein, even the good insects they excavated would ultimately belong to him.

He truly was too crafty. His abacus beads clacked loudly as Long Xuan revealed a sly, sinister grin.

Having made up his mind, Long Xuan did not leave immediately. Instead, he headed toward the deepest part of the cave together with his clones.

He was different from those Rogue Cultivators. After all, his eyes could pinpoint things with perfect accuracy.

Those Rogue Cultivators might dig for half a day and excavate nothing but useless ore, without finding a single fossil.

But Long Xuan could precisely locate fossils, and they were fossils guaranteed to contain insects.

He had chosen to give up only because he could not mine the entire vein alone. But since he could mine the shallow layers, he naturally intended to strip them clean before leaving.

The farther inward he went, the more branching paths Long Xuan saw. Some forks had as many as nine paths; some cave mouths stretched upward, while others plunged downward like bottomless abysses.

Some entrances led to tunnels manually excavated by those Rogue Cultivators, while others had formed naturally.

In short, the place twisted and turned, riddled with caves everywhere. It was practically an enormous maze, one that was difficult to escape once entered.

Long Xuan planned to collect only the fossils in the shallow layers and ignore anything too deep inside.

One reason was that he feared getting lost; another was the danger.

The danger came not only from strange insects that could burst from the soil at any moment. In this world filled with spiritual energy, all sorts of uncanny incidents often occurred within mines, where peril lurked at every turn.

Many villagers from Great Stone Village worked as miners for the great clans, yet every so often, several would die in various accidents. Metal Ore Veins and Spirit Stone Veins alike held all manner of dangers.

He had seen such things often in Great Stone Village. How could he not remain wary here?

Thus, he did not venture deep into the maze. He ordered all his clones to excavate the shallow fossils while he acted as overseer nearby, drinking fine wine.

Then, when his gaze casually swept over a fossil deeper within that showed progress of [３８．１７９０３％], he finally could not sit still. He immediately swung his iron pickaxe and charged over, his eyes shining like searchlights.

The progress had five digits after the decimal point. That meant the fossil might contain a Supreme-grade Spirit Insect that had reached maturity after more than ten thousand years.

How precious was a Supreme-grade Spirit Insect? Without exaggeration, even among one hundred thousand High-grade Spirit Insects, not a single Supreme-grade Spirit Insect might appear.

The lowest market price for a Supreme-grade Spirit Insect was ten million Spirit Stones, yet in truth they were priceless treasures unavailable for purchase. The vast majority could only be acquired through barter.

Long Xuan had lain low in the marketplace for so many years and encountered countless treasures, yet he had seen only one Supreme-grade Spirit Insect: the Eye in the Stone he had discovered inside the Stone King.

After it had been refined into a supreme-grade Gu worm, he had witnessed its strength firsthand. Not even mentioning those overpowered abilities he had developed, the Origin Realm alone was absurdly powerful and could already be called an unsolvable ability.

Without the slightest exaggeration, when a supreme-grade Gu worm faced a High-Grade Gu Insect, it was simply a dimensionality-reduction strike. There was no comparison whatsoever.

How could he not be excited upon seeing a necessary material for refining a supreme-grade Gu worm?

Whenever he created a Gu Formula, he always collected the rarest material first, then used that rare material as the main ingredient to create a Gu Formula.

Now that a Supreme-grade Spirit Insect had appeared before his eyes, it meant he could try creating a Supreme-grade Gu Formula again. His second supreme-grade Gu worm was within sight.

Because this Supreme-grade Spirit Insect was buried very deep, Long Xuan and his four Externalized Clones worked together for two full days before finally excavating the fossil containing it.

And this was only a shallow-layer fossil. If he dug for fossils in the deeper layers, who knew how long it would take? More importantly, the depths lacked oxygen and were dangerous. He truly had no way of dealing with the fossils farther below.

At that moment, Long Xuan tightly embraced the enormous fossil, unable to put it down, his heart surging with excitement. With this treasure in hand, his long journey of hardship had not been in vain...